Mad Tea Party, August 1965
The Mad Tea Party. Actually, it's not really mad, it's more "disappointed". And somehow that's worse! If you want color in your photos, you can't do much better than to point your camera in the direction of the many-colored teacups, and that red and yellow swirled platform. Don't stare at it too long, or you will be HIP-MO-TIZED (as David Letterman used to say).
No smiling or laughing allowed! Only heavy sighs and the occasional cough or hiccup. There's the Fantasyland Theater to our right, let's go see some cartoons there after our ride, hopefully the dizziness and nausea will wear off after a few minutes.
26 comments:
Major-
Do you suppose the woman - front-and-center in the first image - is covering her mouth because one of her cupmates just told a joke from Bennett Cerf's Book of Laughs-? (I'm certain the book was chock-full of real knee slappers-!) Gotta love all that color.
Thanks, Major.
I love the three kids hunkered down over the spinning wheel in the yellow cup. They know how to have fun!
Nanook, there was a copy of Bennett Cerf’s Bumper Crop in the bedroom I slept in whenever we stayed at my Grandma’s house. I used to read it whenever I couldn’t sleep.
Very rich, saturated color in these scans, Major. They also seem to have a very fine grain when compared to most other images, like they're in hi-def.
I'm JB, by the way, and I live in Oregon. Hello to all the GDBers. This is my first comment but I've been taking the Grand Tour for the last 4 years or so, starting with the first (2006) post and working my way to the present; reading every commentary and comment, looking at all the (full-size) images, and saving quite a few on my computer.
I found GDB, as I said, about 4 years ago while Googling images of the 1962 Seattle World's Fair, which my family visited when I was 9 years old. As many have said: I came for the images and stayed for the comments, which are equal to the images (sometimes better) says I. (Arrr, "talk like a pirate day" still be a few days off, me thinks.)
Our family visited Disneyland in 1957 when I was 4 years old. And again in 1976. And two of my brothers and I went to WDW in '77. We have a few slides and photos that I may share with the Major one of these days (if I can find and scan them).
Not sure yet how often I'll be commenting, but I always check the site a couple of times a day. The Major's got a good thing going here, and it's up to us to keep him fed with stuff to post. So, thanks to Major P and to all the regulars who make GDB an island of good-natured fun in the middle of a chaotic and tempestuous sea.
There's the Welch's Juice Bar "shield" sign. Then I see in a green tea cup a woman with teased hair into a semi-beehive. Love original Fantasyland.
Welcome, JB! GDB is definitely a fun place with lots of great people!
How is that little flimsy strap supposed to keep people inside their teacup? They need to swap that out with a solid door.....and a clear plastic dome over the entire cup.
Hi JB! Welcome to the group! I hope we do get to see your family's Disney park photos!
TM!, I was thinking over-the-shoulder harness (which is only lowered after you sign a hold-harmless agreement, preferably in the blood of your first-born), but a clear plastic dome would prevent any projectiles (either human or the contents of their digestive systems) from exiting the cup, Pure genius!
Glad to know you, JB! Welcome aboard!
Great teacup pics. I do remember we never got into a teacup that wasn't adorned with some design. Who wants to spin around in a mono-colored teacup?
Never read Bennett Cerf's Bumper Crop. What's My Line and a few articles in the New Yorker are my only memories of BC. Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen, Steve Allen, Arlene Francis. A great line-up. Watched the episode when Walt was on several times via Youtube. Great memories.
JB, welcome to the ranks. You were born roughly in the same time period I am. Old guys, young in spirit.
Thanks Major, teacup pics are always welcome. Those colors and designs never get old.
It looks to me like the mom in the first picture is about to woof her cookies. She probably shouldn't have eaten all those Aunt Jemima pancakes before riding. "Hey mom, you look a little green." "I'll be fine Bobby, I just hope you aren't wearing your good sneakers." Welcome JB, GDB is a great place to meet great people. Thanks Major, for todays scans.
JB! Welcome, be sure to grab your ID badge and swag-bag at the table in the lobby. Continental breakfast is served in the Lido Lounge till 10 AM. Lunch is on your own.
Photo reviews conducted until the wee hours, including in-depth seminars on whatever off-beat topics pop into anyone’s head. Please chime in wherever you like. I hope you choose to share some of your valuable memories.
I went to school with a girl who looked just like the young lady on the right in photo 1, but the years are wrong.
