Pinback Pandemonium
It's time for more pinback buttons. Do people like these? I have no idea. But I like them! These are from the "big bag o' pins", and in general they are 3" in diameter or larger.
I'm starting with this unusual embossed-metal pin celebrating Austin, Minnesota's centennial. Which means nothing to most of you, but my dad was born in Austin, and lived there until he joined the Navy. Also, my grandparents lived there their whole lives, and I spent many wonderful summer days enjoying the small-town charms of this city. So I was excited to find this pin, which evokes memories of trips to the A&W Drive-In (root beer in ice-cold heavy glass mugs), the Dairy Queen, 4th of July parades, the Spam Museum (because Hormel has a huge plant in Austin), the water tower, the Cedar River, and of course, grandma and grandpa.
Everyone loves Casper the Friendly Ghost, and I would definitely vote for him! I have three words for you: THAT'S HIS FOOT. I swear on a stack of pancakes. Sure, Casper never wears pants, but that's beside the point.
Staying with the Casper theme, here's a pin celebrating Apollo 16, which launched on April 16th, 1972, and landed on the Descartes Highlands on April 27th. What does Casper have to do with it? Well, Thomas Mattingly chose "Casper" for the command and service module because he liked the "non-serious name". Anyway, you can see how the friendly ghost's foot might look like... er... something else, if the angle is not quite right.
You might not know this, but I like Disneyland. I've been keeping it a secret, but it's time to be frank with you. The opening of Space Mountain was a big deal to me (and all Disneyland fans), so I really like this pin commemorating its debut in the summer of 1977 (it actually opened on May 27, 1977).
Have you had your Icee today? While I have a number of Icee pins, and an advertising figure, I don't believe I have ever actually had an Icee (but I've had plenty of Slurpees). The slushy treats can be bought at movie theaters, Walmarts, Subway restaurants, Burger King, some McDonalds eateries, and so on. Maybe I should finally get one! Cherry, of course).
My grandparents had a drawer with some old campaign pins and buttons. Ike, Nixon, Goldwater, and a few very old ones for "Landon/Knox". Who he? Alf Landon was governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937, and was the Republican Party's candidate against Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. We know how that turned out! Yes, he was eaten by a giant robot. But he lived anyway, to the ripe old age of 100.
I hope you have enjoyed Pinback Pandemonium!
15 comments:
Major-
Maybe that's one of the secrets to a long life - run for Prez of the US and lose in a landslide-! (Calling oneself 'Alf' probably didn't hurt, either-!)
OH, Casper... we hardly knew ye-!!
Thanks, Major.
Are embossed pins rare, Major? Seems like they would be. Probably more rare than lenticular pins. I'm glad it brings up good memories for you.
hahahahahahaha...hahahaha! I wonder if any Junior Gorillas would have spotted Casper's 'foot' if you hadn't mentioned it? Maybe they would have spotted it, but would have been too polite to mention it. After all, we're good boys and girls. I don't think I've seen an anatomically correct Casper before; at least, not that I've noticed. Of course, now, whenever I see a picture of him I'm gonna check. The things we learn, here on GDB!
Oh, was there actually a Casper campaign at some point?
Apollo 16: "Thomas Mattingly chose "Casper" for the command and service module because he liked the 'non-serious name'"... Okayyy then. I can't fault his reasoning; it's something any of us here on GDB might do. But why "Casper"? He could have chosen "Wile E. Coyote" or "Road Runner" or even "Lucy McGillicuddy". ;-D
I see that his foot is actually his foot here. (I said I was gonna check!)
Hmm, I like the idea of a Space Mountain debut pin, but this one just seems a little blah to me. Something as big and exciting as Space Mountain should have a pin that reflects those qualities, yes?
I think blue raspberry is my favorite flavor of Icee, followed by cherry. Again, a rather 'meh' representation to put on a pin. Where is the colorful cup? Or the polar bear mascot? Sorry, I guess I'm being too critical.
I like the fuzzy, fluffy sunflower pin. Like the embossed pin, this one must be quite rare? "Landon", "Knox": One grew up on the Ponderosa Ranch, and the other invented unflavored gelatin. Alf Landon: Did he hail from the planet Melmac? Did he eat cats? I'm sure those questions were asked at the political debates.
My favorite? Not sure. Probably the artsy craftsy sunflower. But my eye keeps going back to the first Casper pin; just....... because.
Thanks, Major. But I'm not seeing any pandas.
The Apollo 16 Casper pinback is tops with me.
Yes, I love Space Mountain too. 1977 was Disneyland at its peak for me. Another great pinback. Thanks, Major.
