"Information" Brochures, 1955 & 1956
It's vintage ephemera time! As you know, I am an avid collector of vintage Disneyland paper items. I don't claim to have a great collection, but it's at least good. Going through some boxes, I picked out two early "Information" brochures that are scarce but not super rare. With a little patience you can find them on eBay eventually!
Here's the front panel of this 1955 example - fairly minimal really. No Tinker Bell, no Dumbo, just a line drawing of Sleeping Beauty Castle and a bit of text. It's interesting that I almost always see these in excellent condition, which makes me assume that they were handed to guests as they entered the parking lot. The brochure stayed in the car and did not get folded to fit in dad's pocket or mom's purse, or get mangled in somebody's sweaty hands.
Unfolding it, we can see all 4 panels of one side, including answers to basic questions that prospective visitors might have. How much will it cost? How about cameras? And so on. The right two panels have an interesting graphic layout, with black and white photos of highlights from Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, Frontierland, and Adventureland. Sorry, Main Street!
The other side features a map with the major freeways delineated in red, information about public transportation, and fairly-accurate descriptions of the things you can find in each land.
Next is the 1956 version of this brochure, which is actually considerably harder to find than the 1955 version. It's largely the same as the previous example, although the blue-gray is lighter.
You'll find only a few minor changes on this side....
... and even these panels show few (if any) changes.
10 comments:
Major-
I own the 1955 version of this Information brochure. Do we know if a 'revised' 1956 edition was printed for the Summer announcing the additions of new rides to the Park-?
Thanks, Major.
"Disneyland is designed for the enjoyment of everyone and will always be within everyone's budget."
Yeah, right!
Thanks for sharing these rare opening-year brochures, Major!
Hmm, in the 2nd (folded out) image, apparently the uppermost tower of the Castle hadn't been built yet. OR, the artsy person who put this brochure together just decided the upper tower of the castle wasn't needed, and erased it.
In the next (red) image, I like the variety of fonts used for the titles of the various Lands. I wonder if anybody took the ride description text literally. Like "...rocket to the moon at 172,000 miles an hour". Actually, at that speed, the ride would take about three hours to get to the moon and back again, which clearly wasn't the case. We must've been traveling closer to 500,000 mph for a half-hour ride time. But who's counting.
And I notice in the 1956 version that the speed hasn't been corrected. Yes I know, I'm anal. Oops, sorry... family blog... Yes I know, I'm persnickety.
Thanks for showing us more of your 'paper stuff', Major.
This is a wonderful piece and I enjoyed going over every word. As a kid I would read these types of things over and over...having a virtual visit before that was "a thing". I thought about you going through "the boxes" and thought...is there a better way to access these types of things? Like a archivists studio? Big drawers in a humidity controlled environment? I do have a dresser that I layer art into: so I suppose that would suffice too. Just thoughts. I also have boxes full of stuff too...some which I haven't opened for decades. I went to an estate sale yesterday and they had several offices FILLED with ephemera...piles and piles of stuff from the past 150 years...literally. I got overwhelmed and had to leave...but I thought of you. I'm sure there were real goodies in there. That being said: I think it would be wise to send a copy of this brochure to the suits running the place now: CLEARLY the concept of Disneyland was the essence of what made it wildly successful and unique...and that uniqueness remains...if watered down or "amended" a bit...or more than a bit. "Amazing and affordable". Even in '55 it wasn't "cheap" compared to say a carnival...but I would absolutely not call today's Disneyland "affordable". But people DO afford it, and the numbers show it. The museums in New York generally have a "free day" or a "pay what you can" day...or student day...so that EVERYONE has the ability to see amazing things...even at private museums not run by the City of New York. I don't think that this is the way to go with such a commercial enterprise, and I also don't think that they can go backwards in time given stockholders that want their money. Whether they like it or not, Disneyland IS culture and has legacy. So draining rivers and whatnot , or painting everything purple has impact. I could go on, but that is for my Disney Op Ed blog...coming soon. "Disneyland is your land". Execs: take notice. Thanks Major!
Blogger ate my comment, sigh. And I’m too irked to rewrite it.
Thanks for sharing these rare bits, Major. Very nice.
JG
"...will always be within everyone's budget." This mornings Mice Chat headline- Disneyland Price Hike Alert. As Bu said, some can afford it.
Ephemera is from the Greek flatus.
Thanks, Major
Zach
Nanook, I am not aware of another version of the 1956 version of the brochure, but I have learned that there are all kinds of rarities out there that I was unaware of! I have a scarce Global Van Lines booklet, and just learned that there is a second version.
TokyoMagic!, ha ha, there was a time when Disneyland was actually supposed to be “for everyone”.
JB, I just noticed that Blogger is doing that annoying Blogger Thing, if you click on the next to last thumbnail, you get the last photo enlarged. I’ll see if I can fix it! That missing turret on the castle was having a dent installed, but then they ran out of money and it went in dent-free. I’m not sure where they got those numbers for how fast the rocket would have gone. Wernher Von Braun? Willy Ley? Willie Nelson? I’ll bet you are the first person in 70 years to notice that erroneous rocket info!
Bu, the weird fact that these brochures, even though somewhat scarce, seem to always be in excellent condition, is fascinating to me. I’ve never seen one folded or dog-eared. I like to think that there were those kids out there who really did pore over theirs when they got home, remembering all of the wonderful sights they’d seen a day or two before. I keep my paper stuff mostly in acid-free boxes that I got at The Container Store, but I have five or six such boxes and it can sometimes be a real pain to locate a specific item, since I have not figured out how to organized them in any meaningful way. Wow, that estate sale sounds amazing! How could you leave?? I’d want to go with at least some stuff! With one exception, all the estate sales I’ve gone to have been picked-over by the time I got there. I do wonder about the future of Disneyland and its pricing, since the fees go up at least once a year and sometimes twice, will it ever reach a point where the fans really do stay away in droves?
JG, I’m sorry that Blogger ate your comment. I doubt Google spends much time working on it to improve it.
zach, argh, they announced another price hike TODAY? UGH.
Major, with Disney releasing WDW tickets about a year out, and basing prices on which park you want to visit when, and how many days in a row, they can sneak in price increases almost continuously.
Looking at the 1955 brochure, it states [in part]:
"When is the best time?
The attendance pattern shows all days of the week about equal in number of visitors."
When they put-together this brochure in 1955, this 'fact' couldn't have been based on more than one week's attendance numbers, if that.
Side note: That brochure statement would be true, today. On my last visit, the park tickets/reservations for 'all the days' were sold out.
Thanks, Major, these are fun to read.
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