I have a nice, rare piece of Disneyland paper ephemera for you today - a wonderful flyer advertising the Starlight Ticket Books! These books had two admissions (one for you, one for your date), and tickets for 12 attractions. Presumably, attendance dropped in the evenings as families with children headed home, so this seemed like a good way to draw young couples to the park for fun, food, fireworks, and dancing. Oh, and rides.
The use of purple ink is interesting. The illustration is a bit crude, but that's part of its charm. I think the Matterhorn is slumping in the heat. There's no date on this item, but I think it's safe to guess that it is from around 1962.
The flyer has a single fold; there's a bare-bones map of the park and the streets nearby, because you don't want to accidentally wind up at Knott's Berry Farm (how embarrassing)!
Starlite ticket books give you the greatest dollar savings ever offered at Disneyland! Buy a few ticket books while you're there, for future use. A friend of mine has one of these flyers, identical in every way except that his states that Starlite books are available after 7:00 PM (instead of 6:00 PM as seen on my example). Interesting!
The jpeg is one that I scrounged from the Internet, but I included it because it's pretty clear that the cover illustration of this Grad Nite record was painted by the same artist; this is how I narrowed down the date of the Starlite flyer to '62. However, the Starlite event was available for several years, so it's hard to say for sure.
And... I've shared this before (as well as on the old Vintage Disneyland Tickets blog). but I have an unused Starlite ticket book from June, 1965. Notice that only 10 adventures were included here. Choose your adventures wisely!
Major-
ReplyDeleteBased on the ticket book prices, this flyer is from 1962, as you state.
It's too bad the Carnation Gardens stage was [evidently] unavailable for the Elliot Brothers to perform, as both they and the 'bopping' couples have been jettisoned practically to the hub, based on the artwork from the album-!
-Thanks, Major.
The first thing I thought of when viewing that first image, was the artwork on that "Grad Nite" 45 rpm, and then you included it! Funny, I bought that record at a comic book store off of Harbor Blvd. in Fullerton, in the early eighties. I thought it was so cool to have a souvenir from a Grad Nite that had taken place a whole 20+ years earlier. Now I've had the record twice that long! Where does the time go?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that rare flyer with us, Major!
Wow, I never realized before just how close the Plaza Gardens, the (slumping) Matterhorn, and the Monorail were to the Castle! Must be more of that forced perspective thingy. The Matterhorn has nostrils, but I don't see any Skyway buckets.
ReplyDeleteIn the 2nd pic, the "Disneyland" logo looks like it's on an acid trip, or it has been inhaling some of the funny smoke from the Caterpillar's hookah; but I like the way it looks.
In the scrounged jpeg, the Castle looks kinda sinister, like some version of the Haunted Mansion.
Thanks for the purple pamphlet, Major.
Interesting how the time the Starlite admission was valid changed over the years. The 1962 flyer says the tickets are available after 6 pm, your friend’s copy says they are available after 7 pm, and your 1965 example says “admit one after 5 pm.”
ReplyDeleteWere just the admission tickets valid after that time of day or did the individual attraction tickets also have a time limit? Or were the 10 or 12 (depending on the year) tickets good for all attractions (no A, B, C, D, or E)?
I remember regional parks doing the “after 5 admission” thing through the ‘90s. Mrs. Chuck and I went on a date to King’s Island that way a few months before we got married (to each other). Do they still do that or is it all “buy an annual pass so you can go any night after 5 you want and we can stay addicted to the revenue stream from people who might never come and spend money otherwise?”
Nanook, they actually put the poor Elliott Brothers in the bushes!
TM!, so cool you found that record at that comic store. I never get that lucky. I usually find myself stumbling on copies of Detective Comics #27 or some other worthless junk.
JB, the Matterhorn, Monorail, and the east side of the Castle complex actually are pretty close together, but I agree that there is some artistic license here. The artist did, however, accurately capture how they rolled up the Skyway cable every evening after they tucked the buckets in bed for the night.
“Hey buddy, my eyes are up here!”
ReplyDelete(Sorry, I know it’s a family blog)
Was this artist just getting started in the illustration biz? I think the Matterhorn is bent because it’s drawn too big and had to be scrunched up to fit. And the Castle is crooked on the record cover. These are fun to criticize, but I couldn’t do any better, maybe not as well.
