It's souvenir time. Or rather, "ephemera time", since this item is not a souvenir from the park. Instead, it is a flyer with a printed date code indicating "10-55". So it is from the year 1055! 11 years before the Battle of Hastings, which is impressive. Or maybe they mean "October, 1955"? Yeah, that's probably it. Several bus companies were excited to transport people from all over the country to this new place called Disneyland, and they offered GREAT DEALS to entice them. In this case, the company was Greyhound. Leave the driving to them!
One of the things that I most enjoy about this item is the charming, slightly-amateurish illustrations. As you can see here, a family of four regards a mirage of Sleeping Beauty Castle. I think dad might be Frankenstein's Monster (no judgement, the Monster rules!).
See what I mean? I truly to do love the spot illustrations. A couple is getting cozy on Main Street, a little girl is about to board the Moonliner, two kids are on the verge of losing their lunches on the Teacups, and the World's Most Interesting Hippo (with a nearby lotus blossom) gapes for the same children. The text is pretty fun to read, too.
All this, including a room at the Mayfair Hotel, is just $16.30! That's about $186 today (incredibly), but still an amazing deal when you consider that just walking into the park could cost you about that much.
A friend of mine has a similar flyer (with red highlights rather than green) from 1957, so I can only assume that there is a 1956 version too.
Major-
ReplyDeleteI don't even know where to begin poking fun at the copy. So much of it is a scream-! Let's just say the little girl's oddly-designed 'hairdo' with those two, red bows, dangling from the ends of her hair is enough to deserve some sort of special award. Also, the SBC is drawn in a mirror image, if we are to believe the family is standing at the hub.
Thanks, Major, for sharing this swell brochure-!
Well, the red ink on the second page was misaligned with the black print. As Nanook pointed out, the girls bows are hanging off of her hair, instead of being on her hair. The triangles on the boy's face are obviously supposed to be on his feather headdress. And I'm sure those red dots on the little space girl's underwear, are supposed to be on her dress.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if the text could have been written pre-opening to DL, and then they just continued to use it throughout the opening year, even though there were some inaccuracies. I don't think Frontierland ever had a "Smithy at his forge," like Knott's did. And the riverside landmarks like New Orleans, Natchez, Mobile, West Point and Mount Vernon....wasn't there an unused original concept of having miniatures along the Rivers of America?
It's details like that that do make this a fun brochure. Thanks for sharing, Major!
Oh, and I see the last page states that the "new" price does NOT include admission to Disneyland. So I'm assuming that means that the price went up and they removed the admission to Disneyland. Of course, I suppose the price could have actually come down when they removed the admission to the park. But it's doubtful. Either way, I hope they gave the people on the tour bus a snack tray with a Zinger®. And I hope they drove them past Ava Gardner's house, so they could see her black lace lingerie hanging out on the clothesline.
ReplyDeleteWhile a bit crude, I'm nevertheless bowled over by the printing quality that they were able to accomplish in 1055!
ReplyDeleteIf Dad is the Monster, they must have airbrushed out the protruding electrical bolts in his neck. But that's OK... artistic license. I think the rest of the family is receiving a jolt of residual electricity from Dad; notice how Sis's pigtails are sticking straight out.
Like TM! said, not sure what the Frontierland text is referring to with, "famous riverside landmarks... New Orleans... Natchez... Mobile... West Point and Mount Vernon". OK, New Orleans would be there... eventually. But what about the others?
Probably wasn't necessary to show Sis's flowery underpants either. Different times.
Even though the illustrations are simple (like you and others noted, that just makes the brochure more charming), I still would have looked at this for hours... well, many minutes at least, admiring the "Disneyland" font and studying the details. Thanks, Major.
I love this, it’s so basic and crude. Like an 8th grade graphics project “Design a Sales Brochure”.
ReplyDeleteTM, I’m sure you are right, the copy sounds like it was developed (or plagiarized) from a Disney press release pre-opening. I don’t recall leatherworking or the blacksmith either.
