Are you missing the scent of evergreens? Do you long for the sound of Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas"? Are you craving egg nog, and other random and sundry nogs? Well, then you are in luck, because it's Christmas at Disneyland, circa 1967.
Something kooky was going on at Sleeping Beauty Castle, though I'll be darned if I know what, exactly. Maybe Briar Rose was trying to improve her TV reception. And how do we know it is Christmastime? Because of the six measly wreaths on those banners! Where are the twinkling lights, the gleaming icicles, the fake snow? Meanwhile, it appears that the Disney family crest has been added to the shield above the archway by this point. I'm still unclear as to the specific date for that addition.
Also, above each banner, there is a sconce containing a light, or maybe even a gas flame, something I've never really noticed before.
After walking through the arch, you'd find Goofy trying to distract guests from the scaffolding.
Is that a loudspeaker above the "To Frontierland" arch?
Maybe they were adding the ivy onto the Castle's walls in 1967. Major, I have wondered when the tops of those banners changed from pointed finials to the current lanterns/sconces. It happened some time in the sixties, I just don't know the year. In the second pic, I think the thing that looks like a loudspeaker is actually a small window with little shutters hanging on either side of it.
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteMy vote is with the 'small window with little shutters'.
As for the family crest, I have read "... it was added to the castle at some point in summer of 1965", and "sometime between June & July, 1965", and even - "The Disney Crest was added to Sleeping Beauty's Castle in 1960". But the 1960 date is nonsense. It was most-likely June of 1965. June, 1965 also seems to be the date when the finials transitioned into lanterns. Evidently in time for the Tencennial. Good times.
That first photo shows our Main Street sprinters from December 11th..
ReplyDeleteGood catch and memory, Chuck! I went back to check out the December 11th post you mentioned and they sure are the same two guys.
ReplyDeleteGoofy looks so cool in the second pic. He's one of my favorite costumed characters in the parks. I wonder if they have a Dippy Dawg version of Goofy in Tokyo Disneyland since in Japan they seem to do all the early vintage characters like Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar and Bucky Bug.
Nice Set today. Thanks, Major.
TokyoMagic!, ha ha, maybe I should look at the full-sized image when I write my stuff; now I look at it, and *of course* it is a little window. D’oh.
ReplyDeleteNanook, yeah, no way 1960 is correct. 1965 sounds more like it, though I wondered (just to myself, quietly, so nobody would laugh) if it wasn’t around 1967.
Chuck, yes, it is the same fellows!
K. Martinez, I would love it if we had early versions of those characters - the early Disney cartoons are the most fun, in my opinion. Later cartoons were beautifully animated, but could sometimes be a little slow compared to the more hyper Warner Bros. cartoons.
Mmmm, Sunday's funday! That looks kind of like painting scaffolding to me, the former painter. It could be they're scraping the pernicious ivy from the walls in prep for some different, brighter colors for the castle. Now having typed this I don't think that the much-maligned color change of the castle happened that early. It's tough to shoot down ones own hypotheses as quickly as you dream them up. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAlthough there's scaffolding inside the castle as well, so that speaks to some non-ivy related hi-jinks. And instead of a window there's a 27" Sony Trinitron TV over theto Frontierland passage, I suppose for the workers to watch their mid-day soap operas. Sheesh, I dunno.
Major-
ReplyDelete1967 really is too late. If you troll the internet for images, beginning with Daveland, you'll see 1965 is the magic number. Same for the compass points.
I seem to recall Daveland having an elaborate post on the date of the Disney coat of arms crest. Not sure when or how.
ReplyDeleteThose basket torches are called "cressets". The ones on the banner standards look similar to the ones on the castle walls flanking the entry arch, which oddly, cannot be seen in these pictures.
Thanks for the great pics, Major.
JG