Golden Horseshoe, December 12, 1969
It's not difficult to find photos of the outside of the Golden Horseshoe, but interior photos are considerably scarcer. I have two of them for you today!
First up is this general view of the area where the audience would sit and enjoy Pepsi, Lays potato chips, and perhaps a ham and cheese sandwich. It's clear that a performance has ended and the crowd has cleared out, the perfect time to take a quick picture. Do you need longhorn steer horns on your wall? This place is pretty impressive for an amusement park.
Speaking of performances, you can't go wrong with a picture of beautiful dancing girls. The one on the left is looking directly at us and now I am flustered!
14 comments:
How fun! We can see the cameraman in the mirror, in that first photo!
Thanks, Major!
Upon second glance, I assume we are seeing the other people in the cameraman's group, also reflected in the mirror. It looks like Kathy Griffin's mother, Maggie, was with them!
Upon taking a third look at that photo, we can also see the cameraman reflected in the other mirror, on the far left! I wonder if he knew in advance, that he would show up twice in his picture?
These ARE great pictures. We never missed the Golden Horseshoe Review, on our family trips in the 60s and 70s. Good times! I would love to step into that first image and plop down at one of those balcony tables now! Anyone want to join me?
Thanks, Major.
It looks like Disney cornered the market on those long-horned Longhorn horns. ;-p This is a real nice picture; all it needs are people at the tables to give it that extra something.
The dancing girls aren't wearing their usual flouncy "can-can" dresses. Instead, they've got those short wrap-around towel thingys (the latest Paris fashion, I'm sure), and feather boas, which are much nicer than the reptilian kind. This one is also a very nice, colorful photo; very theatrical. I like the silhouetted guests.
Tokyo!, haha. I'm sure that photographer is breaking several laws of space and time by including himself in the picture... twice!. We can expect the universe to end any time now.
Sue is right, these are great pictures! Thanks, Major.
Major-
Yes, I love seeing the photographer's reflection [twice] in the mirrors. Also of note - a Western Electric 563 6-button phone sitting at the edge of the bar and [what's most-likely] an Exide Lightguard, emergency light pack sitting on a shelf up in the balcony.
Thanks, Major.
^ “WESTERN Electric” Ha!
Just so nobody’s confused, the Western Electric 563 was still a rotary dial phone, but there were six lighted buttons in a row below the dial that allowed you to connect to different lines. They (and their touch tone descendants, the 1563 and 2563) were a godsend in an office with multiple desks and multiple lines. I was really cheesed when I moved to a new base and the communications squadron refused to support us with multi line phones essentially because it caused more work for them. It was loads of fun trying to chase a call around a bay with 23 desks.
The barber shop I went to when I was a wee lad was decorated with steer horns and lots of leather. Definitely no styling in that place, just good, honest men’s cuts that you could set your watch by. I got a set of cow horns in Ensenada and had them hanging in my bedroom over my cowboy curtains specifically because of that barber shop.
Thanks, Major!
All I see in that first picture is the "g-g-g-ghost!!!" walking out on the right. Ok, maybe it's a guy that was feeling a little blurry that morning
I always got flustered when pretty girls paid attention to me as a kid. I had no idea why, though, lol!
I remember when we went to Walt Disney World for the first time (1981?). Their review (at the DIAMOND Horseshoe, because, you know, WDW being bigger and all) took a reservation to get into. And they were gone within minutes of park opening! Those were good times...
The interior of the Golden Horseshoe is one of the best designed spaces in the Park. I consider it (one of the many) "historic locations" as, among other milestones... it's where the anniversary party for Walt and Mrs. Disney was held before the park opened, and that event has so many great stories/myths/legends around it. Other great stories would include of course Wally Boag, Fulton Burley, and Betty Taylor...and let's NOT forget the Tour Guide Fashion show! There is a photo floating around out there of that epic presentation. It's now a fast food location which could not be more insulting to it's history. A funny story about steer horns...while walking through Harbor House with a co-worker, a giant white Cadillac pulled through the Harbor Gate to park backstage, with steer horns on the front of it..."who is THAT?!"....guess who? It was Annette Funicello. Wearing her giant sunglasses. True story. Her husband Glen was a rancher, and there ya go. That dip in the tunnel under the track to get to the "special people" parking lot is pretty hard core...I don't remember if she hit bottom going through. That was not an uncommon thing. Anyway....the Golden Horseshoe .... yes, Disneyland took reservations, and yes they were gone by morning. They gave people little tickets with the Pepsi logo on them. We (VIP TG's) had reservations assigned for us, and had a special table waiting so we didn't need to wait in the line. FYI: it was never in the box on the stage...but the box was always roped off...it actually is not a good view. Anyone could sit there: you just took off the rope, and sat. Easy. Sometimes my people wanted to sit up there, so we did. FYI, it was the bottom box on the right. Backstage is probably as unglamorous as it could be, and basically looks like a room backstage at a high school auditorium. The dressing rooms for the "stars" were upstairs of the River Belle Terrace/Employee break area. They were like little apartments...but smaller than Walts. In my fantasy Disneyland, the Golden Horseshoe Show comes back for an encore....but bring out cowboys and poker, and staged fights...and booze. I saw Wally's last performance, and Dick Hardwick had his own vibe, but Wally was so very loose and comfortable on stage...and I guess you would have been after tens of thousands of performances. Thanks Major.
