Here's a selection of 1978 scans of Frontierland, courtesy of the Mysterious Benefactor. I think you'll like them!
Let's begin with this lovely shot of the Columbia, which was 20 years old in July of '78. Passengers are packed like sardines on the deck, and I don't like sardines. Make of that what you will. Even at this distance you can see the dark glossy leaves of the magnolia trees over in New Orleans Square. How many of those are still there?
This picture (from August, 1978) looks like it is straight out of a magazine ad, with an attractive young couple window shopping in front of the Pendleton store. The woman's jacket is very similar (though not identical) to the one on display in the window, I wonder if it was a Pendleton item? The man doesn't care for plaids, but does spend a lot of time combing his hair in the mirror.
Not too far from the previous photo is this picture of guests relaxing in the shade near the entrance to the Golden Horseshoe Revue (sponsored by Pepsi). This one is from December of '78, and everyone is in long sleeves or light jackets to deal with SoCal's 65-degree winters.
And finally, howsabout a general look at the Rivers of America? The image has a warm, nostalgic tone that is very pleasing. Frontierland looks crazy crowded! Everyone is heading over to the Haunted Mansion (its cupola is just visible above the trees) to get spooked.
THANKS to the Mysterious Benefactor for his generosity!
Major-
ReplyDeleteMore lovely shots from the MB. The 'couple' in the second image really do look like a 'plant'. The long lens used to capture their loveliness brings the Peoplemover "beamway" way over yonder in Tomorrowland kinda up close and personal like.
Thanks to the MB.
That couple looking into the Pendleton window appear in a Disney New feature on Pendleton around the 25th .... the same couple along with a few other models appear in the anniversary Pendleton poster given to Disneyland guests who made purchases during the anniversary.
ReplyDeleteWhoa!!!! What’s going on along the mainland in that last shot?!!? The walkways look JAMMED with people!! In 1978 Pirates of the Caribbean had undergone a major rehab .... maybe it just recently opened in these images ?
Thanks major & SB!!!
Mike, at first glance, I also thought that couple must be from the poster, but I'm having trouble identifying them in the lineup:
ReplyDeleteDL 25th Anniversary Pendleton Poster
The cast members....or maybe they were Pendleton Family members, gave my friend and I copies of that poster, without purchasing anything in the store!
Thank you, Major and M.B.!
- Tokyo Munster!
After yesterday's discussion, I'm guessing (like everybody else, apparently) the "young couple" are actually CMs. She's probably a Tour Guide and he looks like the Tomorrowland Astronaut (maybe). Not sure if the astronaut was still a thing in '78 though.
ReplyDeleteIn the last pic, there's a small disturbance in the ROA. I zoomed in to take a look but all I could see was a small, blurry white dot in the center. Maybe a duck, diving head-first, with his butt sticking up out of the water? (Ducks are not known for their self awareness.)
Thanks to the MB and to the Major for more interesting views of Frontierland.
Tokyo Munster!, hmm, Herman? Grandpa? or Eddie? Or maybe you're just being cheesy.
- Jellified Brains
Your right - they are not in the poster. But are in the Disney News shoot. And I have a poster with them in it ..... I was confusing the two posters . I’ll try and see about getting an image to Major if I can . The poster is an in house Disneyland 25th “a very special invitation from our family to yours - and our participants are our family too!” there’s two versions with various shots with park sponsors . Pendleton ( and our couple ) appear with PEPSI-GERBER-DELMONTE-CARNATION-ORVILLE REDENBACHERS-ELGIN-BANK OF AMERICA-AT&T-COCA-COLA. The other poster features some other sponsors including McDonnel Douglass and there’s a third with groupings of people at Disneyland including our couple the other day sans Captain Mike O’Brien.
ReplyDeleteThe posters were printed by Electronic Colour , INC of Santa Ana Ca. And are all dates 1979.
JB, "Spot Munster," Eddie Munster's pet dragon!
ReplyDeleteThat lady might have been a tour guide, but I bet she wished she was Dorothy Hamill, with that hair!
Mike, were those other posters also given out to park guests?
TOKYO: I don’t think so but probably to people employed by sponsors/participants . I’m not sure. There’s a fourth one I got in the batch also dated 1979 with the 1980 25th logo with a picture of a large amount of costumed castmembers standing all around the floral Mickey at Main Street station . It reads “ Join Our Disneyland Family “ “ an equal opportunity employer .... except for people from Luxembourg: they need not apply “
ReplyDeleteOk I made the part about Luxembourg up.
