Tuesday, December 31, 2019

1961 Gala New Year's Eve Party Flyer

What can I post on New Year's Eve? I know! How about a vintage flyer for the December 31, 1961 "Gala New Year's Even Party"? This is an uncommon piece of ephemera.

There's Baby New Year (1962), just waiting to make his debut.


Here's what the piece looks like when completely unfolded. I'll include some closeups so that you can read the fun details.


For six hours, you could ride as many attractions as you liked, without those bothersome ticket books. A ride on the Mark Twain at 1:30 AM? Yes, please. And it would be even more fun with hats and noisemakers. I assume that the "surprise midnight spectacle" was a unique fireworks display. It would be hard to choose among those musical acts, but I think I'd go listen to The Spacemen - though the Firehouse Five would be tempting, as well.


You don't have to drive all the way to Anaheim to purchase your advanced tickets (you'll save 50 cents buying them ahead of time); just go to Wallichs Music City, or Desmond's, or use the Liberty Ticket Agency. 


It sure sounds like it would have been a fun time for all. Speaking of which, I hope that all of you have a fun New Year's Eve!

12 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

For $5.50 a piece, I just slid-on over to Desmond's and picked up a couple of tickets. (I certainly hope Kay Bell is singing with the Spacemen)

Thanks, Major, and have a fun NYE, yourself.

K. Martinez said...

I'd definitely have to check out The Firehouse Five +2 as I have quite a few of their CDs.

Love the graphics on this one. Thanks, Major.

Happy New Year to all! Looking forward to more in 2020 here on GDB.

JC Shannon said...

Is there anything better than Disneyland ephemera art? Rolls Royces; Mercedeses; the Hope Diamond, all pale in comparison. If Nicola Tesla really did invent time travel, I bet he headed for Disneyland of the future. I'll bet among his missing files is the best collection of Disney art on planet earth. No wonder the G Men won't turn loose of them. Happy New Year to Major and all the GDBosphere!

stu29573 said...

This is about the only place you'd get me to go to on New Years Eve! I'd have to check out Ward and the FF+2, of course! Alas, I wasn't born until 9 months and 13 days later...

Andrew said...

I hope in these more "relaxed" days, guests were given free reign of the Columbia's cannons to add to the din of the noisemakers!

I hope everyone has a great 2020!

Chuck said...

Oh, man - Firehouse Five + 2 or The Young Men of New Orleans (featuring Johnny St. Cyr, "proprietor" of the Wheelhouse Inn)? That's a tough choice. Well, as long as I have a time machine, I can do both - just need to make sure I don't run into myself or the encounter could create a time paradox, the result of which could cause a chain reaction that would unravel the very fabric of the space-time continuum and destroy the entire universe! Granted, that's worst-case scenario. The destruction might in fact be very localized, limited to merely our own galaxy.

Nice find, Major. I'm with Andrew - may you all have a happy and blessed New Year!

zach said...

Someone once called me a 'piece of ephemera'. I figured it was better than the alternative.

I love the graphics, especially the bubbles. I'm going to have a great time. That $.50 savings will come in handy.

Thanks Major and a Happy and Prosperous New Year to you all! 2020, now maybe the world can see straight.

dz

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year to all! BTW...using the inflation calculator $6 comes out to $51.44 today. And even that would be a bargain. KS

Melissa said...

Makes me think of Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock. Or the Monkees' rival band The Four Martians.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I can’t believe you would spend $11 on two tickets! What are you, made of money?

TokyoMagic!, I wonder when they stopped doing the separately ticketed NYE parties? Now of course they let anybody in! I think it was Ken who sent out an email with a photo of Disneyland from a few days ago, it looked so miserably crowded I would have rather been anywhere but there. I imagine that’s what your experiences were like for those two years in a row.

K. Martinez, it would be pretty awesome to go and see the FIrehouse Five +2, with Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas. I still can’t figure out if they were actually friends or just co-workers who got along OK. Happy New Year!

Jonathan, I have a long list of Disneyland items to acquire when I get that time machine, plus I will befriend a bunch of Imagineers and CMs who can give me their old Disneyland in-house stuff that would otherwise go in the trash! I HAVE IT ALL PLANNED OUT!

stu29573, I guess not being born yet IS kind of a problem…

Andrew, they filled the cannons with noisemakers and shot them into the crowd.

Chuck, I’ll bet it was very possible to see both of those bands, they didn’t necessarily all perform at the same time. Maybe all you had to do was saunter over to a different stage. If you do go back in time, invent rock and roll like Marty McFly did!

dzacher, hmmm, I can’t decide if being called a “piece of ephemera” is a compliment or an insult! With that leftover 50 cents, you could buy a meal at McDonalds.

KS, that’s the funny thing, $51.44 sounds like a lot, but you KNOW they would gouge guests for twice that, if not more.

Melissa, do you know every episode of “The Monkees” by heart?

Melissa said...

I saw a video from this New Year's Eve in the Magic Kingdom, with the fastpass line for Buzz Lightyear stretched all the way over the Hub-Tomorrowland bridge.

Dean Finder said...

The don't do hard-ticket events fur NYE at WDW (surprising they're missing the opportunity to make money by selling the park twice in the same day) but I have been to some of the other events (pre-Halloween party and an After-Hours event). The crowds are way down, but it costs about $125 per person for the evening, way more than the inflation adjusted price of this one.