Tour Guide, October 1963
Hooray for the famous Disneyland tour guides; smart (usually multilingual), informed, helpful, and charming. Adorable too. It would have been a lot of fun to experience a guided tour back in the "Walt years".
Here's our dimpled guide, standing next to one of the massive landing struts of the Moonliner (it would have had the Douglas color scheme by this point). In the background, the entry to the "Rocket to the Moon" attraction, which seems to have evolved over the years. I think that those white spheres held displays of some sort - I sure wish I knew what, exactly.
The guide is wearing her golden "D" badge, as well as a diamond-shaped pin with her name. It's impossible to see, but it almost looks like there are small dangling charms hanging from the bottom of the name tag - not sure I've ever observed that before. Note that she also has one of the triangular tour guide tags hanging from her riding crop, no doubt she held that above her head in crowded situations so that people could follow her like baby ducks.
I've heard that at the end of a guided tour, everyone got to go up to Walt's apartment to shake his hand, use the bathroom (if necessary) and see if there was anything good to eat in the fridge. "Dibs on the strawberry Jello".
Here's a zoom in on that name tag, on the off chance that somebody out there is interested. Sorry it's not sharper.
17 comments:
Major-
Certainly those white spheres are 'rovers' from The Prisoner TV show, standing-by to "incapacitate" misbehaving guests...
Thanks, Major
I never really got the whole "jockey" outfit for the tour guides, but by golly, it works! I guess it was a lot better than, say, "sanitation worker"...
You know, Stu, I never really thought about it - I've always accepted it as a given, sort of like sunshine, wind, and Madea sequels - but where did they get the idea of putting the tour guides in riding outfits?
This is probably a question for MIKE COZART...
Nanook, the rovers used to freak me out. I remember watching the opening scenes from “The Prisoner” and actually wondering what I would do if one of those giant white balls came after me!
stu29573, I agree that the jockey look is a bit odd. the only thing I can think of is that they needed the outfit to be very distinct so that it would stand out in a crowd. How about red plaid and a riding crop? I wonder what other options were considered.
Chuck, I’m sure Mike Cozart knows; It is possible that the Cicely Rigdon, who was in charge of the tour guides (and was British) might have suggested the outfit. Tommy Walker might have had some input too.
Someone had a great time on their tour and wanted a snapshot of their guide for the album. I think this picture is testimony to a well-run operation. I've never been on a guided tour, and come to think of it, have seen fewer of them over the years. Maybe they are just hidden in the ever-denser crowds.
Agreeing with Stu29573, it's an odd, but distinctive costume. Would be fun to know how that look was decided. The riding crop is a bit weird, but somehow appropriate for the task and useful in crowds.
Major, I don't remember the white globes at all, but as Nanook surmises, it's possible their function was to keep errant guests from wandering backstage by crushing them. Those items on the surface do appear to be eyeshades like Mr. Spock's bridge station. Maybe the globes contained dioramas that guests could look into while waiting. They don't look organized along the queue like those in the later ATIS, so maybe that's not right either.
Nice close up of the rocket leg.
JG
JG
Oops, double initials.
JG
I like the costume, just wish there was more info as to its origin. Although, the mystery is kinda cool too. The visible landing strut from the Moonliner gives some idea of it's size. I remember standing next to it as a boy and thinking how enormous it was. The Douglas paint scheme was so so, but the TWA livery was to die for. Like the Constellation and the 707, it was a work of art. I know someone out there in the GDBosphere must have a theory on why this costume design was chosen. Thanks Major.
Well there’s serval stories regarding the creation of the first tour guide costumes ....and several people were involved including Walt , John Hench , Cicely Rigdon , semestress Lu Lu Miller and costume director ( at the time) Lelia Easton.
Obviously the costume needed to be visible - so the red vest was in the earliest concepts and would have been a common female “hotness” uniform vest cut of the period. So all at the same time other elements kinda fell into place - cicely rigdon having had experience with girls private schools suggested a similar look uniform - Lelia Easton from costuming was notorious for buying costume elements from existing vendors and ordered catholic school girls skirts from a supplier.
