Today is certainly a Sunday, but it is not a Snoozer Sunday! Being the day before Halloween, I wanted to share some creepy pictures with you, and Sue B. has more great photos taken by Lou Perry (her dad), from a September, 1971 visit to Disneyland. The Haunted Mansion was only two years old, and still had that "new ghost smell".
Lou took photos of many of the cemetery tombstones that have become so familiar to us 50+ years, it's really amazing how he managed to capture images of things that most people wouldn't have bothered with. This first tombstone is in memory of "Grandpa Marc"; it's the final resting place for Marc Davis, Imagineer extraordinaire. In the background, we can see a tombstone for "Francis Xavier" (X. Atencio) and another for "Master Gracey" (Yale Gracey).
Rolo Rumkin, that friendly bumpkin. Nice to see a tribute to Rolly Crump! I wonder if the grass was somehow treated so that it was not too lush and green? It sounds ridiculous, but they did manage to give it a sickly, on-the-verge-of-dying appearance. I can only assume it was intentional.
I always loved the name "Phineas Pock", though I think it's strange that (as far as I know) this is the only tombstone that was not a tribute to a notable Disney Imagineer. Over at the excellent Long-Forgotten blog, BHG2 speculates that "Phineas Pock" might have been a potential name for the Ghost Host.
Brother Claude... that's Claude Coats to you, pal! The general story out there is that he contributed most significantly to the earlier, more atmospheric portion of the attraction, while Marc Davis's characters and gags could be found in the second half of the ride.
"Wathel R. Bender", a tribute to Wathel Rogers, the Audio Animatronics wizard. His tombstone has been there a long time, it is partially-sunken into the ground.
And finally, Cousin Victor (Vic Green). I guess it was hard to find something to rhyme with "Victor". They could have changed it to "Victus" (you know, like Rolly became "Rolo"), and rhymed it with "rictus". Please pay me a million dollars, Disney! Vic Green has been called the "head architect of the Haunted Mansion". Shockingly, he has not yet been deemed to be a "Disney Legend" as of this writing. What gives, Disney?
MANY THANKS to Lou and Sue! You each get a fun-sized Snickers in your lunch.
Major-
ReplyDeleteI feel as though I've just visited my local mortuary, and was shown a group of 'working' headstone selections for... you know. (I'm looking for something flashier).
Thanks to Lou & Sue.
I've always liked these Disney tombstones. When I first saw them, back in the '70s, I didn't know they were a tribute to Disney Imagineers. Although I suspected some of them were names of real people.
ReplyDeleteYears later, maybe 1986, I helped decorate the dining room at the place where I worked (one of those 'adult communities', a.k.a. a retirement home) for Halloween. I made a bunch of tombstones out of art paper that looked like granite. I wrote epitaphs on them, some that I made up, some from the Haunted Mansion. Using light and dark markers, I made the text appear as if it was engraved. One of the (I think) original epitaphs I came up with was:
Here lies our faithful dog 'Spinner'.
He loved the taste of chicken dinner.
(Farmer Johnson's grand prize winner.)
Or something similar to that... it's been a while.
I made several other things as well, like an amorphous projected ghost, a motorized skeleton, and a painted 'hatbox ghost' with a reversed face that followed you around like the marble statues in the HM queue.
Major, "it's really amazing how (Lou) managed to capture images of things that most people wouldn't have bothered with." And that's what we like best about Lou's photos. Thank you, Lou. And you too, Sue. And to you too, Major.
^ I think there’s one, in back, with neon lights that says:
ReplyDeleteYou Can’t Overlook
Dearly Departed Nanook
Too Many Pills He Mistook
;o)
Sue
JB, LOL! I love that epitaph.
ReplyDeleteYou could definitely come up with a good one for Nanook...definitely something better than mine.
Sue
These are WDI documentation quality and sone of the best images I’ve seen of these “stones” certainly better than any images of the published. Thank you !