I once owned a Space Mountain t-shirt [it is long gone, I wouldn't fit in it now anyway :)] that I bought at Disneyland soon after Space Mountain's opening. It had a drawing of Mickey riding a Space Mountain vehicle. I even remember buying it at the shop In Tomorrowland where the People Mover went through (forgot the name at the moment).
The Austin pin is my favorite. I love the simple art of the "old timey" cabin versus the boxy "modern" courthouse.
Casper?..."a ghost!!!!!!"
Proves that not all Austins are in Texas.
This Casper pin controversy reminds me, I heard that nude pics of Donald Duck had been leaked on line, and no one cared.
Sorry, that might have been too spicy for a family blog.
I’m partial to Space Mountain because I rode with my Dad on the parents last trip.
The grocery store in Hanford sold icees. Once in a rare while, I could get one, but never at the same time as a comic book. I would have felt like Rockefeller having both at once. I’ll take root beer. Major, we had an A&W too, I saw that mug in my mind reading your description. Thank you!
JG
Nanook, I don’t have a lot of campaign stuff in my collection, but I find the Kansas Sunflower motif to be very appealing. There are rare very large pinback buttons with the felt flower, I’d love to find one of those!
JB, yes, you don’t see many of those embossed pins, it appears to be made out of stamped aluminum or something. That Casper pin is a riot, I can’t believe that nobody apparently noticed how naughty it was. As for why Mattingly chose Casper… maybe his kids liked the cartoons, or he liked the name, or… who knows! I’m OK with the Space Mountain pin just as it is, it feels “right” with the era if you know what I mean. I do like blue raspberry as a flavor, in fact when I get Slurpees I often mix blue raspberry with cherry. Yum! There are a LOT of Landon pins out there, and small ones are not rare. This one with the double petals is a bit more unusual, but still not that hard to find.
K. Martinez, I was an “Apollo-crazy” kid, so I still get a little thrill from anything from the era of the Space Program. Glad you liked these!
Sunday Night, I think I remember the t-shirt design you described - I was at the age when a new, cool roller coaster (in the dark!) was just the best thing. Everyone at school seemed to be excited at the idea of riding Space Mountain! Austin; it’s been so long since I’ve been there now, ever since my grandparents died we sort of lost a reason to go, but I miss it.
JG, I’ve never been to Austin, TX, but I’ve heard it’s very nice. I even have relatives living there, though I doubt I would go visit them. Donald Duck never wears pants anyway, so nudes are no big deal. If I ever went to a place that sold Icees, I would buy one today, it would be perfect for this hot summer weather.
Some nice buttons today, even if they didn’t come from The Box. I like the surrey with the fringe on top in the first one. I’d have no idea it didn’t represent Austin TX if you hadn’t told us. For a “friendly” ghost, Casper sure likes to fly around with his arms up in a “Boo!” position. Icees always seemed inferior to Slurpees to me (maybe it’s the fewer flavors?). And don’t get me started on Slush Puppies! The flower campaign button is almost fashionable. Thanks, Major.
For me it's Coke ICEE / Slurpee / Slushee or nothing. Though I agree that the pin needs the bear mascot.
I vote for the conspiracy theory that Casper is the ghost of Richie Rich.
That space mountain pin is a little uninspired. I'd like the DASA concept better if they used the NASA "meatball" in it. I forgot that it was several years between WDW and Disneyland getting their Space Mountains. I always think of them as simultaneous builds. Though I guess 2 years isn't much in Disney build timelines now (Tron coaster, I'm looking at you).
Austin, "The Marceline of Minnesota"!
Nice pins!
Major, I like pinback buttons! I have a pretty large collection, but nothing too vintage-y. Only from the 1970s onward. These are all in very nice shape, especially that added felt background on the last one.
You had me laughing out loud from your commentary on the first Casper button! And yeah, I don't know if I would have picked up on it, if you hadn't pointed it out. With that blue background...and other things going on, the image reminds me of a certain album cover, from a certain 1990s grunge band.
I remember hardly being able to stand the excitement of going to DL, that first time after Space Mountain had opened. My brother and I had been seeing it as a "future attraction" on those DL wall maps, for years. And then of course, we knew more about it, once it opened at WDW. I remember watching Mike Douglas ride through the WDW version, after it had just opened. They filmed him through the entire ride experience. It just built up the excitement even more, after learning that DL would also be getting a Space Mountain. I also saw it under construction at DL, during a 1976 visit.
