Cute In the Plaza, March 1962
Today I'm continuing with a batch of slides from 1962, in which a large percentage of the images feature a charming young woman - presumably the photographer's wife. Man, he was crazy about her, daddy-o!
As you can see, she has already made a stop at a souvenir stand, where she has purchased a guide book and a "straw" boater. Those overcast skies can produce a lot of glare! We can see a few of the classic horse hitches that have since been removed (I believe). So if you bring your own horse to Disneyland, you'll have to hobble him. As usual, the Matterhorn makes for an impressive background.
Sorry about the weird color on this one, I just couldn't get it to look right. Our gal is standing right in the middle of the Plaza, with the entrance to Frontierland behind her. I'll give you one guess as to where she will be heading next. There appears to be a construction wall to the left, I'm not sure what that was for. Any ideas? To our right, one of those drinking fountains, though it is missing its C&H sugar bag.
36 comments:
Awwww, she's trying to feed the horsey some kind of large metal item! ;-)
How did her hair stay so tall and poofy, underneath that hat? I would have "hat hair" after wearing that hat for 5 minutes.
TM! I was thinking the same thing about her hair...there was a lot under that hat!
I do think she just fed the horsey her cigarette. It's missing.
Not very many trash cans in either picture. People weren't quite as messy back then.
Melissa, your banana split joke, yesterday, was a winner!
Thanks, Major.
Major-
Oh, "Ginny" - always the 'looker'-! I presume the construction wall was erected during the changeover from The Plaza Pavilion Restaurant to Stouffer's in Disneyland The Plaza Pavilion - along with the fabulous Tahitian Terrace.
Plus, that little 'ol attraction known as Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room.
Thanks, Major.
Sue, that's it! She had already fed it her cigarette, and now she's trying to feed it the lighter! Or maybe an ashtray!
Melissa, I liked your banana split joke, too! :-)
Another episode of Ginny goes to Disneyland! With her black attire and hat, she has a definite Spanish look here. And we can tell she's a kind and generous sort because she's feeding a carrot, or sugar cube, to the horsey. (Edit- haha, after refreshing the page, it looks like everybody else commented on that as well.)
I can tell that the attraction poster on the right is the Monorail, but what is the one on the left? The HotF is playing hide-and-seek behind the trees and shrubs. Aside from the one obvious trashcan, any others that might be in this photo are too iffy... so I won't even try. (There might be two others, but...)
#2- That's an interesting floral design in the center of the Plaza; star-shaped. The trashcans are too iffy to count here, too. I have no idea what the construction wall is for. Is that where the Plaza Pavilion is? (Edit- thanks Nanook.)
I think I need a refresher on the connection between C&H sugar and Disneyland drinking fountains. I used to know, way back when, but I seem to have forgotten somewhere along the line.
Sue, Oh yeah! The cigarette! I forgot about the ever-present cigarette. How did she survive the five minutes, or so, without it?
Thanks for another Ginny edition of GDB, Major.
JB, that poster was a large invitation from the Bell Telephone System, to see America The Beautiful:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/disney/images/e/e9/America_the_Beautiful_Poster.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20180621200238
Tokyo!, Ah. So it is. Thanks for the link. I don't think I've seen that poster before.
There’s two variants of the CIRCARAMA AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL attraction posters . The most common is “admission free” then the rather rare “Air Conditioned” …… most likely produced for display at the attraction’s entrance.
I think Ginny is just playing with the horse hitch’s metal rein loop.
