Wednesday, July 10, 2024

Birthday Fun, and Two From June, 1962

 It's GDB friend Andrew's birthday today! And Sue B. sent a scan for this special occasion. I never had this many kids at a birthday party, but that's because I was what some people refer to as "a handful". Screaming, crying, the whole deal. Was it Joey's birthday? He's Mr. Popularity. "Lisa! You look bee-you-tiful! I'll save you a piece of cake with a frosting flower!'. "Gene! Old Gene, Gene, the jellybean. I'll bet you're two inches taller than the last time I saw you!". "Mikey, I love your new haircut. It looks even better on you than it did on Moe Howard".  I'm not sure what to make of those odd beige paper caps, like bad bald caps. Let's all look like little old men! Thank you for the photo, Sue.


And now on to our usual blog pix, starting with this shot of the Flying Saucers. As is often the case, there doesn't appear to be much of a line for this ride, in spite of its legendary low-capacity. The lady with the pink ostrich feather has a clear advantage, using it like a sail and allowing her to destroy the other guests. By the end, her saucer was the only vehicle still in one piece.


The Disneyland Band (sans Vesey Walker) is marching into Tomorrowland, causing a rift in the time-space-kitten continuity. How can an old-fashioned marching band be in the Land of Tomorrow? To folks from the future, it's akin to seeing cavemen on the moving sidewalks.



15 comments:

  1. Major-
    As per usual... Sue always knows how to pick 'em-! By my count, I see 22 children: both boys AND girls-! I think a special 'round of applause' is in order to all the MOMS who had to corral all these rambunctious kids - especially in light of all the cooties undoubtedly on the loose this day-!

    That pink 'plumage' is quite the fashion accessory-!

    Happy Birthday, Andrew-!

    Thanks, Major (you handful, you-!) & Sue, 'natch.

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  2. Happy birthday, Andrew! You probably celebrated the day at Kennywood, since you're working there again this summer. Seems like a cool place to have one's birthday.

    I guess that's Joey with the big red arrow sticking out of the top of his head? I woulda guessed that Joey was the kid to the right, with the striped shirt, like the text says.
    This appears to be a Thanksgiving party, maybe also a birthday party. There are those 3D tissue paper pumpkins, autumn-colored paper cups, and those weird hats appear to be the tops of turkey heads (the 'combs'). Mom, or the kids themselves, must have made the hats because they're just too weird to be a retail item.
    Thanks for the strange-hat photo, Sue.

    Ha! The Flying Saucers as demolition derby vehicles; I would definitely want to see that! If it weren't for the guests being belted-in, we'd be treated to seeing people ejected from their Saucers and sprawled all over the 'air hockey' surface. I know that home versions of air hockey games were available in the early '70s (we had one), but were they a thing when the Flying Saucers were dreamt up? Who stole the idea from who?

    Cool, there are colored bubbles coming out of the Band members' heads. I wonder how the Imagineers accomplished that. The lady on the right in the red sweater reminds me of a loaf of Wonder Bread.
    Major, your use of the word "kitten" has me stumped. Is that a reference to the Park's feral cats? Or just a bit of random silliness?

    Enjoy the day, Andrew! Thanks again to Sue and to Major, too!

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  3. Are Joey and his Pal pretending to "play" instruments with empty toilet paper rolls?

    Do we have a date for the party photo? And where are those kids, today?

    Happy birthday, Andrew! I hope you aren't having to work on your birthday, and that you are doing something fun! Like getting your friends together, and forming an empty toilet paper roll band. ;-)

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  4. Happy birthday, Andrew! I hope you are doing something fun today, like researching long-gone amusement parks.

    ”How can an old-fashioned marching band be in the Land of Tomorrow? To folks from the future, it's akin to seeing cavemen on the moving sidewalks.”

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  5. Lou and Sue5:44 AM

    By golly, JB, you’re right! It looks like I mistakenly planned a Fall Fest for Andrew’s birthday, instead of a birthday party. Oh well, Andrew’s pretty young and he may not even notice. Heck, he probably won’t even mind wearing a turkey hat, either. We’ll just all sing Happy Birthday to Andrew, while playing our TP roll instruments, and enjoy some pumpkin pie. ;oD
    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANDREW!!!

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  6. Lou and Sue5:56 AM

    Interesting GDB factoid: The age difference between our youngest Jr. Gorilla (Andrew) and the oldest (my dad, Lou) is over 75 years.

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  7. AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDREW!!!

