Firehouse Five, August 28 1965

Most of you know about the Firehouse Five (plus two!), a Dixieland jazz band that was originally formed in the 1940's by a group of writers, animators and artists. They eventually achieved quite a bit of success in various clubs (such as the famed Mocambo). They also performed at Disneyland regularly! The personnel changed over the years, but I will make a guess (based on several references) at who's who: On the left is Frank Thomas on piano (one of Disney's "Nine Old Men"); Dick Roberts on banjo, and hidden behind him, George Probert on saxophone.On drums, Monte Mountjoy. Partially obscured, Don Kinch on helicon (sort of like a sousaphone), and up front, Danny Alguire on cornet. And finally, grinning like the Cheshire Cat (and looking right at us!) is Ward Kimball holding his trombone. Pretty cool!


Here's another great picture, from July 27, 1968. There's a saxophone quartet of Keystone Cops - - something you don't see every day. They're inside the INA Carefree Corner - maybe it was really hot outside. Oh, how I wish I had one of those hats, I'm sure that the metal badge was something incredibly cool. Matterhorn1959 probably has one!