Today I am sharing part two from a series of scans from our friend Sue B, who acquired a copy of a 1987 edition of a cast member grooming and costuming guide. I like to wear pajamas out in public, but you can't do that at Disneyland. Not even a track suit!
We left off in the middle of learning about the "dos" and "donts" of costuming (for hosts) . I love details such as hats needing to be worn "two fingers above the eyebrows". I have very slim fingers! You can't wear your mirrored aviator sunglasses, it makes people uneasy, especially when they ask you a question and you just stare at them silently, until they slink away in shame. Another mention of facial hair reminds me that we have seen vintage photos of some CMs with mustaches, usually in Frontierland (Stagecoach drivers and such).
Costume guidelines for the ladies! That orange jumpsuit makes the gal in the top photo look like she's ready to hop on the next space shuttle. All systems nominal! I think it's funny that the wearing of pins for the Red Cross, United Way, or Junior Achievement" are forbidden.Who would wear those, anyway? Apparently women can't shave their heads - yes, this is1987, and they'd had to deal with the punk era. Most of the rules seem pretty easy to follow, although I do like a nice wig once in a while.
Wow, they've thought of everything. Blushers! Eye makeup! Lipstick! Perfume (and deodorant)! Fingernails and jewelry! And so on. Skirt length, wouldn't that be the responsibility of the costume department? A lot of the other info seems essentially the same as for men. That lady with the 3D glasses must be from "Captain EO", I suppose this must have been an incredibly popular attraction when it was new (it had debuted in 1986)?
Even more general costume guidelines; again, most rules are essentially the same as the ones for men. Looking at the pretty balloon vendor in the bottom photo, I believe that she may have appeared in a similar photo with Bu?
Oh, here we go! The Man telling me that my long golden Fontleroy curls are not acceptable! Who's that guy in the first photo? Did they have an on-site barber? Please cut out and memorize the diagram at the bottom for the next time you go to Supercuts.
Do you want a taper? It can be high, medium, or low. What more could you possibly want? Based on a recent park visit, these standards are no longer in use!
That's it for part two! Stay tuned for part three. THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
Major-
ReplyDeleteAfter looking thru the acceptable hair styles, I see my dreams of becoming a cast member have been nixed. All those dotted lines circumnavigating the head makes me a bit nervous, as if the lines are suggestions as to where to 'piece my cranium'-!!
Also, I don't trust a barber who has shutters in his barbershop.
Thanks to Sue.
For the gals, hair barrettes must be gold, sliver or tortoise shell in color. Seems like black or white should also be acceptable, but I guess not.
ReplyDeleteThe male haircut guideline illustrations seem kinda sketchy to me... Get It? Sketchy... because they're sketches. Hahahahaha! I dunno, the guy's haircut in the illustrations looks pretty much the same in all the images to me. Hard to tell what is, and is not, acceptable, or what the text is referring to. By this time (1987) guys were wearing their hair fairly short anyway so there probably weren't very many guys coming in with unacceptable hair styles. Seems doubtful that some guy with 'hippy hair' would be applying at the Park anyway.
An interesting, and somewhat confusing (or confounding) read. Thank you, Sue, and Major too.
Disneyland certainly did have its own barbershop : CAST CUTTER’S. For all employees . Quite collectible today are the different appointment time cards issued to employees that acted as a sort of reservation card.
ReplyDeleteThe hair diagram illustrations in this Disney Look edition as well as the previous editions going back to 1976, and later versions till about 1990 were done by Tom Peirce : who was the main designer of all operation costumes for Disneyland , Walt Disney World , Tokyo Disneyland and EPCOT CENTER. He also designed audio animatronic costumes like Country Bear Jamboree, Carousel of Progress, RCA Home of Future Living, World of Motion , Spaceship Earth, Horizons , It’s A Small World Tokyo Disneyland , Paris and Phantom Manor.
While costuming would dictate the appropriate skirt length in the design of the costume , I know that in the late 60’s when the official Disney creative costuming design team was assemble to start designing WDW costumes and wardrobe standards for both parks , had a issue at Disneyland- specifically with waitresses doing temporary hemming to their dresses uses pins and sewing clips while on shift…. Which probably necessitated the mention in the Disney Look Guide. Although off hand I don’t have the details , a similar thing was happening with the men in 1972 with the Bear Country “boatsmen” shirts and their historic sleeves that filled out past the elbow. How the male castmembers temporarily altered this sleeve look I don’t know , but through interviews and costuming documentation it was an issue back then.
It's interesting that it mentions women must wear undergarments, but there was no mention of that for the men. Knott's Berry Farm's costuming guidelines insisted that men wear t-shirts, and stated that they couldn't be sleeveless or "half t-shirts" (the kind that end or are cut-off at the stomach).