ReplyDeleteI remember around 1995 we were given a tour of the Disneyland staff shop : they showed us two of the outdoor “family plot” tombstones and how they made them …. They cut foam to blueprints then took plaster slab pieces that had been casted from a hand carved epitaph. The epitaphs were in pieces so things like weeping willows and RIP were in a separate plaster “tile” ( more accurate than slab I guess) then the plaster tile was gently pushed into the foam created what looked like a carved or chiseled tombstone. Then the tombstone was sprayed with a thick paint with “splatter” effects creating a stone look. Then aluminum stakes were inserted into to base for placement along the slopped cemetery ( the flat original location was replaced with more guest lines) . The tombstones were mostly weather resistant and lightweight and could easily be moved by gardeners and landscapers as needed. If one was drastically damaged , it was easily and inexpensively re-made.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I remember in a interview - I think with Kim Irvine — regarding a more recent Haunted Mansion refurbishment, Kim Irvine mentioned that the original tombstone designs had been moved around over the years till there was only one or two left …..and that they hadn’t been replacement them in later years because “the molds for them had been lost” !?!?? What molds ?? There WERE NO MOLDS!! Was that a lie for publication or did nobody remember at Disneyland how they were made!?? I saw them making them in 1995 and remember EXACTLY how they were done. Maybe so many WDI staff shop people had retired or let go that nobody was around. I think the real answer Kim probably would have said “in later the years the company got too damn cheap to bother to replace the tombstones ..”
Always enjoyed reading these tombstones while at the haunted Mansion grounds. Loved the Pet Cemetery too. Great document style pics. Thanks, Lou & sue and Major too.
ReplyDeleteHa, ha! I fell asleep in the middle of writing my comment, and then accidentally closed the comment window before clicking "Publish," so it was lost. Oh, well!
ReplyDeleteIn summary, part of it was in response to Mike's comment, and about how I wonder if the people at Disney ever start believing their own lies, after telling them so many times? Maybe someone in the company would have found a way to replace the original tombstones, if they had been allowed to paint all of them hot pink and electric blue?
I remember some of the original tombstones being up on the hill/berm, behind the Haunted Mansion, but I don't remember when they were at ground level.
I'm so glad that Lou thought to capture details like this on film!
Thank you Lou, Sue, and the Major, too!
Thanks Lou and Sue for the historic photos! I am thinking that these things are gone now...but what happened to them? I can understand why the graveyard became the "Main St. Windows" of the Haunted Mansion yard as it took so many years and so many people to develop it! I can see exactly where they are by the background crypt escape route...I think that this route was recently used in a "return from Covid, don't ride the elevator...." kind of thing. Seems odd to miss the story before the story, but I get it...kind of. The graphics of the record album were so much spookier than what is shown, but I understand it was all intentional. Regarding "Disneyland Folklore" and people lost in their own lies: I hear these things allll the time. I've listened to Pod-Casts of people I worked with going on about a story or two that are not so much watered down, but "being respectful of the Mouse to keep the "magic alive" for others". There is a odd underground unwritten code of ethics not to burst peoples bubbles...some of these stories even come from people that were ousted out...but we all feel the need to do some sundry sugar coating. Bizarre and not intentionally intentional. I speculate that all us ex-pats have love/hate relationships with our former employer, and that proverbial bubble gets burst on day one, quite literally. To some it was just a job, and to others, something more, but for all of us...the "back in the day" crowd...there was still some Mr. Disney air floating around the place, which today's people will have a hard time experiencing. The legends become real after a time. "We lost the molds"....well...that is the understatement of the century.
ReplyDeleteHoly cats, Lou - these are spectacular! Publication worthy!
ReplyDeleteInteresting that, although they look like aged stone, the headstones are made of a space-age foam board. Talk about your world of tomborrow…
Q: Why can’t Superman go into a mausoleum?
A: He’s allergic to cryptanite.
These are the jokes, folks. Try not to look so grave.
Sue, I totally agree. Nanook deserves something better than “Unknown Tourist 1961.”
Bu, wait - there’s an elevator in the Haunted Mansion?
Yes indeed, these are publication-quality pics. I’m guessing that Long-Forgotten will want a link to this post as so many of these are clearer than the ones he has there.
ReplyDeleteI remember when the queue was on the east side of the mansion and you walked through it as when these were taken. I’m not sure when the queue was expanded, but it kind of destroyed the illusion of a family plot, as no one would be buried on the steep slope outside the fence.
Great info on how the stones were made, and the odd stories about why they weren’t kept up. If molds were used, the existing stones could become Maquettes for new ones. Sigh.
