We pulled another rare Disney cover here at the Institute for Day Seven of our Twelve Days of Christmas celebration. Rexall Magazine was the house publication for the Rexall Drug Stores that used to dot America in every small town. It was a free giveaway for customers of Rexall (“Good Health To All, From Rexall!”), and featured a homespun feel, with recipes, gift suggestions, cartoons for the kids, short fiction, and advertisements for Rexall products. Each month there were over one million issues in circulation, but few survive today because of the ephemeral nature of the publication (that and it was printed on very cheap paper). Following the War, a series of Disney covers appeared, with at least fourteen known to exist here at the Institute (and it is believed to be twice this many, or more). It is our educated guess that Hank Porter, Disney’s one-man art department did the covers, and we’ll wait for the brilliant David Lesjak to confirm this (who is thankfully writing a biography on this important Disney artist). Of special interest is that the Rexall Radio Show starred Phil Harris and Alice Faye. Harris would, of course, go on to have a distinguished career doing memorable voice work for Disney. The date for this is December 1948 and features the caption: “DANNY, the new lamb in Walt Disney’s ‘So Dear to My Heart,’ is welcomed by Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse.”
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Thanks for this cover and Day Six’s (after all, time is high to get to Donald Duck!). I’ve actually been enjoying the Phil Harris and Alice Faye shows courtesy of one our local public radio stations and then on the web at a site that offers a large number of vintage radio programs.
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Yes, this is absolutely a Hank Porter piece. He did numerous Rexall magazine covers in the 1940s.
The original art for this particular cover sold within the past year or so on eBay. Porter’s estate was sold off at the rate of around 3 pieces per week.
There were literally hundreds of pieces of art that sold – mainly insignia art, but also presentation art, magazine covers and magazine illustrations…just a fantastic archive that has now been scattered to the four corners of the world.