"Air Conditioned" "In Color" "Plenty of Free Parking" "Collect them all"...I'm not sure if these are as relevant today, as they were back IN the day, but they are all still important! Ginny deserves her own comic book, or coloring book. I think you could take the entire Ginny collection and put it through an app and come up with an amazing story. The Story of Ginny and her magical cigarettes! In DISNEYLAND USA! Magical Cigarettes may have a different meaning in some places so we may have to come up with an alternate title. I'm not sure if that is a jumpsuit, or just blouse, pants, belt. She definitely can work the costume. The grass on the Plaza needs some help. What it didn't need was a statue of the boss. (For another time.) I would actually rather see a pedestal with a giant bag of sugar there now...that would be mighty impressive. Outdoor Vending is there in the background dominant and prominent. Technically that spot is still Main Street, and not Frontierland, so the red and white stripes make sense. That location moved into a different niche over to the left later on. One day there was a giant powerful gust of wind that blew my umbrella off the wagon- up about 50 feet before crashing down into the small body of water behind me...the guests were screaming and running...I was making change...it went so fast all I could think was "why are these crazy people screaming?!!" I don't remember if they came back for the change. I'm in Florida today, I am expecting to see a few umbrellas in the air...Thanks Ginny for a magical morning.
What the…? Why is there a HOUSE in the middle of my beloved ALPINE GARDENS???!!! I guess suburban sprawl was a problem even in 1962.
Concur with Nanook on the reason behind the construction wall. Timing is perfect for that development to be in progress.
Look at all of the heavy coats in the background of that second picture. The temperatures must have dipped into the upper 50s.
What’s with all of the non-revenue-generating benches? That Walt Disney guy literally had NO IDEA of how to make money in the amusement park business.
Which has me thinking - does anyone else think it would be cool if they sold Disneyland trash can plushes? If CTW can successfully license Oscar the Grouch plushes featuring him in his trashcan, why not? There’s a gold mine here that nobody’s tapping.
JB, here’s the drinking fountain/C&H sugar connection (plus more sweet info on sugar in Disneyland).
Oh wow. I hope they haven't gotten rid of the horse hitches!
BU: don’t forget the last volume in the series : GINNY GETS AN IRON LUNG
This series is printed by the same publisher who released MARY BLAIR : A FEW OF MY FAVORITE COCKTAILS : volume 87
You know, it's almost as if Ginnie was just there for the photo shoot. Maybe she hired a guy? If so, she got her money's worth! How many other folks could say they're famous...60 YEARS IN THE FUTURE?
On a side note, I never liked those hats. It's the styrofoam. Can't stand the stuff!
TokyoMagic!, not only did she try to feed the horse hitch, she talked to it as well. “You’re a good horsey, aren’t you? Aren’t you??”. And I get “hat hair” from just looking at a hat.
Lou and Sue, sometimes a horse needs that cool menthol smoke too. 5 out of 7 doctors recommend smoking for their patients, you know. I think that maybe they didn’t have as many trashcans in the Plaza because it was where so many people took photos. Just a guess?
Nanook, you are probably right about the changes to the Plaza Pavilion and the addition of the Tiki Room! There is just something about seeing “Stouffers” there, it’s weird.
TokyoMagic!, at first I thought that she was trying to feed the horse hitch a pair of glasses, but now I think it’s just the metal loop in her hand.
JB, I wonder if “Ginny’s” husband directed her? “Hey, hon, howabout petting the horse hitch? No? OK, maybe pretend to feed it?”. He thought he was Cecil B. DeMille. I can tell that you think that the star-shaped design is Satanic just like I do. You didn’t say it, but I read “between the lines”. Everyone knows that Disneyland is a secret temple to the Devil. Well, I’m off to smoke a cigarette.
TokyoMagic!, it’s amazing how often I see my poster photos on other websites, the one you linked to is one of mine as well.
JB, that poster is not as common as some, which is one of the reasons I love it.
Mike Cozart, aha! I don’t think I was aware of the “Air Conditioned” version of the ATB poster… I need to find a good image of one, if I can! Of course I have the more common “Admission Free” version.
