Today I have the pleasure of presenting PART ONE of a series of posts featuring scans of a 1965 Disneyland souvenir guidebook. One of the nicest guidebooks that was ever produced! It was a break from the designs and layouts of past editions, and it introduced a bold, fun, very 60's style, along with a ton of truly wonderful photos.
This guidebook was scanned entirely by longtime GDB reader "JG" (you know him from the comments); I know that it took a lot of his time, so I am very grateful that he wanted to share it with all of you. Due to the sheer number of pages in this particular book, I will be dividing it up into four posts.
First off, I thought I would include a scan of the front and back of the rare mailing envelope for these books (from my own collection). It's in several eye-popping shades of pink. Pre-psychedelic! My envelope shows a lot of handling wear, but I honestly don't remember ever seeing another one.
And now, on to the cover! Multicolored lettering was in vogue at that time. And there's Walt - this would be the last guidebook to be produced in his lifetime. The painting of the castle and Mickey leading the Disneyland Band has a distinctive look - I would bet dollars to donuts that it was painted by illustrator Neil Boyle, who produced a lot of work for Disney around this time.
Here's one of Neil Boyle's album covers, with the vivid, painterly, energetic style that he was famous for. On a personal note, Mr. Boyle was kind enough to sponsor me when I (fresh out of school) wanted to join the Society of Illustrators, even though my portfolio was not very inspiring!
It might be a little awkward to view a two-page spread one page at a time, but I'm sure you can handle it! Opening the cover, you are presented with a colorful, very simplified map of the park. Love the spot illustrations.
How about a nice forward from Walt? Or Marty Sklar, at any rate. It makes me smile either way.
Our visit begins (as they always do) with a trip down Main Street. Reading the text, one gets a sense that the theme of a turn-of-the-century midwestern town was very important.
I love how the layout resembles a wall covered with green wallpaper (probably flocked), covered with an assortment of framed photos, including the Omnibus, the Flower Market, the Train Station, the Plaza Pavillion, and a rare interior of the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor.
Next we see the Disneyland Band marching past, a Main Street crowded with various vehicles, and concept art to show the inside of the new Plaza Inn.
Along with a general view of Town Square, there is a painting (also by Neil Boyle, I believe) of Mr. Lincoln, a photo from the Grand Canyon Diorama, and the interior of the candle shop.
We're going to be exploring the park in a counter-clockwise direction, so once you've arrived at the hub, take a hard right into Tomorrowland. Enjoy that aerial view, along with that crazy "Atomic Googie" lettering.
Switches, knobs, dials and buttons, along with reel-to-reel tape are all suitable graphic embellishments for our technological future. Look at that beautiful photo of the Monorail!
This page gives us a rare view inside the "20,000 Leagues" walk-thru... there's Captain Nemo's pipe organ. Flying Saucers. Astro Jets, and Submarines, wowee.
And we get another rare view inside the "Rocket to the Moon" attraction, along with climbers Hans and Otto, the House of the Future, and Bobsleds splashing down.
Pretty amazing, don't you think? And this is just part one! Many thanks to JG for his scanning efforts, and for sharing these jpegs with us. Stay tuned for part two...
Major-
ReplyDeleteAlthough a part of my guide book "collection", such as it is, I rarely pull any of them out to just browse-thru. So this is both a nice treat to see and a reminder that I should be doing this sort of thing more often-! And, Major - that mailing envelope-!! I don't ever recall even seeing a picture of this one, although I'm hardly an expert. What a treat to see.
Thanks to JG for these mighty-fine scans, and you too - Major.
I have to echo what Nanook said. My copy of this one is buried deep, so it is nice to be able to view it again without having to go digging. I'm curious...were there other editions of this 1965 "pictorial souvenir book"? I noticed in the fine print on the first page, it reads "First Edition." The reason I'm asking is because I don't remember seeing that artwork for the "new" Plaza Inn. Looks like I might have to go digging for my copy after all. And I had not heard of Neil Boyle before, but I sure do like his style. That Glenn Miller album cover is just too wonderful....as is the Castle and character artwork on the cover of the DL guidebook.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this, JG and Major!!!
