Town Square, April 1974
Here are more scans from a big lot of 1974 slides. As I've mentioned, many are mysteriously dark, as if they were duplicates - but they aren't.
This first one is from right near the flagpole in Town Square. As many of you know, the flagpole required a "C" coupon. A plethora of music stands and sheet music are set up, zooming in I can see that the song they will be performing is Prince's "Erotic City". Unusual, but I'm all for it!
See what I mean? TOO DARK. It's clearly a conspiracy by the Freemasons! By now the Disneyland Band has returned from waxing their mustaches and curling their hair, and the distinctive notes from "that song" are entrancing the crowd.
13 comments:
Hmm, my comment isn't showing up.
Theme park musician -- the dream summer job of the happy goofballs in your high school band and drama department. The ones who'd sing and otherwise be noisy on the bus to and from parades and competitions.
Back in the 70s I auditioned for Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara. Crashed and burned halfway through first verse of "Comedy Tonight". Classmates and community theater cronies with actual talent did win gigs at Great America, Frontier Village, and even Disneyland.
Oh, to have been a teen somehow working in the parades with all those pretty dancers ...
The park is listing in that first pic. But Irene Dunne isn't there to tell everyone, so they are all oblivious.
Odd choice of music. You’d think they’d play one of his Disneyland-inspired compositions like “Purple Twain.” Say, that gives me an idea…anybody have Kim Irvine’s number?
Those Disneyland Band musicians are packed together so densely in the second photo that a black hole is forming in the left foreground.
TM!, poor Irene Dunn! She was never quite right after Mark Twain broke a bottle of champagne over her head.
The flagpole was one of my favorite rides, but the cycle time was really long, only room for one guest at a time.
I thought I would just run that up to see if anyone salutes it.
Thanks Major!
JG
That sign says "Horsecars" so I assume that means it's not a Horseless Carriage. I personally prefer "Dogcars" as in P.D.Eastman's Go, Dog. Go!
Nice pics, Major. Thank you!
JB, as usual, I apologize for Blogger’s weird way of deleting (or never showing) comments, I promise you that I have no control over it. I did see your comment in my email, so I will share it now, I hope that’s OK. Here it is: The flagpole was definitely worth the "C" coupon. Which makes me wonder, could you use three "A" coupons to equal one "C coupon? I tried zooming in on that first photo to see if I could verify Major's assertion that the band will be playing "Erotic City". All I could make out was: "Eggs, Milk, Bread, Hamburger, Celery, and Frosted Flakes". Strange song titles if you ask me. In the 2nd photo, I can see Ethel Merman's character from "...Mad, Mad, World" right in the center of the picture. She's the one in the flowery dress and floppy hat. Yeah, it's a little dark. But that just makes the colors that much more saturated. Thanks, Major.
DBenson, I agree, a musician with a months-long (or years-long) gig would probably be pretty happy! Did you forget the lyrics to “Comedy Tonight”? I’m sorry you crashed and burned! And yes, pretty girls are always a big motivation for guys.
TokyoMagic!, they could have gotten Irene Ryan instead (Granny from “The Beverly Hillbillies”).
Chuck, the Disneyland Band always preferred erotic songs. I don’t know why, but it’s true. “Purple Twain” is a good one though! And only now do we realize that Disneyland had a real problem with black holes. I remember when Mark Twain broke that bottle of champagne over Irene Dunne’s head, it was right after England bombed Pearl Harbor.
JG, don’t forget that they also greased the flagpole with lard. Messy, but boy howdy, it was fun!
K. Martinez, that must be a sign for the Horse Drawn Streetcars, I think Mike Cozart calls them “Horsecars”. One 1960 brochure does call it the “Main Street Horse Cars”. Im not sure I’ve ever read “Go. Dog. Go!”, it looked too complicated!
Thanks for posting my comment, Major. I could post short comments, maybe 128 characters or less, but not longer ones. Last time this happened, I think I had to log out, then log back in to fix it.
Chuck, in addition to the purple paint, be sure to add lots of glitter to the MT. Oh, and a burning dragon or two would be nice.
JG, the time is rapidly coming when the rest of the Junior Gorillas will have to do an intervention to cure you of PD (Pun Disease). [JB says, while saluting the flagpole.]
^ P.S.- That comment published okay. Maybe it was just a temporary glitch last night.
@ JB-
I couldn't publish last night or this morning. I tried a litany of things that didn't work - but now evidently it is.
Although dark, that second picture evokes "The Band Concert" short more than the usual pic of the DL band.
Pic #1: It looks like a blimp is docked to that right, back turret/steeple/thingy (whatever it's called) of the castle.
Pic #2: I see a train engineer's silhouette under the "Horsecars" sign. Or someone who has a Frankenstein-monster's-shaped head.
I love the orange and gold colors against the other darker colors.
Great 'you-are-there' shots, today - thank you, Major.
FYI: TokyoMagic's 1981 Christmas parade post (plus more) is now posted...see HERE!
Post a Comment