Do you like elderly women in trench coats? Wearing dark glasses? WITH RED NECKERCHIEFS? Then today's photos will be super awesome and the best ever! If not, well... come back tomorrow.
Here's a pair of groovy chicks. Mother and daughter? Who can say. I recognize the brochure in the Mom's hands, it's one that advertised the Christmas parade, with marching toy soliders, silly reindeer, and gingerbread men. Even though we can only see a smidgen of the train station, it is surprising that no obvious Christmas decor can be seen.
By 1977, the framed attraction posters had been removed from the fence in front of the Mickey Mouse flower portrait and Main Street Station. My theory is that too many of them were dated, and producing new examples was an expensive proposition (silkscreened versions, at any rate). So... bye-bye, posters.
When I was a kid I liked seeing Tigger at the park; the orange plush was practically day-glo, and I was into that sort of thing. Tigger is friendly, but not overly so, he doesn't want to make Grandma uncomfortable.
Major-
ReplyDeleteGrandma looks very stoic standing next to Tigger. Perhaps that's just a classic Grandma 'look'.
Thanks, Major.
The lady in the trench coat reminds me of my great-aunt Edna!
ReplyDeleteThat artwork on the guide she is holding, was still being used two years later:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2009/12/disneyland-trip-reportchristmas-1979.html
I forgot to check yesterday's GDB post, until just a few minutes ago. It could be due to old age, but I'm going to blame the holiday, instead. Anyway, I recognized the description of the "Whispering River" attraction at The Pike, and realized that we had seen pics of it here on GDB, about six years ago! I provided a link to the older GDB post, in my very late comment on yesterday's post...just in case anyone is interested!
Happy 5th of July, everyone!
"Grandma" is Olga Steinmitz. She is constantly talking about "The Old Country," although no one actually knows where that is. "In Old Country, bouncing cats eat small children. American bouncing cat much better!"
ReplyDeleteIs she joking? Who knows?
Check out the haircut on that guy behind Olga Steinmetz. Definitely 1977.
ReplyDeleteWould love to have my picture taken with Tigger. It would make everyone elus so jealous.
I know where the Old Country is, Stu. It's now called "Busch Gardens Williamsburg."
I recognize the brochure in the Mom's hands, it's one that advertised the Christmas parade, with marching toy soldiers, silly reindeer, and gingerbread men.
ReplyDeleteMajor, you forgot about the dancing Christmas trees!! My favorite! (or maybe they weren't around in 1977?) TokyoMagic, I know you'd know...
Oh boy, Olga's body language speaks volumes. She's obviously not happy with her son-in-law (the photographer), in the first shot; and she's not exactly thrilled with Tigger, either. Must've been a fun day at the park, for this group.
TokyoMagic! I'll go back to yesterday's comments, now. Thank you for adding the link - I'm looking forward to seeing it.
Thanks, Major, for today's silly snoozers! (Do you have more pictures of Olga? I hope so.)
I'm really enjoying purple Mickey - very nice when he was happy and round. I think that grandma is really enjoying herself in the first pic. You can see her soaking up that California sunshine on a cold day. Obviously grandma and Tigger are hamming it up, standing at attention for the photo. I'm sure the next moment they were laughing over their antics.
ReplyDeleteTM - Thanks for the link to the guidebook artwork. I knew someone would come up with it. I also discovered the very dark side of the Pike yesterday - will head over there now
At first I thought it was Elton John photo bombing Olga (who looks like my Aunt Elsa(!) but now I'm not so sure.
ReplyDeleteI snooze a little on Sundays anyway so these are perfect. They do include the train station, ya know. Flower Mickey is looking good this day. I wonder if the original idea included keeping him in that space for 65 years. (65 years!)
Disneyland Park elevation is still 138 feet today, 43 years later! It's true!
Happy Sunday,
zach
I just got back from my vintage tour. Thanks, TM!!
ReplyDeleteIf you do a close-up of Olga's and Mickey's faces....it may be my imagination, but I think Olga's hair coordinates with Mickey (I think I see a tint of purple). Is it just me??
ReplyDeleteCheck out the haircut on that guy behind Olga Steinmetz. Definitely 1977.
ReplyDeleteWould love to have my picture taken with Tigger. It would make everyone elus so jealous.
I know where the Old Country is, Stu. It's now called "Busch Gardens Williamsburg."
Nanook, this is probably the grandma version of “letting her hair down”. She’s going nuts - grandma style!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, do you REALLY have an “Aunt Edna”? I thought Aunt Ednas only existed on commercials and sitcoms. I have a version of that Christmas flyer, though I thought it was from 1978. It might have just been a guess though, I didn’t recall that they used the same artwork for multiple years. Hmmmm. THANKS for the links to Ken Martinez’s photos of the Whispering River attraction! Amazing. I of course remembered Ken’s photos, but at the time the guess was that it might be the “Laff in the Dark” ride.
stu29573, maybe grandma likes things like boiled cabbage, and beets, and sausages that might be made from neighborhood pets. “Bouncing cats”? Oooookay! (Backs slowly away, smiling).
Chuck, I miss those big late-60s and 1970s muttonchops. Even a square like Mannix used to have some serious sideburns. I wasn’t kidding when I said that I found Tigger’s day-glo orange fur to be very appealing, but he always had too many kids around him whenever I saw him.
Lou and Sue, I guess I DID forget about the dancing Christmas trees, because even now I can’t remember what they looked like. Sort of tree-ish? And dancing? Poor Olga, maybe she was a sweetheart. My paternal grandmother always looked miserable in photos, but she was the nicest lady who made lemon bars for us if we asked. I miss her. I think I have more photos of Olga, but am saving them for closer to Christmas, since they are all very holiday-centric. That’s right, I have plans for five months from now!
Omnispace, I prefer the “old Mickey” design used for the Disneyland flower portrait. Walt Disney World uses a newer design (eyes that have pupils) that just seems graphically weaker. To me, anyway. No offense, WDW lovers! Maybe Olga was visiting from Wisconsin. “It’s 14 below zero where I come from”. I actually thought about scanning my similar brochure, but now I don’t have to!
zach, I’ll bet Elton has been to Disneyland. Maybe he wore a disguise. Today is definitely a snooze day, the local residents were blowing stuff up real good until at least two o’clock in the morning. Driving through the neighborhood at around 11:30, it was astonishing to see the huge fireworks that mere civilians were lighting off. Huge starbursts and rockets like you might see at a professional exhibition.
zach, don’t forget to thank Ken Martinez, those are his personal photos!
Lou and Sue, it might actually BE a little bit purple. My grandmother used laundry “bluing” in her hair sometimes, supposedly it made it look less yellow, but… then she had blue hair. Was that an improvement?
Chuck, you can say that again! ;-) Was there a rupture in the time-space continuum?
Gran is entering into the spirit of the thing, it’s not every day one has ones picture made with a celebrity, and a Day-Glo one at that.
ReplyDeleteI like the late 70’s Park, can’t wait till Christmas.
Thanks for the link Tokyo. Going back to Long Beach now.
Thanks Major!
JG
Sue, I'm not sure if the team of Christmas trees were in the parade in '77, '78 or '79. They are pictured (barely) in that artwork on the entertainment guides, but I just don't know if they were actually used those years. I know for sure that they were used in '81 (my year) and the following year, in '82.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I actually did have a great-aunt Edna! She used to give us great big bear hugs.....the kind of hugs that squeeze every single bit of air out of you, and make you feel like your ribs are cracking!
Apparently so, Major. It's the only logical explanation.
ReplyDelete