Disneyland Ephemera
You know how you sometimes crave certain foods? Potato chips? Vanilla ice cream? Ritz crackers? Well I suddenly had a craving for vintage Disneyland ephemera. Not to eat (that would be crazy!), just to look at and appreciate.
First up is this rather scarce flyer; this side advertises Disneyland After Dark, "Where the night is bright with the glitter of lights and live entertainment". The Royal Tahitians! The Space Men with Kay Bell! The Ward Gospel Singers! Yes, I know you can read too, but I like to show off. While I assume that Disneyland After Dark ran for most of the busy Summer months, this flyer specifically mentions mid-July for Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller.
The other side advertises the Starlite Ticket Books, special books for guests arriving after 6:00 PM, with two admissions so that you can bring your sweetheart with you to dance the night away. Happily, the text on this side helps to date this item to 1963. Meanwhile, a "Deluxe 15" book for adults was $4.95 - which sounds incredibly cheap, but adjusted for inflation, it was the equivalent of nearly $50. A bargain by today's standards, but perhaps a bit much for your average high school or college student. You could just pay for general admission after 6:00 and go see all of the live performances at no additional charge!
Next is this unusual envelope (why did somebody save this for over 60 years??) from Pacific Telephone with a fun stamp as part of the postmark. "See the BELL SYSTEM Exhibit at Disneyland". By golly, I'll do it!
And finally I love this clever mailer from the Disneyland Hotel. Were they free as a courtesy to Hotel guests? That would be my assumption, but I don't really know. In any case, what you are seeing is the side with printing, including color photos of the Hotel. As you can see, there is a space where this mailer could be addressed. On the other side, you could tell your friend or loved one all about your exciting and fun time at Disneyland (and your side trip to Knott's Berry Farm). Then.... just fold it, add your stamp, and drop it in the nearest mailbox. I think this is from the 1980s, but perhaps one of you knows for sure.
I hope you have enjoyed today's selection of Disneyland Ephemera!
23 comments:
Major-
Oh - it's ephemera time. (What a fun word-!) I love the 'kids' on the Disneyland after Dark flyer. They could easily have been lifted from any high school yearbook in 1963. Talk about 'oddities' for collectors' - that billing envelope from Pacific Telephone is a real rarity.
Thanks, Major.
Hmmm... I dunno.... tastes like paper.... old paper. Guess I shoulda followed yer advice and just looked at 'em. Oh well, too late now..... I don't feel so good.
$4.95 ? Outrageous! I hope that king's ransom included 5 grapes and a Zinger!
"includes TWO General Admission Tickets AND TWELVE ride and attraction tickets." So, is that 12 tickets to be divided between two people? Six attractions per couple? It's too late to do math right now, but is there actually some savings here?
Major, I suppose somebody saved that envelope for the same reason you decided to show it to us, 60 years later. ;-)
"The official hotel at The Magic Kingdom! PROOF! That Disneyland was and always will be The Magic Kingdom! Regardless of what that Johnny-come-lately park in Florida says.
Nanook, "(What a fun word-!)" I agree. The word itself sounds ephemeral; temporary and fleeting.
Fun stuff, Major. Thanks!
Major, that flyer probably contains your daily recommended amount of fiber. It will keep you regular! Try it, you'll like it!
I like that special ink stamp on the envelope. I wonder if Bell had a stamp four years later, encouraging people to see the Bell exhibit at the New York World's Fair? In the seventies, Disney used stamps like that to promote their latest films (Herbie Rides Again, The Apple Dumpling Gang, etc.).
I didn't realize that they were using customized postmarks on franking machines as early as 1960. That's pretty cool.
Actually, this whole set is pretty cool. Thanks, Major!
63 years later. Arrived exactly 3 years before I did, someone noted.
The Disneyland Hotel mailer…the red photo of the lobby lounge ALMOST shows the raised water troughs flowing through there and under those left windows, outside to the ‘moat’, all lined in blue square tiles; A favorite feature that Almost nobody remembers, and photos nearly never show. You’ll have to settle for one of the swagging glass-chainlink chandeliers above the sunken seating pits in a way Groovy color scheme. The chunky woven tapestries are out of sight, man.
I spent a lot of time just hanging out there, inspiring my career in plants and design.
