Main Street Station, July 1963

Let's imagine that it's 1963, and we've just parked our Rolls Royce Silver Wraith (a fun little car with pep) in the Disneyland parking lot. After a brief (but exciting!) tram ride to the front gates, and a few minutes in line at the ticket booths, we're through the turnstiles and finally officially in the park. Say, look at that train up there! It's the E.P. Ripley, believe it or not. The population sign reads "33,000,000", which is more than your typical midwestern towns. 

"Boooooaaaaarrrrrd!". The train is underway, starting its Grand Circle Tour around the park. As usual I admire those posters. If anybody has a spare Tiki Room poster that they don't need, I'll take it off of their hands! Yes, I will give my Beanie Baby collection in trade. An unruly plant is growing between the Jungle Cruise and Golden Horseshoe posters, which is odd to see.

 

The Disney Look - PART ONE

Say! Here's something a little bit different. Our friend Sue B. acquired a cast member item from 1987, "The Disney Look". No, it's not about the angry looks I got from Walt when I gave him some of my great ideas ("Walt, baby, popcorn is so yesterday, we need to sell chocolate-covered pork rinds!"). It's about the very specific standards that the park had regarding grooming and dress for men and women. For instance: leather-studded collars? Frowned upon! I don't understand it, but it is so.

This item is 19 pages, and it's a lot of reading, which is hard because of all those long words such as "hair". So I will be splitting this up into three posts. By the end, I expect each and every one of you to conform to these standards. I'M LOOKING AT YOU, K. MARTINEZ!

Here's the cover, featuring folks who look so neat and tidy that their surnames just might be "Osmond". I have had older versions of "Disney Look" guides, but I think they are all gone now - so it's a bit jarring to see the Captain EO poster behind the fellow in the upper left. Is that an Ambassador in the upper right? We definitely have a Tour Guide in the lower right. The woman in the lower left might have worked in the costume department, while the Skipper just looks cool. What is the building behind Donald and that gentleman in the lower photo?

Before humankind invented the Table of Contents, there was chaos, unrest, and ring around the collar. For new hires, this ToC helped them to be their best selves in the shortest time. Get rid of that mullet, shave off that foot-long goatee, and (for the gals), reduce the height of that beehive hairdo by at least six inches.

Dick Nunis has some words of wisdom for us all. The three things that guests comment upon most frequently? "First, the cleanliness. Second, the friendly and helpful employees. And, third, the good, all around Show". Dang, I would have guessed "Are werewolves real?" would be in there, which is why I am not a Disneyland cast member. Dick mentions "French crew cuts", I have no idea how that is different from an American crew cut, but it frightens me just to consider it. I have Dick Nunis's book, I should read it!

"We are going to continue to enforce our defined standards of appearance...". Enforce, with extreme prejudice! 

Here is some helpful information about costumes, and how they are designed, created, and used in the real world. I believe that the smiling young lady in the top photo is working at one of the souvenir booths just outside the tunnels into Town Square, what do you think? And HEY, what do you know! There's our good friend Bu, the Platonic ideal of neatness and tidiness. Not a hair out of place! "D" pin and name tag just so. Reading the text, I see that I would not have qualified as a cast member because of the three teardrops tattooed on my face. 

I think Bu has told us stories of some costume mishaps that happened to him during his years as a Guide, it's nice to know that they had a system in place just in case. To this day I think it's amusing that they frowned on facial hair so much, considering the famous mustache on the founder, who said mustaches made men look like "city slickers". Hmmmm! Don't wear Hai Karate, but do apply Arrid Extra Dry. Mood rings are "out". I love the mention of "Earth shoes", are those still a thing? 

That's it for PART ONE! The next installment will be in less than two weeks. MANY THANKS to Lou and Sue for this fun item!

Snoozles™

Here's a pair of Snoozles... not terrible by any means, but canted to the right a bit. Why? Maybe mom was taking the pictures, and her right arm also supported a weighty purse. This first one is dated "October, 1958", from the Plaza as a Horse Drawn Streetcar is about to stop, empty its load of passengers, perhaps take on new guests, and then head back to Town Square. I sure love old views of the park when there were expanses of grass and flowers.

A decade later (November, 1968) we get this shot of the French Market; perhaps those three people nearest to us just got off the Disneyland Railroad and were ready for lunch. The restaurant is now Tiana's Palace.

 

Airplanes

Oh boy, airplanes! They fly through the air using magic. I have two vintage examples for you today.

