Sue and Pinocchio! May, 1964
It's time for more photos from 1964, when little Sue B. (I guess she was little "Sue P" back then!) visited Disneyland with her Aunt and some of her aunt's friends. See more from this batch, along with more info, HERE, HERE, and also HERE.
May is just before June, and you'd expect it to be pretty temperate in Anaheim, but it must have been chilly, based on all of the coats and jackets. Still, look at that beautiful sky. Meanwhile, our little Sue has happened upon Pinocchio! The star of my favorite Disney animated feature. The girl to the right is doing a, "Well, there he is!" gesture. I think she has just served Pinoke with a subpoena. "See you in court, Little Wooden Head".
Aw! Sue looks delighted, and maybe a bit bashful, but Pinocchio is doing his best to put her at ease. He probably said something like, "Listen, I felt the same way the first time I met the Blue Fairy. Did you know that she smells like fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies?". There's nothing more comforting than warm chocolate chip cookies. Mmmm, cookies. What were we talking about, again?
Pinocchio reenacts the moment that he was transformed from inanimate carved wood into a miraculous walking, talking puppet. "The Blue Fairy waved her wand and said a rhyming couplet, and the next thing I knew, ZAP!". Sue is skeptical (she wasn't born yesterday), but she is too polite to say anything.
Notice the yellow "runabout" in the background. I think those might have been electric-powered, but they might have run on baking soda and vinegar.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
19 comments:
Major-
In the first image, is 'ol Pinoke holding the winning lottery ticket-? Doesn't really matter, as Sue is completely upstaging most everything else going on here.
Thanks Sue, for sharing your little cute self.
In the first pic, Monstro really looks like he's coming out of that cave aroarin'! I think Pinoke is pickpocketing that lady's white purse. At this rate, he'll never become a real boy!
That lady and the one on the left have a lot in common: blue babushkas, gray mid-length coats, sensible white shoes, and large purses.
In picture #2, Pinoke has rather plump legs, and feet. Geppetto needs to do a little more whittling.
3rd pic, Sue, I hope your finger grew back! I think Pinoke is contemplating squishing Jiminy Cricket. (J. Cricket didn't fare too well in the original story where, I think he was indeed squished by Pinocchio.)
Thanks Lou and little Sue, and Major too.
- Jovial Burl (Ives. "Have a holly, jolly Christmas!")
J. Burl, now you have beaten me to it, about Pinocchio's purse pilfering (in that first pic). He also could have been getting ready to say to babushka lady, "I'm crushing your head, I'm crushing your head!"
I wonder who that runabout, was running about? Could Walt have been there that day?
Sue, once again...you are just too cute for words!
- Tokyo Marzipan!
Note how the Lady in the Brown Coat and Little Rubber Head (it was a person in a costume, right?) are reacting to an unseen small child in a red coat who is mostly off camera.
L'il Sue is too cute for words! She definitely deserves her own comic strip.
That runabout is a complete mystery. And I'm now wondering if perhaps Walt really was there.
At my first unit, our director of operations (a major who was our second-in-command) was the son of an Air Force fighter pilot who had been shot down and killed in Vietnam in 1965. It was his last scheduled mission and he was coming home in a few days to collect the family in Southern California and move them to his next assignment in Japan. His son was only about four or five years old at the time.
One of the things that the Air Force set up for his family to help them cope with their loss was a trip to Disneyland. They were met by Walt himself and given a personal tour of Main Street and perhaps Fantasyland. In his childhood memory, they were driven around in a "golf cart" by Walt, but I can see how over the years a car like the one here could easily be misremembered by a person who was a child at the time and focused more on the fact that he was at Disneyland with that nice old guy from TV.
Ok, that's definitely Walt's favorite electric runabout (there are tons of pictures of Walt and Lillian with it) There's no one in the front seat, so whoever the driver is must have stepped out of it a bit before this picture.I would expect for a crowd to form wherever Walt was, and at first I thought that big group behind the car was it...and then I noticed it's just the line for the boats.
Of course none of it matters, because Lil Sue is completely upstaging everything else in the picture! Talk about adorable! Even Pinoc seems saddened by being so outshone. Way to go Sue!
Chuck, that story about the Major (not our Major) really was very cool. To think that there were times when the owner of a huge, unbelievably popular endeavor named after him, would do stuff like that. The 50s and 60s shed a lot of mana in many different ways. I do miss that.
Yep, Sue steals the limelight in any photo she's in. Wonderful pics from Lou. So fortunate we get to enjoy his work. Looks like it's a chilly. Love the blue outfit. Talk about blue fairies.
Great Monday pics Major. Thanks and thanks to Lou and Sue!
What a cute kid, and Pinocchio isn’t bad either.
Thanks Lou and Sue, and the Major too!
Waiting to hear the behind-the-scenes on the character suit. I’ve wondered if Pinoke was sometimes played by a woman?
JG
I can’t stop thinking about that ‘runabout’...and the possibility of Walt being nearby. My dad was not on this trip; these shots were all taken by my Aunt Adeline. If my dad was there, we’d have 15 pictures of that runabout, and 3 rolls of pictures of Walt—if he was there. Darn!
Thanks for the nice comments!
Ah Sue - so adorable!!!
