Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Walking Up Main Street, April 1969

It's time to spend a bit more time with Fun Mom, the most funnest mom in the whole world. She's extra fun today, because she is wearing day-glo pink. I hardly ever wear day-glo pink! 

It's an overcast day in April, and the family is walking past the Main Street Cinema. The Tobacco Store Indian appears to be observing them. Professor Henry Higgins (I calls 'im "'Enry 'Iggins") stands with his arms crossed in the distance!


"Hey, everyone, turn around! I want to get your faces in the picture!". Nobody looks pleased. I see that "Meddling Women" starring Lionel Barrymore is playing at the Cinema - does anybody know how they used to show movies in there? Were there still six different screens with different movies?


We're almost to the Hub, and Dad is snapping photos like they're going out of style. I'm not complaining! I suppose it might have been a bit easier to maneuver with a stroller by walking in the street, but even in nutty 1969 it wasn't done much.


14 comments:

  1. Major-

    That's quite the clan. (Five kids-?) In spite of Fun Mom's® presence, it's hard not to acknowledge daughter's-? most-amazing flower print pants-! Definitely Flower Power personified. She definitely needs to hang-out at the Flower Mart.

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. Disneyland's Main Street looks so much like a real old-timey town that I catch myself straining to read the shop signs, as if I didn't know what stores they had.

    I can't decide who's cuter - Little Miss Daisypants or the Kleen-Kut Gang loitering around the lamppost.

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  3. Am I seeing things or are the toes of mom's shoes pointing slightly upward, like Genie or Munchkin shoes?

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  4. Chuck2:55 AM

    In the last photo, behind Fun Mom's...sister? Cousin? Handmaid? Whatever. My eyes are actually drawn to how tall that blond guy in black is. I realize some of the perception is based on the angle of the photo and the fact that he's on the curb and the Fun Mom Five Plus One are in the street, but...dang. I can't help but be reminded of Robert Wadlow (born 100 years ago within an hour of my keyboard).

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  5. There are two things I can't get enough of from GDB. Fun Mom and Main Street snaps. I have to confess though, I only wear hot pink when I am alone or with people, but FM can really pull off the look. Dad certainly is a true shutterbug, lucky for us. I think that might be enry iggins in the backgound, however, after visiting my unusually strange mind, I think that hat may be a Deerstalker. Could it be ... Sherlock Holmes? The game's afoot! Thanks Major for the neato scans.

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  6. Fun Mom probably glowed like a house a-fire in the Fantasyland dark rides, and in Rainbow Caverns. She has a sartorial sister in the 3rd photo, standing under the Refreshment sign and also clad in Winchell's Raspberry Pink.

    TokyoMagic!, those sure look Genie shoes, maybe the family was staying at the Magic Lamp Motel across Katella, and the clogs were complimentary.

    Major, I think my love of silent movies started in the Main Street Cinema, where the six different flicks were most likely screened in looping 16mm. I remember a shortened version of the 1920 "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", with John Barrymore's hair-raising transformation scene; "The Great Train Robbery" shown in full; a western serial with dashing star Jack Holt; and of course the one Mickey Mouse show, "Steamboat Willie" which was cheating a bit as it was the first sound cartoon, though always a pleasure to see. It was cleaned up some, the original version has some raunchy and violent gags which wouldn't fly today.

    Many thanks for the look back!

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  7. Patrick Devlin9:20 AM

    Well it's 10:50 on a pleasant Wednesday morning and we're on our way to get pancakes at Aunt Jemima's. Or at least I think I am...

    I find it a bit shocking that Fun Mom is pushing a stroller that is no less than the full size of a baby stroller! It's not nearly big enough for the car seat, the extra bottled water (the wha??), the baby changing equipment, the souvenir purchases, and the general changes of clothes that everyone will need at some point in the day. Don't worry, she'll learn...

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  8. Certainly the multi screen cinema in 1968 sparked my interest in silent film as well! Lon Chaney in The Huncback Of Norte Dame stands in my memory for sure!