Bu, I would definitely respond to “collect them all!”. I need them all, whatever you are talking about. Beanie Babies? “Wizard of Oz” thimbles? Pokemon cards? I NEED them all. “Virginia Slims presents: Ginny in Disneyland”. Strange how everyone in that comic book is holding a cigarette, even children. “Mom, thanks to this cigarette, I have no appetite, but still have plenty of energy!”. Magical. I’m pretty sure she is wearing a belted jumpsuit, but won’t be much money on it. I love the old red/white stripes on the ODV carts. I’ve seen gusts of wind take those umbrellas and send them flying, and could probably make a million dollars designing a special gizmo to prevent such an occurrence.
Chuck, Walt already had an apartment in Disneyland, and Roy needed one, which is the real reason they built the House of the Future. Sure, having thousands of people walk through each day was inconvenient, but Roy could sleep through anything. I once went to Disneyland on a rainy day, I don’t think it got any higher than the 50s during the day, and at night it was much colder. But it was still wonderful. Trashcan plushies - genius! Hey, at least it would be park related, instead of just “generic Mickey” or “generic Pooh”. I just did a Photoshop job of adding C&H sugar bags to two water fountains, using Werner Weiss’ photo!
Steve DeGaetano, I wrote this post months ago, Mike Cozart said recently that they have added some of the removed horse hitches back!
Mike Cozart, I admit that I can’t help thinking about what cigarettes do to people, when I see old photos. My brother smokes, and I worry about his future. Wish he would stop. Aw, poor Mary Blair, so many Disney artists had drinking problems.
Stu29573, I have a single photo of Ginny’s man, you’ll see him one of these days. He looks like “just a guy”, not a professional photographer. As you know, professional photographers of the day dressed like kooky hippies and said things like, “Oh yeah, baby, that’s it! Make love to the camera! Groovy!”. It’s a living. Styrofoam has it’s place, but the squeaky sound it makes is like nails on a chalkboard to me.
She is very posed in photo 1, I’m sure Melissa will know the name of the foot position, has to be a dance thing. Which ties in with the straw hat. That’s quite a bracelet on her right wrist.
I am struck by the apparent paucity of trash cans. Maybe the hot dogs were larger back then. An extra bite or two could add several steps to the range.
JB, the sugar bag on the white fluted drinking fountain is a long-standing GDB joke. Also notice the step stool so little ones can reach the fountain. Can’t do that today.
Noticing just a bit of the elusive HOF sign too.
I’m not convinced the construction wall is connected to the Tiki Room or the Pavilion, the timing is right but, it’s on the wrong side of the path for either of those. Maybe there were changes in the flower beds? There is just the edge of an explanatory sign visible at far left.
Thanks Major!
JG
Styrofoam can get to me, too. Like the dentist’s drill....eeeeeee. I’m going to the dentist in a couple hours. eeeeeee
—Sue
Yep, the noise of styrofoam is horrible. I once went on a road trip with some friends (we were teenagers) I asked them not to buy a styrofoam cooler and I begged them not to put it in the back seat with me. Unrelated fact: squeaky styrofoam cooler lids fly quite far when launched out a car window while travelling at 50 mph... True story.
Stu, you’re my hero.
—Sue
Major-
I think 'Ginny' is using the hook on the hitching post to send out Morse code signals to her gal pals back home, to alert them of the big sale on straw hats at the Mad Hatter.
"Hey kids! Why drink plain water when you can drink C&H Sugar water?"
JG, as an accomplished dancer, I can tell you that her foot position is called “The Scorpion”. The beginning of the dance of death! Hmmm, now I wonder if hotdogs WERE larger back then? We need to study up on “Hotdogs: A history”. I’m very happy to report that you will see another C&H Sugar gag. IN JANUARY. The waiting is the hardest part, as Tom Petty said. I’m not positive about the Tiki Room/Pavilion construction, but I do think that it would have pushed further out into the Plaza than we might have expected.
Sue, when my mom took my brother and me to the local pool, there were often kids with styrofoam “life rings”, and I’d hear them squeak against the side of the pool. AIEEE!
Stu29573, to this day, that cooler lid is still flying through the air!
Sue, I thought I was your hero. I guess I’ve been demoted. ;-)
Nanook, Morse code isn’t easy, so I am impressed. And the fact that all of Ginny’s friends can understand it! Truly, the ‘60s were a different time.
