Two Leftuggies
Here's a pair of randos for you, from years apart! Let's start with this May 1981 view of Captain Hook's Pirate Ship. She's low in the water, meaning that her hold is probably full of tuna and mayonnaise, plundered from Her Majesty's ships as they passed through the straights. I'm sure the folks sitting nearby would be shocked to know that in about a year, the beautiful ship would be razed.
Next is this shot from May, 1969. We're relaxing at the Carnation Plaza Gardens, beneath the striped tent (one-a them fancy metal tents!), listening to the Disneyland Band. No less than six performers are playing flutes, which means that they were probably playing Wagner's "Flutey Fantasy No. 111". The most popular of all the Flutey Fantasies!
26 comments:
Major-
...they were probably playing Wagner's "Flutey Fantasy No. 111". I prefer to think they were playing some music from John Philip Sousa. On the other hand - I fail to spy a Sousaphone...
Thanks, Major.
That's a nice, saturated photo of the Pirate Ship; lots of color. I like Gramma and Grampa sitting in the center of the picture. I wonder if they were the main subjects of this photo (along with the ship)? Or maybe it was the trashcan. ;-) We can see just a bit of the Casey Jr. floral sign on the left.
Major, I'm sure Wagner's "Flutey Fantasy No. 111" is a perfectly good guess, but my guess would be Sousa's "The Stars and Stripes Forever" which prominently features flutes and piccolos (or fifes). Ah, I see Nanook has the same idea about Sousa. It's two against one! On the right, there's a girl wearing a multi-colored bucket hat. And why is the audience so sparse? You'd thing the place would be packed for a performance by the Disneyland Band.
Thanks for the Leftuggies, Major.
Yeah … the audience at plaza gardens is sparse … but it’s 1969…. new Tomorrowland is still new .. pirates is still new … new mark 3 minor sips and new Autopia’s are operating. .. new parking lot trams too … and Haunted Mansion is about to finally open - may a soft preview opening will be available … would you wanna sit and watch a small concert with everything DISNEYLAND ‘69 has to offer!??
Mike, ah yes, that explains it! Everyone is out in the parking lot oohing and awwing at the new Trams. ;-D
.....in about a year, the beautiful ship would be razed.
An absolute crime, I tell ya!
Grandma (purple pants and pink sweater) just finished a tuna smoothie, but now she's smacking her head and realizing that she could have had a V-8.
In 1969 I would so rather ride the new parking lot & hotel trams over sitting at Carnation watching a small DL Band concert …. Just the attraction poster show alone would be worth it !
Such a beautiful photo of JG’s Rocks. The side lighting really makes the surface detail pop. Glad there’s still a remnant over at the Tiki Room pre-show area, but we lost so much when the ship sailed off to Neverland. Once Upon a Time…
I’m going to pretend that’s JG perched on the rock next to the waste can, holding an Old Fashioned and contemplating how much trouble he will get in if he hops the fence and tries to dig out the treasure chest on the beach.
Look at all of those flutes! There must have been a sale at the fife and dime.
Nice pair of leftuggies, today, Major. Thank you.
Wagner? You must be mistaken. A Wagnerian piece would never be able to capture the attention of a Disney vacationer for its entire duration unless perhaps it were placed in a super-long queue line like Seven Dwarves Mine Train. No, flutes were more in the bailiwick of Mozart. So this must actually be MOZART’s Flute Concerto in E-flat, K.111.
Our Flag Means Tuna
Chuck is right, I will never not miss the Pirate Ship and Skull Rock Cove, nor the missed opportunity to get scolded for a walk on the beach. Now I want a tuna sandwich and an apple tart (and an Old Fashioned)! Thank you Chuck!
Melissa, I understand that reference.
Admiring the classic white latticework of the Carnation Tent. Durn straight it’s one of those fancy metal ones, nothings too good for the Disneyland Band. In fact most of the time marching under nothing is all they got. I wonder how it sounds in a hail storm? The roof I mean, not the band.
Thanks Major!
JG
@ MIKE-
How about that "attraction poster show" over at Carnation Plaza Gardens...
Well, for me, I was probably working in the kitchen at Hills Brothers while allowing my partner to spend some extra time watching the band since he was a music major, Major. Wait a minute...he's not there! Now where did he REALLY go? KS
Nanook, reading ahead, apparently nobody thought that my (silly) joke about “Flutey Fantasy No. 111” was humorous. Oh well!
JB, with the reds and yellows, many photos of the Pirate Ship look great especially on a bright sunny day. It’s like the Imagineers knew what they were doing! As for Flutey Fantasy… I guess you can’t win them all.
Mike Cozart, during the day it seems that there were rarely crowds at the Plaza Gardens, and I recall passing the Gardens and not even being sure if you could get a bite to eat there, they were so deserted. You make a great point, Disneyland ’69 was quite a place!
JB, knowing what I know now, I might actually be doing that!
