In Frontierland, October 1967
I have a pair of genuine, officially-graded (by the International Consortium of Grading Stuff, or "ICGS") Sunday Snoozers for you today. Please be seated.
If you ask me, a place called the Golden Horseshoe should be painted GOLD, and it wouldn't hurt to have a few giant plastic crystals and flashing LEDs as well. Apparently not everyone agrees, believe it or not. Instead, we were given this completely un-sparkly building, yuck! Luckily the show inside had lots of pretty gals and corny jokes, my two favorite things after sparkles.
Apparently the Native Americans kept bisons as family pets, like this one. His name was "Frisky", and boy, he was a rascal! He didn't move much, but he could make you laugh with a wry look. In the 1950s, kids had pet bison, but when they got too big, they released them into the sewers, where they still live today. Happier than ever!
13 comments:
I bet Frisky had just been fed a very large meal prior to that photo being taken. He looks stuffed.
Major, the Golden Horseshoe has sparkly gold writing on its signage. That should be enough for any connoisseur of sparkly things. Too much of a good thing, and you won't appreciate it. You'll start craving more and more sparkly things. Before you know it you'll be saying that the Castle isn't sparkly enough, "More Barbie pink! More electric blue! More glittery gold!". See? Down that path lies chaos and ruination. Meanwhile, what's going on with the group on the right? Looks like a confrontation. There will be blood! And on the left, the sweet little granny is eyeing us suspiciously. I think she's a Pod Person, about to point her finger at us and let loose with a banshee wail.
We should thank our lucky stars for sewer bison. The wild, prairie bison almost became extinct, so the sewer bison were rounded up to replenish the breeding stock. And that's why we have delicious bison burgers to enjoy today.
"Frisky" is looking a bit scruffy. Then again, bison always look a bit scruffy.
Tokyo!, not only is he stuffed, I think he's one of those 'fainting bison' and he's gone all stiff with fear.
Thanks, Major.
Photo 1 is really a classic Disneyland shot, proving how hard it is to frame a snapshot without a trash can. One of my favorite log cabin models too.
I think those barrels under the porch are just theming and have solid tops.
Also, a western saloon with a bit of Saturn XII rocket ship visible in back.
There’s gonna be a rumble, passers-by beware!
Frisky the Wonder Bison is looking somewhat threadbare, which is why he is called the Wonder Bison, everyone wonders why he looks so ratty. The rope around his neck is a pretty pathetic piece of theming, any self-respecting real bison would bite through that in one snap and be off to the races.
Thanks Major!
JG
Major-
Don't want the day to go by without pointing out what [most-likely is] a pair of wall-mounted loudspeakers - those square 'boxes' just above the wall sconces, flanking each pair of double doors. They seem to have appeared around 1960.
Thanks, Major.
Apparently, Disney owned some real bison which he used in “Westward Ho, The Wagons!”. In 1962 he donated them to the William S. Hart Museum in Newhall.
Here’s an interesting history of the bison from 1962. It’s a Ralph Story radio script:
https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/hart-buffalo-ralphstory.htm
Also check out:
https://hartmuseum.org/
Q: What kind of food does Frisky eat?
A: Why, Friskies (imitation) Bison Chow of course!
TokyoMagic!, it’s true, he does look a little bloated!
JB, No! I need MORE SPARKLES! And those LED lights that cycle through the rainbow. More! MORE! I’ve realized that Disney has it right, there is no such thing as “too much”. What a fool I was. If they have to choose between a saturated color and a tasteful, subtle color, I hope they always choose the saturated example. You make some good points about sewer bison, most of us don’t think about where our bison burgers come from. We’ve all become to “citified”.
JG, Walt’s “one hot dog length” system has been proven to be 100% effective. In the prevention of cavities? No, but we get lots of photos of them, and that’s all that matters. Frisky must be pretty small, every photo I’ve seen seems to have been taken by somebody at least two feet taller, and we know that adult bison are BIG. And he would never try to escape, he loves his nightly bowl of Froot Loops too much.
Nanook, interesting, do you think that they played the sound from the live show over those speakers?? If so I’ve never heard of such a thing. Or did the speakers just play “area music”? Now I need to know.
Sunday Night, thank you for that info; amazing to think of a time when bison were almost hunted to extinction. I’d love to go to the William S. Hart museum someday, I know people who’ve been… I could be there in less than an hour! The website says that it is temporarily closed “until further notice”. Oh well.
Major-
Assume MIKE may know the purpose [or purposes] of that pair of speakers. I would assume it had to do with announcements for the shows, showtimes, queuing, etc. They appear to have disappeared by the 1970's.
Major, if I could live in 1970 Disneyland and eat Froot Loops every morning, I would never run away either, even if it meant getting a bit moth-eaten.
Sunday Night, thank you for the link.
JB, Purina even makes Monkey Chow, so it’s possible.
JG
Looks like Major has gone over to the Dark Side, vis-à-vis sparkles and saturated colors. ;-D
JG, yeah. I was thinking of Monkey Chow when I wrote that. I've seen bags of it in a pet shop before.
That line around the bison’s neck is actually a ground wire. It’s 1967, and Buffalo Springfield used electric guitars, so it makes perfect sense to me.
I think those speakers were part of Disneyland’s tsunami warning system.
Nanook, your guesses seem likely (announcements of show times, etc). Otherwise they’d have to recruit somebody to step outside and yell at the gathering crowd!
JG, Two of my favorite things - Froot Loops and Disneyland! Could it be heaven?
JB, Come over to the Dark Side with me. It’s great! You’ll be so much happier!
Chuck, whenever I see videos of Buffalo Sringfield (at least six times a day) I am always disappointed that they don’t show the buffalo. I mean, he’s the star! Same with Pink Floyd, why don’t we ever seen Mr. Floyd playing whatever he played?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Bison ... Actually, the mutation gave them wings, and they were again hunted to near extinction.
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