It's time for more vintage Disneyland paper ephemera! I love this stuff, though you might not be as thrilled about it.
Let's start with this gate handout (parking gate, I'd wager) from Summer, 1958, instructing guests on why they should consider purchasing ticket books. There's Dumbo, who seems to have been an unofficial mascot for Disneyland (along with Tinker Bell) in those early days. He's dressed as a thrifty Scotsman! Och aye.
They used this basic layout for the interior for about four years, with only the prices changing - though they didn't change drastically the way they do today.
Back when I first started collecting this sort of thing, I knew I wanted "the green one". As it turns out, there were three different green ones. On the left, the "Spring 1958" example (posted on GDB years ago); in the middle is the back of the "Summer 1958" handout that I started today's post with; and the last is also from "Summer, 1958", with revised hours. Collect them all!
And lastly, here's a rare, complete "Starlite Nights" ticket book (which I previously shared with the Vintage Disneyland Tickets blog ten years ago). It's from June, 1965 and has TWO admission tickets, as well as coupons for 10 attractions; these special books were intended to attract young folks (dating and/or married couples) to visit the park after 5:00 PM, when attendance presumably dropped to the point that somebody figured, "We need to get people in the park!". I've seen a Starlite Nights ticket book from 1961, but don't know how many years they ran this promotion. I'm glad to have this nice item!
I have so much paper stuff, I need to start scanning more of it!
Major-
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned before, the line art is a favorite amongst the GDB faithful. It always reminds me of many ad campaigns from 2oth Century-Fox in the 1950's, featuring THIS 'MAN' - in all sorts of poses.
I love how the shopping bag from Taylor & Hume 'highlights' the Disneyland Hotel Tram as a notable feature.
Thanks, Major.
To quote Leslie Nielsen from The Naked Gun, "Nice Ephemera!"
ReplyDeleteSeeing Dumbo in the Scottish outfit, reminds me of when Ray Bolger did the commercials for Safeway grocery store's generic "Scotch Buy" label. "'Taint fancy, but it sure is good!"
I love all of the graphics on the Starlite Nights ticket, but especially the off-model depiction of the Castle!
Yeah, that off-model castle is pretty sweet. Note that the Monorail passing the Matterhorn uses a similar composition as a lot of other Disney-produced promotional art (none of which I can find at the moment), right down to the mountain peak hooking to the left.
ReplyDelete$5.00 for two admissions for up to seven hours and 10 ticketed attractions was a decent deal. Regular adult admission was $2 in the summer of 1965 and a Big 10 book was $4, so that’s a savings of $1 or about 17%. Contrast that with a 1965 Grad Nite admission of $7 for one person for six hours, although that came with unlimited ride admissions and more headliner entertainment acts (you had to provide your own harried chaperones).
Thanks for connecting the dots between Dumbo’s kilt and tam’o’shanter with thriftiness. My spark plugs could use a good cleaning this morning and that cylinder just wasn’t firing.
Actually, Dumbo WAS Scottish! he was of the clan McBos, from the high country. He changed his name to something slightly less "ethnic" to get more acting gigs. Apparently "Dum McBo" shouted "Scotland" a bit too much. It's good to see him embracing his heritage!
ReplyDeleteI also like how Taylor and Hume made their bags very location specific. It would have been much easier to have one bag for all locations ("just slap an off model castle on there, Bob.") Heck they could have even produced one bag for all of the stores, but even Dumbo wouldn't be THAT cheap!
Good stuff today, Major!
That's "all of the different stores in Disneyland." I worded it a bit wrong. Kind of like "One small step for Man. One giant leap for mankind."
ReplyDeleteLine Art FTW.
ReplyDeleteTaylor & Hume win today for the “erector set” beams and the tram.
That Starlight cover is a real find, beautiful.
I remember how thrilling it was to get the 15 ticket book after years of bumping along with 10. Yet, I don’t recall ever feeling like we missed anything with only 10 tickets.
Thanks Major, very unusual items today.
JG
I've never seen a Starlite Nights book before. That's a gem!
ReplyDeleteI love the bag from the Magic Land shop too. Back when things were classy. Even the bags. Would love to fill that up with Hotel Sundries and Magic land toys, in the large size bag please.
Wonderful paper today Major. Do scan some more please. Thanks.
The Disneyland Hotel's Magic Land" shopping bag is a wonderful piece.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the Scottish Dumbo many times and it still remains a favorite.
The graphics on the Starlite Nights ticket book are wonderful, both front and back.
If you have more paper stuff, I'd definitely be interested in seeing it.
Thanks, Major.
Nanook, yes, there was definitely a “look” for line art/clip art men and women back then. It’s fun to get one of those books of vintage line art for that reason! I wonder if the Taylor and Hume bag used the drawing of the tram because they already had it from some previous brochure or flyer? Granted, if you stayed at the hotel the tram was a pretty sweet luxury.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, jeez, another commercial that I don’t remember. Ray Bolger? For Safeway?? I’ve always wondered about that weird-looking castle on the ticket book, the artist clearly did not refer to a photo. I guess nobody ever took a picture of the castle?!
Chuck, the Matterhorn, being thin and long and horizontal, makes for a challenging object to depict dynamically, so I guess having it come around a bend with the Matterhorn nearby helps to make it more exciting. I’m sure there were plenty of complaints about how expensive Disneyland was back then, but they didn’t have any idea of how bad things would get 50 years later. Early newspaper articles sometimes griped about the cost of admission, food and beverages, parking, and a souvenir or two. “I spent $15 that day!”. I confess that I was always a bit baffled by Dumbo’s Scottish outfit until Matterhorn1959 wrote about the “thrifty Scot” connection.