Thank you Lou, Sue and Major!
JG
This is off topic, but I’ve been reflecting on some recent posts.
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that Coke Corner has very similar decoration to the old Farrell’s ice cream parlors. Red and white stripes, flashing bulbs, staff in straw boaters, art glass lampshades etc.
Is this coincidental, or was Farrell’s copying Disney?
Separate question:
Whether or not the designs are linked, do the styles derive from some other common source?
And if so, was that red and white, flashing lights, stripes and straw boaters look authentic to that era?
I’ve seen pictures of political rally crowds from back then where every man of thousands seemingly is wearing a straw boater, but what about the rest? How did red and white stripes and the rest become inextricably linked with ice cream for over a hundred years?
JG
Nanook, I see that you are like me and make regular trips to the local mortuary!
ReplyDeleteJB, I love your Halloween tombstones for the retirement home… hopefully the people who lived there loved it too! Also, dogs do like chicken dinners, I can say from experience. Just don’t let them have the bones. Wow, with the “amorphous projected ghost” and the motorized skeleton, you really went all out. It was the most fun retirement home in town! How did you do the reversed face effect on your hatbox ghost?
Sue, you have to admit that some pills really do look like candy. How was Nanook to know??
Sue, don’t sell yourself short!
Mike Cozart, I especially love that Lou took these back in the days of film, he was willing to use of many precious frames to document these tombstones. I have to wonder how much he sometimes spent on film processing.
Mike Cozart, interesting that you got to witness some tombstones being created. Somehow I always assumed that the Haunted Mansion tombstones were made of foam and fiberglass, but obviously that is not the case. I do sort of with that the “engraved” epitaphs looked more like the nice engraving you will find on real tombstones, but they also need them to be instantly legible. At this point I can’t decide whether I think that Miss Kim just didn’t know how the stones were made, or if (like so many Disney park stories) they just tell us the thing that they think we need to hear.
K. Martinez, seeing these photos always makes me wonder why I never thought to take some of my own! Of course I was still a young child in 1971, so that’s one of my many excuses.
TokyoMagic!, I do think that at some point the stories become “fact”, people don’t even question them anymore. And of course the old-timers are all dying off, sadly, so who’s to contradict those dumb stories? I think that new tombstones should have crystals and LED lights that cycle through the rainbow. On the “Long Forgotten” blog, I think that I have read about the many moves of the tombstones, including some that were place in illogical areas.
Bu, I’m sure that over the years, the tombstones will erode after constant exposure to hot sun and other weather. It’s just a shame that the powers-that-be don’t value the little details, arguably the things that set Disneyland apart from other parks. So wait, the tombstones were moved to the EXIT?? And the Covid exit too, yeesh. I don’t mind podcasts not giving away how effects are done, or if they do it, at least give listeners a warning. Sometimes it’s more fun NOT to know. But I agree, whitewashing actual history is not the way to go. I feel like I know an awful lot of Disneyland history, and it is still “magical” (ugh, that word), maybe just not as much. I wonder how much “Mr. Disney” will be floating around if they really do get rid of the Tiki Room, the Main Street vehicles, and “It’s a Small World”?
Chuck, “space age foam”… just like the astronauts used! Neil Armstrong loved his foam. Your Superman joke is worthy of Wally Boag, there is no higher compliment. There’s no elevator in the Haunted Mansion, if there was I woulda seen it!
JG, the Long-Forgotten blog has done a lot about the tombstones, but as far as I’m concerned, Lou and Sue’s photos would be a good addition to his research materials. I agree, who would bury bodies on a very steep slope? The tombstones looked kind of good there, but it made no sense. I feel like it couldn’t be THAT hard to recreate new stones, but I’m sure somebody would manage to make the task cost millions of dollars.
JG, I would assume that the red and white colors had to do with the “Coke” colors, although they do somehow evoke the “Gay 90s” or something like that. I always thought that Farrell’s took the “parlor” idea of “ice cream parlor” to its extreme. The concept of a parlor is so old-fashioned! I have no answers for your questions, but maybe Mike Cozart does!
These are some of the best images I've seen of this version of the cemetery! Many thanks to Sue and to good old Lou for his foresight and photographic eye.
