Even before she passed away, I always knew I was my grandmother's favorite. Not only did we have a special connection, but we always bonded over stuff none of our other family members really cared for. And she would always say that I reminded her of herself when she was my age.
One of the things we both loved are Disney films. Though she preferred the more classic fairytale ones—which I also adore—I was more partial to the Renaissance movies. After all, I literally grew up watching them, breaking our family VCR because of constant rewinding. Anyhoo, I remember that every time I visited her, even when I was already in my teens, we would always watch Disney films together. Our favorite? Sleeping Beauty. It was the most classic of fairytales the company ever produced.
From then until she passed on, she would always tease me that when she dies, she would leave me a surprise. I never knew what it was, and my constant asking never once pushed her to spoil the surprise. But when my family and I read the will, I discovered that she left me a few copies of the "Sleeping Beauty" movie poster with autographs of the cast of the movie.
I was completely flabbergasted. I didn't know how she was able to get them to sign these posters. But then, I read a note that she left within the collection of posters. It revealed that my grandma was actually friends with Helen Stanley, the live-action model that animators at that time used for Aurora. And when I researched her, my jaw dropped to the floor! She looked exactly like Princess Aurora, it was almost unbelievable!
I also found out upon further research that Stanely took ballet when she was younger. It was there where she met my grandmother. And being the sly one that she was, my grandma asked her to get the voice cast's autographs on her movie posters!
In all honesty, these posters are worth more than any amount of money she could have ever left me. And I'm sure she would ahve wanted me to share these with the rest of the world. My one framed poster in my bedroom is enough. A beautiful remembrance of my grandma and the great times we spent watching Disney movies!
Please note: Our inventory is limited as we may have only received a few posters in total. Most of our items are obtained from film premieres, studios, and from autographed hounds such as the one in the story above.
