Saturday, January 10, 2015

Super 8 Disney

Before the days of live streaming video, DVDs or even VHS, your only option to view your favorite Hollywood movies in the comfort of your own home, short of waiting several years for them to appear on one of the 3 major networks, was to buy them on home movie film, in 8mm, Super 8 or 16mm formats.  Unless they were cartoon shorts, these films were usually extremely condensed versions of the movie or even just a few favorite clips compiled into 200 foot segments.  While we had a home movie projector growing up, it was limited to those films my father had shot documenting various vacations and holidays.  My parents never bought commercially released films and in fact I don't believe I even knew they were available.  Thanks to this 1980 Walt Disney Super 8 Home Movie catalog I found at the great film estate sale last year, I now have a glimpse into the world I missed.














"The finest in family entertainment...for just pennies a showing."  Sure, 5,995 pennies.  Looking at the price of the films, I can see why we never bought them in my family.  Such frivolities were limited to the rich, or at least semi-rich.  The price on the 400 foot reels was $59.95 or over $180 in 2014 dollars.








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13 comments:

  1. Bob JohnsJanuary 10, 2015 at 11:54 PM

    Do you think they where pushing the Black Hole? I do remeber these and how short they are. But what a fun find.

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    1. TomJanuary 11, 2015 at 8:07 PM

      >Do you think they where pushing the Black Hole?
      Maybe just a little...

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  2. Lady MJanuary 11, 2015 at 7:10 PM

    We used to own the Dapper Dalmation. We played it on our super 8 projector. Plus, because my Dad worked for Swift, he used to do special promotional work with Disney Studios and Peter Pan Peanut Butters. As a result, Disney used to let my Dad borrow full length 101 Dalmations to play at home. This was before VCR so we watched it about 15 times in one weekend!

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    1. TomJanuary 11, 2015 at 7:17 PM

      That's really neat, Lady M. My dad worked for A&P grocery and the only thing he ever brought home was expired meat! I always wondered if Peter Pan Peanut Butter used a Disney licensed image for Peter Pan. These days he appears as a sillouette on the jar, so I wondered if he still was. This calls for a Google check. Looks like in the 50's he was, then after a long break they licensed the Disney characters once again in 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Pan_%28peanut_butter%29

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    2. Lady MJanuary 12, 2015 at 8:01 AM

      Yes in the 70's Peter Pan was played by Alan Sues of "laugh in" on the commercials and the motto was "I'm weird but I make a great peanut sandwich". The logo on the jar was not the Disney Peter Pan. My father was part of the Marketing team. They did some promotional work with Disney about the time they released the disastrous
      Pete's Dragon. I know because I got to attend the release party for that movie.

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    3. TomJanuary 12, 2015 at 3:43 PM

      Wow, what a great experience for a kid, even if the movie was lousy! To be honest, I haven't watched since I saw it in the theater as a kid. I don't really remember it that well.

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  3. UnknownJuly 10, 2016 at 2:18 PM

    Thanks for the post! It's a funny coincidence but I got this and two other Finnish Disney Super 8 catalogs just couple weeks after reading your blog post here. Thought since you might be interested, the Disney 8mm catalogs are scanned here (I've also scanned page 8 missing from this post):
    http://www.jukkaeronen.com/web/videomuseo/blogi13.html#extra-disney-kaitafilmit

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    1. UnknownJuly 10, 2016 at 2:20 PM

      I was really interested in Disney's 8mm home films after seeing a cool ad page in a 1978 issue of Finland's Donald Duck magazine as a kid. But couldn't find these reels back then. Instead I've watched and collected 1980s Disney ex-rental VHS & Beta for thirty decades.

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    2. TomJuly 11, 2016 at 12:22 PM

      Thanks for the comment and memories, Jukka. And thanks for page 8. I didn't realize I'd missed a scan. Do you mind if I use it?

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    3. TomJuly 11, 2016 at 12:34 PM

      Hi Jukka, after looking I found I had scanned page 8, but just missed including it in the original post. Thanks for the catch and thanks for the scans of the other catalog!

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    4. UnknownJuly 12, 2016 at 4:09 AM

      Thanks for the memories too and you're welcome, Tom!

      Just had a "flashback" - we were screened one of the True-Life Adventures back in elementary school cafeteria. It was probably a 16mm reel, or even 35mm.

      Still have piles of 1970s and 80s 8mm home film reels waiting to be digitized (in one of the funny ones by a lake cabin my dad is chopping a wood that doesn't break despite of continued determined efforts; kind of reminds of classic Donald Duck cartoons :P).

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  4. franAugust 28, 2021 at 2:19 PM

    Hello. I have found in my attic an old walt disney production: a SILENT super 8 mm "an evening at Walt disney world" n°726....I am in France and such a film is quite rare...can you tell me an average price of how it is worth these days in USA ? thanks

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    1. TomAugust 30, 2021 at 10:29 AM

      Hi Fran,
      For the most part, unless it's an unusual or particularly collectible title, Disney Super 8mm films are under $10 USD on eBay. However, yours appears to be somewhat desirable. I couldn't find the exact title, however similar titles, such as "A Day at Disneyworld" and "An Evening at Disneyland" are selling for between $40 and $90 USD.

      Thanks for stopping by!

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