Before we get started with our regularly-scheduled programming, let's send some big birthday wishes to Lou Perry and Dean Finder! Sue B. has provided a vintage scan for the occasion - five boys and one girl smiling at the camera while the birthday boy holds one gift, with a pile of additional presents on the floor. Some look suspiciously like clothing boxes! The boys with bowties must be brothers. Does the cage contain mice? Happy Birthday, Lou and Dean (and thank you for the photo, Sue)!
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You've heard of the Superfriends; Superman, Batman and Robin, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and more. Well, today's photos feature MY Superfriends. Principal Aebleskivers, Madame LeFevere, and Professor Bunions. Together, they were unstoppable. Why there hasn't been a big-budget movie about this trio is beyond me.
Principal Aebleskivers and Madame LeFevre had a particular appreciation of "the arts", including the nearly-lost craft of silhouette-making. Folks who worked in the shop at Disneyland spent 11 years in Paris, learning their skills while taking a vow of silence. Hey, I didn't make the rules. If I'm reading this photo correctly (and I think that I am), the Principal is so deeply moved that he is on the verge of tears. The big softie!
There they are, the Superfriends. When they joined their golden teacher's lounge keys into a triangle, they were imbued with the power of the Universe! Luckily for us, they only worked for good, and not E-VIL.
Yep, Major's hitting the rum, again. I just texted him to let him know. That was a post for 2/28 - prepared loooong ago.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday to Dean Finder and Lou [up in heaven]. I'd like to think if I was at that birthday celebration, I'd be the one wearing the snappy bow tie while using that 'item' in my left hand to discreetly send out a distress call-!
ReplyDeleteGotta love that sea of purple and yellow flowers - looking particularly lovely in this view.
Thanks to Sue and The Major..
Well, in that case.... everybody just forget what I said until the 28th about sending out secret messages.
ReplyDelete:o)
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Dean! I've noticed that you are commenting more regularly lately. Better be careful or end up slightly 'cracked' like the rest of us. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAnd a Happy Birthday to our forever friend, Lou Perry. Your photos (with Sue's diligence) will always be appreciated here.
Yes, the Bow tie Boys are probably brothers. The two boys on the right, with matching sweaters, are definitely brothers. It looks the caged animal might be a hamster. It looks too fat to be a parakeet.
To me, Principal Aebleskivers looks more confused than teary. He's wondering where the silhouette maker found all those people with tiny heads.
The Matterhorn pic looks like a real location in the Swiss Alps. The Mighty Mountain rising above an Alpine meadow flush with wild flowers. Looks like Mrs. Aebleskivers is deep in prayer. Or maybe she just got off the Teacups and is trying mightily to keep her lunch down.
Hmm. So the birthday wishes are premature? Oh well, looks like Lou and Dean will get a double dose of wishes this year! :-p
Thanks [hic!] for the [hic!] photos. Maj[hic!]or. ;-)
Since that animal in the cage is sitting on a perch, it must be a bird. Is that another bird at the bottom of the cage?
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a Valentine arrangement of flowers, branches and birds, in the Silhouette Shop's window. And the principal is about to drop a long hot ash on the French teacher's sleeve!
Who took that last pic? Have we seen a fourth person in this group's batch of photos?
I guess I won't be wishing a happy birthday to anyone, since the birthdays appear to have been announced early. Maybe I'll just say, "Happy Day After Your Birthday," to Ken!
Hooray, I'm up at 2:15 in the morning to find that I screwed up the birthday date for Lou and Dean. ARGH. Well, with so many early-bird comments, I guess I gotta just leave it. Sorry, Lou and Dean!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to thank you all for the birthday wishes you sent yesterday. I was so out of it, I couldn't respond then. I'm not out of the woods yet, but I do feel a little better.
ReplyDeleteThank you all! I feel so blessed to be part this great group of people on GDB.
I also look forward to February 28, when I can wish Lou and Dean a Happy Birthday!
Haha, as it actually is the birthdate of a good friend, I was wondering how I never noticed these were all together. I take the blame for wishing KM HBD early...it's new trend, so you never miss the day! Happy UNbirthday.
ReplyDeleteYes...kids, get the silhouettes, its the best bargain ever at Disneyland, and a hand made keepsake that can help remember special dates!
MS
Happy birthday, Lou and Dean, many happy returns of whatever day it is or will be!
ReplyDeleteHa! Principal Aebleskivers! I understood that reference! I still have my grandmother’s aebleskiver pan, but it’s been 40 years since I made any.
I love how he is leaning over with that stogie, channeling Groucho Marx. I knew a silhouette artist long ago, but today she’s a shadow of her former self.
A great picture of the Matterhorn and those yellow and purple pansies. Too bad Madam LaFevere missed it all, walking around with her eyes closed. Yes, I’d love to know who the photographer was, as I assumed the professor had the duty.
Nice pics and fun backstory, thank you Major!
JG
Happy birthday to whoever has a birthday!
ReplyDeleteHappy Day to everyone else!