They originally wanted red but the closest the supplier had was black/red plaid. Walt and John Hench felt it should have a hat or cap of some type ( the first concept is a open top visor)
At the same time a building to eventually locate the tour guides is being developed fir next to the security-city Hall - fire station complex . A livery stable design is developed but Walt says “ we can’t have our Disneyland hostesses housed in a barn” so a fancier “riding school” stable structure is designed - Lulu Miller of costuming gets the idea for the riding cap and the crop element detail follows. Eventually a special exclusive plaid fabric was created by Pendleton Woolen Mills for the tour guide costume. Walt Disney saying the tour guides “jockey” people around resulting in a riding school jockey costume was said quite sometime after the first of the tour guide costumes cane together and had no influence on the costume’s development.
It’s interesting that while developing a tour guide costume for Walt Disney World a more contemporary outfit was being suggested but costume director from 1968 - 1998 said no it was important to keep the original idea but suggested a different color scheme and did the same for Tokyo Disneyland as well. Pendleton Woolen Mills created all three unique plaid materials for each park up until Disneyland Paris.
Correction in the second paragraph:
HOTNESS is suppose to be HOSTESS.
Oh, Maj, you KNOW I'm interested in the close-up costume details. Tour Guide costumes, Rocket to the Moon, and The Prisoner references? It must be my Unbirthday. I am not a number!
I just assumed the riding crop was for naughty guests who put their arms and legs outside the ride vehicle.
I had a guided tour of Disney's California Adventure once, but it was part of the Youth Education Series so we didn't have one of the classic uniformed guides.
@ Mike Cozart-
I've heard some parts of how the 'costume' came together; but not everything. I knew you'd have it all - and then some.
(And as for the misspelling - if you'll pardon a bit of male chauvinism - some might consider it a bit of a Freudian slip - but hopefully have progressed beyond that).
Thanks for the great info.
JG JG, I think the photographer (who was definitely a man) might have also wanted a photo of his guide because she’s easy on the eyes! I wonder if the tour guides are less obvious now that they don’t wear the red plaid? I agree that the riding crop is a good thing for pointing, or for holding up over one’s head so that a group can follow it, if the petite lady isn’t visible on a crowded day. Sort of like when you see tour guides in Europe holding a (closed) umbrella above their heads. I think the globes held dioramas of people looking at globes with dioramas. SO META! I wonder if people could only view them upon exiting the attraction, or if anybody could wander by to see them?
Jonathan, nearly 100 years earlier, a coach full of women from Scotland arrived in Anaheim, where they formed a colony. They were thrifty and self-sufficient, and made great haggis. Walt wanted them to be tour guides because they were known for being good with crowds, and they could just show up in their street clothes. TRUE STORY. The Douglas paint scheme has grown on me, though it is not as sexy as the TWA design.
Mike Cozart, once again you have gone above and beyond! I’m happy that at least I got the Cicely Rigdon link in there. John Hench totally makes sense, as do the others you mentioned. Catholic schoolgirl skirts, so funny. “Men like those!”. I agree that the idea of housing the guides in a barn was a weird one, Walt was right. I seem to remember in the 80’s they morphed to a blue plaid, but maybe I’m wrong. Now don’t they just wear “business casual” outfits, basically? Very cool that Pendleton made unique fabric for the costumes! THANKS again, so great.
Mike Cozart, I was wondering about “hotness”!
Some of the suspended balls in the ROCKET TO THE MOON terminal featured displays on theories of the dark side of the moon, human weight differences on the moon and other planets and Douglas space craft concepts. I’m unsure if these exhibits were static or animated displays or just films.
"Hostess Hotness" could be a new theme night on RuPaul's Drag Race.
@Mike Cozart, thank you for the straight scoop on hostess hotness. It works either way.
Curious now in this age of parity, are there male tour guides, and if yes, do they wear kilts?
@Major, globes within globes, it's like a 3D version of Ezekiel's Vision.
JG
@JG - I don't know if this is still the case, but at Walt Disney World male VIP Tour Guides used to wear a vest in the same plaid as the ladies' skirts, white shirt, and solid color trousers with matching necktie. WDW's costumes were blue rather than red.
@Melissa, Good to know. Seems like an appropriate transliteration.
Thank you.
JG
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