Two Beauties From 1973
It's time for two more super nice photos, taken by Mr. X back in '73. I love these bright, colorful views!
First up is this fun picture of an ice cream vendor over in Frontierland. I think it's interesting - and a bit odd - that by now they'd dispensed with the costumes that might look like they were from the turn of the century, opting for a very 1970s color combo of red, yellow, and white stripes. I guess the straw hat crisis of the '70s resulted in these changes. The ice cream freezer is similarly painted with a pop-art graphic pattern - it's not bad, it just doesn't seem to fit the theme of "Old New Orleans". Just my opinion. Mr. X remembered that the friendly cast member's name is Robbie Robinson. Maybe he's out there just waiting to see his photo on a blog!
Next is this postcard-worthy shot of the Plaza Inn, with one of the female cast members out front (I've seen them referred to as "golden girls" - long before the sitcom of that name) greeting guests as they passed by.
30 comments:
Major-
Both images are top-notch. That Ice Cream Vendor's outfit looks to be inspired by the one everyone loves to hate: Hot Dog On a Stick-! I see the price board on the ice cream freezer is positioned nice and low - making it useless most of the time.
Thanks to Mr. X.
I love that couple in the first image, on the left—with matching tops. Walking Norman-Rockwell-style.
I hope someone has the time to Google and locate our ice cream man. I would, if I didn’t have to work today. What a wonderful picture that Mr. X took of him while on the job.
Terrific photos, as always, from Mr. X and Major. Thank you!
^ Signed, Sue
(stupid cell phone and Blogger!)
Wow!! The color vibrancy in that first image is outstanding ! It looks like it could be the master negative for a magazine ad for Disneyland …. New Orleans Square …. Or frozen bananas …
After taking a second glance, I noticed that my favorite couple is also wearing matching pants. Cute.
#1: Yep, the vendor's costume definitely looks like it came from "Fast Food Uniforms R Us"; it screams McBurger King. Not bad, really... way better than the Pinocchio balloon vendor costume. Robbie does look like a friendly sort of chap.
The guy on the right, holding his green sweater, looks like he needs to pee.
I count only 3 trashcans here.
#2: The 'golden girl' looks sort of like Polly Holliday (Flo from "Alice"). From the shadows, this appears to be morning, around opening time (unless I'm turned around). That costume would be pretty uncomfortable in the afternoon when the day is at its hottest. Maybe it's not as heavy and binding as it looks.
Thanks for the colorful moments in time, Mr. X and Major.
Nanook, that costume does look a little Hot Dog On A Stick-ish. I bet Robbie was wearing red hot pants! Robbie, please chime in and tell me that I'm wrong! ;-)
Sue, I bet that couple bought matching ice cream treats!
Thank you Major, and Mr. X!
Ah, the classic “yellow X” paint pattern for NOS trash cans. I’m surprised we can only see three. This pattern was produced in several color schemes around the River esplanades from the Golden Horseshoe to Critter County.
There certainly was a strange trend in costumes about this time. Flo looks right on theme, however.
So cool we know Robbie’s name, GDB is famous for the personal touch.
Thank you Major!
JG
Lots of great vintage fashion today. First prize goes to Mr. and Mrs. Dressalike, of course. Second place split between the little girl in the blue dress in #1 (peeking out behind the left side of the Quentin Tarantino lookalike in brown) and the other little girl in the yellow dress in #2. I wonder if they ever crossed paths in the park that day and admired each other's frocks.
The term "golden girl" always makes me think of a bit from Shakespeare's Cymbeline:
"Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust."
Great, vibrant photos on a beautiful sunny day. Who wouldn't get an fruit bar or a banana from Robbie for 20 or 30 cents! The matching couple is icing on top of the cake. They look like the kind of couple that brings their own cocktail glasses and makings to a party. My parents had neighbors like that.
Thanks for some great moments frozen in time for us to enjoy Mr.X. '73 was a good year.
Thank you Major, perfect Friday before a long weekend photos.
Nanook, it really does look like a Hotdog On a Stick outfit - WHY is it in “old New Orleans”?? So weird.
Anonymous, yeah, the matching clothes is odd for adults. The man kind of reminds me of Eric Wareheim from “Tim and Eric”.
Sue, I knew it was you!
Mike Cozart, Mr. X had just gotten a new 35mm camera, and he took a number of particularly great shots.
Anonymous, where in the world could you buy matching “him and her” outfits?! Sears?
JB, there must have been a change in whoever was in charge of costuming (or maybe the change went even higher), because that outfit is VERY 70s. Perhaps somebody wanted to stress “high visibility” over authenticity? You’re right, the gal in gold looks like Polly Holliday, I love how the guests passing by seem kind of puzzled by her. It must have been exhausting to smile and wave and be “happy” all day.
TokyoMagic!, do the people at Hotdog On a Stick wear red hot pants?!?
JG, I guess I just haven’t caught the trashcan-spotting bug yet! I usually don’t pay that much attention to them, even when they are front and center like in photo #1.
Melissa, you sure know your Shakespeare! I’m more of a “South Park” person. How many people will think of Cymbeline today? Not many, I’ll bet!
