Fun Fantasyland, July 1964
I love this first photo from Fantasyland, featuring one of the Three Little Pigs. Is he "Fifer" or "Fiddler"? I guess he looks more like Fiddler to me. Either way, with a bit of cropping I could see this image qualifying as "Souvenir Guidebook-worthy", and there can be no higher praise. The little girl is adorable.
Next is this photo looking toward the gaping maw of Monstro the Whale, from Storybook Land.
I swear, the cast members look like they are in grade school (except for the lady in green)! Don't they? "Kids will work for nothing, and if they complain, just make them stand in the corner!" (followed by an evil laugh).
22 comments:
Major-
That girl is adorable, indeed. She has a bit of competition from the lad on the right with the hat and 'flood controls'-!
Those CM's look as though they are attired for a church-sponsored all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast - although those "aprons" appear too clean for all that syrup.
I see the handheld microphone which generated a bit of research back on 10/14/2020 (a Turner SR-70D), is hanging by its integrated 'loop' hook. Gotta love the diameter of the exiting signal cord - the diameter of which appears large-enough to pass a good deal of hydraulic fluid in addition to the tiny amount of electrons generated from the microphone's voice coil-!
Thanks, Major.
That is a cute picture of the Little Pig and little girl. It's nice not to see the pig's person's eyeballs peering out.
Thanks, Major. Am looking forward to reading everyone's comments, later today. (Good morning, Nanook, btw.)
@ Sue-
Right back at you-!
Image #1- It looks like the Fifer/Fiddler Pig is looking down at that little piece of trash on the ground. Wonder what it is? It looks rectangular, like a half stick of gum (Fruit Stripe orange, I think).
Where was this pic taken? The lawn and hedges make me wanna say near Casey Jr... Oh wait, I can see bits of yellow lettering in the lawn. So yes, this must be the Storybook Land floral scupture.
Image #2- Did it take four boatstesses to load and unload the Canal Boats in 1964? I think the CM in green must be the supervisor pointing out all the 'dos' and 'don'ts' to the newbie gals around her.
I like how they made Monstro's teeth so irregular looking; no two are alike. It gives him an even more menacing visage.
I tried to see what the name was on this Canal Boat... but somebody slapped a watermark smack-dab over it. Major oughta fire that guy!
Thanks, Major.
The castmember in green is Ruth Buzzi!! When her supervisor reminder her to always keep her hand on the rudder , she grabbed her massive purse and whacked him with it! All he could saw was …. “Very interesting….”
Eventually the imagineers were not pleased they had the boats load so close the Monstro’s mouth ….but they finally fixed that with New Fantasyland.
Mike, when her supervisor recovered from the purse-whacking, he offered her a Walnetto.
One of the other pigs, and the Big Bad Wolf are also in that first pic, doing their famous Vincent Van Gogh impersonations.
I just figured out what’s missing from the boatstesses’ costume - a whip. And maybe a Smith & Wesson M1917 revolver. I think a fedora would be too much, although a leather jacket might be cute.
You can see the canal boat “supervisor” from Picture 2 and its close-up in the background of Photo 1. Find the kid with the dark bucket cap and beige high-waters and look just of the right of his head. You can’t miss her.
I'm not sure green meanie is Ruth Buzzi...I think it's Stockard Channing. "There are worse things I could do..." (just missing a cigarette in this shot.) As a kid the only thing I could focus on with the 3 Pigs is that they were wearing white Keds. "Mommy...they are wearing Tennis Shoes!" Why the whale was not re-created exactly the way it was baffles me. This whale is delightfully shiny and scary looking. Is everything shiny and plastic looking now? like a Playschool Playset Village? I do think they need 4 Boatresses to load...one slip and a kid is in the water. Not much of line there...must have been a slow day. I don't see Storybook having a tremendous capacity for it's real estate...but does everything need to be 4000 people an hour? I don't see it being "up for grabs" for the axe, but nothing would surprise me. That would be a very very very big shame. Storybook Land is a wonderful experience. On the very complex inner workings of microphones: amplified sound for the boatniks? Storybook Land was sooooo quiet. Can't you just use your voice? Try spieling for 30 people in the middle of Fantasyland with a Carrousel, a Dumbo, a myriad of dark ride noises..."Here we goooooooo!".....step up to the plate Stockard and channel your inner "Merman". (Lastly: Judy Garland would like her Harvey Girls costume back at some point please...._did they serve flapjacks in-between scenes of the Old Mill and Pinnochio?)
The Boatstess in orange would have made a great Alice. Maybe she eventually got a promotion to face character? Of course we can't see her face, so she may actually look with Walter Matthau, which would be unfortunate.
Yep, Chuck, you can easily spot Mrs, Green Dress in the second picture when you know where to look for her (kind of like Santa...or maybe not...). She seems to be in front of "LAND" on STORYBOOK LAND (or is it STORY BOOK LAND at this point?) I'm too lazy to do any research. Stupid allergy medicine has me all loopy. Well, that and the moonshine. I really shouldn't have mixed those for breakfast. Oh look, you can see the green dress CM in the second picture too. I need a nap.
Beautiful shots. Love the Pig, whichever he may be…
Busy AM, back in a while.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, I prefer to think of those “flood controls” as “being prepared”. My comment to JG about never knowing what you’ll learn about on GDB is demonstrated here with more Nanook microphone knowledge!
Lou and Sue, ha ha, “pig person”. I guess that’s better than “pig boy”. Maybe?
Nanook, even I don’t look at my blog at 12:37!
