More Bu Pix
It's time for a third installment of GDB friend Bu's photos from his personal collection. Images and commentary courtesy of Bu!
In this first one, that's Bu, a mere child at that point. Bu says: The photo of me as a kid: that was the LA Unified Schools “Bicentennial Pageant” produced by Disneyland Entertainment. Loads of 70’s stars were there. My costume was Main St. Merch., my sisters was Hills Bros Coffee House. Don’t remember what the frilly one was in the middle. Costumes were marked on the collars, etc. We did a turn of the century number with Arte Johnson, and there the ones that were on stage with him. It was a big deal held at the LA Colosseum, with a couple of days of rehearsals. It was hot, people were fainting. It was ALL DAY. Literally from dawn to midnight. “KEEP PERFORMING KIDS!” It was the drama classes from across the LA area, but we had some special connections so had some starring roles.
Next we see Bu hamming it up for the camera while he plays one of Disneyland's famous customized arcade games ("I'm Gomer - Fly Me"). This was presumably in Teddi Barra's Swingin' Arcade. Flying Gomer: my favorite machine. I was incognito this day as we were doing inspections on tours. Basically: accountability on whether or not the guests were getting the experience that they paid for. Some people made it through, some people didn’t. Some of the guides I followed I thought: “wow….you passed your first tour?….how?!”
I was pretty tough on people (as others were to me) and was not very popular after this particular "developmental strategy." We didn’t do it for too long as it caused some morale issues. We gave people 3 chances to pass, and some did not make the cut. There were two of us on these tours to keep things objective.
Oh yes, there are more photos from Bu to come! Thanks, Bu!
18 comments:
@ Bu-
It was ALL DAY. Literally from dawn to midnight. “KEEP PERFORMING KIDS!”
Ain't show biz grand-??!! Especially without unions.
Thanks for sharing, Bu.
Who's that long-haired hippy in the first photo? ;-) I bet they wouldn't let you into the Park, thinking you were gonna take over Tom Sawyer island, AGAIN! "Hippies. Yippies. They're all the same. Don't let 'em in!"
In the middle pic, I can't make out the design on your shirt. Birds? Man-in-the-Moon? Looks like it says "ZEP"... Led Zeppelin? I gotta know! Or I'll go insane!!!... oh wait....... too late.
Last pic, So, what kind of game was "I'm Gomer"? One of those scrolling games, where you have to keep the figure (Gomer, in this case) from touching anything as the graphics scroll by?
Thanks for generously sharing your photos with us, Bu. And thanks, Major for hosting them.
That Gomer game looks vaguely familiar. I see "Big Al" on the game that's furthest away, and it looks like "Cheyenne" on the one that's a little closer. I wonder if that was a non-Disney game.
It was ALL DAY. Literally from dawn to midnight.
Just be glad that you are not a kid, these days. Today, at the age of 10, they can stick you in a McDonald's, make you work until 2 a.m., and not even pay you one cent. It's true, it was happening in Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland, just last month. And I would just bet you that it's also happening in Arkansas, now that it's perfectly legal to do so! Ain't America grand? FRIES ARE UP!!!!
Bu, thank you for sharing more of your personal "Bu Pics" with us! And thank you Major, too.
Wow - that was some Bicentennial pageant, Bu! Mine consisted of my first grade class standing on risers, waving flags, and singing “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” (our music teacher must have had a thing for George M. Cohan). We had to provide our own costumes while the school provided the flags. Boys were told we had to wear a white shirt and either blue or red pants; I got special permission to wear red, while and blue plaid trousers. The box of flags had one Bennington Flag mixed in with the 50-star version, and my buddy Gary and I would always make sure one of us had it during rehearsals and during the actual performance (although I can’t remember which of us had it on Performance Night).
The highlight of the show was some 5th & 6th graders re-enacting key moments leading up to the Declaration of Independence. The one that stands out to me was a recreation of the Boston Tea Party. It was done under black light, and the Patriots, dressed as “Red Indians” (according to the terminology of the time) were done up in fluorescent “war paint.” It was pretty impressive to a seven-year-old.
