Cute in Tomorrowland, March 1962
I'm getting down to the last few photos featuring "Ginny", the gal with perfect poise!
She's standing near the entrance to Monsanto's "Hall of Chemistry", a sponsored exhibit that I would give somebody else's right leg to have been able to see. I mean, just the name is enough to capture my interest. Chemistry means one thing: test tubes with filled with colored water (with a chunk of dry ice in each for drama). It's all I need! Ginny stands with a trash can behind her, when you know how tall those things are, you can tell that she is a petite thing.
You just know that Ginny's husband couldn't pass up an opportunity to take a photo with the impressive Moonliner behind her. The "TWA" logo has been painted over, but it still looks great. It would be repainted with the Douglas colors sometime later in '62 (I could find no exact date).
25 comments:
Major-
I always love it when 'Ginny' wears her straw hat - as it's just a 'tad' too small for her head - so it makes her look like a little girl still wanting to wear her "favorite hat" from when she was even younger.
Thanks, Major.
The Moonliner is blasting off of Ginny’s hat. Quite impressive.
^
Sue
@ Sue-
That's one powerful hat...
That explains her ‘hat hair’ problem in some of her pictures.
Sue
Looks like Ginny's hair is finally showing a bit of dishevelment after all that 'putting on the hat', 'taking off the hat' for the photos. But that's OK, it just makes her look saucier. My, she is a "petite thing", isn't she! Can't be more than 5 ft... probably less. She's 5/8ths scale!
Is that railing/fencing to the right of Ginny part of the Astro Jets? I kinda feel sorry for the gal in the ticket booth. It looks like it would be a very boring job, punctuated by periods of utter frenzy. Probably too hot and too cold as well. Nice photo of the Moonliner.
Sue, or Ginny just blasted out of the bottom of the Moonliner, being the "petite thing" that she is.
Thanks, Major. We're gonna miss Ginny when you've posted all of her photos.
JB, just eyeballing her from the photos, I would say Ginny was five foot two.....striking pose, lacking hose, never had no other beaus.
It does seem like it would be boring, working alone in the ticket booths that were inside the park. Perhaps it was worth it? Maybe KS will tell us that the employees working in the booths, got to take home all of the unsold tickets at the end of the day. ;-)
The Tomorrowland Central Ticket Booth looks like a contemporary guard shack, which fits in perfectly with the whole industrial airfield/spaceport theme of that corner of the land.
I’m going to estimate that the garbage can is about 3/4 of Ginny’s height. That style of Disneyland garbage can is 42 inches tall. That would make her 56 inches tall, or 4’8”. I think that estimate may be a tad on the short side, but fairly close - say 4’10” - 4’11”. I have seen photos of average-height men and women leaning their arms on the railing around the Astro Jets, so that tracks with the estimate. A bit more math than I had intended to actively engage in over breakfast…
TM!, not sure she has blue eyes, but I’m picking up what you’re laying down..
I actually had no idea that Ginny was so height challenged! That, of course, makes her all the cuter. And yes, we've seen your "gal."
The Moonliner (which is obviously the really attractive part of the post) looks fetching. The tip seems to be red, which I've never noticed before. More research is needed, so we'll need more funding for the project.
Two superstructures on view: the Moonliner and Ginny. She may not be tall, but a 3/4 profile reveals plenty of oomph. She could have appeared in those 1962 film classics "Wild Gals of the Naked West", by Russ Meyer; or Doris Wishman's "Nude on the Moon", a big boost for NASA.
The hat is perfectly coordinated with the Moonliner.
Good to see Ginny again, even next to a trash can. I like that view with the detail on the facade of the Hall of Chemistry, never see that close-up.
Disneyland should have more “Halls of… …Things”. Hall of Popcorn, Hall of Paying Extra to Not Wait in Line, Hall of Plush, etc.
That ticket-selling job had to be a lonely post, singled out and illuminated for all to see, knowing everyone knew you were sitting on a pile of cash, and no bathroom. I hope there was dedicated security doing nothing but watching from a distance for that alarm light to go on. Maybe not such a big deal in 1962?
Thanks Major!
JG
@ JB-
"Is that railing/fencing to the right of Ginny part of the Astro Jets?" You betcha.
JG, you mean especially next to a trash can?
Random thought of the day, my first real girlfriend (not all the Storybook Land hostesses I had a crush on) was 4'10'.