DrGoat, I wish Mr. X had taken more photos of his fellow cast members, that would have been fun. I’m presuming that he was friends with Robbie, though I can’t recall for sure, we talked about it so long ago. Man, I could use a nice ice cream bar right now, and it’s only 9:00 in the morning!
The more I look at that first photo, the more I love it.
Robbie's smile is contagious, and you have the matching couple on the left--AND the matching couple of trash cans on the right.
I wonder if the trash cans ordered the same ice cream bars, too??
I'm saving this one in my favorites.
Major-
I just noticed the 'center' row of light bulbs of the Plaza Inn sign contains red bulbs.
Marketing probably decided that themed costumes hid the sales point too much. "Let's make it look like Burger King! They sell tons of stuff!!!"
Is that Dwight Shrute to walking to the right in the first photo?
I wonder if costumes were made brighter and flashier, at this time, to stand out against all the brighter colors and fashions that the public was wearing, then?? Otherwise the vendors would disappear in the background, maybe.
—Sue
Robbie could have been wearing red hot pants, and it may be themed to "Carnivale New Orleans Mardi Gras Fat Tuesday Celebrations '73" week at Disneyland in 1973. Could be. Probably not. No beads for 1000 miles. I know this ice cream wagon quite intimately, however it was not decorated as such in my day. That is not paint, it is formica that is marquetry fit. You can see on the wheel where some of the pieces of the formica have come off. Formica was much easier to clean..especially when you had to polish brass first. The good thing about this wagon is that it didn't have brass and did not need to be "brassed". "Brite Boy" is the Disneyland brass cleaner of choice. You can still buy it, and I have a bottle in my closet for cleaning the top of my bar. Caution: needs ventilation. These particular stainless steel wagons I think at one point had freezer units in them- you can see the venting. The colors were changed by my time, and the New Orleans Square one was in burgundy and brown tones, the other style like this was in Tomorrowland (at the entrance on the right side) and was in blues. These wagons were heavy. And by heavy...I mean beastly heavy. Fill them with Ice Cream...more beastly heavy. The garage was in Tomorrowland behind the Carrousel...do the math...a long trip from NOS or Bear Country...factor in a busy day...factor in people stopping you because they think that's what you do...push around your cart and sell ice cream...makes sense....that trip back was beastly. When there was a private party, or open late and you had the day shift...that was sweet...do your count, take your money..."bye!" The doublemint twins have matching frozen bananas. That packaging in '73 may have been different....I can't make it out, but it was a 4 color print of Mickey in a parka, frozen into an ice cube, holding a banana. It was so cute. 8 Years later the prices were .50 for an ice cream bar, juice bar (orange) or ice cream sandwich, and .60 for a frozen banana. So basically 100% increase in 7 years. Sounds kind of like a big jump. No wonder I was always told "we can't go there, it's too expensive. We can't have that it's too expensive". Speaking of yesterday's "cool uncles"...my cool uncle for Christmas arrived with a full scale puppet theatre made of wood, with draperies, back drops, etc. and a full team of puppets. I absolutely loved that puppet theatre. I'm not sure what happened to the Uncle...he was a professor at MIT...but there was some family estrangement somewhere. He also got us a table top pool table and a complete Roulette set....he really spoiled us. I just have remembered this, so thanks for indulging. Uncle John NEVER said anything was too expensive. We were spoiled. He was actually my mothers cousin, but everyone of age was called "uncle". The Golden Girl was a very nice "add" to the Plaza Inn. Always a stunningly beautiful girl...here, no exception. They were kind of the foods department version of a "face character". She was not in characters, she was part of the PI department. Such a nice thing to do. She got a lot of photo time. There were always guys who wanted photos. I HIGHLY doubt that ANYTHING like that could or would happen today. At the time, I thought it was lovely, and a great Disneyland PR moment. People take pictures, people share pictures with others, others are interested, others come to Disneyland, others eat at the Plaza Inn...and the per-caps go up. There ya have it! A guest once asked me: "Is everyone who works here beautiful?" I think it was one of those exceptional days where all the best "lookers" we're working. Although Robbie doesn't look like the cover of Vogue Homme, he certainly communicates "This is Disneyland"....which was a marketing promotion of posters....I'm not sure if "This is Disneyland" would translate today, but you can probably find the posters.
Faintly recall an old Disney News interview with the fellow who was then in charge of recorded announcements and such. He said that when he came aboard, the background music on Main Street was contemporary, with tunes like "Mrs. Robinson", and he moved to replace it with proper period music. Maybe there was an early period when theming was weakening a little.
I find myself thinking of Great America here in Silicon Valley. When it first opened the lands were emphatically themed to various American regions and periods. Then new attractions and overlays shot most of the connecting tissue to heck. At one point parent company Viacom themed stuff to Paramount properties; Hanna Barbara, Nicktoons, and Peanuts took over various buildings and rides after the original deal for Loony Tunes characters ended; and of course big curling coaster tracks defied serious theming of any kind. As a thrill park it's pretty good, and matured landscaping make it rather attractive. But it lacks Disneyland's sense of reality, of being a place rather than a random assemblage.
