While it's always fun to look at extremely rare Disneyland ephemera, I have a fondness for artifacts that are perhaps a little more common (or recent). Here are a few examples.
Here's a nice lady and her three kids (including evil twin girls!) posing in front of the Official Mouseclubouse Treasury. I assume that this was one of the "Fun Photo" scenes available over in Tomorrowland?
"Come and play with us, Danny!".
This little lucite souvenir is as cute as a bug's ear. It's around 2 inches high, and features a vehicle that you would be more likely to see on Main Street than in Frontierland, but who's complaining? I've only seen one other example, from Tomorrowland (with a little Moonliner) - I wish I had that one too!
If you're like me, you love cigar smoke. The more the better! Which is why a giant novelty cigar is the perfect gift. I've never actually seen one of the cigars, but I do have this rather large label, nearly six inches long and 2.5" wide. Much too big to use as a makeshift wedding band.
And finally, how about a tag from a guided tour, circa 1958? These came in a variety of colors, and for about six seconds I thought I would try to acquire as many hues as possible. Then the oxygen returned to my brain and now I'm good with just this one (though I do have an orange one somewhere). These make swell name tags for those awkward parties where you don't know anyone!
I hope you have enjoyed today's Random Disneyland Ephemera!
Major-
ReplyDeleteThese are all pretty wonderful - including the 'twins'. Souvenirs with such simplicity are often the best.
Thanks, Major.
Aww, vintage twins! They'd be older than my mother and Aunt, but we do have pictures of them and similar outfits. I love how the little girls in this picture are wearing their purses on opposite shoulders, so we get that interesting "v" effect.
ReplyDeleteThe "evil twins" photo looks like it could be a promotional shot for a 1960s Psycho-style thriller.
ReplyDeleteI've come across several Disney-character cigar bands including one featuring Snow White. Been searching for more info on them but haven't yet located much.
A current ebay listing:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Walt-Disneys-Snow-White-and-the-7-Dwarfs-Unique-Cigar-Band-/351729025882?hash=item51e4af035a:g:uIwAAOSwNSxVXxVJ
I'm surprised that the crest on the cigar band isn't the Disney coat of arms with three lions passant, instead of that simpler one with one lion rampant. I'm sure that's just the printer's standard design, with just the customized Disney text in the frame above, but still.
ReplyDeleteThe Mickey Mouse Club photograph was most likely taken when the Mickey Mouse Club was headquartered in the Opera House on Main Street.
ReplyDeleteThe Mickey Mouse Club photo is really cool! It reminds me so much of my childhood and my sisters who were probably about the same age as these young girls. I do remember my sisters used to stand in the hallway of our house and say to me "Come and play with us, Kenny!". Like a fool, I did.
ReplyDeleteThe "Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters" was open from 1963 to 1964 just after the "Babes in Toyland Exhibit" and just before "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" according to Rick Strodder's Disneyland Encyclopedia. All the pics are wonderful today! Thanks, Major.
Nanook, it really is true… some of my favorite vintage souvenirs are very simple items, but clever and fun.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, do you think that the girls were instructed to sling their purses over opposite shoulders so that they could more readily be told apart? I’d think that they’d both be either lefties or righties.
Snow White Archive, wow, I’ve never seen one of those character cigar bands before! Such an odd combination - Snow White and cigars? But why not, they used those characters on just about every other imaginable piece of merchandise.
Melissa, yes, I am sure that the design of the cigar band is generic, though it would be nice if it had the Disney coat of arms. Maybe this item pre-dates the use of the Disney sigil?
Matterhorn, that would make sense, although I didn’t know that they offered “photo ops” in the Opera House. Very cool!
K. Martinez, did your sisters have “the shining”? I have a photo or two of the Opera House when it was Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters, as well as a few souvenir items from that time. It’s interesting that it was after the initial run of the MMC - the show was running in syndication.
I've always thought that it was odd to establish the MMC HQ after the show ended its original run, too, Major, but I guess it must have made good commercial sense as the show ran FOREVER in syndication. I can remember watching it in the 1973-75 timeframe, although I understood they were reruns from when my parents were in high school. I can still remember the day I made the connection between the MMC's Bobby and that dancer on The Lawrence Welk Show.
ReplyDeleteLove your Frontierland lucite, I have two others, exactly the same size, one for Tomorrowland with the Moonliner and another for Adventureland with what looks like the moon in the corner, a palm tree in the front and a small sailing ship like in the Peter Pan Ride. One could assume their must be at least a Fantasyland. This set is quite early and probably made before the park opened.
ReplyDeleteI also have the cigar band like you have but I have another exactly the same size and type except at the bottom it says 1955 Circle C Walt Disney Productions, so I guess they must have given these away for a few years at least.
Michael
Ephemerally speaking.....these are all really neat items! I have one of the Guided Tour triangular name tags in navy blue. I don't think mine has a date printed on it, but I picked it up off the ground in the late seventies or early eighties. It has the newer castle logo rather than this earlier version. From what I remember, the Tour Guides would have a bunch of these tied to their riding crop that they would hold high in the air so that everyone in their group could see them and follow them through the crowds. Mine doesn't have a name written on it, so I'm assuming it fell off of one of those riding crops.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these items from your personal collection with us, Major!