Randos
It felt like a good day to share some RANDOS. 1950s randos, that is. Starting with this beautiful shot of Sleeping Beauty Castle. Undated, unfortunately. It looks like Winter, at any rate. I like the bright clear color, this one is almost POSTCARD WORTHY. I don't care if it's a little chilly, I could still use an ice cream bar from the ice cream vendor's cart.
Over to the left we see some ladies taking an afternoon break on a handy bench, and we see one of the little billboard signs with a map of Fantasyland for guests who were not yet familiar with the layout of the park. I believe those signs were only there through early 1956, so that helps a little with figuring out the date. Beneath the sign is a rack (notice the yellow sign) that held copies of The Disneyland News, a multi-page newspaper, with new issues released every few months, especially in those early years when so much was going on.
I was trying to figure out which issue of The Disneyland News was in the rack, though it's hard to tell. I thought it might be this first issue.
I Photoshopped a reduced image into the picture, and tilted it, since it appears that the issues of The Disneyland News have slumped in the rack a bit. It doesn't quite match, but I can't find another issue that works.
In the former image, I also put in this "Vol 1, No. 9" issue, but I don't think it really matches either. Darnit! I found some other issues on Google, but just couldn't find one that seemed to fit. I own perhaps six issues of The Disneyland News, going up to 1959 or 1960.
Another scan is this faded, but pretty view from the Flower Market on West Center Street; a woman with Gibson Girl hair (and modern dark glasses!) arranges some silk flowers at a cart. It looks like there might be corsages in those round clear boxes on the right side of the cart.
23 comments:
Major-
Hey - what happened to the pennants usually lining the bridge of the SBC-?
Gee, according the Congressman James B. Utt, Walt is known as "Mr. Magic". Who knew-? (I thought only the Nixon girls were allowed to call him that).
Thanks, Major.
Like Nanook said, the banners alongside the bridge are missing! I think the poles are there, but no banners. And I have to muster all my imagination to see even a hint of The Dent. Even then, I'm not sure.
The photo on the cover of The Disneyland News seems to be placed on the right half of the paper; whereas, the cover photos of the two issues you show here have the photo on the left half... unless I'm seeing it wrong.
Most of the guests in the first photo look like they just got off the boat from The Olde Country. Thanks for the Randos, Major.
I don't think the ice cream cart vendors sold ice cream in the winter. I believe they only sold fresh chestnuts roasted on a open fire, and figgy pudding on a stick. Ask Bu, I'm sure he'll confirm this.
I wonder if those corsages were made with fresh flowers, or fake ones? The purple orchids look just like the plastic one that they put in a mint julep that my mom and I shared, during a 1969 park visit. We brought that flower home with us, and managed to keep it for about 20 years or more. Then it disappeared, gosh darn it!
Thanks for the Randos, Major!
Are my eyes playing tricks on me? It looks like there is a little booth or structure of some sort just in front of the castle’s portcullis. It has a blue and white striped roof and a gold crenellated, um, roof edge thingy (toss me a bone here, would ya, JG?). What in the world could that be?
The woman in the. Flower Market photo looks surprisingly like my mother in profile, right down to the glasses, although she never had red hair or worked at Disneyland.
Both photos managed to capture shutterbugs in action. Disneyland is just infested with them.
Thanks, Major!
Chuck, I believe that was the ticket booth specifically for the Carousel. It shows up in some older photos.
TM!, ok, that makes sense to me. I guess it’s an optical illusion that it’s in front of the portcullis. Bright lighting and the fact that its spire is positioned right between two verticals of the portcullis were fooling my eyes. Now I can even see the lights on the carousel. Thanks for making the world make sense again!
Chuck, I can’t see what you are seeing in that pic, but sounds like Tokyo has helped you out?
Major, that is a fine Castle pic. Could it be Pre-Dent? There’s a guy in baggy tweeds taking a picture of our photographer taking a picture of him.
The front page story on that first newspaper describes themed trash cans in all the “kingdoms”, so I guess at least some were present from the start.
