Thursday, February 04, 2010

Disneyland Stamp Book, 1956

Today I'm featuring one of my favorite Disneyland items: this 1956 Disneyland Stamp Book. It was a mere 50 cents (although that's the equivalent of about $4 today). Like the cover says, there are "50 brilliant color photographs of Disneyland...", printed on gummed paper so that kids could find the appropriate spots inside the book and apply them. Or you can stick them on mom's furniture and dad's car.


Check it out... "Photographs by Russ Meyer and the Walt Disney Studios". See, I told you this was awesome! For those of you who might not know, Russ Meyer went on to fame (just a few years later) as the director of many infamous low-budget sexploitation films. But in 1956, he was mostly working as a photographer. Read all about him at your local library, kids.


On this first page of stamps, there are a few particularly interesting shots, such as the "Spaceport for Rocket to the Moon", which appears to be a picture of a miniature model. The "Yellowstone Park Carry-All" is neat, as is the early photo of the Canal Boat.


Love that photo of the helicopter, as well as the "Pilot as Space Station X-1", and the Autopia.


Now we get some nice horizontal panoramic views including the wonderful Phantom Boats, the Covered Wagon, and the Freight Train.


And lastly, there's a nice picture of the TWA Moonliner, another nice train photo (this time it's the Passenger Train), and the very first Indian Village.

10 comments:

  1. Sometimes I just have to let my envey show:
    drool drool drooling some more.
    In the language of the internet....WANTS!
    Thank you for this, yet something else to desire.

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  2. I think I see Kitten Natividad in the covered wagon

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  3. AWESOME!!!! Never, ever seen one before!

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  4. Well, that was a deliciously diverting divertemento. My favorite was the one looking down main street from the castle battlements. I've NEVER seen that angle before.

    I've never thought of this before, but does the picture of the space port building look like a naked lady? I guess sex fiends really do take good pictures.

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  5. Anonymous1:54 PM

    Gotta love the interior shots of the Fantasyland dark rides, showing the original painted flats before the rides became more three dimensional. I've never seen them before.

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  6. GORGEOUS! :D

    a rare shot of the phantom boats...

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  7. Super neat! Nice shape, I have one that's used and faded. Fun to see all those early photos, that "Space port" has got to be a model. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. What a great copy! Ours is a basket case.

    Thanks for a 'clean' view.

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  9. Maj, do you think any of those would hold up to a close up scan? I know they might be too blurry. If they will, I sure wouldn't complain if you posted some of the rarer shots scanned closer. The original Indian Village, some of those Frontierland and even the flags on Main St. one, there's a lot of neat early pics on those!

    I probably would've stuck 'em onto my record player and fridge. :)

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  10. Chiana, I will have to try to scan your requests sometime this weekend, or perhaps monday. The printing is OK, not the greatest, so I'm not sure that big scans would look that good.

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