Nice Moonliner backdrop, tho I'm partial to the TWA livery.
Thanks, Major and Ginny
Nanook, part of the funny look for Ginny’s hat is the way it has to ride on top of her bouffant, it looks like it wants to float off into the stratosphere. She should have plastered her hair down with hamburger grease from a nearby restaurant (like I do).
Anonymous, anything is possible at Disneyland!
Sue, (͡• ͜ʖ ͡•)
Nanook, Ginny’s hat is one of the first atomic chapeaus ever sold.
Sue, is it a “hat hair problem”, or is it a “hat hair opportunity”? (Yes, I don’t know what that means either).
JB, Ginny used the hairspray approved for Project Mercury, but a hairdo can only withstand so much. Hers survived excessive g-forces, speeds exceeding 8,000 kilometers per hour, and micrometeorites, but that hat was just too much.
TokyoMagic!, I first became aware of that song from a night at Shakey’s Pizza when I was about five years old. They also had the first “pong” game that I ever saw, we thought it was the coolest thing we’d ever seen.
Chuck, it would have been great if the lady in the ticket booth (and I’m sure it was always a lady) was wearing silver lamé, just like they do today (because we live in the future). I’m glad you did all that math so that I didn’t have to. 4’ - 11”, sure, sounds good to me! Ginny may or may not have blue eyes, but she IS ticklish.
stu29573, I am a little surprised that this is the first time I was really aware of how tiny Ginny was, since we’ve seen more than a few pictures of her. We never had anything for scale, I guess! There was a red light on the very tip of the Moonliner. In case of low-flying planes?!
Stefano, we already know of a Russ Meyer/Disneyland connection!
JG, I’m always happy to see Ginny, and always happy to see the Hall of Chemistry. Brought to you by our good friends at Monsanto, who will never do anything shady. NEVER! I like your “Hall of…” idea, but they’d already used up many of those concepts as “bars”. The Yacht Bar, the Dairy Bar, etc. I’d like to think that the people in the ticket booths were switched out often, but you never know. Spend a day in the box, like Cool Hand Luke!
Nanook, gambling and swearing are strictly prohibited here on GDB!
zach, I am tall-ish, and have dated some petite gals, it just seems like there’s a lot of height-challenged young ladies out there!
Major-
"I am a little surprised that this is the first time I was really aware of how tiny Ginny was, since we’ve seen more than a few pictures of her. We never had anything for scale, I guess!" Yes - she's always been standing adjacent to trees - and, well... we all know the rule-!
Well, I guess I need to get a dot of "taillight red" paint on the nose of my Moonliner! Good info!
And, just for the record (because I'm sure there's a record somewhere) I dated a 4'11" girl once. So yes, there are a lot of petite gals out there!
Ah, my gal Ginny is back. And upon closer inspection I notice she is apparently wearing flats, so no augmentation of height. Was thinking that she was appropriately wearing colors which would have matched the Moonliner and would have been perfectly suited as one of the first out-of this-world stewardesses for TWA.
As for ticket booths, I don't know precisely how tickets were controlled. Ticket books had serial numbers, probably in sequence so there was a count of some sort. Individual tickets came out of an auto dispenser mounted under the front counter much like movie tickets of old that probably most of us...dare I hint ALL of us?...will recall. It was hot and cold in those booths depending upon the weather. But eventually with fan and heaters and eventually air conditioning. Have a friend who was once a ticket seller for a few years and another who started in that position in 1969 and still is working now as a Main Gate Admission Supervisor, with A LOT of seniority, working out front of both parks. KS
Stefano, those movie references led to a lurid and poorly lit corner of IMDB.
I'm erasing my browser history after reading about those films.
KS, undoubtedly some rigid inventory control on those tickets, which were essentially currency. Like Bu commented about the count of the popcorn boxes, which would show "shrinkage" in those sales if the box count sold didn't match the cash take.
JG
Two babushki in the last picture (although one looks like a plastic rain bonnet, and I don't know if they count.)
Nanook, ha ha, I always thought that she was seven feet tall before today! Those darn scale-less trees.
Stu29573, red paint? You need to wire up a tiny red LED light!