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  9. The switch from vintage silent films to early Mickey Mouse films came about for Tokyo Disneyland’s Main Street Cinema attraction. It was decided that the Japanese guests would not relate to the nostalgia of the early “western culture” early films. Eventually in 1985 because of very low attendance to the Main Street Cinemas at Disneyland & Walt Disney World - due part to the discontinued A - E Coupon system - the America attractions also were switched to the early Mickey Films.

    Today Disneyland is the only Disney Park with a fully functioning Main Street Cinema attraction still operating.

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  10. Nanook, I’m not 100% sure that all of the kids are Fun Mom’s… but it is possible! Those flower pants remind me of some that my little sister used to wear, though I think hers had red flowers on a white base.

    Melissa, be sure to stop by the olde-fashioned wig store. See displays of wigs throughout the ages, including early examples made from moss. While you’re there, why not try on a few wigs just for fun?

    TokyoMagic!, egads, you are right - they DO curl up! Crazy. Maybe Fun Mom can grant three wishes.

    Chuck, at first I thought the Man in Black just looked tall because everyone around him was in the street, but darn, he really is tall! Perhaps he played “Gort” in “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. Robert Wadlow, they have a freaky scultpure of him at the Hollywood “Guiness Book of World Records” museum (what a tourist trap!), it stands up, and then sits back down.

    Jonathan, in the 80’s I had some clothing with some day-glo highlights (a few shirts with bright yellow squiggles, or whatever), but man, a whole hot pink outfit. That is making a statement. Meanwhile, now I want a Sherlock Holmes mystery that takes place in Disneyland!

    Stefano, I never thought of that, but I’ll bet you are right! Just think of the brilliant pink glow. Pretty cool! I can honestly say that I haven’t seen shoes with curled up toes before (on a regular person, that is), so crazy. If you love silent movies because of the Main Street Cinema, then it has done a great service! I love them too, but didn’t grow to appreciate them until a film class in college. I was blown away by some of them and had no idea that they could be so incredible. “Steamboat Willie”, I hope they have not done a George Lucas and made the original, uncut version unavailable. Pulling on some pig “parts” (or whatever) is not so egregious as to need censorship 80 years later.

    Patrick Devlin, gosh, we never even thought about sitting down for a nice breakfast at Disneyland. It was go go GO the whole time. I admit that I am jealous of your more relaxed approach. Fun Mom was sensible (in spite of her eye-popping wardrobe) and only brought what she needed to the park. No “SUV” sized strollers for her!

    fromnabulax, did you read “Famous Monsters of Filmland” magazine? That was my favorite thing ever, and to this day I have a love of monster movies (good, bad, and cheesy). Lon Chaney was the king, along with Boris, Bela, Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, Lon Chaney Jr., and so on. So much fun!

    Mike Cozart, As always, thank you for the info. Doesn’t the Disneyland Main Street Cinema still function? I think I’d heard that the one in Florida was now a store, or was that Hong Kong?

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  11. While you’re there, why not try on a few wigs just for fun?

    You just, but we used to love going to Rothschild's just to ride the wooden escalator and try on wigs. Those were the days! Well, these are the days, too, I guess; just not those.

    There were a couple of years in the early nineties when I found myself owning more than a few clothes in a similar shade of hot raspberry pink. I didn't plan it that way. I didn't really even notice until someone called me "Miss Bismol."

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  12. @ Miss Bismol-

    As Carly Simon once intoned: ...'cause these are the good old days.

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  13. Yes - Disneyland ( California ) is the only surviving MAIN ST CINEMA attraction.

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  14. Anonymous1:36 PM

    Having started April 1969 at Hills Brothers, this really takes me back and reminds me how much time has passed. I later worked the Cinema for a few days taking those A tickets and watching the people walk by. A memory sticks out that while standing along the right side entry, a young girl walked up to the ticket booth and attempted to hand tickets to the mannequin inside only to have her father point out that she should hand him to me instead. Confused, she blurted out "You must be a dummy to work here!". To which I politely said, "Yes that's true." with a smile. :) KS

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