Two From August 1970
Here's a pair of scans from the summer of 1970 - August, to be precise. Kids are already seeing "back to school" commercials on TV, and it's a huge bummer. Vacation just flew by! It must have been a hot August, the Disneyland Band needed to find a shady spot to perform, though the bandleader has to suffer. Fame isn't easy. A lady in the distance is capturing the whole thing on her movie camera. No sound, but she will play "Stars and Stripes Forever" on the kazoo when projecting the film for friends. Judging by the crowds back by the Bank of America, there was probably a character (or two) there, but I can't see them.
Next is this late (LATE) afternoon photo looking northward on Main Street. Most everything is in shadow except for the upper parts of the buildings on the right, but even those will be beyond the reach of the sun soon. I love the nostalgic feel of this one!
14 comments:
Major-
The 2nd image shadows definitely heighten the drama. Along the left sidewalk, I note a 1960's/70's 'wavy' shopping bag along with a tri-stripe bag just a little farther along on the sidewalk.
Thanks, Major.
"there was probably a character (or two) there, but I can't see them". Perhaps Mr. Lincoln stepped outside for a bit of fresh air. The gals go crazy for him, just like the Beatles. It's probably because of his really big...... hat. Yeah, I don't see a Character back there either. The bandleader is wearing one of those portable, magnetic, revolving red lights that cops slap onto the roof of an unmarked police car when pursuing a lawbreaker . I guess that's to make guests get out of the way when the band is marching down Main Street.
Instead of counting trashcans, I'm gonna count shopping bags!... Four, I think. Hard to tell because they tend to blend in with the wild, colorful, groovy clothing of this era. We've also got a Sweeper, looks like he's prodding a passed-out drunk lying on the curb. I too, like the mood of this picture.
Nanook, there are two of those 'wavy', groovy bags on the left. They're next to each other, one is more in shadow.
Pleasant pics, Major. Thanks.
The summer of 1970 was a good time to visit Disneyland!
In the first pic, there appears to be a dolly (not Parton, Chuck) laying on it's side, along with two black boxes or cases underneath the bench that two of the musicians are sitting on. Are those speakers, Nanook? Whatever they are, it looks like they have "Disneyland" painted on them.
Thanks, Major!
I feel bad for the right hand band guy, having to sit by the trash can in August. Probably smells great with hot dog wrappers, wasps, and bees attracted to the flat soda pop inside.
I love photo 2, if for no other reason than the wild shopping bags. My favorite Disney pattern. They should bring this back as a shirt fabric or table linens or “something”.
Thanks Major!
JG
TM!, I'm confused. That thing under the bench looks nothing like a llama.
@ TM!-
"Are those speakers, Nanook?"
I noticed those also (sitting behind that red hand truck, lying on its side) and thought those were probably cases of some sort. But maybe you're on to something. They could be a couple of Fender Champs, or maybe something from Marshall - but that doesn't seem right, either.
Maybe that's where the trained rabbits and doves were kept prior to breaking them out when the 'band' begins performing magic ticks...
Actually, they seem to be stenciled with Disneyland Band, not just Disneyland.
Nanook, luckily the shadowed part of the street did not go too dark, so the scene has a warm, inviting look to it. Good eye on the wavy bag!
JB, Mr. Lincoln needed sunlight to file his teeth sharp. Don’t asky *why* he did that. It was disconcerting to guests, but how can you tell a robot that he’s doing something weird? Back in 1970 you could have seen almost any character over in Town Square, so without clues it’s hard to even guess. OK now I’m going to have to look for four of those shopping bags. I’m not seeing the “passed out” sweeper?!
TokyoMagic!, yes, my family would have still been in Huntington Beach, this was the brief span when I think the park really made a deep impression on me, leading to 20 years of GDB. Hey, I see the dolly! It must have been used to transport the speakers, but does a marching band need amplification? Perhaps the bandleader introduced each song with some patter.
JG, ha, I used to take my mom for a walk at the local park, and she often needed to rest on one particular bench. Which was right next to a trashcan. Where people deposited their dog-doo bags. I always wondered why the park didn’t move that stupid can to someplace else. I think you’re right about Disneyland selling shirts with that wavy pattern, I’ll bet folks would buy them like crazy.
Chuck, ya lost me.
Nanook, the speakers are mostly just black shapes in that photo, so there’s not much to go by for identification. I’m still baffled as to why a marching band would need amplification.
Nanook, the Band is tired of the Tour Guides “borrowing” their speakers.
Major, the Sweeper is on the right side of the street, close to the center of the photo. He's wearing a white shirt with white pants, and it looks like he has a name tag on his shirt. We can see the handle of his dustpan, broom thingy, prodding the passed-out drunk on the curb (which we can't see).