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  8. A couple of things: "Kitten" makes sense in every sentence, and should be used liberally when speaking, writing and blogging. I Kitten can't see Joey in the Kitten striped shirt, and Kitten it's like Kitten Fudgie, Kitten Dent, and Kitten Stain. I Kitten can never Kitten see any Kittens. Kittens should be EVERYWHERE! Hundreds of kittens and ONE anxious Poodle...or Dalmation. Pretty much same thing: one with spots. That being said: the fascination of the Flying Saucers does fascinate me: especially bow tie and brill creme guy wearing tuxedo. I think my next visit shall be in a tux, although since I am (often) followed by and questioned by security...I think a tux would be moths to a flame. I like Ostrich plumage, and want to bring this style back please. I'm putting in an order. Who wants one? I am also fascinated by the men's and women's locker rooms there behind the wall: the back side of Grand Canyon. I wish I would have taken more photos of those backstage areas when it was "legal" Even when I was "eligible" to get a Ad Bldg basement locker (that was for senior people/special people only...as it was right under wardrobe and it was quite convenient....) I kept my original locker my entire tenure: which was in this building on the 2nd floor: you can see the windows there. The Character head shop, Cash Control and the on-site barber was underneath. Cash Control had little bars on the windows like an old time bank.

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  9. Anonymous9:09 AM

    Happy Birthday Andrew! Many happy returns of the Day!

    Sue, great picture!

    Major, great pictures!

    I saw a caveman on a moving sidewalk once at the airport.

    JG

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  10. Nanook, I feel like I never had more than 6 or 7 kids at my birthday parties. Maybe because I didn’t bathe? Could be. I agree, the thought of dealing with so many children at once is headache-inducing.

    JB, yeah, I wonder if Andrew will even be able to see today’s post. Now that he’s a workin’ man. It looks like the kid with the arrow has a striped shirt, it’s just more subtle than the kid next to him. Thanksgiving? Turkey heads? By golly, I think you’re right. It could be both a birthday AND Thanksgiving celebration. Decorations courtesy of Hallmark. The turkey heads are a stroke of genius. I’d wear one right now if I could. They should bring back the Flying Saucers, only they could put spikes or rotating saw blades on the sides of the vehicles. THEN it would be popular! Kitten = random silliness.

    TokyoMagic!, that kid grew up to be one of the finest musicians in the world - Kenny G! No date on that party as far as I know, though I’d guess 1965-ish.

    Chuck, I don’t remember seeing that Geico commercial, but maybe I did?? It seems too spot-on to be a coincidence.

    Lou and Sue, like I said to JB, there’s no reason the party couldn’t be for Thanksgiving and Joey’s birthday. Do you think Joey invited every kid in his classroom?

    Lou and Sue, NICE!

    Bu, hmmm, I don’t know if the whole “kitten” thing will catch on. Now “kitty kat”, that’s a whole different ballgame. In the next Mad Max movie, I want one of the bad guys to be flying a Disneyland flying saucer. All grunged up, of course. Never mind how it flies, it’s movie magic! Gosh, it really does look like that one guy is wearing a tuxedo. What the heck? You never know when you’ll spontaneously want to get married. I’d love as many “backstage” photos as possible, but I understand why you didn’t take more pictures - at the time, it was just normal, nothing special. I didn’t take a single photo when I worked at the Studio, and I regret it. Though I was told that bringing a camera was frowned upon. Still, on my last day I should have just gone for it!

    JG, the caveman must have been at LAX, where else would you see such a thing?

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  11. Have a Great Big Beautiful Birthday Andrew!!

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  12. "the caveman must have been at LAX, where else would you see such a thing?" It must have been Encino Man!!!

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  13. Mike, I hope that Andrew tunes in after his long day at Knoebels.

    JB, that must be it! After all, my grandparents lived in Encino, I went there all the time. And the famous Sherman Oaks Galleria was just a few miles away.

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  14. Aw, thanks so much everyone! I worked on my birthday last year but took today off. I visited the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh with a good friend who appreciates much of the same things I like. I can remember some childhood birthday parties outdoors, but nothing as fun as the one pictured! Thanks for sharing Sue. I appreciate everyone's wishes... you really are too kind.

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  15. Dean Finder7:31 PM

    Happy birthday, Andrew! Hope you and your pals all get crepe paper turkey hats, as they say.

    A tux on the Flying Saucers is the perfect complement to Air Force Casual on the ride operators.

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