A Pair o' LEFTUGGIES™
Let's all wish a BIG "Happy Birthday" to Junior Gorilla David W.!
Once again, Sue B. has provided a special scan for a special event; David W. loves the old pie-eyed Mickey, and this cake (for "Richie Boy"!) has a folk-art version of the Mouse. His giant ears have cowboys (?) on horseback. Don't ask, just go with it! There are other little toys on the cake too, lots of fun for Richie, and for us.
Meanwhile, it's time for some Leftuggies! I hope you brought a good appetite. First up is this great photo of The Friendship Train (circa September, 1973). All aboard! I only have eyes for the two groovy babes in their watermelon-pink outfits. In the background is the Carousel Theater; the Carousel of Progress would close on September 9th of 1973, so perhaps lucky guests might be able to catch one last show, though of course it might have already shut down at this point.
Sorry, guy in the middle, those gals are the main attractions!
Next is this beautiful shot (September, 1971) of the entry turnstiles as night falls. Maybe folks were showing up for Labor Day festivities, and/or to hear a Big Band at the Plaza Gardens. It must have been fun to be a local who could just pop into the park on a pleasant September evening.
18 comments:
Oh my. I actually chuckled aloud when that Mickey face appeared. Those ears!!! I think they're made of paper, maybe covered with frosting? A slightly different color and texture than the rest of the face. I don't think the pastry chef had a photo of Mickey to go by... or maybe they did, and it still turned out this way. I like the decorative capital letters. Richie Boy just turned two, so he isn't gonna notice any imperfections anyway. Happy birthday Richie, and happy birthday, David W.. Enjoy your cake!
Thanks, Sue. Another 'winner' of a photo.
Leftuggie #1) I don't see any guests on the ramps of the CoP, so maybe it was already shut down? Although, I guess it's not unusual to not see any people on the outside.
Close-up) Hmm, I think those watermelon gals' costumes would look better with some sort of belt, or sash, around their waist.
Leftuggie #2) "Maybe folks were showing up for Labor Day festivities, and/or to hear a Big Band at the Plaza Gardens." Nope. They're showing up two years early to make sure they stake out a good location to see The Friendship Train perform.
The photo looks a little 'foggy', like maybe the camera lens was handled by someone with greasy fingers. Perhaps that was an artistic choice; it does make the photo look kinda different and interesting.
Happy Birthday again to DW! And thanks again to Sue for making us chuckle! And thanks again to Major for GDB!
I love almost any shot of the Tomorrowland Terrace Stage, but especially if the COP is showing in the background. "The Friendship Train" is a pretty groovy name. I wonder if the lady on the left could be Carol Merrill's sister?
Happy Birthday, David W.!!! And thanks for another fun image, Sue! I wonder if once Richie Boy got older, he grew his hair long, put tons of ribbons in it, and everyone called him Boy Richie?
^ Ouch! Do you really want to hurt me? ;-)
Do you really want to hurt me?