I really like the little graphic on the ticket book cover, classic 1960’s Disneyland. Silhouettes don’t always work as graphic elements, especially complex ones, but the Mark Twain is instantly recognizable. The starlight idea is great, they should bring it back. Does anyone pay the full ride to enter a Park after 0600PM now?
Thanks Major!
JG
Unfortunately, I fall victim to full ride full price after 6. It's indulgent, but my time is/was limited. Definitely, an expensive couple of hours, and I've decided not to "guilt out" too much about it. I'm pretty sure if they offered an "after 5 ticket" they would get the bang for their buck, and certainly, WDW is doing it with some success however kind of not exactly, kind of sort of....in any case...Date Night and Starlite and Grad Night. All different things. When did Jumbo become Deluxe? Or did it? We never got those "fancy" tickets, but my mom's best friends kids always did and of course, we were always jealous and they flaunted it...I am having a PTSD moment as I write this. The days of dancing at Disneyland I think are pretty much over, right? Other than little kids kind of bouncing around at the old Coke Terrace: now: whatever it is? My Matterhorn coconut macaroons look like that Matterhorn: I make them too sticky, so they lean in the oven like this Matterhorn. Maybe now I can tell myself it's on purpose. I'm afraid the people that would even know what dancing at Plaza Gardens was are slowly dwindling away, I'll leave it up to the archivists to preserve the past. It's kind of scary to think that the past 30 years have gone by so fast, so that the 100th anniversary of Disneyland is right around the corner. I dare to think how much my ticket will cost! I think the word "ticket" probably needs to be retired...what will the ephemera collectors have to collect for the Disneyland 100th? Or will the world be consumed by those "damn dirty apes!"....what year was that supposed to be when those astronauts didn't age but just grew beards? and why weren't they grey? Thanks Franklin Schaffner for a great film.
ReplyDeleteNanook, the artwork on the Starlite brochure and record cover is pretty amateurish, with all of Disney’s great artists I’m surprised that they couldn’t come up with something better!
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TokyoMagic!, wow, you scored finding that 45 in a comic book store! I don’t think I’ve ever laid eyes on a real one, and have only seen photos. I feel like I’ve only found good Disneyland stuff “in the wild” on very rare occasions.
JB, I suppose all those young couples were too woozy with love to pay any attention to the graphics on these items. Or they were hopped up on LSD!!! That curly Disneyland logo was first used in 1959, and they continued to use it for a few years after that - I kind of like it! I love the idea of a dark and sinister castle, if only Disneyland would really go extreme for Halloween!
Chuck, perhaps the Starlite tickets were issued at different times of the year, and if it was late fall, the days were shorter? Maybe that would explain the different ties. I assume that the tickets continued to be valid afterwards; and luckily, these are indeed A,B,C,D, and E tickets, not “Magic Kingdom Club”-style tickets. You should have taken Mrs. Chuck to Disneyland, not King’s Island! It would only be another, what, half hour drive? Detective Comics #27 is valuable, it’s the one where they introduce Corn Man! “Artistic License” is a nice way of putting it.
JG, listen, you can’t blame a guy for having straying eyes when he’s with a hot tomater like that gal! It’s natural. The art on these items looks very much like it was done by a talented high schooler to me, there is just enough that shows that they know something about perspective, but the figures are clumsy. They could have gone with a more cartoony style that might have looked better.
Bu, I’m actually sort of surprised that they don’t offer some sort of deal for folks who might show up in the last six hours of operation; on the other hand, the park is often so crowded these days, that they just don’t need more warm bodies inside the berm. I had no idea that they did this in WDW; I have seen some gloom and doom videos (I haven’t watched them, they just show up in my YouTube feed) indicating that the Florida parks are suffering from low crowds. I have no idea if this is true, or if it is just the people wanting Disney to be punished for being “woke”. I thought that they still did some sort of music and dancing over in Fantasy Faire, but I’ve never seen it in person if so. I do remember watching folks (lots of them) cutting a rug back in the day, they were having a good time. I’ll be pretty decrepit by Disneyland’s 100th anniversary, and assuming I’m still here, I doubt I’ll be attending the festivities! I love “Planet of the Apes”, but it’s funny to think about all of the things that make zero sense!
