Vintage Poster – Ravensburger – 1000 pieces

This Disney collage made me so happy; when it was released in 2018 I remember seeing it and telling myself that I would absolutely be assembling it. It took 3 years, but it finally happened! And thankfully it was just as entertaining as anticipated. 💗

The quality of this puzzle, however, wasn’t the usual Ravensburger fabulousness. It started with the sorting, the amount of puzzle dust was unusual, there was a LOT; the pieces had to go into a colander to sift it all out. That usually means it will be a bit loose fitting, and it was. Most likely it was produced near the end of the run when the die that cuts the shapes is getting dull. But other than those two issues, it was a lovely puzzle. The more matte finish was very nice to work with, and the image is stunning. Each poster has a different style to it, and made for a fantastic collage.

Get ready for a little reminiscing, there are many wonderful memories attached to these movies for me. I picked out a couple of favorites – none from the Memorable Disney Moments puzzle – to spend a little time talking about.

Robin Hood was a family favorite for us, it came out when I was 5 years old. We had a Robin Hood 8-track that we listened to in the car on road trips; it was basically the plot of the movie, without the slow parts – with all the same actors. My father was an umpire when I was young, and we spent every weekend traveling to tournaments for him to officiate. I tell you this to let you know that we were ALWAYS in the car, and we had 8-tracks of many Disney movies to keep us company. We especially loved the ones with really great music. Some of our favorites were The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and The Blustery Day/The Honey Tree, Robin Hood, The Aristocats, etc. Most weekends in the 70s and 80s you could find us in our vehicle, driving somewhere several hours or more from home, happily belting out Disney songs at the top of our lungs. 🎶

My mother ADORED Roger Miller, and he voiced Allan-a-Dale in Robin Hood – the Rooster folk singer who narrated the movie. So, obviously we had to listen to this one over and over. The whole family loved Robin Hood, and although there aren’t that many songs in the movie, my sisters and I can all sing each one by heart…we could probably quote the entire movie. Phil Harris as Little John was my favorite – that man was crazy talented! There are so many wonderful memories associated with this movie for me.

**For any young people who may be reading this, 8-track tapes were like big, fat cassettes that you couldn’t rewind. Cassettes were small reel-to-reel devices that had recorded sound or music.**

Ah, The Aristocats. This one isn’t as well known, but for me it’s an absolute treasure. Another great movie with wonderful music (and Phil Harris) that takes me back to my childhood. Eva Gabor’s accent enthralled me as a child, and somehow her voice and the animation together made her seem so refined and fabulous. The little girl kitten, Marie, was so very sassy and she was my favorite character; she had one of my favorite lines in the movie, “Ladies do not start fights – but they can finish them!” The jazzy music was so fun to sing along to, especially the nonsensical lyrics. I LOVED IT!

This movie in particular makes me think of the theater in the next largest town to where we lived. They had matinees of kids movies for 75 cents or some ridiculously low price; mom used to take us there all the time. She’d make popcorn – to fill half a large brown paper bag – and off we’d go. We saw so many movies there, and The Aristocats sticks out in my mind. Maybe because I loved the movie so much, and mom was so great about taking us there to see so many wonderful movies. Many times we went and saw the same movie over and over again, and we saw The Aristocats more than once at that theater.

You never know as a parent when what you do for your kids will make a treasured memory. Mom probably just wanted a chance to sit down for a couple of hours and enjoy a good movie with the kids. What happened was she was making memories for us that decades later I still think about and cherish. A song from any one of those movies brings these memories back and makes me smile, and makes me grateful that I had a mom who loved spending time with her children. 💖

There are great memories associated with pretty much every movie in this puzzle, and a post about each and every section would be very, very long indeed. I just chose two of my favorites to share with you – excluding the movies from the big puzzle, because I’ve already talked about them quite a bit.