More Golden Horseshoe Revue, December 1976
I have three more very nice photos from the classic Golden Horseshoe Revue show, circa December, 1976. It still featured Wally Boag, Fulton Burley (seen here), and Betty Taylor. And lots of purty gals! Fulton Burley (or as I called him, "F.B.") sings "The Girl On the Police Gazette" (a song by Irving Berlin), with dancers dressed scandalously. There are no bare ankles here, but what if there had been?? For your edification, The National Police Gazette, commonly referred to as simply the Police Gazette, is an American magazine founded in 1845. (It) became the forerunner of the men's lifestyle magazine, the illustrated sports weekly, the girlie/pin-up magazine, the celebrity gossip column, Guinness World Records-style competitions, and modern tabloid/sensational journalism.
These gals appear to be performing the can-can, a dance all about recycling. You all remember the accompanying lyrics:
🎶The recyclability of a material
depends on its ability
to reacquire the properties
it had in its original staaaate🎶
I admit that the message seems a bit out of place, but who's complaining?
And finally, Betty, Wally, and F.B. take a well-deserved bow after completing their 10-millionth performance of the Golden Horseshoe Revue. A good time was had by all!
9 comments:
Major-
A classic-! And not bad indoor images, either.
Thanks, Major.
"F.B." looks like a snake oil salesman here for sure, with that very stripey suit. Not sure why but the gals remind me of decorated cupcakes that you would see in a bakery.
Major, you have a certain way with words and lyrics, set to a familiar tune. ;-) If Melissa sees this she will probably do a face palm.
Oh my, we can almost see a little too much of the can-can dancer closest to us. 8-\ We may need to use one of Tokyo!'s white ovals! (I'm sure she's wearing some frilly under garments..... right?)
That's quite a hairdo Betty has. It looks like there's a Pomeranian napping atop her head... Or maybe a tribble. And Wally's wearing his 'dorky cowboy' costume, with the floppy hat and extra-shaggy chaps.
Like the previous scans in this series, these are really good, clear photos of the GH Revue. Thanks, Major.
Recently I described seeing the Police Gazette number, but this is the first time I've seen a photo of it anywhere.
To repeat the song's context: Back in ragtime days Irving Berlin wrote "The Girl on the Magazine Cover", a polite ballad about a nameless beauty on a respectable, unnamed publication. In 1937 20th Century Fox produced "On The Avenue", a musical with new songs by Berlin (who also got story credit). "The Girl on the Police Gazette" is a sendup of the Gay 90s, with Berlin kidding his older song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awML2WjY8W8
The old-time Police Gazette was remembered as being near-porn in its time, filled with scandalous and likely fictional stories, illustrated by engravings of buxom beauties in unseemly situations. It was not to be displayed outside of emphatically male strongholds, like the barber shop. To do a quaint, nostalgic song about it was a joke in itself. Imagine young Pat Boone unironically crooning about a Playboy centerfold.
Oh my, we can almost see a little too much of the can-can dancer closest to us. We may need to use one of Tokyo!'s white ovals!
JB, she can't have one of my white ovals.....not if she's going to put it there! ;-)
Thanks, Major, for more excellent photos of the Golden Horseshoe Revue!
Wow, spicy stuff for a family blog, to say nothing of a family Theme Park!
(Clutches pearls gasping)
At least we are redeemed by a worthwhile song about recycling.
Major, thanks for more “you are there” in the Golden Horseshoe.
JG
Nanook, I’m happy to have some nice pictures of the classic!
JB, I know that F.B. was “the Irish tenor”, but I don’t know if he also played some other role in the Revue. Wally Boag played “the traveling salesman”, of course. I didn’t write that song, some brilliant tunesmith did! Melissa would love it. Even for Disneyland, the can-can was pretty racy, but as I said in the post, I’m not complaining. I assume that Betty wore a wig, you might have passed her on the street and not recognized her. Was it a full wig, or a wiglet?
DBenson, I guess it’s a factor of my age, but for some reason the Police Gazette is one of those things I was aware of since I was a young child, even though I never saw an old issue laying around. I think they even made Police Gazette gags in Bugs Bunny cartoons. And is it shown in “Carousel of Progress” as a background detail? I need more engravings of buxom beauties! Hey, remember when Pat Boone went Heavy Metal?
TokyoMagic!, maybe you have ovals of another color? Check your kitchen drawer. Glad you liked these!
JG, I love that Walt was fine with the slightly “adult” nature of the can-can girls. It reminds me of Walter Knott, a conservative man if there ever was one, finding humor in Goldie’s Joint. I’ll bet you’ll be humming that song about recycling all day!
I'm late cause I had to finish the Gazette. The second photo looks like they are reacting to an explosion in the audience. Maybe Walter Knott's head exploded.
We visited DL in the very early years and more after that yet I never saw the show, more's the pity. More's the pity comes from watching too many British crime shows.
Thanks Major
Zach
Major is correct : there is visual reference to The Police Gazette in early versions of the Carousel of Progress and AMERICA SINGS as well.
I have about a dozen Golden Horseshoe /Diamond Horseshoe Revue costume concept sketches and some are for the “gazette” girls shown in these images. When I got them they were mistakenly categorized as “America on Parade”.
Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue & Walt Disney World’s Diamond Horshoe Revue shows featured alternating acts inserted into the tradition show - like the Police Gazette number. When the regular show was on break specialty shows would often be performed in the “Horseshoe” like the “Frontierland Mayor’s Election “ and the oddly out of place “ CLASS OF 23’ “ Roaring 20’s Musical Revue ( also performed as the CLASS OF 26’).
Major, I don't remember ever hearing Pat Boone's metal album, but I did hear Steve and Eydie's Grunge album. Their cover of Stone Temple Pilots' "Black Hole Sun" changed my life.
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