This time I'd like to feature two rare items of Steve's from "Holidayland", Disneyland's 9-acre picnic area located in a field to the west of the park. Folks could play baseball, pitch horseshoes, and eat or watch shows inside a huge red and white striped tent. They could even buy beer!
Check out this neat brochure, customized for a Farmer's Insurance Group company picnic on June 14, 1958! Holidayland had opened just under a year earlier.
This is the really fun part - that list of activities! Wow... a gunfight between the Marshall and a villain, Roy Williams (aka "The Big Mooseketeer"), the Gonzalez Trio... how cool is that! Plus a good old fashioned tug-of-war (Home Office men vs. the South West Regional Office men). I love the graphics on this item as well.
Maybe I'm weird, but I think I love this humble name tag even more than the flier! Man, I wish I had one of these. Holidayland closed in 1961 to make room for the show buildings for Pirates of the Caribbean" and the Haunted Mansion.
And as an extra bonus, Steve included this scan of a Casa de Fritos matchbook cover, starring the Frito Kid. "Hey, Klondike! Quit eating those Fritos and send up another bag!".
MANY THANKS to Steve Stuart for sharing these amazing collectibles with us!
I, too, happen to feel the same way about the name tag. On the surface it seems like one of those throw-away items, that these days makes an appearance in the form of a generic, peel-off, self-adhesive "label" announcing to the world: "Hi, My Name is______ " There's little need to save that. But here, not even three years after the park opened, Disneyland already had their own take on a simple, themed, yet very classy name tag, in fabulous 1950's pink and grey, complete with pink hanging string.
ReplyDeleteTheir attention to detail seemingly knew (and knows) no bounds.
Very very Disney neat-o!
ReplyDeleteThanks to both Steve and you for sharing these.
WOW WOW WOW!!!
ReplyDeleteBoy did I love Casa de Fritos when I was a kid,the ONLY place to eat in D-land as far as I was concerned.As a So-Cal ex pat I might have to quibble with it being called "authentic Mexican food" though.About as "authentic" as Taco Bell.
ReplyDeleteMajor, here is wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thanks for all the great posts. All the best, Richard.
ReplyDeleteYes, thank you Steve! Both of these souvenir posts were fabulous! I too love graphics on the brochure.
ReplyDeleteI love that name tag. It's amazing that nothing was written on it and that it survived all these years.
ReplyDeleteThe even stranger thing about the name tag is there were actually three unspoiled name tags in the file folder with all the other Disneyland paper goodies.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say I was among them, but gotta love those people who save things without realizing their eventual value-!
I love that name tag too, but.... Is it Chip or Dale?
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that's Dale!
ReplyDeleteHey, Major
ReplyDeleteI work for Goodwill in their large Ontario Warehouse Hub here in SoCal. We see a lot of (vintage) Disney related items because everything donated by folks through Los Angeles County, funnels through this location.
So this week I come across the name tags in this 2011 post. Well, let me backtrack. While trying to find information on these tags, my Google search eventually brought me here. The information was helpful -as always- when dealing with old timey wimey Disney.
Someone donated two of the tags, in perfect condition and both are copyrighted 1957. They're "stamped" (like rubber stamped) with Universal Pictures and Aragon -1 and Aragon-2. I'm assuming that Universal had some event being held at Disneyland somewhere between 57 and 61 when this location existed. I'm confused as to the meanings of Aragon (and "Universal Pictures," while the studio is also called that, it's a moniker that has gone the way of the dodo).
Anyways, thanks for the info. It was great finding something on these rare pieces of Disney history.
David, those sound like some cool name tags. Are they the same as the ones in the post (with "Holidayland")? If so, they are super rare. I wonder if the "Aragon" has anything to do with the Aragon Ballroom that used to be Santa Monica (near the POP)? Of course it could have been a million other things too.
ReplyDeleteMajor
ReplyDeleteIndeed they are exact matches, with the strings and everything. Here's a link to the shopgoodwill.com website were they will be (hopefully) bid upon (runs like Ebay).
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/auctions/Vintage-Disneylands-Holidayland-Name-Tags-21049722.html
This is the part I love about my job (though I kind of hate everything else about Goodwill), seeing all this vintage stuff. And Disney product's, both old and new, sell very well. But it's pieces like these name tags that really make me happy (and sort of wished I was a kid in the early days of Disneyland).
Thanks. Have a great day!!