As for Icees, we sold them at Knott's. The company even made a boysenberry flavored one for them. They were very popular. Some years ago, they moved the machines out in front of the counters, and gave guests access to them, so they could do their own mixing of flavors. Oh, and I still have all of my souvenir Star Wars cups, from riding my bike to the local Stop 'N' Go market every weekend, and buying a Slush Puppie!
Oh, and there were a couple other things that added to the excitement about Space Mountain coming to DL. Artwork for it was featured in the "Preview of Coming Attractions" exhibit on Main Street. Also, during a 1975 visit, before construction had begun on Space Mountain, there was a "coming soon" type of poster for it along the PeopleMover route. It was in the tunnel above the Carousel Theater, where guests had previously been able to view Progress City, but it was before the Superspeed Tunnel had been added. I wish someone out there had a picture of what that looked like! It would have only been on display in there, for about a year or so.
Kathy!, I had to rephotograph “the box”, so I now have more items to share in that regard. Meanwhile, I do want to present more of my pinback buttons. Also… “Austin” is “Austin, Minnesota”, not “Austin, Texas”! What the Texas city got really hip, people would be so surprised that there was another Austin! I always loved seeing the ICEE displays, and the beautiful red and blue slush in the “churners”, but somehow never had one. They look so delicious!
Dean Finder, I have Coke so often as a normal drink that a Coke Slurpee doesn’t feel that special to me. I’m not saying a Coke Slurpee is bad by any means, but I do like the strong cherry flavor (artificial cherry, yum!). I do love the NASA “meatball” logo, I’m not sure how much time Disney spent on their DASA logo. Yes, nowadays 2 years is nothing in “Disney years”.
LTL, it’s funny, because downtown Austin (MN) has a bunch of old brick buildings that remind me a lot of Main Street USA. A little more “real” and not as clean and cute, but there is that brick, midwestern vibe.
TokyoMagic!, I’m glad you enjoy seeing these pinback buttons too! Ha ha, now I’ll always picture Casper diving in a pool for a dollar bill on a hook. I love that you watched Mike Douglas (of all people) do a ride-through of Space Mountain. I used to watch his show after school, he was pretty square, but sometimes he’d do things like a whole week with John and Yoko, or a whole week with Forrest J. Ackerman (“Famous Monsters of Filmland”). I think I didn’t get to ride Space Mountain until it had been around for a while, but I do remember the Speed Ramp and the long lines. The audio in the queue was very moody and wonderful. Oh man, a boysenberry ICEE! Sounds amazing. Souvenir Star Wars cups, love it. For years I had an “Elvira Glow Cup” from Wienerschnitzel, and then it disappeared. I wish I still had it!
TokyoMagic!, oh man, I wish I’d visited the “Preview of Coming Attractions” exhibits, talk about right up my alley! I don’t think I ever knew it existed, I probably walked right past it. Unless it was there during the years I lived on the East coast?
hahahahaha! OK, now moving onward....
It's interesting how the DL Space Mountain pin looks more official than the Apollo 16 pin.
Major, thank you for sharing more of your treasures!
The preview along the PeopleMover route featured 3 cutout panels illuminated from behind. ( similar to the circle vision scene previews) they featured images of concept art and models … and they were updated as progress continued in the attraction … the preview also included audio …a truncated version of the filmstrip film over in Main Street. Preview center. Major : the preview center lasted from 1972 to 1990 .. the last new park attraction featured was Splash Mountain. Into the early 90’s it was still a preview center of sorts but mostly Disney Chanel and Disney Home Video … eventually becoming a shop.
During space mountain’s construction there was also a 1/100th scale model of the Space mountain complex down along the construction wall … the model was encased and visible on three sides … at night it was illuminated … the contemporary murals patterns painted on the construction baricads were used inside the exit corridor walls after you exited the last Speedramp .
SPACE MOUNTAIN had a very high marketing budget so there’s lots of promotional material out there leading up to the attraction’s opening.
That’s going to be the title of my memoirs :
THE LAST SPEEDRAMP
Memories of a WDW television special more or less tied to Space Mountain's grand opening. It starred Lucie Arnaz, Tommy Tune and Lyle Waggoner, and the finale was Arnaz singing "I'm Flying" (from the Mary Martin stage version of "Peter Pan") sort-of riding Space Mountain.
In 1979 Hanna Barbara did a Saturday morning series called "Casper and the Angels", teaming Casper with two female motorcycle cops and a big dopey ghost who liked to scare people. It was set 200 years in the future. Evidently they were trying to cash in on "Charlie's Angels", "CHiPs", "Star Wars", and leftover gags from "The Jetsons". Casper's presence was about as logical as ... well, his presence on Apollo 16.
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