ReplyDeleteWe were always a Halloween family; it started out because it was easier to have one big bash between my September birthday and my sister's November one, but mostly it was just fun. (I guess it was in the blood; we only knew about a couple of the gravediggers in the family back then, but it turned out to be a tradition going back to the 1500's.) Mom's best friend, who later introduced me to Gothic novels and Dark Shadows reruns, would come over every year and help us make the house into a haunted house for the big party. (Of course, we couldn't invite our friends from parochial school because of all the lectures about the old atanism-say.)
Later, as teenagers, we would confine the decorations to the front room and the front yard, and we so enjoyed our reputation as "that house" that the littlest trick-or-treaters were scared to come to without their big brothers and sisters. And this was long before the pop-up Halloween stores and Target made all that prefab spooky stuff; we had to make most of our own decorations. We made it ourselves, and we liked it, consarn it! For the graveyard that covered the front yard, we made headstones from scrap lumber, painted them with odds and ends of white and gray paint, and did the epitaphs with black marker. Some years the ground would already be frozen by the last week of October, and we'd have to pour boiling water into the ground before we could drive in the spikes that held the stones up. I can still remember some of the verses.
Here lies the body of our friend Dave
You're standing now upon his grave
Merlin the magician lies here
We finally made him disappear
Fred loved Dawn; Dawn loved Fred
What a pity they're both dead
Dawn loved Fred; Fred loved Dawn
It's too bad that they're both gone
Dawn and Fred loved Little Joe
What a shame he had to go
R.I.P van Winkle
If you can read this, you're too close
This is the grave of poor old Bill
We put him here against his will
Many years later, my a cappella group found a bunch of songs by the Baroque composer Henry Purcell, who wrote as many drinking songs as he did operas for the Stuart court. This particular group was set to humorous epitaphs, and we used to do them in our annual Halloween shows with the Shakespeare company.
Here lies poor Toby all alone,
As dead as any stone
Alas, what is he dead? It can't be so,
But he may be dead drunk from head to toe.
There let him lie; he'll soon be sober.
He's only full of good October.
Here lies the body of Anthony White
Who was by trade an honest wheelwright
Life wheeled him in, Death wheeled him out
Alas! How Man is wheeled about.
Here lies honest Ned,
Because he is dead:
Had it been his father,
We had much rather;
Had it been his mother,
We had rather than the other:
Had it been his sister,
We ne'er would have mist her:
But since 'tis honest Ned,
There is no more to be said.
(There were some really dirty ones, but we tried to keep it a family show.
There's a legend among old Cornellians that the Campbell's soup cans were changed to their current colors because the head of the company was a college football fan loyal to "Big Red."
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I am happy that everyone is enjoying Lou and Sue’s pix! They really are great, especially considering that they are from 1971. They look like they could have been taken yesterday. I think most kids love Halloween; my family didn’t go all-out like others, but we still enjoyed pumpkin carving and the costumes and candy. I still remember loaning my copy of the Haunted Mansion album (the one with Ronnie Howard) to my little brother, who took it over to his friend’s house. I never got it back. Luckily I had a second copy, which my brother took the next year (without asking because he knew I’d say “no”), and I never got that one back either. Being a “monster kid” in the late 1960’s and into the 1970’s, I always loved spooky things, even though I was too scared to watch some of the movies that my brother liked. I love that your home was “that house” for the locals! And ice and snow on Halloween is weird, I still remember trick-or-treating after a heavy snow in Pennsylvania. MAN did we get cold, especially our feet. But it was still fun. I love your epitaphs, and love the songs by Henry Purcell. Thanks for the fun comment!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, anything is possible, although you have to admit that a bold red and white can really shows up on the grocery store shelves too. Maybe it was a bit of both. Looking at Wikipedia, it does say that an executive was inspired by Cornell’s football team uniforms. I wonder what the cans looked like before that?
Major, the ghost was 2-D, painted onto cardboard (about 4 feet high. I don't think I included the legs... it's a ghost, after all). I cut an oval out where the face would go. Then made a 3-D face of clay, and paper machéd it. After removing the face from the clay, I painted the concave side and fastened it to the backside of the painting. Ta-dahhh!