Babushka Twins! I don’t know if my poor heart can handle it!
I am in love with Sue’s read Mary Janes. And I also dig the fashion sense of the little girl in the second picture with the stripy sweater and red Keds.
You can subpoena Pinocchio all you like, but you gotta know he’s gonna perjured himself so hard he’ll need the bailiff across the hall to wipe his nose.
Nanook, I think you’re right, that looks like a SuperLotto scratcher! I hope he won.
JB, I thought it was funny the way the perspective really makes it look like Monstro is about to chomp on that man in the overcoat. We definitely see more babushkas in the winter (of course), those ladies don’t want their expensive new perms ruined! Pinoke has been doing jazzercise, which explains the calf muscles. I hope Sue’s finger grew back too!
TokyoMagic!, congratulations on what I believe is the first “Kids in the Hall” reference. It’s been a long time coming. I have to admit that I wondered who was using that runabout, and would have been astonished to see Walt Disney strolling by in the background!
Chuck, I feel like I have heard that story about the Air Force fighter pilot’s family getting a personal tour of Disneyland from Walt Disney - or a different (but similar) story. I wouldn’t be surprised if Walt did that more than once. Which is pretty amazing. And yes, a small child probably wouldn’t have a vivid memory of the vehicle that they used - I could see how a kid could remember the runabout being a golf cart.
Stu29573, I never knew if that runabout was used exclusively by Walt, since the park did have other vehicles that could have been used by other VIPs. Like I said to TokyoMagic!, it sure would have been incredible if we saw Walt’s familiar figure casually walking by!
DrGoat, I can’t imagine any of the Disney CEOs doing anything like that today - and if they did, they’d be followed around by a herd of photographers for some good PR. I love these photos of little Sue, they’re so cute. And it’s fun to see one of our own having such a good time when she was a kid!
JG, I’m almost certain that Pinocchio has been played by a woman when I’ve seen him at the park, but it’s hard to be certain!
Lou and Sue, I KNOW! What if you’d turned around and Walt was right there! Maybe he would have handed you one of his pre-signed autographed pieces of paper. Only worth, oh, $2,000 or $3,000 today!
Irene, definitely!
Melissa, primary colors were “in” then, clearly. I think the girl with the blue jacket and red pants is so funny with her “ta da!” gesture. I didn’t think about what would happen if Pinoke wasn’t entirely truthful, but at least we’ll know either way.
What a cutie!! Looks like a future Tour Guide to me!! KS
Adorable pics!!
I think the plain / flat walkways looks cleaner and this version of Monstro is way better than the current iteration.
Seeing little Sue's smile always brightens my day.
Thanks, Lou & Sue and Major too!
KS, all she needs is a plaid skirt and a riding crop!
Kel,I TOTALLY agree, the old Monstro is so much better than the blue muppet version.
K. Martinez, we can only hope that Sue finds more Disneyland slides with her younger self in them!
T. Marzipan!, I guess we'll take turns stealing each others' thunder.
Haha, now I'm picturing Pinocchio hold up his thumb and forefinger while doing the head crushing.
Tokyo and Chuck (and Major), Wow. Wouldn't that be sumthin', to have Walt in one of Lou & Sue's & Major's photos? That would be a first, right? (Except for a couple of 'official' photos by Mr. X or the M.B.?)
JG (and Major), seems like someone mentioned here before how Pinocchio is often played by a woman, so that Pinoke would have skinny legs and arms; like a puppet. Not sure though. Maybe my brain is making stuff up.
Sue, thanks for confirming my suspicions that your dad did not take these particular photos. I was pretty sure that was established in a previous post. Still, Aunt Adeline did a great job as photographer!
Melissa, Thanks for the laugh!
Major (and anyone else), why DID they change Monstro from his awesome, scary, Pinocchio self to the "blue muppet" version? Major, I chuckled at that. I guess the recent Powers-That-Be didn't want him to scare little kids. Not realizing of course that the kids were supposed to scared. It's a long-standing Disney tradition... or, at least it was.
When Walt smelled the hamburgers at "Fan 2," he had to stop and get one. When this photo was taken, he was probably walking past the teacups to get some grape juice.
"Major (and anyone else), why DID they change Monstro from his awesome, scary, Pinocchio self to the "blue muppet" version?"
Part of The Big General Dumbing Down, I guess.
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Hahaha(!) Andrew, that would be my luck. Three seconds earlier and I could've been in the same photo with Walt.
Though I would LOVE to find Walt in one of my dad's photos, I'd be even happier to find more Jr. Gorillas in my dad's photos. I'm still thrilled that Bu thinks my dad's one shot may be of him, at the popcorn cart. (Pictures of Jr. Gorillas, in Disneyland, are my favorites - no matter who took them.)
Looking at today's 3 scans, I wonder what the true order is.
Did I shyly start-out standing 3 feet away with my finger in my mouth...and then, after Pinocchio nicely came over to me and put his hand on my shoulder, I grabbed his hand and wouldn't leave??
Or, did I butt in and grab Pinocchio's hand, and he then had to slowly push away from me?? I must've been hanging around him for a little while, as my Aunt moved and changed her photo spot by a few feet. I'll never know, and I don't have any recollection of this moment.
Thank you, Major and everyone!
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