I agree that the Golden Horseshoe saloon & stage is one of the best designed spaces at Disneyland. And I love the photographer's reflection in the mirror.
One of my favorite memories of the Golden Horseshoe was when I sat on the upper balcony in the back overlooking the saloon/theater dead center to avoid any interaction with the performers. Just before the show started, I was suddenly surrounded by two dance hall girls with they're legs extended over the balcony in front of me. I was practiclly wrapped between them and a spotlight shown on me and the two girls dead center to introduce the show. I was a like a deer caught in the headlights. So much for avoiding interaction or contact with the show performers. It was a unique experience for sure. Great memory.
Thanks, Major.
Major, these photos are really a cut above. Thank you!
I’m so lucky to have seen Wally Boag once, I had no idea then of course.
Thanks everyone for the back story and memories.
JG
I only visited the Golden Horseshoe once, and it was enjoyable. Saw Billy Hill and the Hillbillies there.
Nanook, ha ha, I did not notice the cameraman (and his family?)!
TokyoMagic!, “Kathy Griffin’s mother, Maggie”, does Kathy Griffin really have a mother named Maggie.
TokyoMagic!, I doubt the guy knew he was taking two self-portraits, and I’m not sure he knew he was even taking one!
Lou and Sue, I wish I’d seen the original Golden Horseshoe Revue with Wally Boag and company. I know my dad would have loved it, but we never did do it.
JB, I do like photos with people in them, but it’s also sometimes nice to get one free of silhouetted heads. I like seeing the turquoise and white “table tents”, I have about 8 variations which I will share here someday. I wonder if those wrap-around things are from later in the show? I can imagine (OH YEAH!) them taking their floofy skirts off so that they were even more leggy for the finale.
Nanook, I wonder why they needed a prominently displayed phone in the GH? They could have kept it under the bar, or someplace less obvious.
Lou and Sue, *rim shot*!
Chuck, I remember getting a job in an office, pre-college, and there was a phone with many extension buttons, and nobody told me how to use it. I guess they just assumed I knew? I had to ask one of the pretty gals to show me what to do, heh heh. You mentioned your barber shop… I remember going to one when we lived in Huntington Beach (I was about 7 years old), I was waiting my turn. To pass the time, I picked up a nearby magazine. Hey, it’s full of pictures of naked ladies! I’m sure the barbers had a laugh at that one. Hey, it was the 70s.
Stu, don’t be a-scared, he is probably a friendly ghost. It looks like he might be wearing a vest, in which case he is a CM, probably just starting cleanup. I’ve seen photos of the exterior of the GH, with lines of people waiting for the next show, I have no idea if they needed a reservation to get in, though. I’m glad you got to see the Florida version!
Bu, I was inside the Golden Horseshoe for a brief rest, and enjoyed looking at the beautiful details, it really is a gem of a building. The anniversary of Walt and Lilly… a friend of mine went to a store that sold Hollywood props, and found an invitation to that famous anniversary party at the park, it had been originally sent to Hedda Hopper. What an incredible find! Aw, Annette, I love that she showeed up in a big Caddy with steer horns. She’s my kind of gal. I’d like to sit in one of those box seats, but you are right, they are way off to the side at an extreme angle, it would not be the best place to be if you really were interested in watching the show. It was probably good for Mr. Disney, if he wanted to not be too obvious. Maybe he wore one of his famous beat-up hats. I’m not surprised that the backstage area (of the GH) is so spartan, the few backstage areas that I have seen are also about as utilitarian as can be.
K. Martinez, wow, you had an awesome experience! Do you remember roughly how old you were?? I love it, and I love that the performers went that “extra mile” to make a special memory for you!
JG, there was a special event long after Wally retired, and I thought about going, but ultimately did not. He passed away not long afterwards, which made me regret my dumb decision.
Steve DeGaetano, I’ve heard audio of Billy Hill and the HiIlbillies, and liked it more than I thought I would! They were pretty funny.
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