This package was a great deal bringing in couples for a relatively cheap 'date-night'. Lots to do with little time to do it. Remember though that back in the day, it was possible to simply buy a general admission ticket and enjoy the entertainment, or just people watching, for free. My folks did that on several occasions. And a number of 'regulars' would come and cut a very good rug at Carnation Gardens. Oh, let's not forget parking was 25 to 50 cents too. KS
ReplyDeleteFabYOUlous stuff.
ReplyDeleteMS
That extra fancy font is back in heavy use now on 70th merch.
ReplyDeleteMS
Does the Grad Nite record have music not found on the Date Night at Disneyland album? Wondering if the Elliott Brothers (and the other acts around the park) focused more on rock and roll for an exclusively teen crowd.
ReplyDeleteKS, I’m sure that the Starlite (and “Date Nite”) promotions brought in tons of young folks - what a great way to spend an evening with your sweetheart, especially in that era of the park! Incredible that parking was so reasonable (or cheap), I have a stack of the old parking vouchers.
ReplyDeleteMS, I love this vintage Disneyland paper! And thanks for the info about the use of that font for the 70th, I’m amazed that there is anybody in the company who knew about it.
DBenson, I took a look, and was surprised that (apparently) nobody has digitized that Grad Nite 45 - by now I figured everything was available online! Since I don’t have a copy of that record, I have no idea what’s on it, but I suspect it’s probably some sort of upbeat swing tunes.
Major, the crowds are definitely down at WDW this year. The guys at Touringplans that forecast crowds using historical patterns have been seen crowds way below what they expected. Though I doubt it has much to do with Disney's politics - people complaining about Woke Disney aren't types who go to theme parks anyway. I think it has a lot more to do wit Disney pricing themselves out of a large segment of the population along with Universal opening a new park this past month.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious about how Epic Universe will affect the rest of Universal. Will it make Universal more of a destination resort like WDW, or will it bleed attendance from the other Universal parks? Also, I get the impression Epic Universe is close to but not quite adjacent to the rest of the Universal parks and hotels -- that is, not "on property" the way everything at Disney is, creating the illusion of a cocoon. That could be a psychological factor, but for the foreseeable future a lot of guests will be there just for Epic Universe, and park-hopping from the main resort property will be expensive and involved.
DeleteI envy all those who were able to go to Disneyland on dates. I can't think of a better place for a fun and romantic evening, especially back in the 60s and 70s, when Disneyland was in its prime.
ReplyDeleteThat artist, for the record cover, included The Dent.
"My Matterhorn coconut macaroons look like that Matterhorn."
Bu, please give me your recipe.
Thanks, Major.
Major, that comic book store in Fullerton was a gold mine! They had a corner of the store, with just toys, records, maps, postcards, etc. I bought so many items there, including a vintage Disneyland "Monorail Game" and "Astrojet Game." I've posted some of the items, like the program from the opening of "Mary Poppins" at Grauman's Chinese Theater, and an animation cell from "The Rescuers." They also sold lobby cards and original movie posters, and I bought quite a few for various Disney films. The shop was called "The Comic Castle." It caught fire at some point in the late eighties (I think). I heard that they had relocated to Montclair, but I never tried to find them until many years later, and it seemed that they had closed for good.
ReplyDeleteAnyway.....I didn't want to have to dig out that record from "deep storage" in my bedroom closet, but luckily I found images of the back of the sleeve and of the record label on both sides. The person on this site listed one of the songs/tracks as "Mexican Hoe-Down, written by La Raspa" but that is incorrect. The song is listed as "Mexican Hoe-Down" but in parenthesis on the record label, it's telling us that the song is actually the song, "La Raspa." La Raspa would be recognizable to most people, because "The Mexican Hat Dance" uses a combination of it and another song.
Oh, and that song, plus the other two songs included on the 45, "That's All" and "Goodnight Sweetheart", were all included on the 1958 LP "Date Night At Disneyland," just as DBenson was wondering!
I forgot to include the link! Again, this site has a scan of the front and back of the sleeve, and of the labels on both sides of the record, but you have to click on "More Images."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/release/8375079-Elliot-Bros-Orch-Grad-Nite-At-Disneyland