Souvenir Stuff
I heart Disneyland ephemera. Hopefully you do too.
We'll start with this scan of a score card from the Disneyland Hotel Golf Centre - 18 holes of miniature golf fun, Disneyland style! The mini-golf course was added to the Hotel complex (along with a driving range and an 18-hole, 3 par full-sized golf course) in 1961.
You could mail this score card to your pals, probably using a 4 cent stamp. Love the spot illustrations.
As you can see, each hole had its own Disneyland theme, anything from "Main Street" to "Dwarfs Mine" to "Moon Rocket" to "Painted Desert". Sounds so fun! Somebody erased the scores, but I swear it wasn't me.
While the score cards come along once in a while, I haven't seen too many Disneyland Hotel Golf Centre pencils!
Next is this small broadsheet advertising the 1965 edition of "Disneyland After Dark" - HOOTENANNY. A Salute to Folk Music". I love it; "Every Monday night through the Summer". Let's go see the Aquamen. A pal of mine has a very similar flyer from 1966, with the same artwork, but the band lineup is different.
I hope you have enjoyed today's Disneyland ephemera.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
GDB pal Mike Cozart sent this photo of himself from when he was a Boy Scout... and today happens to be National Boy Scout Day! Mike says, It’s from June 1976… and was taken in out family room of our first house 1970 -1978. The information on the back is in my mom’s handwriting - but I think someone else took the picture because it’s in a weird textured photo paper and the size doesn’t match any other photo prints we have from that period
In that picture it looks like I’m wearing blue jeans - we were allowed to wear blue jeans to weekly meetings and school .., but at larger auditorium meetings or parades etc we had blue pants made from the same material as the shirts.
THANKS MIKE!
25 comments:
Major-
That pencil's a keeper-! I played that golf course a number of times.
Thanks, Mike, for sharing your Scout image-!
Kind of an odd pose for Mickey on that score card. The golf club is covering part of his mouth. His face is too big and his ears are too small. I realize his head is tilted back (which is also an odd choice), emphasizing his face, but still...
I suppose the oddness makes the piece that much more interesting.
They may have erased the names and numbers, but we can still see the scores pretty well (not sure about the names, the second one is "Lynn". The first one might be "Sarra"?).
"In case of stymie"... I know what the word means, but is stymie a golf term?
The pencil looks unused, with its original point intact. If so, that's quite a find!
Mike, in your photo I can't help but notice that you are listing to your right. I can only conclude that your right leg was shorter than your left leg. I hope you grew out of this unfortunate condition. ;-)
Thanks to Major and Mike, GDB's Dynamic Duo.
These are really great! All the high-quality paper ephemera were one of those little details that used to set the Disney parks apart from your everyday amusement park. And the pencil is in great condition - no teeth marks or anything!
The cover with the playing cards must be depicting the Alice in Wonderland hole? With the Matterhole in the background. Maybe the actual hole was the blowhole of Fudgie the Whale.
I wonder why they didn't have the hootenanny in Frontierland. Maybe there just wasn't a good enough hootenanny-sized space. Before he was a Monkee, Mike Nesmith was the Hootmaster at the Troubadour's weekly hootenannies. "Hootenanny" is one of those words that don't sound weirder with lots of repetition, mostly because it already sounds weird the first time you say it. Hootenanny!
I never played golf, but I used to volunteer at the Farm Bureau fundraiser tournaments. I got pretty good at upcharging players for mulligans at $5 a pop. And the local wineries would always donate a bunch of product. I am in no way advocating driving a golf cart with a couple of glasses of wine in you, but let's just say it's a lot of fun driving a golf cart with a couple of glasses of wine in you. And a spare in the cup holder.
Mike C., my cousin was a Scout, and when my aunt died and I was helping to clean out her house, I found his first Cubs uniform all neatly tucked away in a little garment bag in the back of the closet for safekeeping.
Wow!! I’ve seen the DL HOTEL miniature golf score cards …. But never DL HOTEL miniature golf score pencils!!! It must be pretty rare.