MS
Good stuff, Major. These can’t be much later than 1963 or there would be some “rock-and-roll” on the bill.
Best. Monorail. Station. Ever.
I was going to say “ephemera”, but the word just faded away…
This is why I occasionally take photos of the grocery store or the post office, things in daily life just change without anyone noticing…
Thank you.
JG
Major-
"Meanwhile, a "Deluxe 15" book for adults was $4.95 - which sounds incredibly cheap, but adjusted for inflation, it was the equivalent of nearly $50".
The minimum wage in California at that time was [about to be raised to] $1.25/hr. (about $12.30 today). That would be a bit of dough to leverage from an allowance, or from an after-school, part-time job.
It'd be funny if Kay Bell had a wireless microphone. And the Space Men should open for the Spice Girls.
The Ward Gospel Singers are OK, but I prefer the Weird Gospel Singers and their hit song, that great traditional spiritual, "They Call It A Hymn Cause It Ends With A Men."
The hotel mailer is a clever idea! I wish hotels still had things like that.
Thanks for the ephemeries!
Nanook, I wonder who drew those kids? There are two grad nite items from around the same time that I would bet are from the same artist.
JB, I’m not sure if there were 12 tickets apiece or if they had to split them. My Starlite ticket book is elsewhere, or I’d check! Perhaps in the evening, if the kids were really going to listen to a lot of bands and dance for hours, six attractions would be plenty. I’m always a little confused/annoyed at the way Disneyland had to abdicate its “Magic Kingdom” title to the Florida park - couldn’t they come up with another name for WDW? “The Happiest Swamp in the World”?
TokyoMagic!, paper is great for dieting. You always feel full! Good question about special stamps for the World’s Fair, and one that I can’t answer, but I’ll bet they did have something for the Fair.
Chuck, why would those machines also make hotdogs? “Franking”, get it? Ah what’s the use, my humor is too sophisticated.
MS, all that red in the lobby almost proves that the mailer is from the 1970s! I’m sure by the 80s it was removed, probably replaced with teal and purple. Are those chandeliers still there? You still saw gigantic crystal chandeliers at places like the Music Center, but perhaps at some point there were considered “old” too.
JG, I’m just disappointed that there is no accordion music. Why didn’t Lawrence Welk ever perform at the park? Probably because they were afraid of riots. Welkmania! You are smart to take pictures of those things, I can’t tell you how many restaurants and businesses I wish I’d photographed in the 80s.
Nanook, maybe Disney was counting on a little financial help from the parents?!
Melissa, maybe the Spice Girls would fall in love with the Space Men! “They Call It a Hymn Cause It Ends With A Men”, OUCH.
Of course, the Elliott Brothers did that "Date Nite at Disneyland" album. Have that CD.
Firehouse Five Plus Two. I have a lot of their CDs and digital albums. They were and are a fun band to listen to even now. The music and entertainment from that area at Disneyland was great.
Too bad The Space Men with Kay Bell didn't cut a Disney album.
Love the ephemera. Thanks, Major.
Major those DISNEYLAND HOTEL guest room mailers were free. There is a cream colored folder with the same hotel logo embossed … sometimes plain but I’ve seen gold embossed versions as well. Stationary sheets… a pen and a postcard …. And there are several variations.
This would probably probably date before 1980 as to coincide with Disneyland’s 25th anniversary , all of the Disneyland Hotel’s graphics and area signage ( matching Disneyland’s parking lot) was updated. The hotel featured multi parallel bars in shades of blue. This new graphic was used in everything from cups , ice buckets ..postcards , pens soap wrappers and shampoo bottles well into the late 80’s.
I the 90’s most park offices had boxes of obsolete paper material we could use to make notes or label things with or use as scratch paper for anything unofficial … I remember a box filled with waiter/waitress tabs for Carnation Ice Cream Parlor and Sargent Preston’s from the hotel and blank stationary sheets with the Disneyland 40 years of adventure logo on them for us to use backstage .
