Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Main Street, The Magic Kingdom - November 1971

We're continuing our look at some very early Magic Kingdom (that's in Florida, folks) photos, taken on a beautiful November day in 1971. It was the Thanksgiving break, and while "Mr. X" described it as very busy, it looks pretty sedate in most of his pictures.

Here's a neat photo of the Emporium 


As always, I get a kick out of looking at the people in these vintage pictures. I especially like the lady with the big hair, cape, and patriotic-striped pants.


Meanwhile, just off of Town Square was "Le Chapeau" - "Gentlemens & Ladies' Hats" (what if you need a hat for your teacup chihuahua?). I would march right in and demand something "floppy; casual, but not jejune; most importantly, it must have panache".

How about that Coca-Cola hat on the lady to our right? I am generally opposed to wearing clothing with giant logos (Nike, etc); why would I pay to be a walking advertisement for a giant company? I might make an exception for Disneyland stuff (though I don't wear that either). Hey, it's a free country, people can do what makes them happy!

The man in the middle is detail-oriented, and is taking a photo of the gas lamp with its tasteful Christmas decor. I wonder what else he took photos of?


13 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

As sparsely-populated as these images seem to indicate, it IS hard not to notice the lady in the first image sporting that outfit featuring those stripy pants. We can also easily spy two other young gents wearing stripped pants, too. (Although I like to consider myself a fairly snappy dresser, I can honestly say I never owned or wore any stripped pants. Hey - I guess that does make me a snappy dresser, after all).

Thanks Major & Mr. X for more luscious images from the WDW Magic Kingdom - @ Xmas time, no less.

TokyoMagic! said...

That lady's patriotic ensemble almost looks like a costume. I wonder if she could have been a member of a musical group, such as Up With People or Hooray For Everything.

Anonymous said...

@ Nanook

Underneath those "stripped" pants she's wearing her Freudian slip.

Gnometrek said...

I believe the Christmas wreath on the gas lamp is a hidden Mickey and I have a confession to make. I had a pair of red, white and blue striped pants.

K. Martinez said...

Actually there's a few guys in that photo wearing striped flare pants as well. Subtler but still striped pants. The kid with the reddish tan shirt near the Xmas tree has striped pants. In the blowup, the guy in the bright yellow shirt is wearing them too. Also the little boy in sky blue hooded jacket. These photos are dated 1971. That's about the right time for this style as I had several pairs of striped flares that I wore in the early 1970's too. I used to think I was cool wearing them. I completely forgot about that style until seeing it here.

Early WDW always a winner in my book. Thanks, Major.

Chuck said...

That woman with the floppy hat in the third photo just wants to teach the world to sing.

I had quite a collection of striped trousers around this time, several of which were made by my mom. At Easter, we were going through some family photos from the early-to-mid-'70s and a blue-and-white striped pair of pants showed up on my dad in several pictures. She told me he finally got rid of them a month or two before, although neither of us can remember him wearing them since the '70s. That means they'll probably be back in style this fall.

Gnometrek said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nanook said...

@ Anonymous-

I think it was something about "too many "P's" spoiling the something-or-another..." It serves me right for posting at the start of the witching hour.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, this was around the time that my family lived in Huntington Beach, and I clearly remember having several pairs of striped pants. One pair was multicolored… very thin stripes of olive green, blue, yellow, etc. I think the stripes were popular among the surfers.

TokyoMagic!, it’s the cape that really makes it look like a costume. Maybe she has super powers?

Anonymous, I am going to make my fortune selling slips that ladies can wear beneath pants!

Gnometrek, don’t be ashamed of those pants! It’s time to forgive yourself (but blame your mom and dad).

K. Martinez, I would worry if someone was wearing a white jumpsuit with horizontal black stripes. And as I said to Nanook, surfers wore stripes at the time, and who is more cool than surfers?

Chuck, I want to teach the world harmony. Seeing the floppy hats in the window of Le Chapeau reminds me of watching the original “Stepford Wives” movie a few years ago… when the various wives were turned into doe-eyed robots, they often were shown wearing these big floppy hats. It must have really been a fashion trend at the time, because now it is kind of hilarious.

Comment deleted, what dirty thing did you say?

Nanook, one of my favorite things about blogging is reading one of my posts in the morning and discovering some typo or other error! It happens all too often.

TokyoMagic! said...

I had a pair of striped pants in the second grade. They were navy with white, red and tan stripes. I remember that there was another kid in my class that had the same pants. I guess both of our mom's shopped at Sears. I used to wear mine with those polyester shirts that had the zipper that only came about a quarter of the way down the front of the shirt. The zippers always had a large metal "pull" that was in the shape of a circle or a rectangle. Man, weren't the seventies just the best, as far as fashion goes?

Chuck said...

TM! - I had a Raiders sweater with the same kind of pull ring on it. I can remember sucking on it in church because I liked the tang of the metal.

I also had a friend with older brothers in a family on a tight budget who was STILL wearing polyester shirts as you described in 1980. He took some ribbing for that.

TokyoMagic! said...

Chuck, ewwww! I guess it would be somewhat cleaner than sucking on pennies. Were your friend's shirts ribbed? Hey, I bought a couple of those vintage shirts on ebay about 15 years ago and wore them out to a nightclub that had a "retro disco" night, because I had such fond memories of them as a child. I didn't go as far as buying the pants, however.

Chuck said...

I don't know if they were ribbed per se, but they did have a vertical weave pattern in them. I kind of liked them, but then again I was always partial to those clothing styles due to fond memories of the period. Not that I would ever have worn them by 1980, but I could still admire them - and the guts it took to withstand the taunts of fellow fifth graders while wearing them/