In that last image standing near the lamppost before the red umbrella looks to be Brer Bear or Liver Lips McGrowl ..... or a very very tall - wide guests .
ReplyDeleteThe Pendleton model is Raellen Lescault 1978 Disneyland Ambassador. Not sure who the gent is- possibly a “real” model. Raellen went on to work at WED involved in Typhoon Lagoon, and allegedly, according to Rolly Crump was the one who first came up with the idea of the Fantasyland re-do…not sure about that, but he wrote it. There is a Sam McKim painting - a Thanksgiving Scene that is/was used in the American Adventure that Raellen is seen in- from the back anyway…sitting at a table with a “family”…her back is to us and she is holding hands with another “someone” from WED. There were more photos from this photo shoot that Mike C eludes to in his post re: Disney News. The male model is also wearing Pendleton- just not a plaid. This was a great store in Frontierland that sold “real” product- many employees shopped here. The discount was different. The entire shop smelled of freshly pressed wool. They supplies the first plaid costumes for the Tour Guides, and the rest is history. If you zoom in on the last shot around the very crowded riverbanks (eeek!) you can see the red umbrella of a ice cream vendor- and if you really zoom in- they are wearing yellows- so it’s someone giving a break. They cut down those magnolia trees? Wow…that is very disappointing. When those were in blossom the scent was so intoxicating!
ReplyDeleteGood grief! Those Fantasmic! fans really clog up Frontierland, don’t they?
ReplyDeleteBU: wow!!! That totally IS Raellen!!! Well, Rolly is on the right track regarding New Fantasyland. Technically WED began working on new Fantasyland ideas as early as 1965. If anyone has heard recordings of the Disneyland Tencennial party.... with everyone getting drunk .... Walt himself next mentions after the New Tomorrowland they are gonna start on a New Fantasyland but the Florida project drained money and personnel for Disneyland projects. Through the 70’s Fantasyland was worked on a bit in the 7 year master plan Rolly was in charge of. There was still very little money to do the New Fantasyland ... this time because of EPCOT CENTER and Tokyo DL. What Raellen dud is figure out a way to get the New Fantasyland designed and built but using architectural molds mostly created for World Showcase pavilions United Kingdom, Germany , Italy and France. Some architectural detail molds from Walt Disney World’s 1971 Fantasyland was used .... and Tokyo Disneyland’s owner The Oriental Land Co. flipped the bill for the Pinocchio’s Daring Journey first designed for Disneyland in 1973! Raellen was the spark early movement of the 1983 Fantasyland but another imagineer stole the baton away from Raellen.
ReplyDeleteMajor, big thanks to you and the MB for these views.
ReplyDeleteThis was the best Frontierland, no doubt.
Raellen looks like Mrs. G, while the gentlemen resembles Tom Netherton who sang for Lawrence Welk. I hope he stays out of the wind, or his lapels will carry him off.
I like the view along the boardwalk, you-are-there indeed.
JG
Nanook, the couple in that photo should be smoking delicious, healthful Tareyton cigarettes. In fact, we should ALL be smoking those. (This comment has been paid for by R.J. Reynolds Company).
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, I probably have the Disney News issues from Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary… but they are not at hand. I need to dig them out of storage, they’ll be fun to look at. I was unsure as to why Frontierland was so jammed, but figured that there must have been something significant going on. Not sure WHAT.
TokyoMagic!, thanks for the link to that poster! I would assume that the Pendleton Store was encouraged to give out those posters, even to kids who would spend all their money on candy and not woolen plaids.
JB, by 1978 Tomorrowland had done away with the roving astronaut couple, sadly. It’s too bad they didn’t have a Tomorrowland Disco Dancer, that guy would have been perfect. I am glad you pointed out my rare photo of a duck butt, I hope all the other Disneyland bloggers are jealous.
Mike Cozart, I guess Disneyland gave out a lot of oddball posters back in those days. “No, not that poster, the other one!”. I’d love it if you sent me an image of the one you are thinking of. Pepsi=Gerber-DelMonte-Carnation-ORville Redenbacher-Elgin-Bank of America-AT&T-Coca Cola - the businesses that secretly run all of the world’s governments! I’d love to see images of any of those sponsor posters, actually!
