Here are a couple of fun photos of a mother and her two boys enjoying Disneyland in 1961!
The day was overcast, and the slides had turned slightly bluish, so the park looks rather cold and gloomy. That won't get our trio down. Here's mom and her boys posing in front of the wonderful Omnibus. Who ever heard of a bus with an upstairs? It also had a basement, but you don't see that in photos. To the extreme left, two girls (wearing souvenir hats) climb the steps to the upper level - I hope there's room for them.
Note to the mom: Elton John called, and he wants his glasses back! She looks great though, I admire her daring sense of style. Note that the Moonliner is covered with scaffolding, just like in this 1958 photo; perhaps the TWA livery is being removed (it became the Douglas Moonliner in 1962)? I based the 1961 date on a previously-posted photo in which we can see a man holding a '61 guidebook, but I know that they sold guidebooks from previous years until they were out of them. So perhaps these photos are from 1962.
I don't recognize the bag that the younger boy is holding - it might be from the Market House on Main Street. I wish I could see it better!
Major-
ReplyDeleteOuh là là-! Those sunglasses are the living end-!
Thanks, Major.
What Nanook said! I love those glasses. And it's interesting that the kids are both wearing nice sport coats, but with blue jeans. I thought that was more of a modern day thing. Maybe these kids started the trend!
ReplyDeleteAlso, you can't tell from the pic, but the original Disneyland Omnibus was a city block long and had a bowling alley in it's basement.
ReplyDeletePopcorn box alert in the first photo. Last weekend, my wife and I watched the DWWoC episode featuring the (roughly) 10,000th performance of the "Golden Horseshoe Revue," and I couldn't help but notice all of the DL popcorn boxes on the guest tables. And that made me wonder...were they just props for the shoot, or did they actually have popcorn in them that the audience was allowed to eat?
ReplyDeleteAs somebody commented when that 1958 Moonliner photo was posted, that scaffolding in the second photo looks like a launch gantry. With it painted all white in this photo, it looks even more like an actual rocket from the era.
In that same photo, note the all-natural wood hitching post to our right of the boys. I know it's a real piece of wood, but that curve in the crosspiece adds to its charm. It there still a hitching post there? If so, I'm going to guess it's now fiberglass, which would ward off termites from Tom Sawyer Island.
Behind the post are two nearly-identically-dressed men. Cast members or fraternity brothers?
To the left of them, just above the boy on the right, is a kid in a Confederate kepi. I'm guessing they don't sell those at Disneyland anymore.
I was his Union counterpart on a 1976 visit. As you may have read in Van France's Window on Main Street, Walt insisted on organizing everyone at Disneyland after his experiences during the 1941 strike, and the vague language in one of the establishing charters implied everyone wearing Civil War-era clothing in the Park needed to join. My parents signed me up just to be safe, but not that kid. I can tell just by looking at him that he's a Rebel.
TM!, the bowling alley was right next to the Olympic-sized swimming pool, down the hall from the basketball court. I've seen pictures on the Internet.
I spy the Monsanto House in the first photo behind the violet pants suit lady. I bet those heels sun glass mom is wearing are super uncomfortable for a day of walking around the park. Ouch. I love the sport coats, they both look like young Ben Siegels. The two guys in the background of the second photo look like Alan Shepard and Gordo Cooper, on their way to check out the Moonliner no doubt. The guy on the left with the white shoes looks like a mob Don. is that a bottle of bath tub gin in his hand? Great shots today Major, thanks.
ReplyDeleteI love how photo bomb girl with the popcorn has a look like (Wtf is up with those glasses!). The next frame would have her tripping on the curb.
ReplyDeleteGloom or no gloom these shots are aces. Thanks.
TM, wasn't that the Big Omnibus that was driven by Joseph Balogna with co-driver John Beck?
ReplyDeleteThanks Major, I laughed out loud looking at these pix. Those sunglasses would be the envy of Dame Edna, who was "born" at around the same time. And scowling girl with popcorn box has done her hair a la Hayley Mills in "The Parent Trap". Whatever the problems of that era were, people sure dressed and groomed themselves better (and more interestingly).
ReplyDeleteNanook, those shades are so wild, I’m surprised that they were something that was sold in stores. She was ahead of her time.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, a few years later the boys also invented the sideways baseball cap, and an early version of the fanny pack.
TokyoMagic!, when I was a kid, I would sometimes read about a rich person having a bowling alley in their home, and to me that was the height of luxury (and decadence)!
Chuck, it’s been a while since I’ve watched the Golden Horseshoe episode, but I seem to remember one little boy in particular who is shown laughing and holding a popcorn box (it could just be a case of my brain inventing that scene entirely) but I wouldn’t be surprised if there was actually popcorn in the box! The use of real wood for the hitching posts was controversial. “Aluminum is where it’s at, Daddy-o!”, some people claimed. And they would be right. Now that you’ve mentioned the kepi, I agree that confederate items of any kind might not be so well received. I wonder if they sell any Civil War-related items any more (like the Cavalry hats that are common in old photos)? I had no idea that the old Omnibuses were so well-appointed; too bad ours were sent to Disney World. How did they find trucks large enough to transport them?
Jonathan, yep, there’s the plastic house, trying its best to not be noticed. It must have been molting. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for ladies to wear shoes like that, but perhaps a lifetime of suffering made them tough as nails. Gosh, the park had mobsters, astronauts, and Elton John’s mother, all in one day!
