Frontierland Critters, October 1967
It's time for more critters from Frontierland. I'm surprised that guests didn't give each one its own sassy nickname - I guess they didn't go in for that sort of thing in 1967, but I'll bet they would do it now. In fact, each animal would have an elaborate back story, and maybe even special merchandise.
There's Morty Moose, he walked all the way from Minnesota to live in Disneyland, and that wasn't easy. But he had a song in his heart and a pocketful of dreams (even if he didn't have any pockets). Now he's living the good life.
A family of mule deer blend in to the scenery pretty well... the adults are a bit more shy, one is entirely in the shadows, while mama peeks out from behind a shrub.
Those two fawns are too naive (dumb?) to know better, they're strutting around like they own the place. It won't be long before they take up smoking, spitting, and disrespecting their elders. HARD FACTS!
22 comments:
Major, since we have named Shiny Boy and Chief Wavy, I think the Junior Gorillas should assign names to these urchin animals.
I love each and every one of these pics.
JG
JG, I love these pics, too. I look forward to Sundays, as we all know that the comments are going to be especially funny.
I don't have any names for these critters, but the deer - in the shadows of the 2nd picture - certainly looks like a "deer in the headlights," doesn't it?!
Thanks, Major.
Morty the Moose looks kinda scruffy. Must be molting season. That rock to the right of Morty looks even more fake than he does. It's sitting too high out of the water. Maybe one of the killer mallards is using the rock for camouflage, getting closer and closer to the moose until... the duck discovers, too late, that Morty is made of cement and breaks his fangs on the rock-like moose.
Was this taken from a Keelboat, I wonder?
You can tell these are mule deer and not white-tailed deer because it says so on their driver's licenses.
Major, yep. Those fawns will undoubtedly spend a year or two in Juvie Hall. They might learn their lesson and 'go straight'. Or they'll come out worse than ever and find themselves 'sleeping' in the Friendly Indian Village.
As for names, Major already gave us Morty. Maybe the fawns could be Bumper and Fender.
Thanks for the Sunday critters, Major.
- Jumbo sized Box (of chocolates)
Where better to keep your dreams than in an imaginary pocket?
It's Bambi and Faline! They are waiting for the Rivers of America to freeze over, so they can go ice skating. It's going to be a long wait.
It looks like Morty has mange. Let's call him Mangy Morty! Did the mooses....meece(?) have "flocking" on them, back in the day? It appears that this one was covered in some sort of faux fur. I believe today, they only have sculpted and painted fur.
Wow, Morty looks a bit beyond scruffy. Obviously Hollywood has chewed him up and spit him out like so many other starry eyed youngsters.
Soon it will get so bad he'll start working for National Lampoon.
Sid and Irene are looking at the kids wondering just what went wrong. They had them in the best schools, gave them every opportunity, but they threw it all away to go "walk in the open." The parents are thunking, "I hope that 'open' pays for your collage, you little punks, cause we ain't!"
Mule deer families can be tough.
I’m not surprised to see the fawns out in the open. It’s only natural for them to be spotted.
JG, I am open to suggestions! Then we will have to run the suggestions by the International Consortium in Geneva… might take some time.
Lou and Sue, are comments funnier on Sundays? We got some pretty good ones yesterday! “Deer in headlights” is a good descriptor, but it isn’t really a name, if you know what I mean. Fans have given some Haunted Mansion characters names, I just looked and saw that the “tightrope girl” in the stretching room has had multiple names including “Lillian Gracey”, “Ally Gal”, “Sarah ‘Sally’ Slater”, “Daisy De La Cruz”, and “Lillian O’Malley”. That’s a lot of names!
JB, the moose does look a bit shabby; do meeses molt?? I wonder what they used for fur on those river critters, was it real? Or did they go to “Fur Emporium” just up the street and buy fake hides? I was thinking that the rock is too high as well! I wonder if it is up on a little plinth? Interesting thought about these being taken from the Keelboat, the height seems just about right for Lou to have been on top of a Keelboat. Hard to say, of course. There’s nothing more sad than baby deer who turn to crime, it’s that old story that we’ve all heard a thousand times.
Melissa, good point!
TokyoMagic!, ha ha, YES, they could have even added a recording of Bambi repeatedly crying, “Mother!”. “I’m right behind you, you little nitwit!”. Now I love this scene even more. Poor Morty fell in with a bad crowd and lost his comb, now he’ll never get into a good school. I remember once reading that some of the animals in Nature’s Wonderland had REAL hides, and that birds would pluck the hairs for their nests. I like the idea of them being flocked, like Christmas decorations from Sears.
Stu29573, poor Morty is really getting some heat today! And all because he played hooky that day. It went on his permanent record and he’s never recovered. The same thing happened to me (I am actually blogging from Sing Sing). As for the Mule Deer fawns, sometimes you can do everything for your kids, and they’ll still turn out bad. But they’ll learn soon enough that they had it good and blew it!