TokyoMagic!, not Johann Munster, one of Herman’s cousins? Or Herman’s twin brother Charlie?
Mike Cozart, I don’t want those people from Luxembourg coming here! With their odd ways and strange language. All Americans should be from Wisconsin, that’s my opinion anyway.
Mike Cozart, I see that tall whatever-it-is, but the photo isn’t sharp enough. At first I thought that might be the petrified tree trunk.
Bu, wow, I am impressed. I did think that Raellen had that Disneyland Ambassador “look”, at that time they were very much of a type. She came up with the idea of the Fantasyland redo? Amazing. I’d love to see that Sam McKim painting, not sure I ever have. From my days living where it snowed I have a fond memory of the smell of woolen mittens as they dried over a heating grate. They were warm, but not so good for making snowballs. Too absorbent. I do see the red umbrella, someday I will share a great photo of a vendor who I believe might have been at that very location.
Chuck, YES THEY DO.
Mike Cozart, cool to get a confirmation on Raellen, who I’d never heard of until today. I have that recording from the Tencennial party, but haven’t listened to it for a while, I’ll have to find it. Just reading about how the various Florida projects virtually stopped most of the plans for Disneyland is frustrating for me all these years later. I guess I need to get over it!
JG, if Mrs. G looks like Raellen, you are to be congratulated. Gosh, I was forced to watch lots of The Lawrence Welk show at my grandparent’s house, but I never did get to know and love individual performers.
Major-
ReplyDeleteAlthough The Lawrence Welk Show was sickeningly-sweet and loaded-down with corny goodness, that stage was chock-full of musical talent-! And there were times [especially when the orchestra was featured] when all that talent obliterated all the 'corn', and the music rose above it all.
For Pendleton fans of which I am one:
ReplyDeletehttps://blog.pendleton-usa.com/tag/disneyland/
Interesting info and a few photos.
Wow...busy day. That last shot gets me to thinking of the view I had when I'd remove the loop off the deck cleat for the Mark Twain. Darn..I can hear my fellow CM blowing the whistle in the Wheelhouse as it begins to move. KS
ReplyDeleteHa, Major. Mrs. G would be pleased to hear that. I can't imagine what she see in me, but she still turns my head after almost 40 years. She wore that same ice skater bob back in the day.
ReplyDelete@Nanook, you are right, most of Lawrence Welk was pretty syrupy, but the orchestra was "wunnerfull".
My Mom thought Tom Netherton was the bees knees. I have idea how I remember his name.
JG
"no" idea
ReplyDeleteJG
...I can't imagine what she sees in me...
ReplyDeleteJG, ALL Junior Gorillas are a-peel-ing!
Thank you, MB & MP - great pictures!
-Lou & Sue & Boo!
Nanook, I’m sure you are correct about the musical talent - it just wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to see or hear! I was happier when my grandparents watched “Bonanza”. I can still hear my grandma say, "Oh, it's one with Adam!".
ReplyDeleteBu, thanks for the link! One of their pages uses some of my photos.
KS, wow, I can imagine how something like that would just become a part of you! Think of the hundreds (thousands?) of times you removed the loop from that cleat. I think it’s like listening to your favorite album over and over, you anticipate the next song in the few seconds of silence between tracks.
JG, I’m sure Mrs. G feels lucky to be with you in the same way you feel lucky to be with her. We are almost always our own biggest critics, so we sometimes don’t see the good things in ourselves that others do. “Ice skater bob”, that’s accurate! I knew the names of a few “Welk” personalities (Bobby Burgess, for instance), much like I learned many other pieces of trivia. Cultural osmosis!
Lou and Sue, I definitely believe that all of the Junior Gorillas are a cut above the usual sort of person!
I am having a visceral reaction to the Pendleton Lady’s Dorothy Hamill haircut, having had one inflicted on me at a tender age. Otherwise, a stellar crop of pictures! I don’t think I’ve ever seen Columbia that loaded down.
ReplyDeleteSue, that’s funny.
ReplyDeleteJG
Yeah, any Junior Gorilla would make a prime-mate!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, that’s funnier!
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Melissa. “Facepalm”. Also thanks for the skater name, that was escaping me…
ReplyDeleteJG