Sunday, July 17, 2016

Critters, September 1963

You know what I hate about the jungle? Critters! It's lousy with beasts of all shapes and sizes. They'll bite you, sting you, or asphyxiate you (I just wanted to say "asphyxiate"). But these poor crocodiles are just trying to avoid being made into fashionable handbags and footwear. Look at these three, you don't have to be a swami to know what they're thinking. All I want is to steal the gems from that monkey idol, is that too much to ask?


These elephants won't eat you, but they might squirt you. And what if you just got a perm, like I often do? The water is quite sudsy - proof that this truly is the sacred elephant bathing pool. Elephants are known to prefer Mr. Bubble for their baths.


17 comments:

  1. Major-

    Mr. Bubble, you say-? I had always heard the elephants preferred Johnson's Baby Shampoo. (No more tears, after all-! Elephants are very sensitive). But later I heard following a vote of the herd, they reconsidered and started using Prell exclusively. Musta been that pearl dropping thing...

    Thanks, Major.

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  2. That's what I love about this blog. It digs deep into the back corners of one's memories and pulls a surprise right up. I haven't thought about Mr. Bubble shampoo since I was a kid.

    Whatever happened to all the cool crocs and gators that used to be part of the Jungle Cruise experience? I don't remember seeing that many in the classic attraction these days.

    Thanks, Major.

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  3. Almost forgot. Happy Birthday to Disneyland!

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  4. @ Ken-

    Is that really the case now on the JC-? Yeeesssh-!

    And, yes, Happy Birthday, DL, nonetheless.

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  5. I don't know about that No More Tears thing, Nanook. I've rubbed that stuff in my eyes for hours and I still got tears...

    Boy, a good current tech croc thingie would sure be cool. Maybe a pair of crocs that, with good timing, emulate circling the boat. Let me just move over to my drafting table...

    And being old-old school, I'll be celebrating Disneyland's birthday tomorrow, thank-you-very-much.

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  6. Nanook, I thought that Mr. Bubble was a bubble bath liquid, while Johnson’s Baby Shampoo was… well, a shampoo. Or are they both shampoos? I don’t even know if Johnson’s Baby Shampoo exists anymore, but we used it when I was a little kid, I still remember the smell.

    K. Martinez, I have a small collection of old advertising figures, and if you look for those on ebay, there are lots of Mr. Bubble figures. Do you remember “Mr. Wiggle”, a Jello competitor? I was very happy to get a Mr. Wiggle figure for a great price a few years ago.

    K. Martinez, oh yeah! Glad I’m not there today, imagine the crowds.

    Nanook, the Jungle Cruise has gone through more changes than most attractions, so I would not be surprised if there were fewer crocs than there used to be.

    Patrick Devlin, I have to admit, as a kid I would get that “no more tears” stuff in my eyes (by accident), and in my recollection it still stung like hell. Maybe with advances in RFD technology and wireless capabilities, they could do a free-swimming crocodile.

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  7. Major, I do remember Mr. Wiggle now. Those memories just come floating to the surface like dead fish of long ago. And now what's floating to the surface of my mind is a water game we used to have as kids in which an orange plastic dome with a comical cartoon face covered a jet-spray nozzle that was attached to the garden hose and when the water was turned on all of us kids would run around while the orange dome went wild flying around in the air like a deflating child's balloon spraying everybody. I'm trying to remember the name of that water toy. We used it in the summer along with our slip-and-slide.

    Nanook, There's two/three gator/crocs in front of the Bengal tiger in the Cambodian ruins on land and the alligator that gets squirted in the mouth by the baby elephant in the bathing pool, but that's all I remember seeing the last few times I rode it. None in the water if I remember correctly.

    The croc scene with the two toucans was removed long ago when IJA was installed and lone gorilla after the gorilla camp scene now swipes at a piece of floating cargo (explosives) with a lantern and bananas on top of it instead of the croc/gator that used to mess with him from the water. In addition I don't remember seeing the menacing crocs that used to swim/float in the water half submerged. Those I miss most as they always looked menacing.

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  8. K. Martinez, we had one of those, it was a "Water Wiggle"! I remember getting hit by that out-of-control thing more than once, it could hurt.

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  9. That's it! I knew the word "wiggle" triggered my memory about that water toy. I just couldn't remember the name of it but I do remember getting wacked by that thing too! And eventually the orange bucket head would detach from the nozzle and my dad would refasten it with some wire or string.

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  10. You know, I've never seen Mr. Bubble and Michael Buble in the same place. I'm just sayin', is all.

    My Grandma had one of those Mr. Bubble plastic promotional figures in her bathroom. Over the years it had faded from its original pink to a kind of sickly, pinky-yellowy color. He looks kind of sunburned and jaundiced at the same time.

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  11. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Those elephants are bathing, cause they all have their trunks on.

    The idol's gem is safe from me, i don't want anything pulled out of a monkey's navel.

    Hooray, Melissa's back. We missed you.

    JG

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  12. I've been editing some 1992 video and there is the toucan, the gorilla and gator, and a giant spider. Fun stuff.

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  13. @ Major & Ken-

    "Yes - the Water Wiggle may pop-up just about anywhere". Just LOOK HERE

    Melissa - YES-!! Welcome back, indeed.

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  14. Nanook, Thanks for the link. Yes, that's the face on Water Wiggle I remember and even the Slip N Slide too. I'd forgotten all of that was by WHAM-O. There's nothing like wasting water in the era when everything seemed bountiful and endless in supply. At least as a child it felt that way.

    Melissa, It's always great hear from you!

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  15. From what I remember, Water Wiggle was recalled and taken off the market because the head would come off and then some kids were getting the tip stuck in their mouths and drowning. Does anyone else remember that?

    Sadly, I never had a Water Wiggle or a Slip 'n Slide, but didn't Wham-O also make Frisbees and Hula Hoops? We had those growing up as well as a "Monster Magnet" that I know for sure was made by Wham-O.

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  16. I found the recall. It's from 1978, but maybe if someone out there still has a Water Wiggle and they want to return it to Wham-O, the San Gabriel, CA address and the 1-800 number of their customer service department might still be current.....38 years later.

    http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Recalls/1978/Recall-Of-Wham-O-Water-Wiggle-Toy/

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  17. MELISSAAAAA!!!!

    (Oh, and "hi" to the rest of you clowns, too.)

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