Yeah.. the photo is odd … it’s taken at a weird angle … and in the uncropped version the focus appears to be more on the curtains! And the photo paper is this odd textured paper making detail hard to see. What were they thinking in 1976!? By the way …during this time it was very popular to have socks with characters or super hero’s on the ankle … in this picture I was wearing Liberty Bell socks - you can’t see them … but trust me!
That pencil is pretty darn cool...and so is the score card! I remember always seeing the miniature golf course after exiting the DL parking lot. I always wanted to play golf there, but unfortunately we had at least 4 miniature golf courses that were much closer to our home, than driving all the way to DL just to play. Darn it!
JB, that isn't a golf club in Mickey's hand. It's a long handled microphone, and Mickey is doing his Gene Rayburn impersonation. "Goofy is so goofy (How goofy is he???)....he doesn't use a club when he plays miniature golf....he uses his "blank" instead."
While going through some things at my mom's house, I recently came across my Cub Scout hat, neckerchief, patches, pins, and my Cub Scout handbook. Also, that metal thing that slides up and holds the neckerchief around the neck. I never went past Cub Scout, but my brother went as far as Boy Scout.
Thanks for sharing, Major and Mike!
Here's a postcard showing the Mickey Mouse statue and fountain from the "Mickey's Lagoon" hole of the miniature golf course. And the DL Hotel Golf Centre sign out on West St. can also be seen in the background:
Disneyland Hotel Miniature Golf Course
Ephemera: derived from Greek: "of no lasting significance." Had to look it up. I know what it is, but what does it MEAN? Now we know. Kind of an odd word: sounds very fancy. I also heart ephemera, or now the shortened "PHEM" (which I just concocted.) I just don't have any more room for phem, and I don't look at my collection of phem to justify keeping it around any more. "Got Phem?" These examples are awesome and I'm jealous especially around the pencil. When phem is hard scape, and not soft scape like paper, I can save it and play with these things more. From a strictly artistic perspective, the graphics are awesome, but there had to be a "choice" of where that golf club was placed with Mickey. I think they just photographed it from the front and rotoscoped it on the the paper verbatim. The statue did not have the club in front of the Mouse's face. This is where the 2D doesn't really read like the real deal (thanks TKM!) If I had these things as a kid I would have stared at them for hours. Playing the course in my head, and speculating each hole and what kinds of things I would be looking at. Alas, I never played the course but did see it on drive bys and from the hotel. "Let's play mini golf...(or in some regions Putt Putt Golf) doesn't make a whole lot of sense when the world's most famous theme park is looming and a Monorail ride away. "Golf Centre...not Golf Center." I suppose a golf center would be in the middle...and a centre could be wherever you wanted it to be. I would like a small Matterhorn like that in my yard. Haven't I seen photos of another scale Matterhorn sitting backstage somewhere near the staff shop? Was this a replica, or it's brother? No time to check this morning- going to go see Jose Feliciano at the Hootenanny. Hootenanny sounds like Shenanigans. Go do your Shenanigans at the Hootenanny! Seems like it would be completely acceptable. I'm going to the Dr. this morning and having him prescribe some Phem-Phem ... perhaps that will be the cure for me to clear out all the phem in boxes and boxes and boxes in my house. Wish me luck. Thanks Major and Mike. Cute pic, a perfect kid with a twinge of shenanigans. Liberty Bell socks...who knew? Jeans: never had a pair as a kid as strange as that sounds- glad they let you wear them when you weren't being "official". Do you see flocks of Boy Scouts at Disneyland anymore? Nuns? Cracker Jack sailors? Where did all these people go?
I believe the photo shows Mike as a "Cub Scout." If he stuck with it, he'd eventually become a Weblo and THEN a Boy Scout (now there's a rank called "Tiger Scout," which comes before Cub Scout). To tie it all into Disney (sort of), the whole scouting thing was based a bit on the "Jungle Book" by Kipling.