Chuck, well, I’m going back to bed now!
I have some early 70’s Disneyland Costuming correspondence regarding a desperate search for a NEW supplier of fake animal furs used at Disneyland and Walt Disney World . Disneyland Costuming at the time handled the storage and purchasing of these materials . Anyway , Disneyland was notified that their supplier of fake furs and hides was going out of business and would no longer be supplying such materials. Disney contacted all kinds of vendors - via letters!!! Asking for help on information on material and urgently was going to need some furs for WDW’s upcoming “tiki show” refurbishment. A importer saves the day with acceptable sample - all white and no color !! In some of the memos there is discussion with the Disneyland staff shop is there any animal figures that can be done WITHOUT the use of any faux fur .....
I don’t have the documents at hand but I’m wondering if these papers represent the point in time some Disney animals lost their fur??
A faux mule deer in the hand is worth 3 in the bush!
All this discussion of Morty Moose, but I don't see any antlers. I think it's Morticia Moose!
Mallards molt and moose molt
But many mangy meeces molt more
Tokyo, Mangy Morty's coat does look like (very) fake fur. If it had been sculpted and painted cement, like today (as you mentioned), it would've looked much better than what we see in this photo, I think.
Chuck, heeeere we go: I'm not sure there are any other mule deer puns, I'll have to rack my brain to come up with some. I should ask my dear aunt Lur. She's good at those.
Major, "the height seems just about right for Lou to have been on top of a Keelboat." Wait, are you saying that Lou took these photos? You didn't mention that in your opening! Or maybe it was just a slip-of-the-brain and these are not from Lou & Sue. Either way, yer in trouble. ;-)
Mike, so did Disney just dye the white fur bright colors for the Tiki birds?
Kathy!, I thought about "Morticia" as well. But if this is molting season, then Morty would have lost his antlers along with his fur.
Sue, "Mallards molt and moose molt" and little lambs eat ivy.
JB, I have no idea how the Major knows that my dad was standing on the keelboat, next to the photographer.
From Wikipedia: "After the mating season males drop their antlers to conserve energy for the winter. A new set of antlers will then regrow in the spring. Antlers take three to five months to fully develop, making them one of the fastest growing animal organs."
Who knew? And that must be why the pioneers "decorated" with them. They were plentiful.
Sue, well we all know that the Major is wise and knowledgeable on nearly all topics. So, I guess it makes sense that he would know that your dad was on top of the keelboat. I think he dabbles in the occult.
Tokyo, I knew! (sorta) that deer loose their antlers every year. And that every year the antlers get bigger, with more 'points' on them.
Alas, my aunt Lur wasn't able to come up with any mule deer puns. I'll have to ask my uncle Veni's son. Yeah, my cousin Buck will have some for sure! (Although, we tend to butt heads on many topics.)
Mike Cozart, so they DID use fake animal furs. I wonder if that was always the case? I wonder how hard it was for them to find fake furs that suited their needs after that one vendor stopped supplying them? Not many places would have something that simulated mountain lion fur or moose fur! We have defnitely seen photos of Jungle Cruise animals with the fur texture sculpted in, but that only works if the animal is at some distance.
Mike Cozart, that’s what my grandma said all the time.
Kathy! I thought it could be male moose after he shed his antlers, but I’m OK with it being Morticia!
Lou and Sue, I wanted to reply with a lot of words that start with “m”, but I gave up!
JB, I think the moose’s fur reminds me of those “welcome” mats that some people have in front of their doors, made out of some sort of natural fiber, but it looks like coarse hair. Not sure what it is. Sisal? And oh my gosh, I’ve just been working on a post with Lou and Sue photos and conflated these with those. DER. I have the feeling that the fur used for the tiki birds was different than the stuff Mike was referring to; in fact I think they used dyed wool or something for the birds.
Lou and Sue, your dad kept thorough records, which I have!
TokyoMagic!, I drop my antlers to conserve energy too. Plus it just looks cool. See my comment to Kathy, I knew that meese shed their antlers!
In some back country places where I have hiked, it is forbidden to remove dropped antlers since they release needed nutrients as they decay. Seems hard to believe Bu that’s what the land management agency said. I think this was National park lands.
If Disney animals drop their antlers, maintenance comes during the night and glues them back.
JG
“But”, not Bu.
JG
Is moose, but where squirrel?
JG, I am sure you are right, I was at a State Park with a friend, and he casually picked up part of an antler just to look at it, and a ranger was on us immediately! "If you steal that, it's a crime!". "Uh, I was just looking at it". I swear you could hear the ranger thinking, "I've got my eyes on you!".
JG, where is Bu anyway?
Melissa, squirrel is probably there, but so small that he doesn't show up (actually, is Rocky a boy or a girl?).
Maybe Bu’s on assignment in Disneyland now—as we discussed last week...
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