ReplyDeleteMelissa, excellent epitaphs!
MAJOR: we didn’t witness the full process of the tombstones actually being made. They had two completed “stones” …. That were old and being replaced . Then there were two in the process of being fabricated to replace the damaged ones . They showed us how they got to the completed ones and showed us the plaster “master” tiles/ blocks with the engraving details … the painting and splatter effect would have been done over in the pain shop and aging and graining department in the building across the way. Incidentally all of the original Disneyland support buildings - sign shop , mill , staff shop , paint shop, cycle shop and decorating …. And facilities and engineering offices were torn town to make support and delivery access to GALAXYS EDGE.
ReplyDeleteI don’t have a specific answer on colors of Ice Cream Parlors … however …….
Since Ice cream’s popularity boomed in the 1880’s and 1890’s with ice railroad refrigerators cars and then electric refrigerator railway and delivery wagons in the 1900’s MORE people could afford the luxury of ice cream. Now since most of the time I’ve cream was a summer thing or something enjoyed at summer resorts …. The places specializing in ice cream service would most of the time be in brighter summer colors and paint schemes. In the days before air conditioning buildings and structures used exterior window awnings ….. and many were changed from winter colors ( solid browns , deep reds dark and medium greens , dark blues, black with gold trim or lettering was popular too. If the home owner or business could afford it , the awnings would be changed to lighter summer colors and striped awnings were highly popular ; white, red being very common … stripped blues , greens with yellows …. White -red-pink etc. so these summer colors were associated with ice cream .
FARRELS ICE CREAM PARLORS used mid 1960’s /late 1960’s “OLD TIME” “”OLD FASHIONED” decor …. And was a popular interior design used in BARBARY COAST themed bars , lounges and nite clubs … lots of restaurants were also themed to old fashioned FIREHOUSES and FIREHALLS etc…. The red wallpaper , globe electric “gas lamps” Victorian esque wood “fret work “ during the mid 1960’s and into the late 1970’s there were hundreds of architectural , interior and decorator/lighting companies manufacturings old fashion esque or looking GAY 90’s products for current designers , builders , developers . Reproduction 1890 Barbara poles and cigar store Indians were also popular for business , home dens etc.
Also during this same time in graphics … photo lettering became prevalent in printing , art , sign and poster making : these photo lettering FONT HOUSES began to offer hundreds and hundreds of vintage letters and wood cut fonts culled from vintage 1800’s and 1900’s movable type sets and began to offering these old fashioned designs in Photo Mecannical lettering type catalogs ….
( lots of these were used on Disney attraction posters in the 60’s and 70’s !! ) The haunted mansion 1969 logo is a good example - under a few modern names RUBENS EXTENDED BOLD is a type face from the late 1800’s cleaned up and re-introduced by a New York photo lettering company about 1967. Same with the “ THE” : bookmans Swash another vintage type cleaned up and re-introduced in the 1960’s ….. but for the massive design revival of “ Victorian and old fashioned” .
It’s interesting that ART DECO fonts and lettering we think of as 1920’s and 1930’s are rarely from that time - but from the late 1960’s and early 70’s …. Few type houses could afford to purchase new type during the depression and little was being created new.
The more you know …..
S
@ Chuck-
ReplyDeleteSue, I totally agree. Nanook deserves something better than “Unknown Tourist 1961.” Just how do you think I ended up with Nanook-??!! I was always being confused with 'Occupant'.
@ Sue-
Oh, those epithets. What fun. And you managed to work Pig Latin into your comments. (Only the cool kids will understand it).
@ MIKE-
More great info.
@mike, thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe old ice cream parlor in my home town was done in pink and white stripes in the 1920’s and is unchanged to this day, 100 years later.
The 70’s were a weird era, the pseudo-Victorian Revival backlash against the clean, crisp 50’s & 60’s.
Just watched the first episode of Mannix last night, 1967 Palm Springs, so cool, all classic 60’s style.
JG
That first season of Mannix was SO different from the rest of the series!
ReplyDeleteMajor, I think the space-age foam the astronauts used is freeze-dried ice cream.
ReplyDeleteFour months late to the party, but YEAH, these are certainly the best photos of this set I have ever seen!
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely be adding a link to the "That's My Queue" post at the blog.