BTW, girls can now become Boy Scouts. Go figure.
.....girls can now become Boy Scouts. Go figure.
In the 1970s, Marcia Brady became a Frontier Scout and Peter Brady became a Sunshine Girl! However, I don't think he ever sold enough cookies to become "Blossom Of The Month."
My kids had to sell popcorn while in the Scouts. That was a massively tough sell, especially if we sold outside the grocery store (where one could get the same popcorn for a fraction of the cost). Also, there was no contest compared to Girl Scout cookies. Simply no comparison.
Mike...thanks for sharing that picture of you looking sharp in the Scount uniform. I still have mine from the very early 60s. Gee, I grew. How could i have been so small? KS
I always wanted to play that DLH mini course, but the closest I got was the one off Harbor by Melodyland.
These are fun fun rarities, Major. If I hit 5 on the Main Street Par 2, I’d erase my score too. Any sport where you can drive a motor vehicle drinking a cocktail while hitting things with a club is a fine sport (humor).
Mike, nice picture of the Cub uniform, thanks for sharing that. I still have my bobcat pin and neckerchief slide from Cubs, as far as I got as youth. I had 14 years as an adult leader though, and my son earned his Eagle with Silver Palm before moving to law enforcement Explorers. One of the best things I ever did. We sold “a lot” of popcorn. Our first year selling, we were the second-highest grossing troop in the US. I detest popcorn.
Yes, girls can now join Scouts, due to huge demand, and it is a good thing that has increased membership, made the organization stronger, and opened opportunities for young women to learn leadership skills that last a lifetime. Being an adult leader was an investment in my retirement as I want to have a generation of leaders that live the Oath and the Law in my old age.
Thanks for the pics, Major, always fun.
JG
My favorite pic today is Cub Scout Mike! Mike, you upstaged Mickey. Women love uniforms, so you probably melted a lot of girl's hearts, I'm sure.
Steve DeGaetano, my husband came home with a box of Girl Scout cookies, last night. $6 a box. 14 TINY cookies, totaling 6.3 ounces, in the box. I remember when the boxes were much bigger and only $1. *grumble, grumble*
My dad took pictures of this miniature golf course...I'll have to get all of those to Major to post here. I know I shared one or two, in the past. Quite cheesy looking, but fun, I'm sure.
Thanks, Major (and Mike).
Nanook, while I am sure there are other Disneyland Golf Centre pencils out there, this is the only one that I personally have seen!
JB, it looks to me like an artist traced a photo for that drawing of Mickey, because there was a sculpture of him very much like that on the mini golf course. Yes, whoever erased those names did a poor job of it, and I am reporting them to the Miniature Golf Course Association of America (or MGCAA). I imagine the seller thought it would make the score card more salable, or else they were embarrassed about their bad putting skills. Or both. Mike’s photo really did tilt, I thought maybe it had been taken aboard the S.S. Poseidon, but I guess not.
Melissa, I’d love to see good photos of ALL of the mini-golf scenes, and am hoping that Lou Perry might have captured them (he did get a few that we’ve seen already). It seems like something that he would have done. Good point about the Hootenanny being in Tomorrowland, a bit odd. But as you said, they had more space there. The Golden Horseshoe is a rather small venue, as much as I love it. I tried playing golf a few times, since my dad loved it so much, but I just never enjoyed it, even when I got lucky and hit a miracle chip shot or whatever. I’m sure my dad was disappointed. BTW, he hit his first hole-in-one at the age of 79!
Mike Cozart, yes, I do believe that those pencils are very rare, as I said to Nanook, I’ve never seen another one. I have no doubt that there are a few in some collections, though. When I had to scan a ton of family photos for my parent’s anniversary, I grew to hate that “linen” textured photo paper. Not only did the texture mess with things, but for some reason those photos also tended to turn an ugly shade of orangish brown.