Dean Finder, ew, I’m now imaging thick syrupy sugar water coming out of the water fountain. Bleah!
I love the Minnie-style polka dot hat band! I assume Ginny's hair is assisted by a can or two of Aqua Net. And no doubt she was the star pupil in deportment class.
I bet a lot of kids fantasized about pulling a Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and spending the night in the House of the Future.
Tokyo Disneyland did 3 mini plush park trashcans …. I think they were called key chain mascots … you clip them on to purses , backpacks. You won’t find PLUSH trash cans in the American Parks … with very few exceptions, PLUS characters is a obsolete 1970’s - 1990’s thing. In the early 2000’s plush sales at Disneyland and Walt Disney World PLUMMETED. 911 saw sales on things like that fade away and COVID was a nail-in-the/coffin. So park merchandising stays away from it …. However you’ll notice sone boxed collectors plush pieces out now and then … Mickey Mouse Revue Mickey for WDW’s 50th, a series of Haunted Mansion character plush and sone 1930’s style reproductions…. But the Paul Pressler era Disneyland and Disney Store “PLUSH MOUNTAINS” have ended. You will find a few stuffed character items here and there but mostly smaller novelty items.
Regarding Disney park trashcan merchandise : it’s very popular . In the USA there have been park trashcan pin series, salt& pepper shaker series , Christmas ornaments , miniature metal model kits , key chains , color ink markers , boxed eraser sets , t- shirts … patches , stickers , buttons …. In the 2011 period at WDI we had an employee formum that had people at WDI propose merchandise - very limited type ideas for production and sale at the USA parks. I proposed a very detailed brass model series of vintage and some current park trashcans - also POPCORN WAGONS . The prototypes were etched brass at 1/2 inch scale, painted with water slide decals. The end product was intended to be manufactured by a company in Japan ( technically they farm out to Korea) that makes brass scale model railroad locomotives and rolling stock. The final production would have been assembled almost the exact same way as the REAL park trashcans were by LIT-O-GAURD / Miller Metal Engineering. Even the doors would swing on the models and the graphics would have been baked on. But Disneyland wasn’t interested …. I think the only thing they liked was a Haunted Mansion chess set … ( and even that had been done before)
Tokyo Disneyland has recently done an entire product line of park trashcans including a plastic miniatures series ( with swinging doors) in a “blind bag” packaging , and also 24” tall waste can reproductions too!
Now i want a toy trash can. Perfect souvenir for me.
JG
By the way: I used the phrase “nail-in-the-coffin” and it made me think about the recent TV and media coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s death. Almost all the news casters referred to her “coffin”
Just as I’ve explain the difference between a SURREY and a WAGONETTE , a JITNEY and and OMNIBUS , CEMENT and CONCRETE …
Here goes:
A COFFIN has sides tapered in towards the head and feet. They can me made from almost anything , but traditionally were pine wood.
A CASKET is straight ends and sides but can have any kind of decorations or “woodwook” with beveled edges , fluted sides , cornices , flat , sloped or vaulted tops. These can also be made of all kinds of materials.
Despite what all the news casters were calling it : Queen Elizabeth was entered in a CASKET not a coffin. Few people are buried in coffins anymore.
Also a HEARSE is sometimes called a COACH …. But it’s not a “STAGECOACH” …. All these ghost hunter shows keep calling hearses “stagecoaches” lol . There : my rant is done.
Chuck, thanks for the link. But I'm still not sure why there is sometimes a bag of sugar next to the Town Square(?) drinking fountain. Was it only there during the photo-shoot for the C&H ad?
Major, well now, If we're gonna read between the lines, then that ominously dark patch on the Matterhorn that we call Fudgie is actually the face of Satan! And The Dent?- The "Devil's Thumbprint". Obviously, the Killer Swans have Satan written all over them.