TokyoMagic!, I blame myself for not eating more (or any) tuna sandwiches at Disneyland. And you know what? I’ve never had a V-8 either!
Mike Cozart, didn’t they have a bunch of posters on display at the Plaza Gardens too?
Chuck, I didn’t know that those were JG’s rocks! You know me, I’m usually drunk when I reply to comments, so I miss a lot. I’m imagining JG “perched”, Gollum-style, on those rocks now! “Fife and dime”, I’m afraid we are going to have to let you go.
Anonymous, for some reason the idea of a Wagner piece that was mostly flutes amused me, but it clearly amused nobody else.
Melissa, so… tuna = death??
JG, I never got scolded for walking on the beach, but they were not cool with nude sunbathing. Puritans! Yes, I understand Melissa’s reference too, though I have never seen that show. You don’t think that latticework is made of plain old wood? I never thought about the metal tent in a hailstorm, but (as you know) we do get hail on rare occasions. I’ll bet it was impressive!
Nanook, yes, that’s what I was thinking too.
KS, your buddy fooled you! He was kanoodling with a girl somewhere! “KS, I need to go study music for a half hour!”.
Despite all of that nice seating built into the rockwork, there's a guy sitting on top of the wall just to the left of the lamppost - breakin' the rules is what he's about.
Major...HA HA. But in reality he graduated with the music major, ended up teaching music at a nearby high school and within that decade had the school band marching down Main Street! I'd like to take some credit for his success. LOL KS
For the record, I love “Flutey Fantasy No. 111.” I think it’s the best part of Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Kubelwagen. For those of you unfamiliar with the piece, it can be heard here.
Carnation Gardens originally had 12 attraction poster frames . They lost one after a “cast/performer” doorway was enlarged and another two frames in the 80’s when the restrooms were redone. They lost a few more when the railing around the dance floor was changed. After Carnation left a minor rehab had all the original 36”x54” poster frames removed and replaced with the smaller 70’s -90’s posters bringing the frames back to 12 ( these were done without glass / plexi and were trashed within about year and removed all together )
Now the parking lot attraction poster show: 4 attraction posters per monorail support …. 4x 28
14 attraction posters along locker walls … although 2-4 variably featured attraction poster or movie posters and sometimes Wonderful World of Color tv station affiliates.
So the attraction poster “show” At Carnation : approximately 12 posters . The “show” in the 1969 parking lot: approximately 80 + at given times ….
Lol
Chuck and Major, I think PDQ Bach may have done a cover of “Flutey Fantasy No. 111", which could have been the toast of Vienna in the 1750's.
https://www.youtube.com/@pdqbachfan
Gollum, Gollum. The Pirate Ship was my Precious, to be sure.
JG
Mike, reading your post quickly I thought you mentioned a Parking Lot Attraction Poster, of which there should be one.
Adding that to the list of AP's that should have been.
Chuck's Tree
Screaming Kid Tree
Main Street Elms (h/t to Bu)
Mary Blair Murals
The Parking Lot
JG
And Three Fences...
JG
@ MIKE-
Where do I sign-up for that tour-? Clearly, 'an embarrassment of AP riches'-!
Chuck, hahaha. That performance was actually mesmerizing... in its own way.
And Major, your sense of humor remains intact. I immediately got the Wagner, Flutey Fantasy incongruity, with his ponderous, brassy, never-ending compositions.
Dean Finder, that guy sets a bad example for all of the kids! ;-)
KS, well, OK, I forgive your friend. FOR NOW! But he’d better watch himself!
Chuck, the thing that is most surprising about Flutey Fantasy No. 111 is the addition of loud belches - in all the right places. Also, that version of Ride of the Valkyries is the one that Colonel Kilgore played in “Apocalypse Now”.
Mike Cozart, 12 posters is pretty good - who among us has room to display that many? We’ve also seen a lot of posters over on the wall that used to separate Fantasyland from Frontierland (next to Dumbo’s Flying Elephants). I’m still astonished that they would bother to make frames for posters but would NOT protect them with plexi. Talk about cheap! Were there really as many as 80 posters in the parking lot?? I had no idea!
JG, I am well aware of PDQ Bach! Say, how is that fresh fish anyway? Juicy sweet I hear!
JG, brilliant! I’d love it if there’d been a parking lot poster! Should the trashcans have had their own poster too??
JG, yes!
Nanook, Just send me $2,000 in cash. I’ll tell you the rest later!
JB, I am still as humble and handsome as ever.
Captain Hook's Pirate Ship AND the band have matching uniforms. Great color combination. The band looks especially striking.
JG, we also need a poster of The Dent.
Hey, Mike! Hold the tram and wait for me, I'm coming....
Why stop at The Dent? We need posters for Fudgie! For The Stain! For Animatronic Exploding Ducks! And of course, for the Killer Swans! C'mon, Disney, this is low hanging fruit. Run with it!
Thanks for the great effort you've put into this blog
Post a Comment