Dixieland at Disneyland 1964
It's time for more Disneyland Ephemera! Today I will be sharing two pieces from the 1964 edition of "Dixieland at Disneyland", a musical extravaganza throughout the park. The first Dixieland at Disneyland event was in 1960 (with the last one in 1970), for those of you keeping track.
This great flyer is larger than most Disneyland paper items, so I'm astonished that it managed to not get folded in half in the last 59 years. I love the graphics on the front, with a nice portrait of Louis Armstrong, who was clearly the star of the show.
I only recognize a few names, including Tommy Walker (son of bandleader Vesey), and Roland Crump of course. Charles Boyer eventually made many portraits of Mickey Mouse, to some fanfare.
Just look at all that quality entertainment! What a fun show that must have been, and guests could choose to walk from one venue to another to catch their favorites. I love that they used the Golden Horseshoe, the Fantasyland Theater, the Tahitian Terrace, the Space Bar, the Plaza Gardens, and the stage at "20,000 Leagues", not to mention the "Riverside Stage". Music was in the air.
I also have this scarce "table tent", a folded item that informed guests about the talent lineup and the prices. TWO BIG NITES! The park was open until 2 A.M. too. I'm not quite sure how an event like this worked; did they empty the park and then allow "D@D” attendees to come in afterwards?
I hope you have enjoyed today's Disneyland Ephemera.
20 comments:
Major-
All that great music - all those great musicians - and no up charge-!
What nights those must've been-!
Thanks, Major.
It's kind of amazing this flyer is in such good shape. Then again, with the 'torn' edging we can't tell if it's in good shape or not. ;-) Well, like you said, there aren't any creases.
I was looking for the "Shooting galleries excepted" blurb, and I was not disappointed. Poor shooting galleries; they never get included in anything!
Sharkey Bonano... I was wondering if he was any relation to New York's Bonanno crime family. But evidently not, since their last names are spelled differently. Still, Sharkey Bonano sure sounds like a gangster name... also a musician's name. So there ya go.
A lot of information included in these items. Thanks, Major.
I remember in the eighties, Disneyland had theme nights they called "Disneyland and All That Jazz." I wonder why they didn't just reuse the title "Dixieland at Disneyland"? Dizzy Gillespie was performing in 1984:
Disneyland and All That Jazz
I was at Disneyland for one of these events, but the program was a different color than the one in the link, above. Unfortunately, mine is packed away right now. I can't remember who was performing that night. Maybe Darlene Gillespie? ;-)
Louis Armstrong and Kid Ory at the park together – Dixieland at Disneyland indeed! Given that the two pioneer jazz men had played together in their early days in New Orleans and then in Chicago in the 1920s, I wonder if they played together at all over those two nights at the park? That would have been something to see. Thanks, Major.
Abe Lincoln on trombone? Maybe next year they can get Ben Franklin and his glass armonica.
”I'm astonished that it managed to not get folded in half in the last 59 years.”. Now’s your chance, Major. How often does one have an opportunity to complete a 59-year-old unfinished work as the artist intended?
And I am astonished that I am the first to mention the Firehouse Five Plus Two today. Maybe we’re all over Ward Kimball by this point in our lives?
And speaking of Ward, the list of performers drove me down a research rabbit hole this morning. Turns out the Ward Singers, performing at the Fantasyland Theater in Fantasyland, were led by Clara Ward, who collapsed during a performance at the Castaways Lounge in Miami Beach in May of 1966. Not only do we have connections to Disney artists and Imagineers, but also to other GDB posts. You can hear what they sounded like here.
Burch Mann, whose dancers are listed in the program for “All That Jazz,” was the first choreographer for The Mickey Mouse Club and also worked as a choreographer on The Treasure of Matecumbe. She later founded the American Folk Ballet Company.
Ben Pollack had been a big name in big bands in the ‘30s & ‘40s, with the likes of Glenn miller, Benny Goodman, and Harry James, among others, cycling through stints in his ensemble. In the latter ‘50s and early ‘60s, he owned and operated the Pick-a-Rib Restaurant in Hollywood and headlined his own band there (I guess he was in good with the owner).
Sharkey Bonano worked with Jimmy Durante and led a band that included Louis Prima in the ‘20s. By the ‘60s, he was a regular on Bourbon Street (the one in New Orleans).
I think if I could only visit Disneyland for one weekend in the past, this would be the weekend I would pick. Thanks for sharing, Major!
Shoot - forgot to mention Burch Mann provided the dancers for the shows at Knott’s in the 1960s.
What. Chuck. Said.
Except for all the jazz erudition.
Seriously amazed at the depth of obscure knowledge possessed by the Junior Gorillas, (Pegleg Pete!)
I know very little about jazz, other than that I like it, and my dad did too, and that Disneyland meant jazz to me from an early age.
Thank you Major for a glimpse of the past.
JG
As much as I would absolutely love this now, as a kid I would have just been wanting to ride the rides. I was an uncultured little brat, I'm afraid!
When I first saw "The Ward Singers," my brain registered it as "The Weird Sisters," and I was imagining the three witches from Macbeth playing Dixieland around the cauldron.
Chuck, good point about folding the paper to complete the artist's vision. "Ephemera of Disneyland will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world."
Learning about choreographer Burch Mann, I did an online search hoping to find video examples...