JG, Yeah, the bag of sugar is a running gag here on GDB; has been for many years... But I'm still not clear on the origin story, aside from the bag appearing in a C&H ad. Did someone place a bag of sugar there later, just for fun?
Mike, I noticed newspeople using the word "coffin" as well, instead of "casket", which to me, sounds slightly better than coffin. Maybe it's a British thing?
JB, as I recall it, the joke just plays on comments that the drinking fountain is missing it's sugar bag, playing on the single instance of using the drinking fountain as a pedestal for the ad photo. Notice the flowers added to the setup to screen the water bubbler. It's a perfect setup, I can imagine the ad producers figuring it out, the classic vista of the Castle and here is this perfect neutral platform set up on axis.
As far as I know, the only time there was ever a sugar bag like that was when the ad photo was made. If others have put a bag there as a joke, I am not aware of it.
The white fluted drinking fountains were the Main Street/Hub style (some in front of the River Belle terrace also) for many years, replacing the cheap ugly ones used in the very first years, and maybe lasting all the way until the ADA required their removal and replacement with wheelchair accessible ones.
There was at least one surviving in a remote location right up to 2015, when I saw it in the Tour Guide Garden. There was also an accessible one close by, so there was no violation to leave it.
Now the white fluted pedestal "motif" has been returned to the Hub, there are several of them surrounding the "Partners" statue in the center park. These seem to hold bronze or brass sculptures of some Disney characters, I have seen these only in Google view, which is not easy to make out. I guess they are honoring other characters than Mickey, placing them in proximity to the Presence.
Reading Mike's clarification of various terms reminds me of the joke my Dad used to tell about the English visitor. He's conversing with an American who commented some third party was so dumb he thought a Football Coach had four wheels. Not wanting to be left out, the English visitor laughed and said "Ha Ha, that's a good one! How many wheels does the bally thing have?"
America and the UK, two nations divided by a common language.
JG
These were American newscasters and sone with British correspondents…. Both the Americans and British said “Coffin” most often … a very small amount used the correct term “casket” ….. and a few interchanged between using both “coffin” and “casket” .
No really …how many wheels DOES a Football coach have?
Lol.
I was watching the John Wayne movie BIG JAKE the other day and Maureen O’hara (wife) and Stephane Powers (daughter) like to ride in the family’s BARUCHE … ( a open carriage with a foldable top over the passenger cab and a elevated drivers seat - very similar to a Victoria Coach. The style of carriage in the film is a 1860’s - 1870’s CALEAH or CALESH. It’s not a “BARUCHE” - a type of carriage who’s design and name was non existent by the 1820’s. But in the film it’s the 1890’s and the characters arrogantly call their carriage a “BARUCHE”
It would be like calling a limousine a a “hatchback” or a Station wagon a “roadster” or a SUV a “tour-about”. It’s time frame is totally incorrect.
…. I’m fun at parties.
Correction: the film was McClintock (NOT BIG JAKE)
One of my favorite YouTube channels, Ask a Mortician, did an interesting episode on caskets vs. coffins. I also enjoyed the video she did on English royal funerals after the death of Prince Philip. I've got to say... after checking out pictures to rule out my memory playing tricks on me, the late Queen's container really does look like a tapered-sided coffin rather than a straight-sided casket to me. Especially when viewed from the top. (And I hope the technician who installed the camera in the ceiling of the chapel to get those pictures was well-paid!) Of course, the flag draped over it doesn't help.
Back to the horsie: when I was a kid my grandparents had one of these horse-head-hitching-post ashtrays. I remember sitting on the living-room floor and fiddling with the ring.
Mike, the production of Oklahoma! I was in had some kind of two-wheeled cart instead of a surrey. It was a really *nice* cart, and the audience didn't seem to mind, but still.
Melissa, yes, surely a LOT of Aqua Net - the hairspray of champions. If I could, I would spend the night in the House of the Future as a “dream suite”!
