Snow White Golden Record D1 - "Hi-Ho"

Golden Records was a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster, a natural spin off to the publisher's highly successful Little Golden Books. They began producing the discs in 1948. Numerous Disney releases would be added to the catalog including Snow White. Each featured a short story on one side and a song on the other--not the actual recordings from the motion picture soundtrack but new renditions. They were always performed by the Mitch Miller Orchestra and the Sandpiper quartet. Additional voice actors would also be used.

The early versions were 78 rpm, 6" 'unbreakable' yellow discs. The catalog numbers for the Disney titles began with the letter "D". Western Printing and Lithographing was contracted to print the covers. Between 1950-51, the reissues were marked with the prefix "RD". In 1956, the format began switching to 45 rpm, 7" black vinyl. Original retail price 25¢ each.

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The first Snow White record dates from 1949. No. D1. Side One: Hi-Ho Hi-Ho; Side Two: The Seven Dwarfs. Featuring voice actor Gilbert Mack. Yellow disc pictured on cover. Aqua disc labels with colored highlights.

Additional images via 45worlds.com.

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Reissue circa 1950-51. No. RD1. New cover art. Blue disc labels, no color highlights (catalog number on label did not change).

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Another release with new cover art, circa 1956. Returned to the D1 catalog number. Black and silver disc labels. Price still 25¢.

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Another printing. No. 721. Cover artwork taken from 1952 Big Golden Book. Still 78 rpm. Issued circa 1962. Price 29¢.

Golden Records are mentioned in the 1974 book, Disneyana, by Munsey (p. 271). Detailed info can be found in the 2003 book, Collecting Little Golden Books, by Steve Santi (p. 405).

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