Monday, December 11, 2017

Main Street, December 1967

The word of the day is "festoon".

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so it's the perfect time to share some snapshots of Disneyland's Main Street during the Christmas season fifty years ago.

At first glance this doesn't look very festive, until one notices that the photo is framed by trees covered in ornaments, and that Main Street Station is bedecked in some modest (by today's standards) garlands. The driver of the Horse Drawn Streetcar is wondering where all the guests are. Guess they're more interested in that new pirate ride than some old horse. Progress? Bah!  


Disneyland is not just for kids, as these two fellows discovered. Mr. Blue Cardigan looks like he ran all the way from Main Street Station, and suddenly became aware of how uncool that was. First of all, who walks down the middle of the street? Not in America, pal! His buddy documented the whole sordid incident with his Kodak Brownie. 


Main Street looks wonderful, I love those garlands, bells, and wreaths. Notice the bells that festoon the light posts too. I also kind of like it when you see the guests dressed in cool-weather clothing for the few months that it gets down into the 60's and even (egads) the 50's. 


15 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Who says Christmas decorations have to scream BIG, BIGGER, BIGGEST-! These decorations seem just perfect to me. And, Major - mentioning temperatures in the 50's - well, them's fightin' words-! For So. California, that's "two-sweater weather"-! (And, per chance an ascot).

Thanks, Major.

DrGoat said...

Have to agree. Those decorations are just right.
Also agree about he weather. The 50's are down right frigid here in Tucson. No ascot though. A bolo tie maybe.

Melissa said...

All the girls on the sidewalk are starting and giggling at Mr. Cardigan's tomfoolery. What *will* that young cutup do next?

Wardrobe provided by Blue and Brown Bros. of Anaheim.

Clyde Hughes said...

These are magnificent decorations! Very tasteful and just right. None of that blinding light, airport landing light stuff.
The clothing is wonderful.
I wonder about that chap running down the middle of main street...right on the trolley tracks, too! His hair looks a little damp...maybe he broke a sweat running, or it was raining that day. It does seem that 'our' photographer and the one in the photo were engaged in some photographer's game, possibly.
I recall when department stores would be similarly tastefully arrayed in similar decor.

Melissa said...

Disneyland was paid for with cartoonery,
But when I go, I go for the festoonery.
You'll see more in December than in Junery,
Each winter morning, night, and afternoonery.
The Bank on Main Street festoons its tycoonery;
The Golden Horseshoe likewise its saloonery,
Where Disney cowpokes in their Daniel Boonery
Polish and festoonery the brass spittoonery.
Street vendors with their bouquets of balloonery,
Sweet young couples in their honeymoonery,
Big-band warblers singing old-time croonery,
Barbershop quartets in their fine tunery,
Topiaries clipped to perfect prunery,
Scurvy pirates dripping with doubloonery,
Lovely mermaids in their blue lagoonery,
And Davy, Davy Crockett in his stylish hat of furry-tailed raccoonery,
They all love the festoonery.



Chuck said...

I don't think I've ever seen a short-sleeved cardigan before. I don't doubt their existence - my father had a short-sleeved sweatshirt from his college days that he wore as a painting, mowing, and oil change shirt until it finally disintegrated in the wash more than 25 years later - but this is a new concept to me.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I have to admit that the more lights and stuff they put up in the park, the more guests seem to like it, so maybe I’m way off on this one. And I don’t think I’ve ever worn two sweaters! At that point, the jacket comes out of mothballs.

DrGoat, yes, a bolo tie, maybe with silver tips and a turquoise slide. You can’t go wrong!

Melissa, all that matters to him is that the girls are paying attention.

Clyde Hughes, I agree, I thought that Mr. Blue Cardigan’s hair looked a bit plastered-down. Maybe it’s already in the early stages of falling out? It happens. I still get a kick out of walking through department stores at Christmas - the sheer amount of STUFF piled everywhere, just waiting for my wallet, can’t help but impress.

Melissa, you’ve done it again! I am imagining this poem as if read out loud by Boris Karloff. At first I was going to say how surprised I am at the lack of “baboonery”, but you did say “Daniel Boonery”, which is close enough.

Chuck, I assumed the sleeves were rolled up, but now I see that you are correct. Perhaps that blue cardigan had a long and happy life, like your dad's sweatshirt. Nowadays, people just cut the sleeves off of their sweatshirts!

Anonymous said...

Major, these are wonderful pics overall. Back when a little was enough.

I have occasionally worn cardigans (and now fleece jackets) with the sleeves pushed up as a momentary means of cooling off, so it's not inconceivable that blue boy is warmed up.

Still a sartorial foul, but possible.

His hair is disheveled (a fancy word meaning that he combed it with a shovel), so maybe he is overheated from running or hurrying.

JG

Melissa said...

I've sorn short-sleeved sweater twinsets, but I'm a girl.

Nanook said...

Major-

I could easily hear Billy Collins waxing poetic with Melissa's incredible verbiage. Touché, Melissa-!

Chuck said...

I imagine everything as if read aloud by Boris Karloff.

Tom said...

I like to switch between reading things as Morgan Freeman and then Paul Harvey.

Melissa said...

Same here, except on Thursdays when Redd Foxx takes over.

Major Pepperidge said...

JG, I guess it is embarrassing to admit that I like to wear animal pelts to keep warm It worked for the cavemen, so it’s good enough for me.

Melissa, I don’t know what a “twinset” is!

Nanook, who is Billy Collins?! Any relation to Barnabas?

Chuck, that is the reason why you are always cheerful and well-adjusted.

Tom, ha ha, Paul Harvey… “Good day!”. My dad LOVED Paul Harvey. Just thinking about him makes me want to buy some J.B. Weld.

Melissa, Redd Foxx - whoa, is he working “blue” in your head??

Nanook said...

Major-

Billy Collins is the former Poet Laureate of the U.S. (2001-2003). In one review it stated: “Rarely has anyone written poems that appear so transparent on the surface yet become so ambiguous, thought-provoking, or simply wise once the reader has peered into the depths.” He is often heard on A Prairie Home Companion and his reading style is both 'wicked and wonderful'.