It sounds like you implemented a standardization & evaluation function within the tour guides. The Air Force does something similar with aircrews - after completing instruction and qualifying in a crew position, you are required to undergo a periodic “check ride” with a flight examiner, which is a level up in experience and qualification from an instructor. You are only allowed so many mistakes before you “bust” a check ride, requiring retraining in a particular skill; enough busts or a hard enough bust can “ground” you, sometimes permanently. The intent is to ensure that all qualified aircrew are truly capable of doing an inherently dangerous job with potentially fatal consequences in a safe and consistent manner. Flight examiners who take their jobs seriously and enforce standards can make enemies, but they are absolutely necessary to establish a culture of following the rules and flying safely.
While there are few fatal consequences of a lousy tour, I think it makes a lot of sense to have had that function in place. I can understand that people would resist being evaluated, but it was all done in pursuit of an exemplary customer experience. It’s stuff like that that gave the Disney brand (the theme parks, at least) its shine. While standards are still higher than what I would expect from a Six Flags park, I get the impression that today’s Disney Parks no longer strive for that highest level of professional excellence.
I miss those custom electromechanical games and the arcades in general. Back during our year as APHs, Mrs. Chuck & I would sometimes budget $5-10 or so on a visit to pop into Teddi Barra’s or more frequently the two-level Starcade over in Tomorrowland. Having only rarely being able to play arcade games growing up (“They are a waste of money!”), it was a novel experience to be able to waste my own hard-earned cash and have a lot of fun.
JB & TM!, the Gomer game was apparently a custom version of Midway’s electromechanical Stunt Pilot. It used a Pepper’s Ghost effect to project a flying Gomer (who was located on a rotating disc down inside the game cabinet) onto a glass screen, and you used hand controls to guide him past obstacles. To give you an idea of what it sort of looked like, there is some video of Stunt Pilot game play here and a vide that shows the innards of the machine here. The second one is a pretty long slog and I don’t recommend watching the entire thing, but you can see some interesting shots of the inside of the game cabinet (including the flying plane) beginning around the 8-minute mark.
TM!, Cheyenne was a non-Disney video game. You can read all about it here.
Chuck, thanks for that info on the two games! The Stunt Pilot game looks pretty cool for a vintage game. Now I am wondering if in the Disney version, you could make Gomer crash into buildings as you made him fly "through Bear Country." If I had been designing it, I would have made it so he flew over all of Disneyland, so guests could make him go "splat" into the side of the Matterhorn! Then a miniature Main St. Fire Truck would come out of the Firehouse, and respond to the accident.
Saw my mug on here early this AM and thought...not sure I'm ready for that yet...in any case...have fun. And yes Chuck, that Bicentennial thing was pricey...even with all the free labor that was provided. It caused a bit of an uproar in the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) as everyone had to pay for it, and only "certain" students go to be bussed in to be in the audience. The kids invited were all merit based: if you got good grades, you were on the list...but I'm sure, due to all the shouting, that wasn't always the case. The show was televised and I only saw it when it was initially televised. The television $$$ basically paid for the show...but who knows what kind of hinkee was going on in 1976. I found a VERY small snippet of the show on You Tube, but have never had time, (or possibly the inclination) to dig deeper. If I remember correctly, we all got close-ups of some kind. We weren't fancy enough to have a VCR, and honestly...I don't even know if they were around at that time...but I taped it with my cassette player against the TV speaker...and how I know we got screen time, is everyone started SCREAMING when they saw themselves on TV. Disney people may know the choreographer and producer: Marilyn Magness and Larry Billman, respectively, who came to our school to do the pre-rehearsals. Both worked for Bob Jani, who has his own Disney history. The music used was a hybrid of "The Glorious Forth"...used for the Parades at the Parks. We had to memorize the scripts to lip sync them during the show, and I can still recite them today. Our Drama teacher was a task master, who would shout that there was a difference between memorization and KNOWING. and if you KNOW something, you will never forget your lines. It's kind of the truth, and that helped later in the various career paths of my life. Hopefully, more will be jarred out of my memory today!
@ Chuck-
"I got special permission to wear red, while and blue plaid trousers".
That should be the law-!
@ Bu-
In the USA, Betamax was around by November, 1975; and VHS in August, 1977. (Of course, you could've always used a U-matic, back then - but not exactly considered a 'consumer format'...)