Let's start with this rather incredible jet, one of only two built - the North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie is a retired prototype version of the planned B-70 nuclear-armed, deep-penetration supersonic strategic bomber for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Designed in the late 1950s by North American Aviation (NAA) to replace the B-52 Stratofortress and B-58 Hustler, the six-engine, delta-winged Valkyrie could cruise for thousands of miles at Mach 3+ while flying at 70,000 feet. 

It looks like something out of a sci-fi movie or TV show! To read more about the Valkyrie, see the article on Wikipedia HERE.

I was reminded of the Quest Jet/Dragonfly in Jonny Quest! Yes, I know that there are clear differences, just go along so that I don't freak out.

And... I wasn't looking for this, but here's a cool photo of a Valkyrie with its six engines glowing blue upon takeoff:

Next is this scan from a slide labeled "Japan 1949". Hmmm! Of course I had no idea what this airplane is, but that triangular tail is pretty distinctive. After a little research, I found out that it is a T-6 Texan - coincidentally, also from North American Aviation. The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is a single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Air Force, United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1970s.

The T-6 Texan remains a popular warbird used for airshow demonstrations and static displays. It has also been used many times to simulate various historical aircraft, including the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero. A total of 15,495 T-6s of all variants were built.

Two From November 1968

Happy Friday! I have a pair of nice pix for you, starting with this view at the ticket booths; there are plenty of weirdos just arriving at 4:40 PM, they should all be observed for signs of extreme goofiness (drooling, excessive smiling, humming "Little Brown Jug", and so on). Maybe they were at Knott's for the first part of the day - people did that. In spite of it being November,  it looks like it was warm and a little breezy. No need for a coat. 

It's always interesting to see what the prices were back then. An adult "Big 10" ticket book was $4.75, while a "Deluxe 15" would run you $5.75. Only one dollar for five more rides? It's a no-brainer. The cost of a guided tour was $6.50.

There might be something wrong with me, because I've seen many photos of Tomorrowland, but a view like this still gets my heart pumping. I'm trying to figure out where the photographer was standing to get this elevated view, do you think he/she was on a just-launched Skyway gondola?

 

Vintage Los Angeles Postcards, Part 4

Here's PART 4 from Steve DeGaetano's scans of vintage Los Angeles postcards, purchased at the "One of a Kind" shop in New Orleans Square! As before, Steve included commentary; the card captions are in orange, and his comments are in blue.

LA-1: This card has no caption other than “Los Angeles Civic Center, Showing City Hall, State Building, Hall of Records, Hall of Justice.”

A-17: “Winter Scene in East Lake Park, Los Angeles, Cal.”  Steve said, “Sure, rub it in”!

LA-18: “The World Famous Cocoanut Grove, Los Angeles Ambassador.”

LA-19 This card is nearly identical to LA-07, and appears to have been taken from the exact same location. The main differences from LA-07 are that it appears to be an actual color photograph from a later time. Notice that there are now fountains on the square. The Biltmore hotel is on the left, and still exists, I believe. (The Biltmore definitely still exists, if you ever have a chance to go inside, you should! Talk about "old world elegance"). 

LA-20s: This is the same card as shown in LA-04, except that I scanned it framed with the decorative cardstock frame that it came in when purchased from the One of a Kind shop.

LA-21: This is the back of the frame in LA-20.

LA-22: This has no caption other than “Ramona’s Marriage Place, Patio and Garden, San Diego, CA.”

My comments: This is the only one in the batch not featuring Los Angeles, but it’s related and is interesting because of its subject. Ramona was an 1884 serialized novel by Helen Hunt Jackson that completely romanticized Southern California’s Spanish past, turning it into a hazy, dream-like romantic myth of red tile roofs and bougainvillea, “a land of beauty and memory and sunny afternoons,” as historian Kevin Starr noted. “Well into the 1930s the Ramona myth remained one of the essential elements by which Southern California identified itself, to itself and to others” wrote Starr. This affinity for the romantic Spanish past led to the movement to restore California’s Catholic missions.

A huge THANKS to Steve DeGaetano for digging out his postcards, scanning them, and providing the card captions as well as his own commentary! I thought this was a fun series. I have binders full of random non-Disney postcards, perhaps I will delve into those someday for future posts. 

Flower Market, September 1983

Way back in 1983, Lou Perry took a stroll around Disneyland. He took lots and lots of photos - you've seen a bunch of them here (thanks to his daughter, Sue B.)! It still blows my mind that 1983 was 42 years ago. Argh. I always wonder how many people realized that the flowers on display were not the real thing? Thanks to NASA, our fake-flower technology had grown by leaps and bounds.