KS, I truly wonder what Ginny did for a living. Flight attendant? Pretty secretary for some fancy boss? Dancer (she might be too short for that)? She just seems so put together and accustomed to being the subject of photographers. In the days before computers helped with inventory, I’m sure that tickets had to be carefully accounted for manually. Just like everything else! Bu has described how EVERY ticket, even the individual “roll” tickets, had to be accounted for at the end of the day. I’m astonished that they made it work.
JG, I’m OK with those movies existing! If somebody doesn’t like them, they don’t have to watch them. As long as nobody gets hurt, that’s my motto. And yes, Bu mentioned the popcorn boxes too, so much for me going back in time and “appropriating” some for my “future collection”.
Melissa, I say that plastic babushkas count! I always think of my grandma, who had one in her purse at all times, as far as I know. Gotta protect that perm!
I dont think my mom ever left home without a plastic babushka in her bag.
JG
I'm late to the party, but can corroborate the ticket count/inventory etc. These things were considered cash and BEYOND tightly controlled. If you went on a break, your relief brought their own tickets, money, etc. Very very very controlled, and any unused turned into cash control at the end of the night. Everything was verified and audited. At the booth, by a lead, and again at cash control. Your name was attached to everything. Better not even be one penny off. Ticket Sellers by far played with the most cash...in a time of no credit cards BTW. I didn't have to be in a central ticket booth, but I did work the change/ticket booth in the Penny Arcade. In our "spare time" we did not get to be "bored". We counted Esmeralda cards into groups of 25. We also did any other busy worked shoved our way. You also spent quite a lot of time making sure all the bills were going in the correct way, were correctly bundled, and that all the corners, all of the edges were smooth, and the corners not bent. The money had to be perfectly perfect. Change went into a bag, and then counted by a counting machine. Better all match up to your ticket sales! Try adding Disney Dollars to the mix..."head explodes"....cash drawers had to be reconfigured, new systems, etc etc etc. You also had to ask each guest if they wanted change in Disney Dollars or US. To add additional complexity, ANY hard currency from any country was also taken....we had a list of the "fun money" from those countries where the currency was not backed up. A complex thing for a teenager. To add further complexity, we took travelers checks, and PERSONAL checks. But don't give us a credit card as those were verboten. If you paid by personal check, it had to be presented with a "check guarantee card". More complexity. The comp booth was an entirely different matter where certificates had to be balanced with tickets. City Hall...another completely more complicated thing...no tickets for sale, but you could buy Disney Dollars (in a special envelope) and if you had old ABCDE tickets, you could get credit, so all of THOSE had to be balanced to your cash fund and verified/tabulated/etc. We also sold US Postage stamps, and THOSE had to be inventoried/tabulated, balanced, etc. At the end of the night ,as a lead, your first question would be "do you balance?" We had to be to the PENNY, and then someone got the idea to have a little penny box, so if you were over, you took a penny or two out, and put it in the penny box, and if you were under you put a penny into your change fund. If you were over by dollars, those had to be documented as if a guest came back days/weeks/months later and said "they shorted me $5" you would have to check the date, and if you were over...the guest would get their $5. Believe it or not, this often happened. The penny box went away after management found out...as it was not "legitimate", and if employees were constantly .02 off, that had to go onto a log, where you would get progressive discipline. Being over was WORSE than being under as it just meant that a guest was being screwed over. Yes...even by a cent. It was all hard core. Next week on "Disneyland Cash Control": "The demise of the Sweda Cash Register". Yes....it was a thing...I'm "Z-ing out" for the night (if you worked a Sweda , that will make sense to you....)
"and that all the corners, all of the edges were smooth, and the corners not bent. The money had to be perfectly perfect."
Maybe this is the place to confess my shameful habit of periodicallg ironing all the bills in my wallet. I hate crumpled money
JG, your mom (and my grandma)… both ladies with a lot of sense!
Bu, thank you for all of that detailed information about how the tickets were accounted for. I would think that with the sheer volume that was dealt with, especially on busy days, that small errors would not be uncommon, but it sounds like they were rare. I had no idea that Disneyland would take foreign currency, what a nightmare! I can’t imagine dealing with that NOW, much less as a teenager who might be working their first real job. Disney Dollars, what a scam! How many of those were sold and never used! I have a few that somehow found their way into my collection, and I don’t even want any. I gather (from places like Facebook) that folks love them, and are thrilled to have them. So what do I know! Thanks again, Robert!
Melissa, ha ha, do you ever use spray starch to keep the money extra stiff??
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