ReplyDeleteBut overall, Knott's was definitely more relaxed than Disney with their guidelines. Knott's almost seemed too relaxed at first, after having to follow Disney's strict guidelines which were required even for just being in the parade and in a role where none of the guests would ever see you.
Thank you, Sue and Major!
I have never been daring coiffeurially but my manager did offered me $5 once to get my hair cut. I would have those dotted lines tattooed on my head to help the barber.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and Sue and the Disney 'Look Guide"
Zach
I got my hair cut a couple of times at Cast Cutters: which was on the backside of the Grand Canyon underneath the women's locker room and next door to the "Zoo" where the big heads were. The barber is Gary and the other guy is John: who was my bosses boss...and then my bosses husband...and his brother Jim opened a few famous international theme parks, and his daughter worked with and for me....got it? Life goes in circles. We all laughed at the wardrobe girl at the time: she is the red hair lass in the blue polo handing a costume through the window of wardrobe. We didn't laugh because it was funny: as the photo is pretty standard Disney. We laughed because this person was probably the worst offenders of the Disney look: with a different colorful hair color basically every week...perhaps I exaggerate, but I've seen a variety of colors not found in nature on this one. It was even mentioned in a costume meeting I attended "what about the one with the purple hair!?!!! I just want to wear a sweater over my costume!!!" someone said: who was told the sweater was not allowed over a Tahitian Terrace costume.... I remember most of the people in this booklet: the vendor: no: it's not the same one I knew....however it looks like they copied the shot with another blonde. They liked the blondes. If I remember correctly, the orange jumpsuit blonde was kind of a grump...I wondered how she got into this book with the smile I never saw on stage. I remember Tomorrowland Ops people were all kind of generally grumpy...the Westside people were a bit more gregarious. That Window dresser there with the caterpillar: she basically put together all the windows on Main Street...but I remember seeing her in a white kind of "sweeper" costume look: and not this blue collar look. She would be out there in the morning doing her thing. Tokyo is correct, that it didn't matter if you were an onstage employee or a backstage employee: EVERYONE needed to follow the rules...even if you worked at a remote office building, or had a Mickey head on. Consistency is the key to managing HR..."why does so and so get to do it, and I can't?!" Kind of eliminates those things to a certain extent. Unless you work in wardrobe and dye your hair purple.....Thanks Major and Sue for the trip back in time.
ReplyDeleteThese make it easier to see why French cast members were a bit put off.
ReplyDeleteWOW Mike that’s news to me about Tom Pierce. Never knew for sure there was one designer behind all those costumes, but you can feel the same hand in each, like recognizing an architects work. He sounds Disney Legend level (contributed a bit more Disney flair than say Susan Lucci).
MS
I'm looking at the 4 men's haircut 'sketches.' There is almost NO difference. (BTW, I'm also chuckling at the funny previous comments, here, regarding the "dotted lines"). I think we need the experts (Bu and Major) to translate and clarify the differences in today's sketches. And I still stick to my previous comment made for Part One of this guide: "The guide writer could've saved half the pages and just used one page for the male look -- with a picture of Bu filling up the entire page, with the caption, "Look like THIS!"
ReplyDeleteI'll be back, shortly. And I hope Major didn't make a wrong turn.
On the second scanned page, the paragraph reads as follows:
ReplyDelete"As a condition of your continued employment with DISNEYLAND, you are responsible for maintaining an appropriate weight and size so that they do not detract from the "Show" and do not exceed the range of sizes for your costume."
^ I emboldened that specific word....that word can't mean what I think it means?! Maybe the experts can clarify this, also.
MS: Tom was the chief designer ….. he also had sever assistant designers over the years … with about 2-3…. Tom often did the research and came up with the look he wanted and would create several variant sketches - then his assistants would do additional variations of color or fabric or looks - any concession required or requested of a sponsor …. . Then Tom would usually do a final color rendering once the final design was decided on . The pattern girls and seamstresses LOVED Tom’s renderings because they said they could easily see how the pattern pieces would be constructed.
ReplyDeleteSue: you read that correctly… wardrobe kept a limited amount of costume sizes at hand … And if you got too large you were sent backstage to do “limited work” as I’ve mentioned before to do menial repetitive jobs like attaching price tags on Mickey plush or putting Mickey t shirts into plastic sleeves.
However I know of sone well know cast members in the 1970’s and 1980’s who were kinda large and they worked on stage in costume. I know there were stories about 1967 New Tomorrowland that apparently memos went out to managers basically saying that any transfers need to be young , good looking in-shape cast members. And that may partially be true … but most of the 1967 Tomorrowland costumes were off the shelf ski wear fashion - and the sizes were limited made for active sporty people .