Wow!! That’s impressive Neil Boyle sponsored you!! How did that come about!??? I LOVE is artwork. Neil did indeed do the Lincoln painting in the book. It was used on all sorts or merchandise and marketing for both the Disneyland & World’s Fair versions of Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln . That same artwork was later re-used on a short run 1976 Bicentennial attraction poster of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. And here in the 21st Century Imagineering again used the same Boyle illustration for the Lincoln attraction poster displayed in the park today.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and JG! This guidebook triggered my childhood fascination with Disneyland. I had been to WDW a number of times when, sometime in the later 1970s, a neighbourhood friend who knew how obsessed I was with WDW gave me the two books (this guide and the Marty Sklar hardback book from the late 1960s) that her older sister had brought back from Disneyland several years before. I spent countless hours looking at the pictures – especially those aerial shots of all the lands, trying to work out how the park compared to its sister park in Florida. Unfortunately my copy had suffered from quite bad water damage before I got hold of it and many of the photos are somewhat obscured. It's so great to see all the images so crisp at last. I've often toyed with getting a pristine edition off ebay, but I actually kind of like my weathered copy – it's even found its way across the ocean to take its place on my bookshelves here in London. Thanks again, Major. And thanks for the scans, JG – you've made my day! Now I can pop it on my iPad and look at it whenever I want without adding more wear and tear to my battered old copy! Anyone who isn't familar with the guide, meanwhile, is in for quite a treat over the coming instalments.
ReplyDeleteI try not to be a grammar snob, but it's "foreword", not "forward."
ReplyDeletePretty sure I have that Glenn Miller album at home. Will need to check...and then go through the rest of the collection looking for Neil Boyle covers. I'm positive there are more. Awesome that you were sponsored by him.
ReplyDeleteJG, thanks again for taking the time and effort to scan this, and thanks to you both for putting it out there for the rest of us!
Many thanks to JG for the scans, and to you Major for identifying Neil Boyle. I think Boyle illustrated some of those 11-page booklets which accompanied Disney record albums; IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS and the Humperdinck opera HANSEL AND GRETEL come to mind. I loved his style as a kid -- so much vitality-- and I still do. Mid-twentieth century graphics remain visually irresistible.
ReplyDeleteWho would't want to keep this great guidebook as a souvenir? Unfortunately very few did. I am greatful to JG and Major for these great scans. I love the art and the colorful lettering, not unlike the brochures for the '64 '65 Worlds Fair. Many fine illustrations and great text. Neil Boyle's work just screams midcentury, I love it. Can't wait for part two. Thanks again JG and Major.
ReplyDeleteI'll add my thanks to JG and Major for these scans. I've seen the mailing envelope. Wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAdding another thank you to JG and Major for scanning and sharing! This is truly wonderful - it provides the very heart and essence of Disneyland at that time, from each realm, in its own style. Just incredible.
ReplyDeleteThis guide, in our house, was worn by me down to the nubs in repeated attempts to squeeze some ounce of feeling of my last visit to the Park. The broader, square format was even better than the former "landscape" version that had preceded it.Maybe running one of these down on eBay is my task for the day.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots of Main Street, though I wonder why no-one has ever really waxed eloquent about this oh-so-cool shop before. And did the "glass-enclosed solaria" in the Plaza INN fall to the accountants pencil before fruition? I don't think they're there now.
The CM behind the counter at the Carnation's soda fountain kind of looks like a jerk to me.;)
In addition the climbers on the Matterhorn are actually named Hans and Feet, and are prominently mentioned in most of the safety spiels around the Park.
Thanks so much for the diligent work JG, it is well appreciated
I recently purchased a vintage reel to reel quadraphonic tape deck because...well, I think they're cool. The Tomorrowland page reminds me of just how cool these things really were in the 1960s! Nothing said hi-tech (or hi-fi) better than spinning tape reels! You can't get that kind of kinetic excitement from a hard drive or an MP3....They just don't hold a candle...
ReplyDeleteThank you to JG and the Major for these scans! They bring back childhood memories which I consider myself lucky to have. This was the very park I was able to visit in my teens, for the first time without my parents, so I was able to skip the 'flowers that mother nature never grew'.
ReplyDeleteThanks again!
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GDB, where you "come for the pictures, stay for the comments" was never more true than today.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone, you are all most welcome. and especially Major P.
Major, that's some amazing stuff, the envelope (WOW) and the related art works. I love that album cover. How cool to learn your personal connection to the artist. So many works of that type were anonymous (at least to the end user), great to see more information about the artist.
The picture of the monorail must have been carefully staged with a scaffold or a lift, I don't think there's any other way to get that vantage, unless from the rear cone of another monorail?
@Chuck, having a rip of that album combined with the Major's cover art would be tres' cool.
@Pegleg Pete, I'm happy you're happy!
@Patrick Devlin, your story is much like mine. This book survived the years by being stuffed in between some large format art books on my parents shelves. I remember having it fall out when I unpacked the boxes years later. As a kid, I read it and re-read it over and over between visits, and I recall having a later edition featuring Tomorrowland 1967 that somehow did not survive. I know I preferred this one because of the Tomorrowland page design with the portholes, knobs and dials.