That beehive ‘do in the back is awesome. Hard to believe girls did that, but here is photographic proof.
Tokyo, don’t forget a drain in the center of the cup. Chuck, you must work in Legal. Eventually that hold-harmless will be in a click-through when you activate your ticket link on Genie +.
Major, thanks for these pics. I agree, after our spin, let’s watch cartoons, and then cool off with some Welch’s graphic juice. We can admire the Fantasia mural with the racy centaur girls.
JG
“Grape”
Argh.
JG
@ JB-
Welcome aboard-!
Possibly the [relative] lack of grain in these images is attributable to using Kodachrome X film, introduced in 1962. It had a whopping film speed of ASA 64; as opposed to ASA 12.
@ JG-
There might be plenty of Welch's "graphic juice" remains in the bottom of those Teacups - if you get my drift-!
@JB...Welcome from another Oregonian. Oh the teacups...my two female cousins and I could never seem to spin them fast enough...even when their ponytails were horizontal behind them. Then one later visit...I found myself spending 2 hours lying prone on a park bench wearing off the vertigo. I didn't know it at the time...but my childhood years of abandon had ended. KS
Oh that evil ride. ;P As I've mentioned here before, the one bad experience the one and only time I rode the Cups when I was a kid was enough for me. "You guys go ahead, I'll be in the theater watching cartoons" :D
JB, welcome to the Junior Gorilla band of ne'er-do-wells and misfits. I'm in your age group too. Old folks rule! :)
Nanook, Bennett Cerf would make anybody laugh, but she might be feeling urpy too…
Melissa, somehow those kids knew that a lower center of gravity meant that they could spin faster. Smart! I mostly knew of Bennett Cerf because he wrote the forward to some “Mad Libs” books that I had.
JB, hello and welcome! It’s always nice to meet a reader for the first time. And congrats on your first comment, I think a lot of people never comment, for a variety of reasons. I guess I can’t blame them! I know what you mean about the comments sometimes being better than the images… in fact I’d say that it usually the case. It’s the participation that makes it all so much more fun. I’d love it if you ever find your slides from any of your Disney park trips, and would be happy to scan them (and return them to you of course!). Comment as often as you like, it’s not a contest!
K. Martinez, I can’t see that Welch’s sign without thinking of ice-cold glasses of grape juice that I loved as a kid. For some reason I don’t buy grape juice anymore, maybe I should?
Chuck, you have a lot of great ideas, and will be forwarding them to the Disney Company ASAP. Anything with a clear plastic dome is already improved by 300%, it’s a scientific fact.
DrGoat, I think most kids who waited in line for the Mad Tea Party probably had their eyes on a particular cup, and it almost always led to heartbreak. Some other, faster (and stinkier) kids would get there first. Yes, I’ve seen kinescopes of Bennett Cerf on “What’s My Line”… he really was just a little before my time, but like many celebrities from earlier eras, you couldn’t help but know about him by osmosis.
Jonathan, I’ve known too many people who despise the teacups, so of course my first thought is that the poor woman is probably “on the verge”. Lucky for me, I don’t usually suffer from motion sickness! Who’s boss, me? Or my inner ears?
JG, other GDB members will always know one another from the orange carnations that we wear in our lapels. The swag bags are full of things that I bought at the 99 cent store! Who needs off-brand cotton swabs? Or a precision screwdiver set that bends the first time you try to use one? Did the girl with the beehive ‘do use “bump-its”? Or was it all hairspray? (Was there really a drain in the center of each teacup?).
JG, your fingers betrayed you!
Nanook, I never even considered the lack of grain. It might be Kodachrome X, or it might be the grain-reducing plugin that I have… I can’t remember if I used it on these pix.
Nanook, OH NO.
KS, I’m amazed at how many folks from “up north” read this blog, but then again, you were smart and “got while the getting was good” as they say! I’ve mentioned before about how I made a date very angry because I spun our teacup too fast.
Grant, ha ha, luckily there are plenty of non-spinning rides for those with sensitive constitutions. I would HATE exiting a ride feeling like I was going to be sick!
Major-
I too have mentioned before that following one 'ride in the cups', we ended up on the Motor Boat Cruise to 'unwind'. Turns out it's the perfect antidote for over-spinning.
Thanks all youz guys for the warm welcome. :) I would've commented sooner but I wanted to get all the way through Major's blog, in chronological order, so as to be caught up with all the latest goings on. Lest I accidentally say something awkward and stick my foot in my mouth (probably both feet). Of course, that may happen from time to time anyway... oh well.
