Monday, July 28, 2008

1956 Part One

Today and tomorrow I will be featuring some nice Disneyland images, circa 1956. Like most other park images from those early years, these capture some of the relative charm and innocence of the "fitties", the qualities that make people look back on that era with so much fondness.

Like this first photo of a band concert in Town Square! The Disneyland Band performs for an appreciative crowd. A classic image that makes me smile.


Posters! Posters! I love those posters. Didn't you get the memo? There's a rare "Art Corner" example, I've only seen one in person. The 20K poster with the giant squid might not be the rarest poster, but it is definitely one of my favorites; what a great piece of graphic art! And the pink Main Street Station poster is another rarity that I have not had the pleasure to own.

I also love the old yellow passenger cars... the "Grand Canyon" car is visible at the end.

The burning settler's cabin is up there among the "most photographed" sights at Disneyland (says me!). In this early view the trees are spindly and small, affording us a nice clear shot of the cabin - - look at that thing burn! Those are some fierce flames. But it wasn't a flaming arrow that caused it; that lazy cuss was smoking in bed. The arrow in his back was just an early form of piercing.

7 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

I love the attraction posters too. I don't remember them being in front of the floral Mickey...when did those disappear? I do remember the attraction posters around the monorail posts in the parking lot, along the back walls of Carnation Gardens, and along the walls of the Penny Arcade. I miss all of them! And they should only have vintage posters hanging in the entrance tunnels! And they should return the Penny Arcade and Carnation Gardens back to their original glory! And they should also re-ignite the burning cabin! Change is bad!

The Viewliner Limited said...

Great music and cool posters = Great Pics. Thanks again Major.

outsidetheberm said...

Love that old shot of the burning settler's cabin.

Did you see the construction shot we posted of it back on the 20th of February? It's better in color!

Mike said...

Major,

As always, thanks for the slides! Old Tom Sawyer's Island sure looks a bit naked there in that last one! By the time I was bringing the Mark Twain around the bend, they'd pulled the arrow out of the settler's back and made him into a sleeping moonshiner whose still caught fire to the cabin---endangering an eagle's nest!

The attraction posters are awesome! Those guys did them right the first time!

Mike
Jungleis101.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

Take me back,
To the Disneyland of my dreams.
Were I raced to rides,
And listened to the band,
On a summer’s afternoon.

jedblau said...

Fantastic shot of the posters.

Major Pepperidge said...

Thanks as always for the great comments, folks. And thanks for the Haiku (I know, it's probably not really a Haiku), Shortfellow!