Last Pix From "America on Parade"
Let us all rejoice, for today is the last installment of pictures from "America on Parade", circa 1976. I know you've suffered, but I'd like to think that you are better people for it.
"Phonographs brought the symphony orchestra into every home!". Uh oh, it's those jazzy day-glo cats again, go get the broom, or a squirt bottle.
"Television offers unique home entertainment. And now such greats as Winnie the Pooh are seen by millions in living color". Change the channel, I want to watch "The Six Million Dollar Man"!
Like many people, when I think about American history, I think of pink elephants walking on their front feet.
"God bless America! May Liberty's flaming torch and our symbols of freedom shine like beacons, and inspire all mankind to live together in peace and harmony".
Strangely, in the video that I watched on YouTube, the iconic float featuring Mickey, Goofy and Donald (inspired by Archibald MacNeal's painting, "The Spirit of '76") was at the beginning of the parade, and yet it was the last slide (by number) in this batch. Witchcraft? Time travel? Dyspepsia? You decide.
Yes, I am still far, far away, and possibly have no internet access. But I'll be checking back in very soon!
19 comments:
Major-
In spite of this parade's "controversy" for some, it's hard not to love the cleverness of both design and execution of each float. I do love the 'rakish, squishy angles' employed on many of the floats in the parade.
Thanks, Major.
I always loved those day-glo Aristocats and having them on the turntable stack of records made it another favorite parade unit of mine from America on Parade. Sorry to see this one end. Thanks, Major.
Notice how "Uncle Sam" is standing on the backside of the Statue of Liberty float!
I thought Disneyland wouldn't suffer from disPepsia until 1990.
I wish I remembered more of this parade. The only floats I remember in this batch are the last two. I do remember that I really liked it, though.
With Ken, I'm sorry to see this batch end, too. Despite your better judgement, thanks for sharing these, Major!
K. Martinez, oh okay, the Aristocats. I have seen those costumes in some other pictures and thought, "What the heck?" I like the wacky angles too, especially the leaning drums.
I heard if you play those records backwards, those cats stop being fluorescent nightmare fuel.
That television set is shaped kind of like the Guardian of Forever on Star Trek. Or the Flintstones' TV.
They threw in the pink elephants so that if the audience got confused by any of the bizarre floats in this parade, they would just assume they had been drunk and hallucinating the whole time.
Sunday Babushka! And two sets of twinsies!
In the pink elephant picture, lower right: If that stroller-top pattern doesn't scream 70's, I don't know what does!! I can picture that pattern on a waterproof table cloth (with fringe on the edges), in a kitchen with harvest gold and avocado green appliances. With coordinating cookie jar and kitchen clock.
Sue
Sue, I'm pretty sure we had that pattern on our dining room walls in the seventies!
Lou and Sue - I'm positive we had that pattern in my parents house in the late 70s or early 80s
Thanks for pointed that out, Sue - I had a friend whose kitchen was in that pattern in the mid-'70s. Pretty sure my mother had a bag in a similar pattern, but in blues and greens.
Melissa, Dean and Chuck: That pattern (or something similar) seemed to be everywhere, back then, didn't it?
Chuck: Blues and greens were what my parent's house was decorated in (kitchen and living room) for 50 years! And big blue and green flowered wallpaper graced the kitchen walls from 1968 to around 1990. But I guess that wallpaper was better than the metallic and flocked wallpaper that hurt your eyes!
Sue
Sue, we had metallic, flocked wallpaper in the dining room of the house I live in now when my parents first bought it new in 1976. I'll confess that I liked it at the time, but in my defense a) I was 8 years old and b) it was 1976. Fortunately, it's looong gone now, replaced in 1985 with a bamboo pattern that's also past its expiration date.
Chuck: At least a bamboo pattern is more gentle on the eyes. I, personally, don't mind any kind of wallpaper - in other people's houses. I just don't have any in my house because I got tired of looking at it - on EVERY wall - growing up in my parent's house.
My in-laws were really in style in the 70's! They had the flocked/metallic wallpaper in their living room and entry way; the brown/green/yellow flowered wallpaper (on the stroller top) in their kitchen; and the stick-on square, smoked-glass mirrored tiles (with gold squiggly lines in them) in their living & dining rooms.
Major, I hope you're proud of me. I have stayed off the subject of you-know-what, all day today.
Sue
Sue, we had a border of those mirror tiles around a huge mirror painted with stampeding black horses. It was in the same room with the indoor goldfish pond.
Melissa, I remember that post - especially your comments. You didn't even have to add the link. That was a classic! Fancy Pooping Grotto! I'd even pay you to give the Major pictures of that room, to post here, if you have any. Thanks for the laughs!!!
Sue
Totally forgot about those mirrored tiles. I had a great aunt in Sacramento who had an entire wall in a hallway done like that. I thought it was the coolest thing ever when I was 2 and 3. Still have fond (if dim) memories of that house.
Oh My Goodness.
The photos in the thread are not enough, we must have the comments about wallpaper and mirror tiles.
Yes, we had mirror tiles, but no wallpaper. Friends had foil/flocked wallpaper, in shades of orange and brown, and I'm pretty sure our version of the stroller top fabric was the inside of our patio umbrella in the back yard.
And as if on-cue, the fellows in the front-row left of the pink elephant picture are wearing their shirts from work: "La Habra C&D Wallpapering".
Thanks Major. Like you, I am fine with having this photo set be complete. The late '70's was a time that I never want to re-live again. Disneyland seemed to be a refuge, except for ephemera like this, so the less said, the better.
JG
JG
JG, now THAT's subliminal advertising at its finest!!
Sue
THANK YOU JG for deciphering that lettering! It was driving me crazy! You know that scene in The Jerk where Navin is trying to read a letter out loud, but it's wet, the ink is running, and his voice gets as incoherent as the writing?
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