On a side note: There are a couple of posts from 16 months in the future showing up on the blog. On the one hand, I'm thrilled to see that you finally got your time machine up and working! On the other hand, I thought you might wanna know, in case no one else has notified you about the pre-mature posts yet.
Actually, now there are a few more future posts showing up!
Oh, and I know what Chuck was getting at, but I'll wait to see if he chimes in again.
Sorry folks - Disneyland merchandising bet you to it. They have sold shirts at Disneyland with the Disneyland 1968 balloon wave bag design - they were mega popular . There have also been shirts featuring the 1976 White background with Castle and fireworks bag pattern as well as the later 1979 orange version ( but they mutted the orange color making the shirt look faded ) there has also been shirts and dresses featuring the bluish green with black “land” logos from the Disneyland souvenir bags of the 1950’s and early 60’s.
Walt Disney World did a series of OP ( ocean pacific ) type shirts a few years ago using the 1982-1990 graphics on WDW shopping bags for both The Magic Kingom & Epcot Center . These graphic murals were mostly used on shopping bags but also appeared on waxed paper drinking cups and popcorn boxes. In 1989 with the addition of the Disney MGM Studios , a graphic mural was created to match the existing two parks. It’s weird seeing things being sold as RETRO or VINTAGE …. When you remember them being brand new!!
JB, ah I see what you mean - I thought you meant that a Sweeper was drunk on the curb. Poor reading comprehension. And yes, Blogger seems to have developed an annoying new glitch. If I make a blog post, and tell it that I want it to post on a specific date, and then press “publish”, it should just schedule that article to post on that date. But now it seems to just publish it immediately. Sue has been on top of it, thankfully!
Mike Cozart, I thought that maybe I’d seen the “wavy bag” pattern on clothing, but then I thought that maybe I’d just imagined it. Than you for letting me know that they actually did already do it. What I don’t understand is that these patterns seem to be very appealing to guests, and yet they seem to limit the production. WHY? I’ve seen some Cast Member costumes that I would bet money would sell like hotcakes (the shirts, at least) if they made a version for sale in the shops. I know they did Tiki Room repros that were hugely popular. Have they done any others? The one that originally inspired my thinking was seeing a shirt from a Matterhorn CM, it had great colors and would have looked nice on a customer.
Major, I was making a reference to the Dolly Llama.
Hey, I see the dolly! It must have been used to transport the speakers, but does a marching band need amplification? Perhaps the bandleader introduced each song with some patter.
Major, maybe the band leader did an impeccable Lawrence Welk impression? Hey, maybe those boxes were actually "bubble machines"!!!
Nanook, thanks for your input! I forgot that those things were called "hand trucks". We had one, but my family always referred to it as a dolly for some reason.
Chuck, maybe those boxes were filled with Zingers® and the bandmembers had nicknamed the dolly, "Madison." Waaah waaaaah!
JG, Major, and Mike, I remember talking to one half of the design team who did those "souvenir bag" patterned shirts, some years back. (Mike and Major, you were probably there at the time.) This was when they had just produced the shirts with the earlier bluish green background and "land" logos design, and also the muted/faded yellow design from the 70s bags. I asked them if they planned to do the wavy psychedelic pattern as a shirt, too. They said that they had already presented that idea to management, but the response was, "Men would not wear a shirt with that pattern, so it wouldn't sell." If they eventually did make that shirt, which I unfortunately missed, then they must have eventually been able to convince management to do it. I'm glad to hear it, but I'm sorry I missed out on purchasing one.
Hmmm … yes there was the Tiki Room costume shirt …done in the green and purple versions released for Disneyland’s 50th. However …. That patterned material was also sold in a series of shirts , dresses etc in 1963 and guests could also purchase the material in yardage in the Adventureland shops should they wish to sew their own tiki room clothing. BTW - those 1963 tiki room costume shirt patterns were used into the late 60’s /early 70’s for Adventureland merchandise costumes and later Adventureland stock room clothing costumes.
The Disneyland boatman costume shirts were sold to guests - the exact same shirts .
And in the late 1980’s the Pirates of the Caribbean red & orange striped costume socks were sold at Disneyland’s pieces of Eight shop … because of a guest demand. These socks sold to guests were the exact ones a vendor provided Disneyland with.
I honestly cannot think of any other examples of park cast costumes being sold or replicated as is for sale to guests … for many decades Disney specifically avoided letting guests look or appear as a employee or character etc.
The moccasins worn by the cannoe castmembers in the 70’s , 80’s, 90’s were sold in Frontierland … but not as the attraction costume pieces .
Also the same hat band pattern on the straw boaters worn by the Main Street horseless carriage drivers were sold at the Disneyland hat shops — but this was just a coincidence that the vendor supplied costuming and merchandising with the same hats … probably just because the production runs were the same .
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