I wanna hang out with the Superfriends! I could be their little comic relief buddy that fans really hate! Kind of like Scrappy-Doo! Yeah, I can handle that (cue laugh track)
Happy early Birthdays to Lou and Dean! If late is "Belated"....is early "Beearlied"? Kreskin knows for sure! The trio: wow....they are having a blast in Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom! I happen to love silhouettes so I'm glad they still exist at the Park. The "Caricature" stand was a big hit too...both in Disneyland AND Walt Disney World....but the silhouettes are more Klassy. Yes, with a K. The gold and blue/violet never disappoint do they? That they corrupted this space is absolutely negligent. I am wondering what "new CEO" has in store for us all....hmmmm....everytime I open linked In I see more "open to works" from the Disney recruitment team mostly. And speaking of new Tomorrowland...I see that TDL's new Space Mountain is coming along nicely...but apparently way over budget...it looks like of cool....and they do cool things over there. I think I've talked about doing the math of travel costs, hotel, tickets, etc. with Tokyo winning the prize for most economically sound. Interesting facts. Other peoples money: namely Oriental Land Company. I'd like to see it one day: put it in the bucket. Thanks Major for the early birthday celebrations!
ReplyDeleteMrs. Chuck & I had a silhouette done at DL in 1995 and another of our boys at WDW in 2007. They make a nice pairing. They'd probably look even better it we put them on display (we are terrible about collecting but never hanging artwork).
ReplyDeleteI remember asking the silhouette artist at DL how he got into the business, and he said he just sort of fell into it sideways from another position at DL. He was good at what he did and very pleasant to chat with, although with his job I'd expected him to be a bit more of a cut-up.
^ Har, har.
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, I have no idea how this happened, but I can’t blame booze… I think the last alcohol I had was a beer, perhaps two months ago!
ReplyDeleteNanook, there is nothing cooler than a bow tie, everyone knows it. That’s why the Fonz wore a bow tie. Oh wait, he didn’t? Maybe he was supposed to.
Nanook, I blame junk food.
lou and sue, hey, those symbols made a little face!
JB, I’m going to start a gang and call it the Bow Tie Boys. We will be feared across the nation, and the evening news will do stories about us demonstrating how the morals of this country have plummeted. It will be great! It’s hard to interpret Principal Aebleskivers’ expression, he also might have just had a spicy meatball. I’d love to know the real story behind those three (and the photographer, we can’t forget her), and how they wound up at Disneyland. “Let’s go, it will be fun!”. They were probably home by five o’clock.
TokyoMagic!, I see at least one plump bird, and possibly another, it’s hard to tell. Since these photos are date-stamped “April 1972”, they could have very easily been taken in February, so you are probably right about the Valentine’s Day stuff. The mystery “fourth Beatle” never shows up in these photos!
K. Martinez, I’m glad you saw all your birthday wishes, and am also glad that you are starting to feel better, if only a little bit. Every day will be more and more!
MS, I can only assume that I misread “September 28” as “September 23”, but I don’t really know. I sometimes see old Disneyland silhouettes on eBay, it kind of surprises me because they are so personal. I know that homes fill up with clutter and stuff “has to go”, but still!
JG, I can’t remember when I first heard of aebleskivers, but I think my sister’s friend talked about them and I had no idea what they were. “…today she’s a shadow of her former self”… D’OH! Madam LeFevre could walk around any location just using her other senses, like Daredevil. Sometimes, eyesight was just a distraction.
Stu29573, ha, now I wonder if Dean will even check in to see his early birthday wishes! He’s probably making a list of all the kids he wants at his party on Friday. Don’t invite that mean kid!
Bu, Kreskin sees all, knows all. It’s creepy but true. I remember reading an article about a woman who cut silhouettes at Disneyland, she claimed that she cut hundreds a day… if you did the math, she must have been able to cut a silhouette in one or two minutes. Is that possible? “Here you go!”, and it’s just a blob. “Uh… thanks?”. Too embarrassed to say anything to her. We will just have to wait and see how Josh does as CEO, he seems personable, but that only gets you so far. Wow it would be cool if you went to Tokyo! I have a friend who goes there regularly, and he tells me all sorts of amazing things. I guess I’m fascinated with that country.
Chuck, you should do like I do and put all of your collectibles, and laundry, and trash, in a big pile on the floor. It’s unorthodox, but it works for me! Do you think your silhouettes were good likenesses? ...”I’d expect him to be more of a cut-up”. OUCH!
JB, don’t encourage him.
Many years ago I had a Disneyland silhouette artist do a Sherlock Holmes as a present for a friend of mine who collected vintage Sherlock books. She did an amazing job!! She did ask that I bring her some images of what he looked like ..but a great job . Later I had her do the MAD HATTER for a friend that collected said items .. another fantastic job!! Since two reverse images are always created when the silhouette artist creates the piece … I got to keep a copy of each. When Tokyo Disneyland was being developed one of the graphic designers had a Disneyland ( Anaheim) silhouette artist create silhouettes for guides on the SILHOUETTE SHOP marquee in WORLD BAZAAR and also for figures of the RESTROOM signs in the New Orleans Square area of Tokyo Disneyland’s ADVENTURELAND.
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, wow, it never occurred to me that the silhouette artists might do something other than a live "in person" piece. Your ideas are very cool, I'm sure your friends really appreciated the pieces!
ReplyDeleteMajor, yes, they are pretty good likenesses, if a bit flat.
ReplyDelete^ Har, har......... again.
ReplyDeleteSeems like I'm both late and early to my birthday party :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks all for the early wishes, I'll be sure to polish my dress shoes and put a bow tie on for Saturday.
The lighting on our subjects in the last picture seems like they're in a portrait studio with a big backdrop. Maybe it's school picture day at Zermatt Middle School. (Go Alpenhorns!)