Alonzo, photo bomb girl might have realized that she needed a new look (“My entire life has been a charade!”), and crazy glasses and leopard-print blouses were in her future.
K. Martinez, I am obviously not getting your reference! Is it an “I Love Lucy” thing?
Stefano, I have to love that this lady wore those outrageous glasses. The Dame Edna comparison seems apt. And looking up “The Parent Trap”, you were right on the money, it came out in ’61. Even looking at photos from the late 60’s, guests still generally looked neat and tidy. The later 70’s and early 80’s can really be awful, though!
I think the Kepi is a Johnny Yuma thing from the TV show, The Rebel. It was around about that time with Nick Adams.
ReplyDeleteI saw the first photo and immediately thought of Elton John and was mentally composing my comment before I read your commetary. And I rarely do anything mentally in the morning.
I appreciate the sport coats but it looks like they may have rolled them up for pillows the night before. And young sport coat has definitely reached maximum pants cuffage.
Fun pics, as usual.
dz
Major, No, it's not an "I Love Lucy" thing. It's in reference to the disaster movie parody "The Big Bus" from 1976, which came out four years before that other disaster parody "Airplane". They had a bowling alley and I believe a swimming pool on that nuclear powered bus.
ReplyDeleteAmazing that these young fellows wore sport jackets to the Park. Until I saw closeups, I thought they also wore ties, but am relieved to see that this is not the case.
ReplyDeleteThe sunglasses are really amazing.
Plus One for the Big Bus references, fun movie. No one wants to ride in the basement of the bus anyway, might as well put the pool and bowling alley down there. When riding the London doubledeckers some years ago, it was amazing to see the amount of camera surveillance on those vehicles, and the data recorded ("accelerating", "braking" etc.) Only a matter of time till it arrives in Disneyland.
You're right, the rocket looks even more real with a gantry. Love seeing the US colors in the distance.
More antlers on the blockhouse. You can see the gunslits and rifles too. As I recall, you could climb up there and "shoot" passers-by similar to Ft. Wilderness.
@Chuck, I think there is a chance that the young men in matching IBM (or Air Force) gear are Disney staff, although probably from Burbank HQ, not CM's per se. I was told by an acquaintance who worked at WED Burbank that the architects and design teams would do periodic field trips to the Park to study some feature or other while working on new things. Their dress code for field trips were as strict as those for CM's but without visible corporate ID or name tags etc. He also said it was a tradition on these visits to try to ask out the mermaids on dates. Apparently he was not successful in that effort. I can't confirm any of the foregoing other than that I am reporting accurately what I was told by sources believed to be reliable.
Thanks for the pictures today, Major.
JG
I didn't know Catwoman had kids. Come to think of it, those boys do look a little bit like a certain eccentric millionaire.
ReplyDeleteIf there's no room upstairs, I'm sure they'll let the girls ride in the roof.
I asolutely love the rebel ladies in dungarees and sneakers crossing in front of the Omnibus. If there was a third I'd call them The Witches of Main Street.
David Zacher, I don’t remember Johnny Yuma, but I’ll bet YouTube has some clips of it (if not entire episodes). I personally know Nick Adams from “Frankenstein Conquers the World”, the greatest movie ever. Elton John was just in town for his farewell tour, so he has been in the news lately. Plus, who doesn’t like Elton?
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, man, I don’t even remember hearing or reading about “The Big Bus”. I assume it has a cult following.
JG, whenever I see boys in sport coats, I assume that it was a Sunday… but perhaps not. How could I not be aware of “The Big Bus”? My brother is a cult movie fanatic, he loves all kinds of obscure and forgotten films. Funny, I also was thinking that those two guys might be Disney staff; great minds think alike. Sadly there is no way to be sure. Unless one of them is looking at my blog today. If so, leave a comment!
Melissa, wouldn’t Catwoman have kittens? I am unschooled in these things. The girl can just hang on to the outside like our hero T.J. Hooker. Did you know that the origin of “dungarees” is Hindi? At least that’s what a crossword puzzle claimed.
I wouldn't put my money on it being a Disney costume those two gents are wearing. When I zoom way in, it seems to me that the shirt on the left has a greenish cast, while the one on the right has a sort of pinkish hue. But I can't tell Sunkist from Fanta, so adjust your grain of salt accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIs the rumpus room that Mother is painting on the Carousel of Progress also in the basement of that bus?
ReplyDeleteI visited Gettysburg in the early 1980s and got a Union blue kepi at a museum gift shop. I remember that they also sold gray Confederate ones, mostly because it seemed odd to sell confederate stuff at a museum about Lincoln's address.
@Melissa, the story as it was told to me was, the WED employees wore regular street clothes of their own purchasing, not costumes, but the dress code was very strict in what could be worn. For men, collared dress shirts in white or light colors, no checks or stripes, dress slacks and shoes, probably ties also. From what I was told, those fellows are in the range of that code, and their similarity to one another is what makes them stand out to me.
ReplyDeleteJG
Makes sense, J.G. sadly, it gets harder to dress perfectly identically the older one gets.
ReplyDeleteIn the closeup, it look like the shorter of the two kids has a piece of red licorice in his hand, and the bag seems to be missing a corner, so maybe it's a bag of candy?
ReplyDelete