Similarly in office break rooms for water coolers and coffee were old logo wax paper and foam cups once used for inside the park … for years at home I had sleeves of the old Disneyland castle/fireworks orange and blue wax paper cups!! In many breakrooms at Disneyland’s team center were cafeteria trays to keep things organized under the counters and most were blank … but sometimes you’d see a Riverbelle Terrace tray or a Casa MEXICANA … or the general New Orleans Square in light blue trays …
“Waste not - Want not”
You can listen or dance to the music, but you can't do both! The drawings are so exact, I thought they might be copied from photos, so I took a few minutes to try to find the photo references. I did find a picture of Kay Bell wearing the same dress that was taken at Disneyland. I thought she was holding maracas but I guess that's a giant microphone. And the Spacemen should be one word, oopsie! The HOTELetter© is fun; let's make more words combining other words and then copyright them. Thanks, Major.
Always enjoy ephemera days, and this one does not disappoint. The Disneyland After Dark flyer is certainly unique, but how often do you come across someones unpaid bills from the 1960s. The envelope is certainly one of the most random pieces I've seen in awhile. Thanks as always for sharing these crazy finds with us all.
@ Ken-
"Too bad The Space Men with Kay Bell didn't cut a Disney album".
You might wish to reconsider after hearing this... LISTEN HERE.
Any Disney park with the castle and castle layout is technically a “Magic Kingdom” …. Florida , California , Tokyo … Paris …. But after EPCOT CENTER opened marketing within the Disney company needed a way to differentiate EPCOT and “the magic kingdom” …. And as interns and layoffs came and went .. somehow it became used only to describe WDW’s “castle park” ….
This was separate from the parks tag lines “Disneyland - happiest place on earth” , “Walt Disney World - The Vacation Kingdom of the world” ,”Tokyo Disneyland - The kingdom of family dreams and magic” , “Mineral King - over our dead body : The Sequoia Club”
@ Kathy!-
"I thought she was holding maracas but I guess that's a giant microphone".
Sorry, but I think your first thought is correct. That's not likely a microphone in either of her hands - although I don't know where maracas would fit in with their musical 'style'. But if 'screaming' can be part of a song, the use of maracas can't be far behind-! (see my comment, above)
Nanook - If you were to take that $1.25 minimum wage as 5 silver quarters, it would be worth something like $22 in metal today.
Mike - I thought the Mineral King slogan was "No, we have no singing bears"
Faint memories of when a hotel would have letterhead stationery and envelopes in the rooms, often with a few postcards featuring the hotel itself. Motels would usually have just postcards, some proudly displaying room decor. The Disneyland Hotel piece is a nifty combination.
It's been a while, but I recall Disney resorts as providing stuff clearly meant to be taken home. Fancy resort guides and schedules, slick folders full of Vacation Club pitches, a Disney Channel magazine (when it was a premium channel), etc. But no stationery.
In the wider world there were (and are?) guests who scooped up all the stationery in their accommodations, just as others pack up all the little soaps. Miss Manners was once queried about the propriety of using such for social correspondence from home, the writer equating it with guest towels bearing the logos of luxury hotels.
In ancient days (pre-boomers) classy hostelries would have writing desks in the lobby, where a discreet non-guest could walk in and write a letter. This was favored by mysterious characters in Sherlock Holmes stories, hotel stationery being the gaslight equivalent of a phone call from a public booth. Of course, Holmes would glean data from handwriting. And if the writer ate locally before licking the flap ...
A few years back happened onto a flea market at a high school in a very upscale neighborhood. One seller had several Gideon Bibles, which I'd never seen outside a hotel or motel. They're meant to be taken should a departing traveler need spiritual comfort, but the mental picture of a frequent flyer automatically tossing them in the suitcase with other freebies was distressing.
”…couldn’t they come up with another name for WDW? ‘The Happiest Swamp in the World?’”. I believe that should be reserved for the upcoming Tiana’s Terrific Timber Toboggans.
Well, I got your joke, Major. In fact, I was kind of thinking (and secretly hoping) you would probably make one along those lines. I approve!
My dad used to bring home hotel stationery from all over the Pacific during the early days of his flying career in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. He’d be out in “the System” flying cargo and passengers for a couple of weeks at a time, and oftentimes there was no room left to put them up on whatever base they happened to be at when they ran out of crew duty day and they would end up in an off-base hotel. I was still getting letters from my mom in the late ‘90s written on Guam Dai Ichi stationery that my dad had picked up/before I was born.
K. Martinez, thanks to my dad I grew up listening to Dixieland, he particularly liked “The Dukes of Dixieland”, but had at least two Firehouse 5 records, including one on reel-to-reel tape. I agree, it’s too bad we can’t hear Kay Bell and the Spacemen!