JB, Fiddler was hoping that somebody dropped a nickel. In 1964 you could buy a house made of sticks for a nickel! Yum, Fruit Stripe gum, it’s so delicious that I would eat a piece even if I found it on the ground. Yes, you can see Storybook Land in the background, I guess the photo was taken not far from the entrance to the Motor Boat Cruise. I really do wonder about all of those girls (I hesitate to call them “women”), some of them really do appear to be way too young to work at the park! The name on the boat is “Katrina”.
Mike Cozart, it’s nice to know that Ruth Buzzi went from a humble Storybook Land cast member to one of the biggest superstars of the late 1960s (and into the ‘70s). I never really thought about the fact that they loaded the boats close to Monstro’s mouth… not ideal I guess, but not the end of the world either.
TokyoMagic!, what the heck is a Walnetto? I wish we could see the Big Bad World and the other Little Pig doing their Vincent Van Gogh impersonations (and by that I mean drinking absinthe and acting crazy).
Chuck, hmmm, I’m trying to picture those boatstesses with whips and sidearms. They should speak with German accents too. “Get in ze boats! Schnell! SCHNELL!”. And oh yeah! I can see the Lady in Green.
Bu, I noticed the white Keds too, no attempt to dress them up as something else. Then again, other cartoon characters wore famous sneakers. Marvin The Martian had his Chuck Taylors. I also think it’s weird that they made Monstro blue, since he does not appear that way in “Pinocchio” as far as I can recall. I agree with you, not every ride needs to be able to “eat” thousands of people and hour, but then again, I’m not a Disney “suit”. They would never build a ride like Storybook Land these days. My guess is that there was still enough ambient noise that a microphone was necessary. No employee wants to spend hours shouting.
Stu29573, I think that boatstess would have to wait about 10 years before she was old enough to be “Alice”. I hope she doesn’t look like Walter Matthau - no shade to Walter, who was awesome. Loopy from allergy medicine?! I wish I was loopy! Time to find the cough syrup.
JG, y’all come back now, ya hear?
Great photos. Cute girl with people looking the other way. Fiddler's hat even compliments the trees in the backround. The second photo also has a green theme. I'm turning a bit green too.
Chuck, all I see is a pig's ear.
If they axe Storybook, it's mostly all over.
Thanks Major. Great pics worthy of comment. Like Sue and JG, time's a wasting here at the grist mill.
@ Bu-
Undoubtedly 'amplified sound' is necessary to help folks who have to talk and talk and talk - especially for people with "untrained voices". However, the Storybook Land boats began with gasoline engines that "...were so loud that guests could barely hear the guide’s narration." I don't know if the sound system was added to overcome all that racket, or was 'original factory equipment'. Either way, in short order, the gasoline-powered engines were replaced with battery-powered (quiet) electric motors. "All the better to hear you with, my child".
DrGoat, look to the left of that single pig's ear. She is in the background, just off the kid's chin.
DrGoat, the smile on that little girl’s face just lights up the whole scene - I wonder if she still remembers that meeting all these years later? I agree with you, if Storybook Land is removed, I will finally throw my hands in the air and say “I’m done”. Partly because you know that whatever will replace will be lousy. Not to be too negative. But hey, I have to say how I really feel.
Nanook, I actually did not know that the Storybook Land boats now ran on electric motors. I wish I could do a comparison of how they used to sound versus how they sound now (which I assume is virtually noiseless).
Chuck, yes, we can see a furry Wolf ear!
Chuck, got it. I was too fixated on what I think is a pig's ear. I see the wolf's ear too, above the possible pig's ear.
Add her dress to the green motif of the shot. Plus 6 pairs of tennis shoes.
I wonder what the name for a group of Boatstesses is. Ruffle? A gaggle of geese, a murder of crows, and a ruffle of boatstesses. I was wardrobe mistress for a show once where one of the actors wore an apron like that. I had a ridiculous amount of fun starching and ironing those ruffles every day.
I love this new term "boatstesses", perfect. I think this is a staff training exercise due to the concentration.
Black Monstro is the Best Monstro. Ixnay on the Ueblay, and his eye really used to blink and he used to spout too.
You all realize that pig's ear is right next to the silk purse, right?
Yes, all these photos are taken only a few steps apart. I guess the Pigs were posted here in connection with SBL since their houses are in there.
On a thread a while back, Major, you asked about the Old Mill in SBL, it has been removed and replaced with the city from Frozen, (Arendell), complete with more snow-capped peaks. Anyhow, it's a pretty good update and even as old as I am, the Old Mill was before my time, so kind of necessary. But replacement of SBL is a deal-killer, if that happens, I will never go back. In fact, seeing it one more time is about the only thing keeping me interested in one last trip.
And yes, the depth of weird specialized knowledge on GDB never ceases to amaze. I love this place. Thanks Major.
JG
Tokyo!, and after the supervisor offered Ms. Buzzi a Walnetto she whacked him again! I loved Walnettos back in the day. Not sure they're available anymore.
I notice that none of the boatstesses are wearing blue under those white aprons. Guests would probably think they were Alice.
Major, "Katrina"? Katrina who? I'm not familiar with that one.
Better take away any, and all, sharp implements from those Characters doing their Van Gogh impersonations, otherwise it'll get really gory really quick!
DrGoat, yes, the day that the Storybook Canal Boats disappear will be the day that Disneyland becomes an amusement park, rather than a theme park.
Melissa, "ruffle" sound just right.
JB, the Katrina a reference to Katrina Van Tassel, Ichabod Crane's love interest from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
Chuck, thanks! Yet another bit of "weird specialized knowledge on GDB" that JG and others have mentioned. :-)
Once you have met that little coquette Katrina,
You won't forget Katrina...
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