What a lot of work on researching that paper, nice work, but too bad there’s no conclusion. I wonder if there is a library archive of those newspapers somewhere? Maybe Mike has one in his PeopleMover? I like that photo of Red Skelton.
The Flower Mart Lady is a pretty picture. All the Gibson Girls wear sunglasses to stay incognito. She looks like she is packaging those orchids as corsages. See the bark pole in the pot, like the orchids are growing on it. And rolls of colored ribbon on the cart. Maybe that was a Mothers Day special?
Thanks for your hard work, Major!
JG
Nanook, some teenagers with greasy hair and untucked shirts were seen in the park on that day, and it is suspected that they took the banners! “James B. Utt”, was he friends with “I.P. Daily”?
JB, maybe the banners were sent to the dry cleaners. And yeah, the dent doesn’t show at all in this photo, though you can see that the lighting would make it difficult to spot. As I said, I think the issues in the newspaper rack have “slumped”, which makes the photo appear to be more in the right side. But I could be wrong!
TokyoMagic!, I have only had roasted chestnuts once, and thought they tasted terrible. I’ve always wondered if I got one that had spoiled somehow? Or do they all taste like that? The plastic box made me think that the corsages were real flowers, but of course they would sell fake flower corsages in the same plastic boxes. Hmmmm!
Chuck, at least you aren’t seeing the little pink elephants like I am seeing. That ticket booth is actually on the other side of the castle, though it does almost look like it is on “our” side. I think that has something to do with Halley’s Comet. The Flower Market lady looks like she would have been quite pretty, maybe that’s how she got the gig. Pretty salesgals get better results!
TokyoMagic!, I concur.
Chuck, listen, your scientific mumbo jumbo can explain a lot of things, but can it explain why people like country music??
JG, I thought the dent was there from the beginning, but I really don’t know. I still have no idea how a roof-thingy (technical term) could get dented once it was 25 feet up. I didn’t even really read the Disneyland News articles, I was all about the pictures. Just like Playboy magazine. I have looked for an online archive of those newspapers, because people have done similar archives with other Disneyland publications, but I could not find one. I think I have six issues (or so), and none of them matched. That poor lady suffered from “bark wrist” from potting so many artificial orchids. She couldn’t play the harp anymore!
Major, no, I am not seeing little pink elephants - just big ones. Is that significant?
If the Flower Market lady looked like my mother, then by definition she was quite pretty.
There is no scientific explanation for why sone people like country music. But I’m ok with that. I don’t want to see high art reduced to a bunch of egghead gobbledygook.
Curse you, Autocorrect!!!! I have no idea why my phone insists on changing “some” to “sone.” That’s not even a cromulent word!
An absolutely splendid castle photo today Major. One could hardly direct a nicer composition. Thanks for all the extra sleuthing too.
The flower lady is a vision of sweet springtime, love the washed out pastel green hue to it all. Wonderful to see how elaborate the set-up originally was. Hand made corsages, in fine boxes, from a fancy cart and an elaborately dressed lady?! I just remember mostly bad plastic fake flowers in tin buckets…in a profusion of colors, or either side of Main Street.
MS
Major, nice randos.
I poked around a little online, couldn't find a complete list/scans of Disneyland News... seems like an opportunity gone missing.
I think I see the famous Ace Hardware garden border on the lawn behind the news rack.
And I'm fascinated by the design on the wheel of the ice cream cart... fascinated... fascinated... fascina...
@ Chuck-
HERE'S a lovely view of that ticket booth. There are a number of other ticket booths similar in style, scattered around in Fantasyland.
Major-
Had you not been lallygagging-around and 'in your cups' you might have noticed Congressman James B. Utt represented areas [that, at the time] included Anaheim. (I don't believe he was acquainted with I.P. Daily; but he was a good friend of Tommy Hawk...)
Chuck, the big ones are OK, no need to worry. I only like music made by AI, it’s the best; hu-mans are obsolete!
Chuck, let’s make “sone” a word so that you don’t have to curse.
