Here are two random 1950s photos for ya (I saved .02 seconds typing "ya" instead of "you").
Somebody stuck some Skyway gondolas up above the Pirate Ship, but you know what? It works. If we all had Skyway gondolas, there would be no war. Think about it. This was from a very faded slide, and I meant to capture a "before" image so that you could see what a genius I am, but then I forgot. Some genius!
Next is a photo of the old Frontier Trading post, with a bit of the corral for miniature horses to the left. I'm unclear as to when the corral was removed - did the Shooting Gallery eventually go in that same spot?
Looking in the window for any fun tidbits, I can see at least one feathered headdress, what might be a buckskin dress (?), a little tepee, a photo of a cowboy at the top (is it William S. Hart?), and, strangely, a pair of Buddy Lee dolls. Buddy Lee was the mascot of the H.D. Lee Company starting in the 1920s, so I can only assume that you could buy Lee dungarees and overalls, and maybe even a denim tuxedo, inside the Trading Post.
Old Buddy Lee dolls are now popular (and expensive) collectibles, I can see why, they are pretty appealing.
I guess the Skyway gondolas could be lanterns hanging from the yardarms of the Pirate Ship. I don't know what's holding up the third bucket on the right. Cinderella's Castle looks awfully close here, for some reason. The Pirate Ship looks like it's going down, bow first, into the briny deep.
ReplyDeleteThe photographer shoulda told those people walking in front of the Trading Post to STOP! So that there wouldn't be any motion blur. Nice lighting in both of these pics.
I don't trust Buddy Lee. He refuses to look anybody directly in the eye. If you dressed a Kewpie doll up in an engineer's outfit, you would get Buddy Lee.
"(I saved .02 seconds typing "ya" instead of "you")". Yeah, but then you LOST 7 seconds typing your explanation! You'll never get those 6.098 seconds back! :-p Thanks for the pics, Major.
Major-
ReplyDelete"I'm unclear as to when the corral was removed - did the Shooting Gallery eventually go in that same spot?"
My sources say the Miniature Horse Corral closed [sometime] in July, 1957 - and the Frontierland Shooting Gallery opened on July 12, 1957. (I would wager the Corral closed a little bit before July, 1957, in spite of the lightning construction speed often on display at Disneyland). And as the Frontierland Shooting Gallery was located right next door to the Frontier Trading Post, it clearly occupied the space of the former Miniature Horse Corral.
Buddy Lee looks an awful lot like Engineer Bill (Bill Stulla), host of Cartoon Express, a weekday afternoon children's TV program broadcast in So. Cal. from 1955 thru 1966 on KHJ, Channel Nine. The show ran an assortment of cartoons in addition to a game called "Red Light - Green Light" where children were given glasses of milk which they would drink when the announcer said "green light" and stop drinking when he said "red light". If they finished their glass of milk before the game was over, they lost and were referred to as "gulpers". Yikes - the ultimate shame-!
Thanks, Major.
I agree with JB about Buddy Lee looking like a Kewpie Doll. I had never heard of Buddy before, but I started to wonder if Levi Strauss ever tried to compete with Lee by coming up with their own mascot? Apparently, they had a cowboy called, "The Saddleman," in the 1940s and 50s, and a yellow dog/monkey-like puppet called, "Flat Eric," in the 1990s (in Europe only), which was created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop "Ya learn something new everyday, I tell ya!
ReplyDeleteThe last time I was in that Frontier Trading Post space, 99% of the merchandise was pins. Not that there is anything wrong with pins. But I do wonder if the Disney pins are still just as popular today?
Thanks, Major!
"Up above the world you fly,
ReplyDeleteLike a tea tray in the sky"
I remember that quote was placed on the Fantasyland Skyway chalet thus a connection to Alice in Wonderland.
Thanks, Major.
So, did Buddy Lee stare across the street at the Pendleton shop or did that come later? Was he jealous, did he feel superior? I do not remember a miniature horse corral. I'm assuming the horses were miniature, not the corral? Be careful looking in windows for fun tidbits.
ReplyDelete'Flat Eric'! That's the best you can do? You are so fired.
Thanks, Major, for a trip to a dustier Disneyland.
Zach
Like K. Martinez, the scene brings a tune to my mind....'You can fly, you can fly, you can Fly" right off the top of the pirate ship's masts, second star to the right, straight on til dawn.