Hey look, there's some white ones, and some red ones. I think roses, and some orchids, and... well that's about it for me.

Tulips and daisies and daffodils? 

Lillies, geraniums, crocuses... who knows.

If there's one thing I've learned today, it's that I know almost nothing about flowers. Shameful considering that my mother and grandmother were obsessed with their flower beds!

THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!

Frontierland Pix

Here's another selection of Frontierland slide scans, courtesy of the Mysterious Benefactor! We have a lot of cast members this time, perhaps somebody will recognize an old friend. 

First, this smiling woman who (apparently) worked at the Rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. I'm sorry this isn't a wider shot, it would be fun to see the whip that she used to help control those unruly guests. The whip had Davy Crockett's likeness on it, which made it OK. The CM is wearing dark glasses that are historically accurate, only in the 1880s they would have been carved out of horn.

"Howdy, young man, we could use somebody like you in the Cavalry! Would you like to join?". "I have to go potty!". 

I believe that this officer and the young man are standing on the Suspension Bridge. They are pointing and laughing because another guest on the nearby Pontoon Bridge just fell into the river. "If I had some pinecones, you and I could throw them at that guy". 

Speaking of the Suspension Bridge, this boy is somehow all by himself as he crossed the span. It turned out that he is a direct descendant of Huck Finn, which is why he never bathes, avoids school, and likes to sleep with the hogs.

A Cast Member aboard a Raft has exchanged hats with a young settler, knowing that he will need protection from the burning sun as he crosses the plains. "Don't let your oxen eat loco weed!", he said, helpfully. Those two kids could almost be my younger sister and brother. 

I'm willing to bet 1,000 golden pazoozas that this fellow worked the Rafts, since he is wearing a raggedy straw hat, the international symbol for "Raft Guy". I wish we could see his name tag.

MANY THANKS to the Mysterious Benefactor!

Vintage Disneyland Ephemera

You know how much I love Vintage Disneyland Ephemera. Here are two random items from my stash!

Let's start with this information brochure from the Spring of 1964. A family receives all of the most useful info from a clockwork (animatronic?) armored knight. Medieval ticker tape. If this item looks familiar, it's because the cover is nearly identical to a 1963 version that I shared HERE. I am all in on variations!

Disneyland is closed Monday and Tuesday, don't forget. Parking is 25¢! General admission for adults is a whopping $1.60 (of course that didn't include coupons for rides). They mention the Disneyland Hotel, but also "several motels in the immediate area", I wonder how Jack Wrather felt about that? Take a guided tour. Bu won't be there in 1962, but I'm sure you'll have a fine experience. "Spring Fling" was going on, an early example of an event in which the park was emptied out and Spring Fling participants were allowed back in - I wonder when they first started doing this type of thing?

Strollers, pet care, baby stations, cameras and film, they've thought of everything! Under "Restaurants" there is a mention of "Nesbitt Orange Drink Center", something I'm not sure I recall hearing about before. 

Next is this 1958 brochure insert advertising five days for the price of three. Such a deal! In fact, it's America's Greatest Vacation Value.

Check in Sunday, check out Friday! With five days, you would be able to enjoy all of the amenities. Stay away from the wading pool (little kids and pools, you know). And you'd even have time to venture out, away from Anaheim to fish for giant grouper, ride a horse, or hit the links. What are you waiting for?? My annoying watermark obscures a date stamp, "November 20, 1958".

 I hope you have enjoyed today's Vintage Disneyland Ephemera!

EXTRA! EXTRA!

GDB friend DW noticed that two photos from Friday's post looked like they could be merged into a panoramic view - so he went ahead and did it! It turned out remarkably well. THANKS, DW!

Mr. Worm Visits Disneyland, 1973

One day, Mr. and Mrs. Worm decided to visit Disneyland with their three children (Fern, Ned, and Boris). They stayed at the Disneyland Hotel the day before, enjoying one of the charming garden rooms, relaxing by the Olympic-size pool, and eating an early dinner at the Coffee Shop. You can be sure that Mrs. Worm did some preemptive Christmas shopping. And even though worms don't have eyes, Mr. Worm brought his camera long. It seems unusual, but you just never know with worms. 

A castle picture?! Well of course, it's practically required that every guest take a photo of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Mr. Worm knew it, and actually stood on a handy rock to get this elevated view (elevated for him, that is). Magnificent!

Boris actually took this photo (while his dad was in the Little Worm's Room); he is quite a scamp, but he shows some talent with a camera. Too bad there is not a single bobsled or climber present; though it's possible that there is a worm up there (with a red Tyrolean hat) that we humans can't detect.