Follow Up to Last Week's Aristocrats(?) / Gay Purr-ee

Last week I posted a set of punch-out / stand up figures that can be seen here.  I was uncertain what the set represented, mainly because I was missing an important element - the cover!  I was amazed at the response I received to the post and would like to give a big THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment and/or helped me solve the mystery.

I now know that the set comes from a movie called 'Gay Purr-ee'.  It was released in 1962 and featured the voice talent of Judy Garland in her only animated film role.  This Wikipedia entry fills in all the other details for anyone who would like more info on the film.

    

The cover picture was emailed to me by Sally in Australia.  It was originally given to her by Bobe who lives in the Ozark Mountains in the USA.  I had no direct contact with Bobe but she very kindly agreed to my using the scan of the cover to round off my original post.

I had never heard of Gay Purr-ee before and would have been too young to see the film in 1962 when it was released.  I think the distributors (it was produced by United Productions of America and released by Warner Bros.) must have spotted an opportunity when Disney brought out the Aristocrats in 1970.  There are many similarities between the two - besides both being set in Paris near the turn of the 20th century, the two lead characters are extremely similar. I wouldn't imagine I was told the set was the Aristocrats, but I think I inadvertently confused the two together, especially as this book was given to me (brand new) in 1970.

I'd like to dedicate this post to everyone who contributed comments, suggestions and information in the original post. The best way I can think of doing so is to link back to all your blogs:

Retha at Paper Dolls and Toys

Corissia at 2BeAPaperDoll

Donna at Believe in Yourself

Darlene at Darlene Foster's Blog

Barbara at March House Books Blog

Roger at Three Hoodies Save the World

Diane at Always Crave Cute

Also thanks to Nora for the lovely comment and Sally for all the emails - I don't have blogs for either of you but wanted to include you in the list.

(Thanks also Retha for the link to your group - I will definitely be visiting soon!)

There are times when blogging can be such a rewarding experience and realising there are such great people out there has (for me) been one of the highlights!

        

Aristocats (?) Pop Out / Stand Up Set

I always thought this set was from 'The Aristocats' movie, but now I'm not so sure.  From memory the villain of the piece is a human butler and I know the names of the two main characters are Duchess and Thomas O'Malley.  Here the story seems different and the initials carved into the tree are wrong.

Unfortunately I don't have the cover of the book, but I was clever enough to keep the diagrams showing how each of the scenes is set up.  I'm also amazed that I still have every single piece of this set - all carefully packed away in a box.

I can date the set exactly to 1970 (coincidentally the same year 'The Aristocats' film was released).  My parents divorced that year and my Mom, sister and I left our home in Cape Town and travelled by train to Durban where we moved in with my grandmother.  The trip took 2 days as the train went inland first and did not follow the coastline.  To keep me occupied my Mom gave me this set and I can remember I couldn't wait for the journey to start so I could punch it out.

There are four scenes and the complete set follows:

Scene 1 - In the Country       .     

In the Country

Scene 2 - Sidewalk Cafe

Sidewalk Cafe

Scene 3 - Madame Rubens-Chatte's Salon

Madame Rubens-Chatte's Salon

Scene 4 - Happy Ending

Happy Ending

Instruction Diagrams

Instruction Diagrams

Snapped in Dublin

I love the hangings baskets that are put up all over Dublin in the summer.  These are next to the Stephen's Green Shopping Centre at the top of Grafton Street - I walk past them every day on my way to work and during lunch-time.  I only photographed the last few in the row - I was more interested in trying to get pictures without people in them than getting all the flowers in the shot!