Looks like Bu had fun!
I vaguely remember the Bicentennial, but nothing like this.
Also remember Flying Gomer. What a goofy concept for a game, hard to believe there were not drugs involved the day this was dreamed up.
Arcade games WERE a waste of money for me, lousy hand eye coordination, left eye dominant, right handed. I couldn’t do or play anything well, but I did love the Penny Arcade, especially the old “peep show” machines where you turned a crank to move the cards for a mini movie. As I recall, these were mostly silent comedy bits, but maybe a western made it in too. Certainly no burlesque!
Chuck, thanks for that deep dive, Bu and Major for memories and pics.
JG
Nanook, I’m trying to imagine being one of the people expected to watch that show from dawn to midnight. Sounds like it would be almost as exhausting!
JB, listen, if I want to take over Tom Sawyer Island (along with my Yippie friends), I’m going to do it! Maybe Bu was a fan of Zeppo, everyone’s favorite Marx Brother. I’m wondering about that Gomer game too, I really have no idea what it could have been. I once saw a tiny GIF of one of the custom pirate games (at the Pirate Arcade), and it actually had tiny Pepper’s Ghost effects, much to my amazement.
TokyoMagic!, yeah, “Cheyenne” sounds pretty generic. I think that children LIKE working. Now that I own a factory with dangerous machinery, it’s good to hire children, with their little arms and hands that can reach in between the gears to retrieve my monocle. Those things are expensive! Monocles, not children.
Chuck, I lived in Pennsylvania during the Bicentennial, and it was a big deal there (I know it was a big deal everywhere, but somehow it seemed like Pennsylvania was especially nuts about it), and yet… my school did not do any sort of pageant. What the heck? Maybe I went to a commie school! Whoa, red, white and blue plaid trousers. I had a red, white and blue checked suit (for church) when I was a kid, God couldn’t miss me. I had white shoes that were very scuffed and needed plenty of Kiwi scuff stuff (with the foam applicator). I can’t think of school pageants without imagining that they involve Simpson’s characters. Fluorescent war paint, just like they used 200 years ago?! I think that qualifications for flight staff should be much less stringent. As long as the applicant is nice and has a “C” average, I’m good! Those custom games were so cool, I’m sure there are lucky people out there who own the Disney examples now. If only I could see photos of every one that was designed! $10 for games? Well hello, Mr. Rockefeller. Hey, Pepper’s Ghost gets a mention again. That means that everyone has to take another shot of whiskey. Thank you for the link to the Stunt Pilot game, it is useful.
TokyoMagic!, I’d imagine that they had Gomer fly through (and around) trees. I’d assume that you could crash, but unless you were a Rockefeller like Chuck, you’d want your quarter to last as long as possible!
Bu, ha ha, I was thinking that these might be a surprise for you. Hey, you have nobody to blame but yourself, you shouldn’t have given me all those pictures! You also shouldn’t have given me you PIN number, SSN, and all of your passwords. But what’s done is done. “All of the shouting”? Amazing that you found even a snippet of the program on YouTube; 1976 seems pretty early for VCRs (they might have existed, but they were also probably super expensive - I remember my first CD player cost me $400 - I still have it), so you probably didn’t have one. Remember when it seemed like a miracle that we could actually record a TV show and watch it whenever we wanted? We had stacks and stacks of TDK and Memorex cassettes full of garbage. Bu, it sounds like you KNEW your lines!
Nanook, if elected President, I will change the First Amendment so that it requires red, white, and blue plaid trousers. Vote for me! Thanks for the VCR info.
JG, I remember being excited about the special dollar, half-dollar, quarter designs for the Bicentennial (as a nerdy coin collector). I had little money, but could afford to buy proof sets of the latest coins at the local Stamp and Coin Store. I also loved the postage stamps, which my grandmother and mom amassed (not exactly collected). Ha ha, I was never good at arcade games either. I was jealous of the kids who were slightly younger than me who grew up with SEGA systems, or home Atari systems. At one point my brother had a Colecovision setup, but by then I had sort of lost interest.
Finally...BU REVEALS himself in public! Tastefully and incognito of course. LOL. Welcome. KS
KS, I think we have seen Bu in one or two previous posts! Though it's hard for me to remember what posts have published and which are just waiting.
