Indian Dance Circle Scenes, June 1961
Today I have two excellent photos from the old Indian Village; I often gripe that photos from the Indian Village tend to be a bit repetitive, but these are great.
I love this first one, with two tribesmen playing a large drum and singing or chanting. Guests were lucky to hear these rare songs and rare languages, though they probably didn't think about it much a the time. From this angle, the background scenery with Tom Sawyer Island (heavily forested) and Cascade Peak looks like a genuine frontier.
A simple lodge-pole pine and buffalo hide structure helps to shade the other performers as they wait their turn in the spotlight. That day-glow pink satin shirt on the Chief is pretty dazzling - I've seen him wearing vivid purple too.
17 comments:
Major-
The striking contrast of the colors in the clothing against the [essentially] greens and browns of the landscaping is so stunning, and is just perfect for Kodachrome [which I assume these images to be].
Thanks, Major.
I love how the fort is playing peekaboo through the trees in the first shot. And the performers' clothes are gorgeous; I especially like the cuffs the first young man is wearing, with the beaded blue flowers. The beadwork on the second man from the left in #2 is pretty nice, too.
#1: As Melissa noted, Fort Wilderness is creeping around in the forest, hiding behind trees, making itself look inconspicuous. It's scouting out the Indian Village, where it finds that the villagers are way more advanced than the U.S. Cavalry contained within its walls: THE VILLAGERS WEAR T-SHIRTS! And their village is wired for electricity! (At least, I think that's an electrical outlet down by the T-shirted drummer's foot.)
I agree, Major, the scene looks real.
#2: I wonder what the thinking was behind the "day-glow pink" shirts? Surely the Indigenous People didn't have access to fluorescent dyes? I guess this isn't supposed to be 'olden times', but modern times. That would explain the use of present-day colors... and T-shirts.
The guy in the middle looks deep in thought. I wonder what he's thinking. Probably wondering if he should sell his shares of Disney stock.
The lighting is really nice in these photos, Major. Thanks.
@ JB-
That IS an electrical junction box. And it appears to be cast iron; clearly with a cast iron blank cover.
Most Indians / native Americans traded for the same things the pioneers traded for ….. hardwares and tools were the big traded fir items followed by yardage and clothes. So by the early 1800’s most tribes had been trading with settlers and before that colonist for almost 100 years. Pinks and lavenders were two of the mist popular clothing colors of the 19th century. I’ve mentioned in here before .. until world war 2 pink was considered a masculine color …. Light blue a female color. So Indians in the 1800’s would have had sone clothing made from the same bolts of yardage that was the same the finest dressed people In St. Louis , San Francisco and Virginia City would have been wearing then. Also remember, Indians became masters at embroidered bead work …. Those beads - mostly from Venice Italy were also popular trade items. We are so used to seeing sepia toned photographs of the 19th Century and mist people are not aware of the bright vibrant colors that were used back then in clothing. For years I’ve done historical models and dioramas for museums and historical societies. Many years ago I worked on a scale model of Sacramento as it looked in 1869. The model used 100’s of very detailed scale figures - most were by PREISER and MARTEN from Germany ….one challenge was that there were only a handful of 1800’s figures … 24 from 1835 …. 18 from 1847 and 16 from 1860 . I also used a large number of rural types and 1900-1910 period figures and made some alterations . The challenge was how to used 60 scale figures to populate - 1869 model that used almost 300 figures and not make it look like the same 50 people over and over . So I had to research clothing styles and colors to custom paint the limited figures to create a larger population. Anyway I was amazed at how bright colors were especially up till the civil war ( after colors began to darken to match the post war mood - this also included a darkening of vehicle colors , locomotives and building color schemes . The 1870’s and early 1880’s remained dark color untill the 1890’s when mega bright colors became popular again.
Oh so yes : an native American wearing bright pink or purple in the 1800’s: completely authentic.
Ha, photo 1, more like Cascade “Peek”, amiright? And that forest is only six years old.
Definitely an electrical outlet, weatherproof box & cover.
I’m admiring the knots and lashings used to create that shelter. Strips of rawhide apparently, but maybe fiber cordage might have been used as well. I seem to remember horsehair ropes etc, especially as bridles etc. making cordage is an essential long-term survival skill.