Great idea about the clear domes on the cups, Tokyo. And of course, it would work both ways: As Chuck noted, it would keep the regurgitated pancakes from spewing out of your cup, but it would also keep said pancakes from entering your airspace from a nearby cup. Win/win!
I think the lady in the first pic is laughing and covering her mouth with her hand in modesty, the way some people do (Ed Wynn comes to mind). But it's much more fun to think that she's "urpy" as the Major said, and then visualizing the results.
I realize that my username (JB) may cause a little confusion, since we already have a JG, a JC (Jonathan), and a slew of other 2-letter names. But dangit, those are my initials and that's my username at a couple of other sites around the web. Besides, it pleases me no end if I cause a little harmless confusion. I'm devilish that way.
Nanook, that does sound like the perfect antidote, though I would happily ride the Motor Boats these days even if I wasn’t dizzy.
JG, it does take some doing to get through 15+ years of blog posts. And I feel like it is just a given that I will put my foot in my mouth every now and then, so I don’t get too distressed about it when it happens. Tomorrow is another day! I’m imagining how hot the inside of a teacup with a clear dome would be. Which means they’d then have to install air conditioning in each cup. Happily I’ve never witnessed a person losing their lunch at the park, but it sounds like it happens regularly. Whoever has to clean it up should get bonus pay. That lady does look like she might be laughing. When I first saw “JB” I thought you were “JG”, but I can adapt! I use my opposable thumbs nearly every week. Just don’t fret if I accidentally type “JG” once in a while.
“Code V” …do the math…there was always code V everywhere. Barf dust (real name I don’t remember) has a very specific smell…like some kind of antiseptic had a love child with Mennen deodorant. Guests tended to eat buckets of spaghetti before getting wild on the Matterhorn or the tea cups. I’m not sure if a plastic topper like when Starbucks puts a lid on your fluffy drink will work. Code V + plastic dome sounds like one of those Mugwigh things from that Joe Dante movie that explode in the microwave…Gremlins! That’s the name of it! (I can remember the director…but not the movie…that means something: “old”). Back to barf dust- and then I remember an orange barf dust stuff they put in open drains…that is another very specific smell: bartender: I’ll have my sewage with a hint of orange…sounds better than with a bag of barf dust. I hope the ex-sweepers of the world understand this humor… Bu
Bu, I guess a person can get used to anything, but I'm reminded of that famous pie-eating scene in "Stand By Me", where the sight, sound, and smell of somebody puking was enough to start a chain reaction. Barf Dust, also known as Pixie Dust? If a kid in school threw up, they put something that looked like sawdust on it. Maybe it WAS sawdust. Joe Dante, I just checked out a podcast that he cohosts, but the other host was not great, I had to bail after about 10 minutes.
"...and [he] just sat back and enjoyed what he'd created - a complete and total barf-o-rama!"
JB - Welcome to GDB After Dark! Or perhaps you already went home? Hope you bought a souvenir before leaving. Hint: People throw unused ride tickets on the ground as they exit. Look for them and use them on you next visit!
Luckily I never had any motion problems on the Teacups except that I could never turn it fast enough. Seems like I always saw at least one cup where no one was turning it, they were just sitting there - but it still flew around pretty good!
Beautiful colorful pictures! Fun comments!
JB, welcome! There IS one more thing you have to do to become a full-fledged Jr. Gorilla...you have to submit a childhood photo for Major to post here! ;o) Hope you find your slides and photos to share with us!
Thanks, Major!
JB, I forgot the other requirement:
You have to be able to point out The Dent in a castle photo.
Lou and Sue, thank you. And about becoming a full-fledged Jr. Gorilla, I do indeed have a slide of 4-year-old me along side my mom (and others) aboard a Canal Boat about to be swallowed by Monstro. I'll try and get it (or at least a scan) to the Major. And yes, thanks to you and others who provided examples and links that show The Dent, I can now point it out without any difficulty (usually). I can also spot Fudgie The Whale under the right lighting conditions. So I'm almost there!
Sunday Night, thanks for the welcome. I found myself a whole bunch of tickets on the ground. They were all "A" tickets though. Still, free tickets are free tickets. I wonder what I can do with a fist-full of "A" tickets?
JB, you can spend the whole day cruising Main Street. If you get bored, step through the castle gates, ride the carrousel, and then take in the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through.
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