TokyoMagic!, aw, I’m sorry you didn’t play the Disneyland Miniature Golf course, but I get it… we think those things will always be there, and don’t appreciate them until they are gone (just like Joni Mitchell said). I wonder if I dressed as Gene Rayburn for Halloween, how many people would get it? I’d have to hold a blue car that said “make whoopie” or something. So naughty! I would have been a Scout, but then realized that I had to actually participate. No fair.
TokyoMagic!, I love that rare postcard, thanks for linking to it!
Bu, I’m not sure I agree that this stuff has no lasting significance, even if that’s the dictionary definition. I guess everything is relative. At first I thought you said “phlem” (though I know the actual spelling is “phlegm”) and I suddenly had to blow my nose. I am kind of amazed that the pencil appears to be unused, they must have grabbed an extra as a souvenir, for which I applaud them. I agree about how they drew the Mickey, especially since I had to do essentially the same thing when I worked for a Navy contractor. I’d trace Space Shuttles, jet fighters, battleships, whatever they needed on the covers of their various reports. I got pretty good at it too, it was fun to use the Zipatone dot patterns. Yes, it goes back that far. There was a model of the Matterhorn, there are photos of Walt posing with it. No idea if it still exists, though of course I hope it does. The word “Hootenanny” makes me think of the Chad Mitchell Trio or The Kingston Trio, both of which my parents listened to a lot when I was a kid. Liberty Bell socks… better than my Cap’n Crunch socks? Debatable.
Steve DeGaetano, I have no doubt that you are right, but it was still a good picture to post on National Boy Scout Day! What is a “Weblo” anyway (besides a kind of Scout)?? I’m not sure I understand the connection to Kipling. Did he like to wear shorts and a neckerchief? I’m OK with girls becoming Scouts (I don’t think they call them Boy Scouts though)!
TokyoMagic!, my best friend was an “Indian Guide” or something like that, he eventually did become a Scout. Until he told me about it, I’d never heard of Indian Guides before.
Steve DeGaetano, yeah, popcorn would be rough. Unless it was caramel popcorn? But just plain old popcorn is hard to get excited about. Meanwhile, Girl Scout cookies are so bad now, they’ve removed anything that would make them taste good (with the possible exception of Thin Mints).
KS, for a short while my mom was a Den Mother for the Cub Scouts (when my brother was a Cub), I was so jealous of his uniform. But then we moved and somehow the Scouts were forgotten.
Correction: 15 cookies in that box.
Sue
Major- The pictures today brought back a lot of memories. I played miniature golf at that course once & coincidentally it was while I was a Cub Scout. I still have a box with some items from that time- Cub Scout belt, knife, patches, etc. WEBELOS as I recall stood for We-be-loyal-scouts & was an intermediate rank/class between Cub Scouts & Boy Scouts. My Mom was also a Den Mother for a period of time. Thanks Major & Mike Cozart for today's post.
-DW
Tokyo!, "he uses his "blank" instead." Soooo tempting.
Tokyo!#2, hahaha. The golf club is no longer in Mickey's face... now he's picking his nose!
Bu, I thought "ephemera" meant part elephant, part chimera. Also, isn't phem that stuff you cough-up and spit out? (I see Major made the same joke... It's his blog, so laugh harder at his version of the joke.)
Sue, 15 cookies, you say? Oh, well that's different! So much better than 14... Perfectly worth it!
JG, ha ha, I’m sure I had those troublesome mini golf holes that just wouldn’t go in. There’s just something about that game, though - so fun. Meanwhile I just exchanged some emails with a man who grew up working at his dad’s miniature golf course, and he has hated the game ever since. I’ve never been a Scout, but I’m sure that all the good things that the boys learn are equally good for girls to learn. Not sure what the Girl Scouts does differently, but I don’t have a problem with these young ladies learning good skills and how to be a responsible and productive member of society.
Lou and Sue, “women love uniforms”, I’m going to wear a Cub Scout uniform everywhere! And yes, those packages of Girl Scout cookies are getting smaller. Or I should say the packaging is taking up more and more room. And they taste like sawdust. YES, everyone would LOVE to see those miniature golf course photos!