It's just been announced that Cedar Park has sold the park and the underlying land to developers, meaning the park will run for another decade at most. This is less a reflection on the quality of the park than of other events, most notably the nearby construction of the 49ers' stadium, Levi Park. There were disputes over shared parking areas and traffic issues.
I forgot to mention : the outdoor vending costume everyone is loving in this 1973 image was originally created for Walt Disney World. It actually is identical in cut as the male “Candy Kitchen” costume except in stripe pattern width and the “kitchen” version uses a brim-less taller hat. Thus also was created for Walt Disney World. Costume designer Tom Pearce said that yellow was used a great deal in the first grouping of costumes designed for the Florida Magic Kingdom including the parking lot trams , “Borden Ice cream parlor ( Borden’s corporate color was red , but Coca-cola demanded that their costumes be exclusively red) pop-corn/outdoor vending , the Main Street merchandising ( in 1971 these costumes were offered in blue, burgundy, yellow, green combinations - eventually being reduced to only blue or burgundy)
The 1970/71 outdoor vending costume seen in today’s 1973 Disneyland image shows one of the many examples of the WDW costumes eventually brought to use at Disneyland - directly or adapted for . This outdoor venting design was re-designed in the mid 1970’s but still featured the yellow-white -red colors …. Modernized but still bold and easy to identify.
If anything looking out of place in thus image it’s the design of THE VENDING CART - not the costume!
D BENSON : that article you are referring to was about Jack Wagoner and it was for a Disney News issue. Disney park audio historians are pretty sure that Jack was exaggerating in that article and the writer / interviewer was pretty Naïve about the subject. Jack was a big ham and loved attention - he was once Los Angeles’ most popular radio DJ - and he really did create what we think of regarding Disney park announcements and background music. However inside Disneyland itself themed recorded music was already in use - Jack wagoner expanded it - partly because of its need but also he was paid per project ….. so Jack was notorious for this …. Disney would need say BGM for Frontierland main area : Jack would create a separate BGM for Disneyland a nd an entirely different arrangement for WDW … getting paid twice. Often the sets would be the same tracks - just in different arrangements …. Jack a d Disney had a love - hate relationship and Jack remained a consultant his entire Disney career .
Pre Jack Wagner Disneyland ; in the early days of Disneyland the parks used much more live themed entertainment and less recorded music - but it WAS using themed music . In the late 50’s and early 60’s Disneyland’s Main Street was using TAPE-A-THON audio reals ….. for Main Street Cinema , area BGM and for a few restaurants in Main Street …. These were “needle drops” like Columbia records “rides rapes and rescues” for the Cinema , and Your Fathers Mustache Ragtime record series by Barbary Coast records and “the Naugty nineties” for Coke Corner …. Many of these albums Jack continued to use for his Main Street arrangements into the 1990’s …. 1963 Tiki room Lanai was using popular albums like quiet village for its area music . Fantasyland used recorded area music featuring the Disneyland band playing to sound like a mechanical band organ …. In fact this 1955 recording was used until 1972 when a new recording of a real band organ created for WDW’s Cinderella’s Golden Carousel was brought to Disneyland and played until the 1983 new Fantasyland.
Major, yes....the female Hot Dog On A Stick employees wore hot pants....or short shorts (same thing?). At least they did in the 70s and on into the 80s.
Bu, here's one of those Frozen Banana wrappers from the 1970s:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2009/06/fudge-pies-and-frozen-bananas.html
TM! I love that post you did with the Frozen Banana wrapper [and more]. I see that "Yellows" [a/k/a "Anne"] commented on that post and said she did vending from 1983 to 1986 by Bear Country...maybe Bu will remember her?? Maybe Bu had to move her beastly heavy wagon for her.
Great comments, as always!
Bu, if you do look at TM's post comments, make sure you click on "Yellows." That's where I read more details about her.
Sue, "Anne" used to have her own blog, "The Best Job Possible," and posted stories about working at DL and in "outdoor vending." I do wish she had continued with her blog. Unfortunately, I think she delted it completely, so there is no archive of her old posts.
^ Deleted! ^
Sorry guys, I'm at my mom's house, my sister is visiting with her husband, and she invited old friends over, so we've been busy! I may have to comment late tonight! THANK YOU for all the comments.
Tokyo! and Sue, maybe try the Wayback Machine to find Anne's old deleted blog?
Major, the Blog seems to be going smoothly without you... What is it you do here again? (hahaha) Enjoy your family get-together.
I traded my yellows for plaid in ‘82, so don’t know Anne. ODV did rock…but I think time and place and people all aligned. We had way more fun, and life was so carefree. Plaid… is serious and a bridge into “the real world”. All experiences, very memorable. For all I know, I probably saw Anne every day. Robbie is the quintessential ODV’r.
DBenson - Foxxfur has a bunch of posts on Disney in-park audio, though mostly WDW focused at http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/
For even more Disneyland audio treats, click HERE for DisneyChris.com
Post a Comment