“Ahoy, me hearties!” And with that salutation, we are off and running (away from pirates) with our look at Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island (1883). This adventure novel tells the tale of buccaneers and buried gold, friendship and betrayal. Its influence has been enormous on today’s popular perceptions of pirates. For who hasn’t heard of treasure maps marked with an “X”, the infamous Black Spot, being marooned on a tropical island, and a certain one-legged seamen bearing a parrot on his shoulder? Aye, Jim Hawkins, it’s a veritable cornucopia of tropes and double-crosses! However…
“We must go on, because we can’t turn back.”
Ahead we see that it was made into a movie by Walt Disney which begat this soundtrack:
The cover of this long-play record was painted by Paul Wenzel. You can see his signature at the bottom right corner. At first I thought it was the name of the previous owner of this soundtrack, as some people have the nasty habit of scrawling their mark, in pen (!), across otherwise mint-condition collectibles like this. But a quick Google search proved otherwise!
Paul Edward Wenzel (born February 14, 1935) was an American artist, best known for his career with The Walt Disney Company, creating illustrations for movie posters and retail merchandise. Wenzel first began at Disney in 1958, working for the studio for 42 years, creating thousands of illustrations for movies and consumer products. Wenzel worked on over 100 movie posters during his tenure as a designer/illustrator for the Motion Picture Advertising Department.
Now that’s a career! Now, if ye be brave enough to continue…
“Beware the Black Spot!” – Billy Bones
Right. Getting back to this record:
It’s a straight soundtrack of the movie, somewhat edited, and narrated by Dal McKennon. McKennon sang and provided many character voices for Walt Disney Animation. His distinctive voice can be heard in too many Disney movies to mention here! He also provided the voices for many Disney attractions.
Now that’s a career as well!
The back of the cover sleeve presents a nice selection of stills from the actual movie with captions to explain the action. We also have a list of the main Cast. Most known would be Bobby Driscoll, who starred in Song of the South, So Dear to My Heart, and Treasure Island, before voicing the iconic character of Peter Pan.
Disney records can range in price from $10.00 to well over $20.00, depending on the title and who is selling them. I paid just under $10.00 CAN for this near mint copy of Treasure Island at a regional Antique Mall. Paying above $25.00 for any Disney record should only be done if you absolutely have to have it! Otherwise, you are paying too much, for this type of Disney collectible isn’t very sought after and resale value is low and slow.
What better way to end this post than with the most famous Sea Shanty of all time:
Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
Drink and the devil had done for the rest
Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