Mike Cozart, oh funny, the Japanese sure know how to make fun toys (and make them appealing”, I’ve always dreamed of going to Japan with a pile of money (not sure where that will come from) and going nuts in the toy districts. Interesting that the character merchandise has become less popular; I’m not even in marketing, but I often think of things that I would love to see for sale at the parks. They will never happen though. I won’t miss the “plush mountains”. I remember a set of collectible pins that looked like various trashcans around the parks, and they had little swinging “doors”, I almost bought a set when I worked at the studio. But for some reason I never did. Those were the only trashcan-related things that I ever saw, at least “official” merchandise. The brass model of the popcorn wagon sounds neat, if it’s done well of course. Thanks Mike!
JG, I’m trying to think of a style of trashcan that I would want. I like THIS STYLE a lot!
Mike Cozart, while I am sure that you are correct with your definition of “coffin” and “casket”, I think it’s a case of the public not knowing (or caring?) about the difference, when it comes down to it. They think of it as “the box you could be buried in”. I’ve never heard anybody call a hearse a “stagecoach”! What the heck? Those ghost hunters are morons.
JB, the C&H ads were a familiar sight to people of a certain age (i.e. ME) who looked at the various Disney publications of the late ‘60s and into the ‘70s… the ads for C&H definitely got my attention. As did the ads for Dolly Madison snack cakes, and Viewmaster products. Even now, on the rare occasion that I pull my collection of old magazines out, I get the warm fuzzies seeing those ads. Fudgie is the face of Satan? I refuse to believe it!
JG, I am now wondering if there was only a single photo ever taken with a bag of sugar on that drinking fountain, or if they updated it on occasion. I really don’t know. They could have kept those white fluted fountains, and added additional fountains that would be accessible to those in wheelchairs, but I can’t say I am too upset about their removal. As long as I can fill up my water bottle somewhere! Yes, those pedestals hold nice brass sculptures of some of the most popular Disney characters, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people spending a LOT of time trying to get great photos of each one. So how many wheels DID the thing have, anyway? ;-)
Mike Cozart, oops, I see that you and I made the same joke. Great minds think alike. My goodness, how many people are going to know the difference between a “baruche” and a “caleah”? I’d say ONE, and his initials are M.C.!
Mike Cozart, I’ve seen “Big Jake” a bunch of times, but am not sure I’ve ever seen “McClintock”.
Melissa, I want to ask a mortician questions about Star Trek and Marvel superheroes. Dead bodies are too gross. Meanwhile, I did not watch any of QE’s funeral, she seemed like a nice lady, but I guess I don’t have the fascination with the Royal Family that so many have. In other words, I am no fun at all.
Melissa, did you have actual live horses onstage?!?
Melissa : …” On a SULKY with the fringe on top….” Did it have a fringe canopy? The American SURRY evolved from a colonial period PLEASURE CART. But it had 4 wheels …. Like a FOOTBALL COACH .
Mike, I recall the term “caleche”, Jonathan Harker is taken in one from the train to Castle Dracula in the Bram Stoker novel.
Only place I ever saw it used till now. Had no idea what it meant other than that it was a carriage of some kind from context.
I’ve no idea if any of the myriad movie versions had the right vehicle or not. I’d bet not.
As to wheel count, Mike and Major, I have no idea here either, presumably not four. Have to ask the Coach, but he’s probably sulky.
JG
We were going to have horses, but the horse guy had a last-minute schedule conflict. It was an outdoor theater, so it wouldn't have been a big deal. All the chorus cowboys got together and pulled the cart. It was more substantial than a sulky, but it didn't have any kind of canopy at all, let alone isinglass curtains you could roll right down, in case there's a change in the weather.
IIRC, it was the same theater where we did Camelot the year before, and the jousters pulled out at the last minute. I guess I'll never get to share a stage with a real horsey.
I have a lot to say, but no time to say things lately :) When people ask me about some confusing work directive or other work nonsense..."What is that thing?!" I say: "It's one of the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler". They return the comment with the most puzzling look.
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