MS, I agree, I kind of like the overexposed look of the second photo. The lady in green has a lot of hair! I’ll bet it looked great when she let it down. I wonder if the corsages were only sold around special occasions, such as Easter? Or Grad Nite?
LTL, yeah, I looked for the Disneyland News archive, but it didn’t exist! Of course my readers often find things that I cannot. Hey, yeah, it’s that little fencing! Only used through to 1956, I believe. I didn’t even notice the wheel on the ice cream cart, so thanks for pointing that out!
Nanook, I give anybody with the name “James B. Utt” credit for excelling in spite of that name! I’ve known some people with equally unfortunate names, like my mom’s friend, Mrs. Pecker. Her first name makes it even better, but I want to give her at least a bit of anonymity.
Chuck, now I understand your question. The Rick-rack design on the ticket booth is a form of “crenellation”.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crenellation
And “sone” is a word: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sone
So it is just and fair for you to curse autocorrect at all times and in all places.
Hope this helps.
And now I love that cart wheel, thank you LTL,
JG
You can find a nice collection of The Disneyland News on Parkendium! https://mediagraph.io/parkendium/explore/collections/the-disneyland-news
What I call the "map signs" were up from early 1956 until early 1957.
There are some really nice clothes in that first picture. I love the gray swing coat at left; it almost hangs like a wizard's cloak. The red shoes of the lady on the bench are a nice touch, the trousers of the gents with the camera hang perfectly, the red and green coats of the ladies at center add a festive touch, and the blue tartan skirt really sets off the red and white stripes of the popcorn wagon.
I think we should be proud of ourselves for knowing "portcullis" and "crenellation" and let the roof thingies worry about themselves.
I am impressed by the Major's dedication to identifying the newsletter issue, even if it didn't yield the hoped-for results. It's probably the April Fools issue with the headline about converting the Frontierland Shootin' Arcade to a DVC Lounge... oh, wait, that's not funny.
Jason Schultz, thanks for that link to Disneyland News archive!
so, if I *had* to guess, I'd say that issue is from January 10, 1956, and the image on the cover is surprisingly a Keel Boat...
DL News link
Another nice resource I recently noticed….not quite DLNews, but Eyes&Ears +
MS
https://archive.org/details/progress-city-disneyana-collection
Oops…
https://archive.org/details/progress-city-disneyana-collection
JG, I thought a crenellation was a delicious, flaky pastry. Try one with honey butter! Autocorrect works well 90% of the time, but it’s that 10% that makes it so annoying. If you know what I mean.
Jason Schultz, THANK YOU! Also, I could have sworn that those signs were there in ’55, but I know it’s bad to swear.
Melissa, what the heck is a swing coat? Are you supposed to wear it while at the playground? Red shoes always make a statement, especially if you happen to be a Pope. Which I am. “Portcullis” is a pretty great word, it is worth knowing. It would also be a good name for a child. I did spend some time trying to ID the Disneyland News issue, but I know I could have done more. However, I’ll sleep like a baby - no guilt here!
LTL, that January 10, 1956 issue is a good candidate! It must be a rare issue, because I don’t remember ever seeing it before.
MS, thank you for the link to the Eyes + Ears publications!
Eyes, Ears, Crenelation and Mr. Magic...an awesome post and I wish I had more time for forensics. What I first saw: the "half seating areas"...that later became full seating areas....that later became: no seating and extra railings...my question is: was this area designed to become what it would become...or was it this and they (Mr. Magic) ran out of cash? It's interesting that the smaller walkway actually makes the Castle look smaller to me: I do prefer the larger forecourt which now and back in my time extended into those grassy areas and where the map was: the frame of that map is very much like the one I had in my garage that was the parking lot sign that I have yet to see in photos. Not a kid in sight in this Disneyland and I enjoy that completely. I don't mind kids...it more what the emanate vocally and otherwise. TM: we did not have figgie pudding on a stick: but under the counter we did have Vodka minis for parents that really needed them: which I totally get. Thanks Jason, MS and others for the links: when I have more time I look forward to seeing all of it. Thanks Major!
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