Golden Horseshoe Revue, November 1972
I have a few unusual interiors from the Golden Horseshoe! By 1972, the Revue had been running for 17 years, and it still had another 14 years to go! Wow.
This first picture was taken from the balcony, with Fulton Burley fronting a bevy of beauties who have walked right off of the cover of the "Police Gazette". Any idea what Fulton would have been singing at this point in the show? Maybe "Beautiful Dreamer"?
Before the show, when the house lights were on, our photographer snapped this shot looking toward the bar, where guests could get an ice cold Pepsi ("Put it in a dirty glass!").
14 comments:
Major-
Some pretty swell pictures of the GHR. Brings back memories of sitting in the stage right box while watching the show, probably back in 1964.
Thanks, Major.
The bar view image is nice. Love the glow.
I wish they'd return Billy Hill and the Hillbillies back to the Golden Horseshoe instead of having them perform at Big Thunder Ranch.
I love the cute little girl looking up at the photographer in the second picture while her identically-dressed sister looks away. I wonder if they’re twins, or just dressed and coiffed exactly the same, like my sister and me at that age. I wonder if they’re related to the photographer, or if they’re just the ghostly daughters of the saloon’s previous caretaker, who developed cabin fever and killed his family and himself, and now they approach little boys who wander away from their parents and ask them to come ride Peter Pan's Flight with them, forever and ever.
Rare quality pictures, hard to capture even today with modern equipment.
This is a fun place, always enjoy the show, even if I had seen a dozen times.
JG
Nanook, you are very lucky to have seen the show at its very peak! Must have been amazing.
K. Martinez, I totally agree; I watched Billy Hill and the Hillbillies years ago and it was a lot of fun. What are they doing in the Golden Horseshoe instead? Nothing?
Melissa, I was going to make a joke about the little girls from The Shining, but you beat me to it. Grandma just threw a rotten tomato at us.
JG, I never saw the original show, much to my sorrow.
It was always a treat to chat with the cast while in the break area above AJs during those years. Wish the first pic was clearer as I'm sure I'd recognize some of the girls in that shot. Former CM
I really tried to work the bartender into the Shining reference, because he's even got mirrors back there, but it just didn't work. Two big, juicy ones for me, Grandma.
That kind of looks like Wendy's founder Dave Thomas in the white shirt over to the left. I wonder if he's there as an industrial spy, checking out Disneyland food service quality. That means the lady in the red-and-white checked dress is probably Little Caesar's Pizza co-founder Marian Ilitch on a similar mission.
Meanwhile, a disgruntled, black-shirted Jack Lord stews in the foreground because he, of all people, couldn't get a table at the Tahitian Terrace.
Major - while the Billies are up at Big Thunder Jamboree this Summer whooping it up with Woody and Jesse (ugh - don't get me started) the Laughing Stock Company performs skits on stage in the Horseshoe. They are very good and used to perform out front of the 'Shoe. Some idiot manager thinks they are a better "fit" inside the 'Shoe then the Hillbillies. There are many of us upset over this whole business. They will keep the Billies up at Big Thunder through Halloween and Christmas and then move them back inside after the New Year (that's what they did last year).
The song Fulton's singing is 'The Girl on the Police Gazette'...
"Some fellows see the girl that they love in a dream... Some fellows find their love in a rippling stream! I saw the girl that I can't forget on the cover of the Police Gazette... if I could find her life would be peaches and cream!
Oh, my search will never cease
for the Girl on the Police Gazette, for the charming young coquette on the pink Police Gazette... "
I agree with Melissa and Irene about the Billy's. I'm a big fan. Great show and lots of fun. Hope they get back indoors before they catch a cold. I always thought they were an apt replacement for the old show that had run it's course.
That being said the original show is classic. Betty Taylor was a true beauty and Fulton Burley a great singer. Wally Boag was a multi-talent with great timing. He was a big inspiration to a young Steve Martin (former DL employee)who used to watch him perform the show repeatedly.
One of my favorite dvd's is the Golden Horseshoe anniversary show found on the Walt Disney treasures "Secrets, Stories and Magic. Check you local library as copies on ebay run close to $200.
Wally and Betty passed away within 24 hrs of each other (both in their 90's). Walt probably told God they could put on a good show for that Saturday night and convinced him to bring them both up(almost) together.
Anon, if you search "Golden Horseshoe" on my blog, you will see a few clearer pictures of various GH waitresses; depending on when you worked there, maybe you will recognize one of them!
Irene, what a bummer; I haven't seen the Laughing Stock Company, so maybe they are great, but Billy Hill seemed to fit the venue nicely.
Dreemfinder, thank you for the info about the song! I knew I'd be wrong, but I had to at least take a stab at guessing.
Alonzo, luckily I have that Walt Disney Treasures disk (had no idea it was such hot property), and I really do love the GH anniversary show, even though it is not exactly the show that regular guest would see (with Annette and Ed Wynn).
Ooops, sorry Melissa, didn't mean to skip you! I hope Dave Thomas learned what NOT to do, as the food at Disneyland was never that great back in those days. Apparently it has improved recently. "Little Caesar's Pizza co-founder Marian Ilitch"…. I had no idea!
Major, I really only saw the original show once or maybe twice, but I could have watched it forever.
Billy Hill & co. are splendid replacements. What is running in the GHS if they are outside at Big Thunder?
JG
I'm glad someone mentioned it was The Girl in the Police Gazette.
When I was in high school in the mid-1960s, my freshman English teacher (whom I'm still in touch with) worked weekends, holidays and summers at The Golden Horseshoe, seating people. So for years, whenever I was going to the park, I'd call him at home first, and he'd reserve me a stage box for whichever performance I wanted to see. Consequently, I saw this show over 20 times, always from the stage boxes, a few times from Walt's Private box (which I could only have if Walt was not in the park. If he was there, they kept his box vacant for him).
Wally and Betty not only died within 24 hours of each other, but of the same cause, Alzheimer's, which, if that was "God" calling them up to perform for him, is a damned cruel way to do it. I spoke with Wally's son, Laurence Boag, a few months before they died. He said that on his dad's good days "he knows who I am." He said Betty thought the hospital she was in was an hotel, so she was at least content to be there.
I'm glad to have the TV version of the show (And glad I bought "Secrets, Stories and Magic the day it was released, when it was still reasonably priced), but I find it too slick, too edited, too cleaned up, and too much missing Fulton Burley, especially with all the people in it who were not really in the show at all, like Annette, Ed Wynn, and Gene Sheldon. I prefer the home videos I have of the show in real performance, with Wally's more ribald quips and ad-libs intact, and his timing not ruined with editing to close-ups. Wally was magnificent.
His autobiography, Wally Boag: Clown Prince of Disneyland, is essential for any true Disneyland lover's bookshelves. I treasure my copy.
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