Friday, June 07, 2019

Alice and the Mad Hatter

Alice and her BFF, the Mad Hatter, still enjoy visiting each other. They both like getting chili-cheeseburgers and cervezas, and they split a large fries.

Here's a great photo from September, 1961 featuring a very pretty Alice and an especially crazy-looking Hatter (holding his cup of tea) in Fantasyland. Behind them, a shy young girl hopes to meet her favorite Disney characters!


The cast member in the costume can be seen, glancing in our direction.


Kodak had a shop on Main Street where guests could buy film and other camera supplies - including a new camera, in case you left yours at home. In addition, they sold photo prints that guests could buy, featuring nice images of all of the most popular sights in the park. "Did you take that?". "Oh my, yes!".

Looky looky, there's the very same Alice, standing on an embankment with the Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit.


While I was preparing this post, I found yet another photo of our Alice, though it was not watermarked or credited to anybody. It might be a publicity shot. But if it's your photo, let me know.


I hope you have enjoyed today's photos of Alice and the Mad Hatter!

(Hey, junior gorillas, I am still out of town, but I look forward to reading your comments soon).

17 comments:

walterworld said...

Looks like Alice put up with a bit from her BFF the M.H. I can see her slapping his face at some point lol...maybe the next pic?

Thanks M.P. as always!

Melissa said...

This was before the Alice costume changed to have a white Peter Pan collar, puffed sleeves with white bands, and a fuller skirt. My best guess is that the change happened around 1965. The new costume looked more like the animated Alice from 1951, who had a blue Peter Pan collar and puffed sleeves with no bands, but I kind of like the crispness and simplicity of this earlier incarnation.

Nanook said...

Major-

Alice - oh my-! Such an attitude. Carry on, girlfriend.

Thanks, Major.

Budblade said...

I think this should be titled “Mad Alice and the Hatter”

stu29573 said...

It amazes me that as a kid I could never figure out how people could see out of those costume. I now think I was a very gullible kid....

Andrew said...

@stu29573 I'm going to go out on a limb and say that those creepy face screens are one thing people DON'T miss about the Disneyland of the past.

stu29573 said...

Very true!

JC Shannon said...

In the last photo Alice looks like she is giving him stink eye. Maybe she is saying "So let me get this straight, the ones that mother gives you don't do anything at all?" In the first photo the little girl is contemplating giving Hatter the goose. "Should I or shouldn't I?" Thanks to Major for the scans.

Anonymous said...

I wonder where that embankment is located? The landscaping looks pretty rough to be a Front-of-House location, but in the early '60's maybe that wasn't uncommon.

The third picture is certainly interesting body language. ALice is very photogenic, but the Hatter has a radio face.

Wearing that huge mask must have been very tiresome, not only physical work, but the lack of peripheral vision and disorientation. What a crummy job, even working in Disneyland with Alice would scarcely be compensation.

JG

"Lou and Sue" said...

That gal does make a cute Alice, but the "peeping Tom" cast member in the 2nd pic really looks creepy. In those armless costumes, I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be . . . and I wonder if any of them ever tripped. Thanks, Major, for posting these -- you do find some fun pics!

As a side note: Yesterday, I showed my dad (Lou) all of your wonderful comments from GDB's June 5 post. He was touched by your kind words, and said the Major did a GREAT job! I ditto that!

Sue

Grant said...

The early costume character photos always take me back. My mom worked at Disneyland from 1956 to 1962, when I was six to twelve years old. I would go to work with her often in the summer and spend the day running around the park. At lunch time we went to the employee cafeteria. Often times costumed cast members would come in and take off their costume to eat. It was neat seeing the real people behind the masks. Sometimes the cast member wearing the Minnie Mouse costume would be male. He usually got a good razzing from other employees. The best was when Walt Disney himself would come in and stop at tables to chat. He was a cool guy. Of course no cast member razzing or kidding around happened when he was in the room. LOL

Andrew said...

Grant - That is truly amazing that you got to experience early Disneyland history in such a firsthand way. I can't imagine how cool it would be to see Walt in the park.

TokyoMagic! said...

Alice's hairstyle doesn't quite look like that of the later "Alices." I wonder if this wasn't a wig and they were just going with the cast members real hair? I've seen at least one pic each, of Snow White and Cinderella in the 1960's with "contemporary" hairdos, rather than the hairstyle of the characters from the movies.

"Lou and Sue" said...


Grant, you must have many wonderful memories from your time at Disneyland . . . I hope you share a lot more of them with us!

Sue

Grant said...

@Penna Andrew - Yeah, I was lucky being the right age, in the right place at the right time to experience the early days of Disneyland from the inside.

@Lou and Sue - Yes, lots of memories here. I'll share more of them for sure. I bet you have a ton of memories too judging by the amount of photos your dad took over the years. Looking forward to Major posting more of them.

Melissa said...

TM!, yes, the regulation wigs came a bit later. I can't help feeling they make the face characters look less real, but it's certainly easier to be on model in one

TokyoMagic! said...

Melissa, thanks for that info! It must have been much more comfortable (and cooler!) for the cast members to just have their own natural hair, and not have to wear a wig!