It's time for some more vintage Disneyland paper ephemera - it's a little fold-out flyer entitled, "Disneyland: A Dream Come True". It has a wonderful illustration on the front that is reminiscent of several early Disneyland brochures, including THIS ONE (man, have I seen my jpegs all over the interwebs). When folded, this example measures just 7 inches tall by 5 inches wide. It has a "1955" date on it.
Starting to unfold it, we see the rear panel and the one next to it with an advertisement for Nash automobiles. American Motors built Nash, Rambler, and Hudson cars, as well as Kelvinator appliances, and they were an early sponsor of "CIRCARAMA".
There are variations of this brochure with different advertisers on the back... Nash is scarce, but there is also one with an ad for Yale Lock and Key, Gallenkamp/Blue Bird Shoes (2 versions), Dutch Boy paint, and Mr. X has one that says "It's cooked with gas". All of those are very rare and fetch crazy prices! The most common example is a slightly longer format with an ad for TWA on the back.
I love these little spot illustrations and fun descriptions of each land. In Tomorrowland there is a Saturn-shaped thing... artistic license I guess.
And last, but certainly not least, is this awesome map inside; it's similar to a few other very early artist's renderings with some charming inaccuracies. I love how the western half of the park seems to be mostly water! I made this jpeg nice and big so that some dopes can sell prints on eBay. Mark my words, junior gorillas, mark my words.
The heart of Frontierland is depicted as being largely inside a log stockade instead of the city along the river that we actually got. There are two steam boats, as well! The Dumbo attraction has the elephants hanging from chains instead of supported by arms. And the northeastern part of the park is represented with what appears to be a "ride through the countryside" placeholder. Half of Tomorrowland is pink!
I hope you have enjoyed this vintage paper item!
Major-
ReplyDeleteI HAVE enjoyed this vintage paper item-! In spite of the [eventual] inaccuracies as seen on the map, the level of detail shown, and the final realized design was so far and away different than anything that it proceeded, is it any wonder why its 1st year attendance surpassed expectations by rather large numbers and welcomed its 1 millionth guest by September 8th-?
Thanks, Major.
I love the graphic design and the little details that never were, all based on concept art. Every single representation (there are three) of the entrance shows the "Disneyland" floral arrangement of the TV show opening rather than the floral Mickey that eventually was installed. Center Street actually goes somewhere. Two riverboats. Some sort of ante bellum mansion on Tom Sawyer Island. Not a single hint of the inevitable Star Wars Land
ReplyDeleteMy favorite detail - two trains headed in opposite directions. With the single siding illustrated at Frontierland, preventing a cornfield meet would have been an operational nightmare, requiring the passenger train to hold at Frontierland while the freight train made a complete circuit of the Park and vice versa. Even with the two sidings actually built or a siding at each station added later, head-on operation would have been inherently more difficult and nearly impossible once additional trains were added considering the short runs between stations.
What a treat, Major! Thanks for preserving and sharing this!
I've never seen this brochure before. What a wonderful piece of ephemera! Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteTwo steam boats? Tunnel to nowhere? And what's that abstract twisted wire thing next to the rocket? Wow. This is awesome.
ReplyDeleteI like the whole package, sure, but I really like the stagecoach and pack animals over by the Tomorrowland Boats area. That'd make for a nice relaxing hour of old-timey western travel.
ReplyDelete@ Chuck-
ReplyDeleteEveryone knows that kids would much rather run around an old, antebellum mansion than play in a fort, climb a treehouse, or explore mysterious caves-!
Nanook, I wonder how many early visitors to the park had seen this rendering, or the one by John Hench? A lot of folks probably watched Walt every week on TV. I didn’t know that the park had reached 1 million guests in only about two months.
ReplyDeleteChuck, yes, I noticed the “profile” view of Mickey Mouse - you know it is an early piece of artwork if it has that. Wonder when they decided to go with the final version. Nice call on the two trains headed toward each other… I didn’t even notice! The whole thing is some artist’s fantasy, but darn, that’s a bad idea on so many levels.
K. Martinez, this is one of my favorites. If only I had some of those super rare variations.
Tom, the twisty wire thing is so futuristic that our tiny, primitive brains can’t comprehend what it could be used for.
Patrick Devlin, I agree, the coach and horses look like a lovely way to pass the time, but why are they in Tomorrowland??
Nanook, what if that antebellum mansion was HAUNTED?!?! (Duh-duh-DUHHHHNNN).
In 1978 when they redid the Matterhorn, someone from the company stated that it was the way "Walt originally wanted it to be." And in 1983 when they redid the Fantasyland facades, again someone said, it's the way that "Walt originally wanted it to be." Do you think when they moved the Mad Tea Party, anyone said, "look at this map from 1955....THIS is where Walt originally wanted the attraction to go!"
ReplyDeleteWhat's better than going to Disneyland in 1955? Going to Disneyland in a 55 Nash!
ReplyDeleteNow I'm going to have the Little Nash Rambler song stuck in my head. Mom used to sing it to us when we were little.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I’m guessing that Walt originally wanted to build a Star Wars Land in 1955, too! He was way ahead of his time.
ReplyDeleteSunday Night, were Nash automobiles any good? I have no idea! They are cute, at any rate.
Melissa, they don’t write ‘em like that anymore!