Bu having fun!! Yay!!
Major, Bu may not have revealed his face until today—he was hiding under balloons and sunglasses, so far, I think. But, I’m not positive, either.
Fun post, thanks to Bu and Major!
Sue
Major-
"...it’s good to hire children, with their little arms and hands that can reach in between the gears to retrieve my monocle. Those things are expensive! Monocles, not children".
"...But I want you to know I couldn't be fonder of you if you were my own son. But, well, if you lose a son, it's possible to get another. There's only one Maltese Falcon'. Exactly: 'sons', 'children' - barely a dime a dozen...
Chuck, thanks for the "Stunt Pilot" links. I found it fascinating to see it in action and to see the innards.
Tokyo!, I would love to see your version of the game! Although, Disney would probably frown on one of its IPs smashing into the Matterhorn (or maybe the Moonliner, Space Mountain, Big Thunder, Sleeping Beauty Castle, Cinderella's castle, etc.)
Major, from your and Chuck's info, it sounds like the Pepper's Ghost effect was used on several of those custom Disney games. IIRC, my first VCR, a Betamax, cost about $1,400 in 1976 (or '77?) and weighed about 50 pounds.
I remember many of the Disney custom games in Bear Country …a Big Al
Playing golf at WDW …. There was a Pooh hunny pot game too ( an omen of Pooh in Bear County to come…) also I remember a “make brer Fox dance” ( another omen of things to come to bear country in the future) coin diversion …. That danced to the tune “ I’ve come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee” … At some point this machine was changed to make Henry the bear dance … machine .
I don’t recall any of the pirate custom games … I do remember the original Fortune Red and the Marc Davis pirate postcard vending machine …
I know at one point Matt McKim was attempting to buy those pirate and bear country games his father Sam designed … I know at one point a collector had MOST of all the pirate ones. Not sure if Matt ever obtained them all or not.
The original Teddi Beara Swinging Arcade background music was sourced from a Del Wood county gospel ragtime album … of all things … I wonder if imagineers thought it a funny joke to play those tunes while people were technically gambling!!! Lol.
In the 80’s on trips to Disneyland when video games were king … I had some friends who would want to spend hours in the arcade … I hated that !!! For gods sake we are at DISNEYLAND! You can play fricken Frogger ANYWHERE!! I’d look at all the attraction posters that lined the walls of the Main Street penny Arcade .. that’s when I became aware of many of them and started noticing variations of the posters … I’d also go into the first Disneyanna Shop and talk to cast members there . Some I’m friends with to this day despite having moved onto to other areas of the company.
You have to fast forward to the end...this the only bit of the show that I can find: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tirAYQeK_I&t=61s Otherwise: all the music can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZeKkwKWsuE Lot's of recycled things from "Show me America" et.al. I suppose I was a hippy...with Wallabees....who. knew. every. word....of that libretto....I forgot that Paul Anka was the MC, but I'm not sure Paul Anka would have even registered with me at that time...Robby Rist...Mark Spitz...it seems like a panoply of stars were there! We did see KC and the Sunshine band, but they did not play "Shake your Booty"...I guess that was too risqué. We saw Evil Keneivel (sp) in his practice moments in between everyone fainting in the hot summer rehearsals. For the "show" there is a white tent in the bottom right hand corner in the video where they corralled us all ....before we ran out onto the field....if you haven't done this in your life, I recommend it...the sound of the cheering crowd was something to experience. No wonder the football players love the adrenaline...we never rehearsed with a full crowd, they brought other students in for the rehearsals, but it was nothing like the night of the show with a full house...gave this bitter old man goosebumps...which rarely happens unless I am experiencing poltergeist activity and that...is for another time. Thanks Major for taking me back to '76 and '84!
Wow, looking at that video, seeing and hearing all the hyped-up excitement, I was fully expecting to see Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad walk out onto the field, holding hands! Instead, we got Sandy Duncan and Bu. ;-p (hahaha, LOL, wink wink nudge nudge)
Thanks, Bu.
LOLOLOL! What a perfect comment to end my night...Thanks JB....I'm taking this quote as my own...."brilliant"...
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