JB, no, but I'll tumble 4 ya! ;-)
Happy birthday David W! Pieces: A visionary, and the water sign: possibly you enjoy Pirates of the Caribbean, Small World and the Dancing Waters show at the Disneyland Hotel (?) Onto the Friendship Train and the shiny terrazzo floor at Coke Terrace. Looks like Prince Andrew in there just got off his shift in ODV: wearing his yellows. The base player too: both with the red and white stripes around the arms. The guys to the right of the stage seem to be enjoying the ... show...Watermelon is my favorite color. I have not noticed before: and maybe it's in another incarnation, that the GE sign background is yellow. I like it, and I do like yellow a lot. That someone would dream up that this stage would go up and down, and that it was possible is kind of amazing. Not sure that I would just come up with this idea, but in the future: these exist everywhere. I have told the stories about the break room/green room underneath here, and the small tunnels with the tubes containing Coke syrup going up to the fountains upstairs. If you work in foods, the contract says you must get a meal every day: so this .50 per hour was added to your paycheck. Free Cokes on a break: but not on lunch because you were "officially off the clock". I begged to differ as you needed to stay onsite in that half hour...HOWEVER...it was completely legal to change your costume into street clothes, leave the park, go to your car...drive to wherever you wanted to have lunch, come back, change back into your costume, and go back to work...as long as you punched out and were back in 1/2 hour exactly to the second. I'm not sure many people availed themselves of this opportunity. More blondes and pink at the gate. What was that ticket called? The twilight ticket? Seems like they really should do this now as they have much more control over it with electronic ticketing. Some people (like me) would choose to go in over forgoing the $150+ and not visiting at all. I think half price after 7pm sounds reasonable. Food for thought for the bean counters reading this blog. There are some Doublemint girls in groovy blue stripes and another in a "Maxi" dress: the competitive response to the "mini skirt". Someone who I worked with in ODV: Jean...she was kind of a fantastic hellion. She decided to "change her image" and went from crazy, very revealing street clothes to somewhat of collection of humble nun's-habit-type-wear. "I decided to change my image!" she declared backstage when I questioned it...well that lasted a NY minute after a nefarious night at the Banana Ball: A Jungle Cruise sponsored night event (NOT a Disney supported event). That was quite the night, and the JC guys who read this can weigh in...quite the talk of the park the day, weeks, months and years after. Thanks Major.
Happy Birthday David W! Many Happy Returns of the Day! Thanks for sharing your memories with us!
That band is a “Cheerful Earful” and. A “Joyful Eyeful”! Might not be so bad being the guy in the middle.
The Ticket Plaza view is just perfect. What a great picture.
Thanks Major!
JG
Happy Birthday, David W.! Have a good one.
Nice Tomorrowland Terrace pic.
JB, I wondered about those ears as well… are they flat discs of chocolate? Perhaps piped or spread onto a baking sheet and when flipped over, they appear completely smooth? I appreciate that the decorator tried! I have the feeling that the CoP was already closed, very sad to think that only weeks (or days) earlier it had been full of guests. I’m OK without a sash on those ladies, they look great to me! I would never see Friendship Train, their audiences were too violent and rowdy. If you were lucky you’d only have a bloody nose by the end of the night. The second photo does look a little greasy. Or maybe rain got on the lens?
TokyoMagic! I know the name “Carol Merrill”, but forget who she was. An actress? Was she one of the hostesses on “The Price is Right”? Something like that. Boy George was enough, we don’t need a Boy Richie!
JB, only in self defense.
TokyoMagic!, I don’t even know what that means, and never did.
Bu, Prince Andrew had many talents, most of which we can’t discuss on this “family blog”. I miss the days when Tomorrowland had regular rock/pop acts to liven up the area. Not a light saber to be seen! Watermelon is a great color, but it’s hard to pick a favorite color. I tend to like orange things. It’s halfway between red and yellow! You said that stages that raise up “exist everywhere”… really? I guess I don’t go to the right places. Wow, so cheap to say that your half hour lunch break was “off the clock”, but at least they gave you 50 cents! Don’t spend it all in one place. I’m not aware of a Twilight Ticket, but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t exist. Maybe you mean Starlite Tickets? I was always so jealous of people who lived close enough to Disneyland that they could stop by in the evening for a few hours of fun, imagine getting to do that regularly! Nowadays there are people who go several times a week, and that would not be my thing. I used to think that I was odd for how much I liked Disneyland, and now I discover that I’m barely a fan compared to some!
JG, a “joyful eye” for sure, I am in love with both of those ladies. Groovy and beautiful.
K. Martinez, I always enjoy a good picture of the Tomorrowland Terrace.
Major, Carol Merrill was the model for years, on the older version of "Let's Make A Deal." She was always standing in front of a curtain, a door, or a box, which Monty Hall was offering to the contestants. And he always referred to her by her full name.