... and what should I find but home movies of 1964 Dixieland at Disneyland
wow, includes a dubbed-in radio promo at beginning ("get tickets at Wallichs Music City locations"), dubbed music, and poorly lit visuals including Firehouse Five on a keelboat.
Major, thanks for the high quality ephemera.
Nanook, it is pretty incredible that all that entertainment was just “there for the taking”!
JB, back when I used to collect old books, they referred to that torn edge as a “deckled” edge. I always disliked it, because it made the pages hard to turn. So I wrote to Reader’s Digest to complain. Don’t mess with those shooting galleries, they don’t want you unless it is the proper time! I did notice Sharkey Bonano, what a great name. Or a great internet nickname!
TokyoMagic!, I wonder if somebody decided that “Dixieland” was not as much of a draw as just plain old “jazz”? Maybe the Dixieland thing had kind of run its course, I know that when I was a little kid my dad was into Dixieland quite a lot. Hey, did Darlene marry Dizzy? And why don’t they have a sitcom?
Pegleg Pete, thanks to the Ken Burns documentary series about jazz, I knew a little about Louis Armstrong and his time with Kid Ory! Now that I think of it, I’d like to see that whole series again. It would be fascinating to know if the two greats played together at all. Or was there bad blood between them?
Melissa, everyone knows that Abe Lincoln liked to play the trombone while splitting rails!
Chuck, oh believe me, I thought about folding it! I would have made a TikTok about it. For the clicks! “Hey guys, what’s up?”. That’s my greeting and I made it up all by myself. I will never mention the Firehouse Five Plus Two, it goes against everything I stand for! Poor Clara Ward, you said she collapsed… did she die?? I notice the Burch Mann dancers (who I’d never heard of) and did not know that “Burch” was a woman. I hope all of those music legends enjoyed their time at Disneyland, not only as performers, but maybe as a chance to hang out with their contemporaries.
Chuck, something tells me that I would have been less interested in watching dancers, but I admit to being a barbarian.
JG, yeah, my dad loved jazz, and used to have these big box sets from the Smithsonian. I confess that I never loved it that much, and feel as if I just didn’t understand it, as if it was a language that I did not speak. Not that I couldn’t appreciate ANY of it, but I found that the Dixieland was more fun to listen to.
Stu29573, ha ha, I’m sure I would have been VERY unhappy if my family stood there listening to music instead of going on the rides!
Melissa, as it turns out, The Ward Singers had a cauldron too!
Everybody knows that "Burch" is the feminine form of "Butch."
I remember always going to Disneyland on Memorial Day weekend and they had the Jazz Festival or All that Jazz. It was a regular thing in the late 1970's early 80's. on Memorial Day weekend. At least that's how I remember it.
LTL, thanks for that link! Even though the footage wasn't sharp, I still enjoyed that a thousand times more than Fantasmic! Now that Murphy the dragon is kaput, they need to bring back live music acts on the river! I know, it will NEVER happen!
Be reminded that Louie Armstrong and the Young Men From New Orleans perform on the Mark Twain on the World of Color episode "Disneyland After Dark", which also features the Elliott Brothers.
The brothers and their band had an album of their own, "Date Night at Disneyland", which is available on Apple Music. It's a live show, or a simulation of one, opening with an added theme song / singing commercial and closing with "Goodnight Sweetheart".
Back in the early 70s, I envied those theater and band nerds with the moxie to apply at Disneyland, spending a year or so populating shows and parades before getting real jobs.
TokyoMagic!, having a stage act on the island shore allows for that great finale like in the first dance number in that video... where all the male dancers jump into the Rivers of America!
(maybe that was one of Burch Mann's signiture moves! in any event, all the choreography I saw was great and high energy)
that YouTuber had one more Disneyland home movie, from 1955, in color, showing kids boarding Mr Toad and a very few other cool shots.
LTL, wow, pretty amazing that you found that home movie footage! And being from 1964, it looks a lot better than I expected (based on lots of home movie footage that I’ve seen that was taken in full daylight). Neat. thanks for that!
Melissa, I guess I didn’t get the memo!
K. Martinez, I don’t suppose you remember who you saw at the Jazz Festivals? Maybe they are not names that most of us would know, but I’m still curious!
TokyoMagic!, it would be pretty cool if they brought back live Dixieland (or other jazz) on the river, even if just for a night or two!
DBenson, oh trust me, I remember that footage from that TV episode! And I haven’t looked, but I think that Disney Chris has the Elliott Brothers album on his site. I was always too much of a self-conscious nerd to think of ever performing at Disneyland (in any capacity), but I still wanted to work there!
LTL, oh neat, I didn’t even think to look to see if that person had more YouTube videos to watch from the park. 1955, wow!
Chuck, good point about folding the paper to complete the artist's vision. "Ephemera of Disneyland will never be completed as long as there is imagination left in the world."
LTL, when I read "folding the paper" and "imagination," I instantly pictured a really cool paper airplane.
;o)
I enjoyed all the links - especially the ones at the Park (thanks, LTL!). While watching the home movie of "1964 Dixieland at Disneyland," I was thinking that Walt was probably in attendance, too, enjoying the music and festivities. Or, at least, flicking chili out the window...
Thanks, Major and all, for a very enjoyable post and evening in Disneyland.
I was at one of those shows as a kid in the 60'd. I saw Dizzy Gillespie. Do you know if/when he performed?
Post a Comment