ReplyDeleteMS
Looks like a series of tea trays buzzing the Pirate Ship. I remember reading “Alice” as a youngster and thinking the poems were the original versions and not the Fractured Fairy Tale versions dreamed up by Carroll. Similarly, “reeling, writhing, and fainting in coils…”
ReplyDeleteThe Trading Post location has been completely devoted to pin souvenirs for my last several visits. I don’t get it, but, I’m not much of a collector of anything now but dust. I never imagined a miniature horse corral there. Was it like a petting zoo? Thanks for the tour of the window merchandise, Major. The only clothing mascot I can think of is the Ben Davis monkey.
Glad to see people noticing yesterday’s comments. Five points to Griffyndor for the Bush reference, Melissa.
Thank you!
JG
There's a sort of symmetry between the two pictures, with the Skyway buckets hanging from the ship, and the lanterns hanging beside the Trading Post sign.
ReplyDeleteThe Buddy Lee doll is so gosh darn adorable! He looks like the engineer on a model train!
The VFA obviously goes to the plaid pedal pushers (PPPs) on the porch of the trading post. I love 'em!
When I first read "Looking in the window for any fun tidbits," my brain was doing that thing where it tries to fill in words one of my blind spots are blocking out the middle of before I can scan over them, and it registered, "Looking in the window for any fun idiots." And you know, I bet you CAN find some fun idiots at Disneyland if you look hard enough!
@JB, of course the ship is going down into the briny deep - where do you think they get their pickles?
JB, I have compared the Skyway gondolas to lanterns before! There’s something about their shape and colors. I’ve noticed that different lenses really alter the “closeness” or distance of objects, sometimes to a surprising degree. I kind of wonder why they made Buddy Lee look off to the side? Was it carefully considered? Was there a psychological reason? I may have lost 7 seconds typing my explanation, but I gained them back by eating my lunch real fast.
ReplyDeleteNanook, aha, it sure sounds like the Frontierland Shooting Gallery actually did take over that space. Which is a little surprising to me, because I kind of assumed that the Shooting Gallery had been there since opening day. Engineer Bill! I think I told you about how Bill Stulla went to my grandma’s church, and he visited her when she was in the hospital once. I didn’t know who he was until he left and my grandma told me!
TokyoMagic!, I suppose both Buddy Lee and Kewpies were designed for “maximum cuteness”, so of course they would resemble each other. At least Buddy Lee isn’t naked. I vaguely remember “Flat Eric”, since I used to collect advertising mascots. I saw pin traders at the park the last time I went, and was kind of surprised. They had some customers, I guess that fad has not died.
K. Martinez, that quote was on the Skyway Chalet?? Kind of interesting, and good for you for remembering!
zach, Buddy Lee does not get jealous, I mean, look at that cool engineer’s outfit he gets to wear! I should have mentioned that Buddy Lee dolls came with a number of different costumes, the engineer example is my favorite though. Hey, maybe I need to start collecting dolls!
JG, I have still never read “Alice in Wonderland”. I preferred fun books like “Moby Dick” and “Finnegan’s Wake”! I used to have some Disneyland pins (of the fake “enamel” sort that people collect), but I sold them off and don’t miss them one bit. That’s a vortex that I am happy to avoid! I’ll have to look up the Ben Davis monkey, I don’t know that one.
Melissa, I guess those lanterns *do* kind of resemble the Skyway gondolas! And yes, Buddy Lee is pretty durn cute. I forget what they call that striped cloth that engineers wear. Something to do with smoke, my brain is hinting to me. Or was it “hickory”? Ha ha, “fun idiots”, I like it, but can’t be that cruel to those people from the past.
Major, "maybe I need to start collecting dolls!"
ReplyDeleteYou could always dress up your hundreds (thousands?) of Beanie Babies in different outfits... if that's your 'thing'. Of course, that would be very time consuming. You would have to cut back on your cartoon-watching time. ;-)
Oh, and engineers' clothes are made from "hickory stripe" cloth (I think).
All the talk of denim company mascots took me back to the 80s and the sexy Wrangler jeans cowboy who "knows what he likes when he sees it." I don't think they ever made a doll of him, though.
ReplyDelete^ I wonder what our president would have to say about the Wrangler Cowboy's tight jeans?
ReplyDelete(Is this allowed on GDB?) 8-\