It was tedious to scan because of the odd page size, it would only fit on the oversize scanner in my wife's office and I had to sneak a few at a time after hours.
Each land is presented with a themed background designed to be viewed as a two-page spread. I made a custom page size in PDF software and pasted the images into a PDF with a two page spread setting so the PDF book can be enjoyed in soft format the same way it is seen in hard copy. I haven't put it on an Ipad yet, but that is the goal. Now I can sit drooling in the "home" and page through the book like I did when I was 7.
Cheers All, there are some amazing pictures later in the book, this is just a warm up.
All my best.
JG
Nanook, I’m the same, all of my souvenir guidebooks are in a box at my mom’s house. I never look at them, even though I feel as though I am so familiar with them.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I have two copies of this one, and they both say “First edition”, and they both have artwork for the Plaza Inn. I would love it if you found a variation! Please go digging ASAP.
Mike Cozart, Neil Boyle happened to live in the same town as my parents, and somebody at my school knew him and gave me his phone number. So I called him and went to his home, where he reviewed my portfolio. He was very nice, and threw in some constructive criticism (all of it accurate) regarding some of my pieces.
Pegleg Pete, even as a kid I was very careful with my Disneyland stuff, but I admit that some of them still fell to pieces. I still have a souvenir wall map that is now just 12 separate panels. I tried using masking tape to fix it, and even that gave way after a while. Bummer that your copy has water damage - another one of my old guidebooks was left outside by my sister, it was ruined! I still haven’t forgiven her. If you want a pristine copy, it might cost you a bit, but less pristine examples are very reasonable.
Anon, the important thing is that you tried!
Chuck, there is at least one cover of “Vacationland” magazine (featuring an illustration of New Orleans Square) that was done by Neil Boyle as well, they sold the original painting at a Van Eaton Galleries auction a year or so ago.
Stafano, I know that Mr. Boyle did a lot of stuff for Disney, and I used to have more examples in my brain, but at the moment I can’t think of any!
Jonathan, these guidebooks are the sort of thing that get thrown out during a move, or when a kid leaves for college. Only a few of my own childhood Disneyland items survived, by some miracle (because we moved a lot - Navy family).
Dr.Goat, I would love to get one of the mailing envelopes in much better shape, and they must be out there, but I have never seen one. My friend Mr. X says he has seen them as well, although he doesn’t have one.
Tom, JG did all the scanning! The whole book makes me want to go to 1965 Disneyland SO much.
Patrick Devlin, I agree, the square format really added to that bigger feeling. It’s strange to me that they only did it for the ’65 book. Perhaps it was too expensive to produce? I believe that the “glass-enclosed solaria” were there in the past - not sure about today. I have never heard that “Hans and Feet” pun, yikes!
Stuart Powley, wow, quadrophonic! I would love to listen to a quadrophonic recording - would I be able to tell the difference? I was just listening to some Beatles mono vs stereo recordings, it’s kind of fascinating. Maybe stereo vs quad would be just as amazing? My dad had a reel-to-reel tape machine in our finished basement, and we would play his limited selection of recordings on it while playing ping pong.
David Zacher, oh man, I wish I had been able to see the park without parents back in those days! It must have been amazing.
JG, thanks again for sharing these fun scans!
Wow, what a gem - almost too much to take in at one go. The frames and lettering for each land are inspired. And the future is Phillips-head!
ReplyDeleteThe earliest souvenir picture book i have is one from the 1970's that combines both parks. Sometimes the captions tell you which photo is from where, but sometimes you have to work it out for yourself. But the WDW shots look like my childhood memories, and it was a 25-cent thrift store find, so I still treasure it.
Melissa, by any chance, is the title of that book, "The Magic of Disneyland and Walt Disney World" by Valerie Childs?
ReplyDeleteThat's the one, TokyoMagic!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I knew that this was a lot to take in for one post - the three subsequent posts will be smaller (but there’s still a lot!). As for your souvenir picture book, there’s nothing like finding something good for 24 cents!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, hey, I have that one (and the two separate books as well).
Melissa, I know right where my copies are. They do have beautiful photos from a great era for both parks.
I dug my copy out and looked through it tonight. Fuzzies of the warm variety were had.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, that's a great book. I remember seeing it at Walden's Bookstore in a local mall. My mom got it for me as a birthday gift. As Major mentioned, there were two thinner volumes by the same author....one just for Disneyland and the other just on WDW. If I'm remembering correctly, some of the photos in those two books were the same as those in the combination book, but they contained some original photos as well.
ReplyDelete