Mike Cozart, my buddy Mr. X told me that he remembers when those mailers were in hotel rooms. A pretty sweet extra goodie! I would imagine that many were taken home unused as souvenirs - and yet they are not that common. This is the only version I’ve ever seen, not that I have looked for them! I’m always baffled by people who swipe tons of Disneyland Hotel toiletries and then sell them on eBay. Who wants that stuff? Wow, amazing that you had entire sleeves of those paper cups, now they can fetch good chunks of money just for a single cup. I’d LOVE to have some of those park trays - I have a few of the small tip trays, but none of the full-sized trays.
Kathy!, we don’t want people having too much fun, their brains would not be able to handle it. I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen a photo of Kay Bell, but now that you’ve mentioned it, I need to look to see what she looked like! I wonder if anybody ever caught the “Space Men”/“Spacemen” error until now??
Brad Abbot, that item popped up on eBay years ago, and it was such an oddity that I had to bid on it. Luckily it didn’t go for a lot!
Nanook, oh cool! It’s not a bad song, sometimes Kay Bell’s very pronounced R’s are a bit distracting, but maybe that’s from years of listening to British acts (and folks emulating them).
Mike Cozart, you are probably right about any castle park technically being a “Magic Kingdom”, but as a Disneyland fan, I was very aware of WDW’s castle park becoming THE Magic Kingdom. As if there was only one. What are we, chopped liver? I’m personally kind of glad that Mineral King was never built, even though it is an interesting footnote in Disney history.
Nanook, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Kay Bell occasionally did a song with a Latin flavor!
Dean Finder, after my grandma died, we found about 8 rolls of silver dollars, many that they got in Las Vegas. I wound up with them, some go back to the 1800s (though most are from the 1920s). To me they are worth more than their silver value, but it is nice to know that if I needed to, I could cash in big!
DBenson, I have some envelopes and writing stationery from the Disneyland Hotel, I believe that it is from the 1960s. A simple blue line drawing of the hotel with the classic lettering. I’ve only stayed in Paradise (now Pixar) Pier, and they did not provide heaps of stuff to take home! So much for the “budge” option, even though it was far from cheap. I can’t imagine taking things from hotels such as towels. I know that bath robes were a popular item to swipe from some hotels. I guess I was raised right, because I would feel guilty. I once accidentally came home from a storage unit with a U-Haul blanket, and felt like a crook! Stolen Gideon Bibles for sale, oh man!
Chuck, I love the idea of your dad taking stationery from hotels around the world - somehow that feels OK. It’s there for guests to use! I know the toiletries are, too, but in my mind, if you don’t need those, why take them? Plus, they are toiletries, I can’t get too excited about them, even if they have the Disneyland Hotel name of them.
Major, I guess WDW didn't want my suggestion: "The Magic Gator-infested Brain-eating Amoeba Kingdom". I'm sure they rejected it because it doesn't roll off the tongue as well. Disneyland originally went with "The Magic Orange Grove", but it left the guests confused.
Kathy!, how about "ephemaphernalia©".
Nanook, thanks(?) for the musical link. Good golly, Miss Molly! The ending was particularly painful.
All-
I believe I've talked about sisters Kay and Cynthia Strother on these pages before. They had a very successful singing career in the 1950's as The Bell Sisters - their mother's maiden name. (Hence Kay 'Bell'). They appeared on TV, radio and in films - even in Those Redheads from Seattle the first musical to be filmed in 3D, no less-! Why, they even appeared on [the original] Mickey Mouse Club - and Kay appeared at "The Happiest Place on Earth".
Although I won't disagree that they have lovely voices, I'm afraid this is the exception disproving the rule that siblings have tight - almost inseparable - vocal harmonies. Their attempt at singing in thirds more often than not results in singing in "thirds and-a-half", unfortunately.
This song, "Bermuda" isn't their best example of musical misappropriation, but you get the idea. Oh, they're on-key for some of it, but far too often away they go, each in their own unique style. No offense ladies but, I can't understand your popularity - but that's just me.... and many others who have heard their "harmonizing"-! LISTEN HERE.
^ Oh dear. I can't decide if they're off key or if it's just the way their voices sound.... "cat fight" comes to mind. (and dentist drills.)
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