Lou and Sue, I wish it was 17 cookies that taste like sawdust!
DW, I’m sure many former Scouts have a stash of treasured items from those days. And I think that things like the badges, knifes, etc. are all appealing symbols of achievement for kids of a certain age.
JB, I prefer a putter for picking my nose. But to each his own. Part elephant, part chimera… so it would be able to fly? Look out below! I wish the packages of cookies only had 10, that way I wouldn’t eat too many.
BURY cookies used to be the official bakery of the Girl Scouts …. And was once a sponsor on Main Street . I don’t know if they were a division of Swift , but Bury Cookies appears on the facade to the right of the Market House in early photos. Bury still makes cookies for Girl Scouts but depending on your region there are other official Girl Scout cookie bakeries. I cringe at the thought of Girl Scout cookies …. I have three nieces and since 2023 girls scout cookies are about as unique as Beach sand. I’m forced to buy .. my mom buys way too many and my sister had a Girl Scout cookie pantry! Luckily only one niece is still in the Girl Scouts .
I try and support our local
Scouts by buying bags of their flavored popcorn … they have tough competition against the GSs cookies : and the popcorn is MEGA expensive …. But super good! In my day we sold home fire extinguishers and first aide kits ….. i don’t recall anything else. In school all Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts in uniform would come to the front of the class and lead the Pledge of Allegiance.
Every “cookie selling season “ when I’d come to visit my nieces would grab their cookie selling sheets are run to “unel” Mike to buy his supply of cookies …. But I’d always make them earn it … lol… have them explain to me WHY I should buy cookies from them as opposed to just getting them at the store. The first year my middle niece was old enough to sell cookies ( she’s now sophomore at Stanford) she thought about her answer … and replied : “ well … it gives people dessert that don’t have any ….” Lol!!!
“DEN FOUR! DEN FOUR! WE ARE THE CUBS OF DEN FOUR!
ONCE MORE; D E N F O U R!!!!!!”
"My kids had to sell popcorn while in the Scouts. That was a massively tough sell, especially if we sold outside the grocery store (where one could get the same popcorn for a fraction of the cost). Also, there was no contest compared to Girl Scout cookies. Simply no comparison."
We sold peanut brittle in the Bluebirds (Camp Fire's version of Brownies or Cubs). I didn't sell a single box, so my parents bought it all and we ate it for years. It's easy to eat more Girl Scout cookies or Boy Scout popcorn than you intend to in one sitting, but it takes commitment to eat that much peanut brittle.
Mike Cozart, I wasn’t sure if it was Burry’s or Keebler who made the Girl Scout cookies, but I’m sure you’re right that it was Burry’s. We used to have LOTS of girls on our block who would come by to sell cookies, not to mention the ones who set up in front of the grocery stores. I would buy some just to be helpful, though sometimes I would just donate money (I always wondered if that money just wound up in mom’s purse). Then there was the brief period when my sister was a Girl Scout; but I know that she hated going door to door. There was always some little go-getter who had been there before her, no matter where she went! GO DEN FOUR!
Melissa, ha ha, I hope you and your parents had a good dentist! ;-) Have you ever worked at an office where one of your coworkers expects you to buy whatever treat their kid is supposed to sell? By the way, "The World's Best Chocolate".... isn't.
As a Cub I sold tickets to the Scout Craft Fair which I think was held at Devonshire Downs. Amazingly, I sold enough tickets to get a prize - one of those tiny "spy cameras" that looked like a tiny version of a 35 mm camera. Unfortunately it has been lost to the sands of time.
Major-
It's actually "World's Finest® Chocolate" - not that that really matters... "World’s Finest® Chocolate is the #1 product fundraising company in the U.S., annually raising more than $150 MILLION for charities and communities." Good to know; but it continues not to matter. I can't imagine just how much their chocolate product has to be 'reduced in quality' in order to lower their overhead and still allow for a decent percentage going to the 'charity', without having to raise the selling price to 'sticker shock levels'-!
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