I also don't know what "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" means. After typing that out, I was hoping that it wasn't code for something dirty. I just now checked. Boy George has stated that it was about the band wanting to become "the next big thing" in the business.
However, it might mean something entirely different to "Boy Richie."
Another Happy Birthday is in order, this time to DW. And Sue really came up a doozie of a cake for ya too, courtesy of Richie Boy. I wonder how it tasted. Mom sure put in quite an effort.
Major...look very carefully at the Friendship Train. That's Phil ("Fang") Volk of Paul Revere and the Raiders fame in the middle. His wife and two sisters were also members.
In my time in foods, I was given a 'meal ticket' for redemption at the Inn Between. It was good for up to $2 which provided you with enough, if not more than, to keep going for the rest of the day. Back then, beyond the berm, a Big Mac Meal with small Coke and fries was $.95, including tax.
Love that last shot at the entrance. Sets the mood for the evening. General Admission tickets were still sold then for a few bucks. And also, some would leave for the afternoon, getting their hand stamped, returning around evening for the rest of the operating hours. KS
Happy birthday, David! (birth-Dave?) In our family we call off-brand Hello Kitty knockoffs "Greetings Feline" and off-brand Mickey Mouse knockoffs "Ricky Rodent." I hope off Rickie the birthday kid is still out there and sees this, they don't mind the irony.
The second picture is all:
Kids" We want ABBA!
Mom: We have ABBA at home!
ABBA at home:
I do wish there was more live entertainment in the parks these days. There are special events and concert series (esp. at EPCOT) but it's just not the same as the old days, when there was always something going on.
I was about to award the VFA to the watermelon-pink ladies of the Friendship Train, until I saw the matching girls in their rugby-shirt dresses in the last picture. I love that the shorter girl is wearing shorter socks! If the lady in the red maxi dress had had a matching sister, she could have been a contender.
Thanks very much for the birthday wishes!!- Sue B., Major, JB, TokyoMagic!, Bu, JG, K. Martinez, KS & Melissa.
Bu- POTC is definitely my favorite attraction.
Great photos today. Nice clear shot of the band on the Coke Terrace stage, just 4 years from when I started working at the park.
-DW
OK, so after my last comment everybody knew I was going to have to give the lady in the red dress a twin sister, right?
OK, the link doesn't seem to work.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DH09w8OZm1u4ryzuK9jKnMuxJar0dSgE/view?usp=sharing
OK, aaand I also uploaded the wrong picture.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PCVEJrovti3nkcsoYEFvThVDFrwQC2mV/view?usp=sharing
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVID W!! We hope you enjoy your ride on the Carousel of Aging…”
Bu … that lower pillar wall on the Carousel Theater was always a yellow color for GE….sort of a pale cream/yellow …But in this image it appears very yellow . I don’t know if it film color distortion or maybe at some point the color was brightened up for the 70’s. I can’t find any bulletins showing a color change … but there is one that lowered the height of the tall GE roof sign …… one amazing thing is that under the INOVENTIONS exterior paint on the walls of the second level , BOTH the “AMERICA SINGS” and CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS murals are still there - covered up.
The Tomorrowland rising stage is one of my favorite things at Disneyland . Ofcouse rising stages are nothing new … the Romans used them
In the Colosseum …. And the French and Germans had elaborate ones used in the biggest opera houses in the 1700 and 1800’s.
That moody Disneyland entry /exit image is a very RARE view - especially at dusk.
I think the floral designers at Disneyland copied this cake face when they designed the current MM face at DL's entrance. Though the ears are TOO small on the DL one. See HERE.
Melissa, I think you should fill in for Major, whenever he's on vacation. You're GOOD!
Happy Birthday, DW! I'll take a piece of your birthday cake with an ear - IF it's all chocolate....but IF those are paperplates, I'll instead take the piece with that little spotted greenish monster on the left edge, middle. Thank you.
Thank you, Major.
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