I encounter totem poles no more than once or twice a month, but there was a time when those artfully-carved items could be found in Disneyland, in the old Indian Village.
This first picture is from July, 1964; a woman poses next to an impressive totem pole, perhaps 20+ feet tall (or over 6 meters). The strong and distinctive stylization on these amazing artworks is so appealing, and unlike anything else in the world. I believe that the totems were moved to Walt Disney World, eventually.
Next we have a slide scan dated "October, 1971"... which I believe is from after the Indian Village closed. I am not positive, but I think that the Indian Village closed in May of 1971, but of course the film in Mom's camera could have been developed any number of months later. These cute girls are posing next to a totem pole that I know for certain was moved to WDW, and I think it even appeared in the 1963 issue of "National Geographic".
EXTRA! EXTRA!
I had this nice screen grab featuring a high-res version of the National Geographic image; it's a great photo! You can definitely see the top "face" of the previous totem below, though the rest of the pole is not the same. Were they modular - with pieces that could be put together in different configurations? It's interesting that it looks so vividly-colored here, while it is relatively subdued in my photo (which is admittedly slightly-faded.
Major-
ReplyDeleteAgreed - totem poles are the BEST. Without too much imagination, there seems to be a little resemblance to the gal [and her outfit] in the 1st image and the totem pole.
My sources say the Indian Village closed in October, 1971 - so maybe Mom really did 'rush her film' straight to Kodak for processing.
Thanks, Major.
I'm glad the photographer got the full totem pole in frame. I recognize several of the totem figures from other GDB photos. And as Mike C. has explained, the figures are modular and interchangeable. You can pretty much see the pieces fitting together here.
ReplyDeleteI kow the bottom figure is a beaver, we can see the criss-crossing on his tail and his big rodent teeth. That's an interesting piece of decoration added to the top figure; I wonder what it represents?
The totems in the Nat. Geo. photo look like highly decorated organ pipes. Actually, they're a dead-ringer for the fanciful pipes on the Seven Dwarfs pipe organ in Snow White.
Looks like you came close to emptying GDB's quota of colorful ink cartridges in today's pics, Major. Thanks.
Are those shoes or socks on the littlest of the two little girls? And the totem on top of the beaver looks angry at the little girls. I hope nothing bad happened after this picture was snapped.
ReplyDeleteThe last picture looks like a lineup. A colorful lineup.
Thanks, Major.
Zach
Nanook, I forget what source I used months ago (when I wrote this blog post), but Google agrees with you - the Indian Village closed in October of ’71.
ReplyDeleteJB, I am curious about how often they rejiggered the totem poles, putting the various pieces in different configurations. Probably not that often! The colors are so different, particularly on that second photo (even considering the fading of the slide) that they must have been repainted, and it seems that they went with a more natural selection of colors. You can easily ID some of the critters on the totem poles, while others are pretty stylized. I like your comparison of the totems to the Snow White pipe organ!
zach, I wonder if the youngest girl is wearing socks with sandals? White sandals, perhaps. Your comment reminded me of the Nickelodeon cartoon, “Angry Beavers”, which I worked (briefly) on when I first got into animation!
I love totem poles and I miss these. I wish some had been kept at Anaheim, but I guess the theming wouldn’t work.
ReplyDeleteI used to know more about them and the Indian deities and totem animals, but I’ve forgotten most of it. Some poles told a story, while others were a mixture of clan, moiety, and phratry symbols more akin to house numbers or an ID tag. Making them was a lot of work and they were precious.
JB, you are right about the Beaver, and I think the figure on top of the first pole is Raven, who is a trickster character kind of like the Norse Loki. He is wearing a Tlingit funnel shaped ceremonial hat which indicates a potlach or celebration, with lots of food and partying. I don’t know if any of figures or poles are “real” in the sense of following original rules and prototypes, or if they are just stylized decoration. Maybe Mike Cozart will fill us in.
Thanks for the old Village pics, Major. I’m surprised at the early date of closure as I thought the Village lasted longer.
JG
I love the "twins, but not quite" wardrobe of the kids in the second picture! And their color scheme even goes with the totem pole!
ReplyDeleteAlso, is that totem fourth from the left in the Nat Geo picture supposed to be Bozo the Clown?
ReplyDelete@ Melissa-
ReplyDeleteNo, I believe that’s Chucko the Birthday Clown.
JG, I wish I could remember which museum I was at, but they have two authentic Pacific Northwest totem poles that were carved from trees that must have been ten feet in diameter. Absolutely huge! I am completely ignorant of Indian deities and spiritualism. I think JB might have wondered about the top of the totem that has that odd “frill”, sorry I can’t think of a better descriptive. I’m sure once it is explained it makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, ha, the mom dressed her daughters just for that photo!
Melissa, the “Bozo” critter - “thing” - is the one I was trying to describe to JG!
Nanook, if Chucko fought Bozo, who would win?
JG, thanks for the info on Raven's strange headdress. It doesn't look very funnel-y to me, but OK then. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, after reading Major's response, are you (JG) talking about the 'clown hat' on Melissa's 'Bozo', sitting atop that other Raven figure in the Nat. Geo. photo? it does look like a funnel. But the previous photo doesn't have one of those, just the rectangular thingy.
JB, My comment is aimed at the first photo in today’s post. Raven (?) is wearing the ceremonial funnel hat.
DeleteJG
Definitely a clown on the top of that one totem pole. And the last one on the right is wearing a striped/white gym sock on its head.
ReplyDelete(Side note: That baby elephant looks so real. )
Fun totem pole pictures. Thanks, Major.