Stu29573, all of the best elephants come from Scotland! It’s a scientific fact. Many people in America simplify (or Anglicize) their names so that the public will accept them more readily. I agree about the bags, it only makes sense that they could make one bag design for all three locations. But those were the days!
Stu29573, I’m glad I never make a mistake. I wonder what it feels like? ;-)
JG, those Starlite ticket books aren’t common; somebody on eBay must have had a stash of them, because every month or so another one would appear, often with the claim that it was the “LAST ONE”. Then six weeks later he’d sell another one. I have a nice collection of unused ticket books, but that one cost me the most, even though it is not the oldest!
DrGoat, there are many unique Disneyland bags that I would love to own, but of course the prices for rare items like that (who saved their BAGS for crying out loud?) can go sky-high. Still, I’m guessing that I have a dozen or so with different designs for different shops.
K. Martinez, I have about six boxes full of Disneyland paper! Not huge boxes, but still, there’s a LOT. I really should scan more of it, it’s fun to look at and helps me with more “content”.
Major-
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the thrills of Safeway 'Scotch Buy' HERE.
OK...I see those prices and...I'm depressed! LOL KS
ReplyDeleteNanook beat me to it with the Ray Bolger/Safeway link (Thanks, Nanook!). There appears to be just the one commercial available on YouTube, but I seem to remember a commercial with him inside the store, and in a kilt. I notice at the beginning of the commercial he says, "'Taint fancy....." and at the end he says, "Aint fancy......" Now is that anyway to learn our young'uns? ;-)
ReplyDeleteNanook, Ray Bolger still looked pretty spry! More so than I am.
ReplyDeleteKS, you and everybody else!
TokyoMagic!, I think it's amazing that ANY commercials from that era somehow survived. Was it taped on somebody's early VHS machine? Maybe the director tried to correct Mr. Bolger about the use of "ain't" versus "t'aint", and Bolger went William Shatner on him!
To quote Frank Nelson (a.k.a. Freddie Fillmore), "My, he IS spry, isn't he?"
ReplyDeleteMajor, I'm guessing that must be it...that someone had it recorded from an early VCR. I have a ton of home-recorded VHS tapes that I'm tempted to throw out, but I just keep hanging onto them. I'm not so worried about the actual movies or TV shows that I taped, as I am about the commercials. There might be some good vintage 80's stuff on there! I've already come across things like the commercials for the opening of Star Tours, and Disneyland's 35th and 40th anniversaries. Although, I bet that's content that is already available on YouTube.
IMPORTANT!!! Even as a kid I would wonder why it was so IMPORTANT (Capital letters) to read a pamphlet about ticket books, when of course, you were going to buy ticket books! Why would you buy those little teeny tiny little stubs whilst inside the park? When you could have a glorious made by Globe ticket book?! We were NEVER fancy enough to get 15...we always got 10 and were told that we were lucky to be there at all. Interestingly enough...we always ended up with unused tickets...which were kept in a Tupperware box on a top shelf of the kitchen. Of course, I climbed onto the counter and got into that box practically daily. There were two sizes of tickets in that Tupperware box...a really large size, and the more "normal" size that seemed to be prevalent in the 70's/80's. I still have some of those tickets from the Tupperware ...somewhere. When we went to Passports only, there was a redemption system where you cashed in your old tickets. That was delightfully complex. Since the face value on the ticket was NOT what they paid, there was always a glorious and robust discussion around the actual value of the ticket, and how much a guest would get. It was a nightmare. I've said in many posts...bring back ticket books. Will never happen, but it exists in Bu-Land :)
ReplyDeleteTokyo, that's funny. We have a big pile of VHS tapes recorded in the late 80's early 90's when we had cable TV.
ReplyDeleteWe are all Star Trek nuts, and the local channel used to run re-runs of STOS with hours and hours of very low-production-value local commercials in between. Even today, I can get my adult children to crack up laughing when I sing the theme jingle of a heavily advertised local restaurant that we taped seemingly hundreds of times.
Now with Star Trek on Netflix, Amazon and Paramount+, the commercials are more rare than the programming.
JG
Major & TM!-
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of 'spry'... back on September 20 & 21st, 1991, the American Cinematheque presented The King and I on the 'Big Screen', at the Hollywood Bowl. Included on the program was Cab Calloway and his orchestra. Part of his performance including 'hoofing' on the stage, as if he had stepped into a time machine, based on his terpsichorean prowess-! And all that at 84 years old-! It was truly an incredible performance. (And then there was a plate spinner, with the Sabre Dance ['natch-!] accompanying that bit of 'juggling'). That's entertainment-!
Bu, for a while, we could get Magic Key tickets from my Mom's hospital job. Those were the ones where every ticket was an "E" ticket. I was the envy of my high school friends because I had a few of those leftover from family trips to take on the high school jaunt, where we only got the 10 ticket book.
ReplyDeleteI wish I still had some of those, but I'm pretty sure they are all gone to the dump years ago.
JG
I have fistfuls of those Magic Key tickets as I collected them from guests at turnstiles...mostly at Pirates! I'd give them for those I signed into the park. If only I was around to have redeemed them. Oh and the statute of limitations has long passed! KS
ReplyDeleteHelloooo, KS! I wish I was your friend, back then!
ReplyDeleteFUN post - thanks, Major and all!