I have a small collection of various matchbooks relating to Disneyland in one way or another, and decided to share five matchbooks that must date from at least the late 1970's (since one of them features Space Mountain, which opened in '77). They're not super rare, but eBay sellers sometimes ask nutty prices for them. Caveat emptor.
I'm certainly not the first person to share these... GDB pal TokyoMagic! had them on his blog nine years ago! But perhaps you've forgotten them, or you are ready for another look.
What could be more classic than the castle (in kooky kolors!), along with Tinker Bell? I've decided to take up smoking just to use these matches. Turkish cigarettes, or perhaps those clove dealies.
Frontierland, eh? I've heard of it. The Country Bears were still in "Critter Country", but I always thought of that land as an adjunct to Frontierland. The striker side of the matchbook shows a Davy Crockett type in front of a Lincoln Log Fort Wilderness.
I love the graphic style on this one - it is so evocative of the era. Sort of a post-psychedelic thing. If only these matchbooks could have resembled velvet blacklight paintings. Genius! On the flip side, New Orleans Square. Strange that of all the things that they could have featured for NOS, they chose a lantern, but oh well. There aren't any good attractions in that part of Disneyland, when you think about it.
There are so many iconic attractions at Disneyland, it's a bit of a surprise that the Blue Bayou got it's own matchbook. Again with the lantern? Some swamp people live in those boats, and believe me, it is like heaven.
And finally, my personal favorite, the Tomorrowland matchbook, with Space Mountain, and the Rocket Jets in fanciful hues. While I acquired the others over the years, I saved this one from a trip to the park when I was much younger.
I hope you have enjoyed today's matchbooks!
Major-
ReplyDeleteWith such colorful and artful images, I feel like lighting-up, and then attempt to look sexy while hanging out under a lamppost. (Isn't that how it's done-?)
Thanks, Major.
I used to have all of these matchbooks and then some back in the day because I was a constant smoker. And you know what? I used them all to light up my cigarettes and tossed the matchbooks away aftewards except for the Tomorrowland matchbook. That's the only one I kept and it's in minty condition with all matches attached. Now I wish I saved all of them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your Disneyland matchbook collection with us, Major.
Wow, nine years! That seems like an eternity, for some reason. I miss the days when matchbooks were available as a free souvenir. In addition to the theme park matchbooks, I also collected them from restaurants and other businesses. I wonder if there are any companies these days, that bother to have matchbooks printed up with their address and phone number on them?
ReplyDeleteWhat's a "matchbook?"
ReplyDeleteHave a few from the Tobacco shop but like K., I was a smoker so many went the way of the trashcan. And yes Major, the Tomorrowland books are the best.
ReplyDeleteNever really got in to collecting matchbooks but I did have, or still have somewhere, one from when Alien came out in '79. Groovy cover with the 'egg' ready to hatch on a black backround.
Thanks Major.
Nanook, as much as I don’t like smoking in general, I really like matchbooks. What does it all mean?
ReplyDeleteK. Martinez, after my grandparents passed away, my mom gave me a large bag full of great old matchbooks, except that only a match or two remained in the books. Oh well! They were meant to be used I suppose. And at least you saved the best one!
TokyoMagic!, I know, when you think about “nine years”… MAN. There must be companies that make customized matchbooks, but the “golden age” is in the past. I remember seeing that Club 33 used to give out something that looked like a matchbook, but it was actually a tiny notepad.
Chuck, the only way to know for sure is to go look it up in your complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
DrGoat, I have a few other nice Disneyland matchbooks (stay tuned for those), and I got into non-Disney examples as well. I like tiki-themed matchbooks, vintage L.A./Hollywood matchbooks, and others. Yet another collection! That Alien matchbook sounds very cool, I’ve never seen one of those.
Wow, psychedelic matchbook covers, far out. Unlike fashion of the time, I love the art. Major is right, these would have made great blacklight posters. This may be the seventies, but I see some Disraeli Gears influence at work here. Bold colors, and stylized images make these past cool. Great scans today, thanks Major. In LSD veritas.
ReplyDeleteI have a shoe box full of matchbooks. It's time to dig them out and see what I have. I may have some from the earlier motels around the park, if I'm lucky.
ReplyDeleteWhy do I like the smell of a pipe and cigar smoke shop but never started smoking? Lucky, I guess.
Fun scans today! Thanks!
dz
These are such bright cheerful designs. They almost make me nostalgic for the '70's. Almost but not quite.
ReplyDeleteI think we had many, if not most of these. The Blue Bayou in particular looks familiar.
None of us were smokers, but Dad always made a point of grabbing a matchbook wherever we stopped. I have a huge cookie jar full of his collection, but I took the precaution of cutting off the flammable ends of the matches. I had a mental image of that cookie jar exploding in flames. There are probably a hundred or so from Disneyland, LA, Las Vegas, Hawaii, and our many cross-country trips.
I have carried on the tradition as best I can, but far fewer places now offer matchbooks due to the pariah nature of smoking now. Many of the higher end restaurants here in the Wine Country do offer matchboxes with wood matches, presumably for cigars. I grab these for lighting the fireplace and save the boxes, but I have barely filled a cigar box in over 30 years of collecting these.
I would be willing to scan some of the wilder ones for posting if there was any interest.
There was guy named Lileks who had an odd website filled with weird stuff, he collected matchbooks and wrote a story about a guy named Joe Ohio who was a matchbook salesman. Each installment was inspired by two or three matchbooks, Joe acted out visiting the locales or businesses on the matchbooks. It was pretty cool, and kind of sad, at the same time since Joe's business was in decline. I searched for a link and it all seems to be gone 404, although there are some blog posts where he talks about writing new episodes.
Here is the index to the site >> http://www.lileks.com/index.html#everything
and another article about the stories.
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/playing-with-matches/
Thanks Major, these are a lot of fun and bring back good memories.
JG
Oh, matchbooks! Good thing my encyclopedia has a copyright date of 1972...
ReplyDelete