Each of these looks like they could have been taken in the Real World.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nice images, beautiful colors - thanks, Major!
Interesting info, Mike!
—Sue
Nanook, yes, these are Kodachrome; it’s funny how ‘chrome (apparently) went through many formulations, some better than others. They got it right in 1961!
Melissa, I wonder if Disneyland provided those costumes, or if the individual Native Americans brought their own? You’d think that they would need multiple costumes, nobody wants to wear the same thing day after day. Except for me.
JB, not only do the villagers wear t-shirts, they also wear shorts and those knee-length black socks! Just like General Andrew Jackson. That is definitely an electrical box. I’m guessing that in the case of the Chief’s bright colors, it was pure showmanship. “All eyes on me, please”, basically. I first noticed it in old postcards, those colors really popped. I hope those poor fellows in photo #2 had a nicer place to relax than that crude structure. Maybe some air conditioning would be nice.
Nanook, I wonder if that electrical box had something to do with the PA system that the Chief used?
Mike Cozart, I’m sure you are right, and I think that I have heard that it used to be “pink for boys, blue for girls” before. It would be quite a thing to be able to somehow magically go back in time and see the people of the Plains wearing colorful calico or brightly-dyed pink or purple! Something tells me that the pink from the 1800’s was not the neon pink that our Chief is wearing in today’s pix though. Preiser scale figures are awesome, but dang, they are expensive. I needed a few for some lame project and it cost me plenty. But the cheapie scale figures were just too crude.
JG, Cascade “Peek”, hey, I get it! And I never get anything! I wonder how they designed and built that shelter. A lot of studio artisans were involved in Disneyland’s design, maybe they had years of experience making similar things for scores of movies. Glad you liked these!
Sue, thanks, normally I’ll find photos of the Indian Village (Dance Circle) and I’ll be disappointed because they are all very “samey”, but today’s examples are nice.
Very nice pics today! (That's how the "cool kids" say "photographs")
It's interesting that people always think of these images as typical Native Americans while my ancestors (the Cherokee) wore turbans. Actually, by the time represented here (late 1800s?) they wore clothes like typical Americans, ran businesses (such as newspapers and banks) and pretty much exactly like everyone else. I guess that would be pretty boring in a theme park!
As Mike said, the colors are authentic. I've been to a few local Pow Wows and the bright, colorful clothing is the real deal.
Went to a Yaqui deer dance and An Easter celebration a few years back. The colors were a bit muted for the actual deer dance but it seemed like anything goes with the celebration. Kids were wearing Ninja Turtle outfits and all manner of cool costumes in the main dance.
Thanks for these cool pics Major. Watched the Indian Dance Circle show many times back then.
Yes, the Victorians loved their aniline dyes and arsenic-laced greens.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/agh/green-fashion-arsenic-victorian-1800s-killer-dye
@ Melissa-
Thanks for the 'heads-up'-! I've gone through my wardrobe and done an extensive purge of all my emerald green gowns. (What to wear now-?) Decisions, decisions...
Melissa, those gowns are to dye for...
JG
Nanook, you could always go with the Banner Blue & Jockey Blue outfit to match your Hudson Club Coupe. Would make a great entrance.
Oh that was me, Stu29573
Anon, I am quite sure that I have seen paintings of Indians with the turbans you refer to. You’re right, Disneyland’s Frontierland (and its inhabitants) is very much a movie version of the West; and that means feathered headdresses, at least on the Chiefs.
DrGoat, very neat that you have been to some Pow Wows; I went to some sort of Indian function when I was a kid in Virginia, but I was so young that I didn’t really understand what was going on. I do remember that one of the men had an eagle (or hawk?) claw hanging from a thong around his neck, which I thought was pretty cool.
Melissa, aniline dyes were a true revolution. As for arsenic dyes… don’t lick the wallpaper!
Nanook, you are going to get SO PINCHED on St. Patrick’s Day!
JG, STOP IT! ;-)
DrGoat, What about a Hudson Club Toupee? I know, I’m sorry I even said it.
Stu29573, maybe you’re just somebody pretending to be Stu29573 for fame and popularity!
@ DrGoat-
I think that color scheme would clash with all my petticoats, unfortunately-!
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