Notice that sis has a bubble space helmet too, just part of the vibe.
I wonder where the Mayfair Hotel was located and how long a drive to ”sedate Beverly Hills”? That should probably read “sedated”, but whatever.
Thank you Major!
JG
My favorite part of this brochure is the text descriptions for Disneyland's five realms.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major.
TokyoMagic!, I was thinking the same thing about that early concept art of the Rivers of America with tableaus that never came to be. I think these descriptions were provided by Walt Disney Productions on what they anticipated. And I do love that Rivers of America early concept.
Nanook, I truly wonder who they picked to illustrate this brochure! “My niece can really draw, and she’s only 14!”. AND YET… I really do find the drawings to be charming. The red ink is a little out of register, you can’t blame the niece for that.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, yeah, the red is really “off”, they shouldn’t have let cousin Cletus run these through the printing press. He was nipping at the moonshine! Parts of this text are VERY similar to the text on a pre-opening item (which I have scanned and you will see here), it mentions New Orleans, Natachez, the “smithy”, etc, it’s as if they handed one of those to the Greyhound people and said, “Use this!”.
TokyoMagic!, hey, admission was two dollars (up from one dollar!), or maybe even $2.50, how could they possible include it?? Inflation will get you every time. This was from before Zingers existed, so they might have been given a piece of shoofly pie. Ava Gardner’s house…?
JB, the drawing of Dad is from when he had smaller bolts installed, as a nod to the latest fashion. The little girl must be related to Pippi Longstocking, with those stuck-out pigtails. See my comment to TM about the features that were mentioned, it’s kind of interesting. I assume that Walt didn’t build them due to money, or maybe space, or both, but it is intriguing to think of Disneyland with all of those. I’d love to get the 1957 version of this brochure, and any others if they are out there!
JG, one of the best things about any early Disneyland printed items is the inaccuracies - Tomorrowland with an “under the track” Monorail, horse and buggy rides through the vast empty fields near Tomorrowland (for some reason), Monstro with a slide down his tongue, and so on. The bubble space helmet is something I would have wanted, had they sold those when I was a kid (or ever). There is still a Mayfair Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, built in 1926, though the city purchased it last year for transitional housing. Can it be the same hotel? If so, not exactly walking distance to Disneyland (they are about 30 miles from each other), though closer to sedate Beverly Hills I suppose.
K. Martinez, in the upcoming blog post featuring a pre-opening brochure, there is a description of a Fantasyland ride that is quite fun, but I won’t spoil the surprise here!
Major; those buggies you mention on so many early Disneyland brochures riding around between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are leftovers elements from the concepts for the first “HOLIDAYLAND” thus was to be the park grounds extension of Main Street USA. With country park like landscapes, Victorian equestrian barns , livery stables .. the design of the built Main Street Tour Guide Garden building started out as a structure for HOLIDAYLAND. Horse drawn Buggies , Surreys , and Park Barouches would take guests on pleasant trails past gazebos, boat ponds , a “old mill stream” and a covered bridge and here guests could relax and have a pick Nic ! Hey TOKYO’s grandmother could have enjoyed her smuggled roast chicken here!! So many of the horse drawn carriages the studio built for Disneyland were intended to be used over at this first HOLIDAYLAND. Ofcouse Bill Martin’s more exciting INTERNATIONAL LAND and eventually a Swiss Snow Mountain replaced the sedate plans for HOLIDAYLAND …. But some remnants of the concept show up on early park material.
ReplyDeleteThe early plans for Walt Disney World feature a HOLIDAYLAND in the same location - between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland and would have been home to the AUTOPIA roadways and a MOTORBOAT CRUISE attraction and some kind of covered structures which might be dance pavilions ….
A three-hour tour ... Stay tuned for Gilligan's Timeshare Presentation!
ReplyDelete"FRONTIERLAND - When you walk through the old Fort gates you step into the romantic age of America's Pioneers."
ReplyDelete"Romantic," as in: Cholera, typhoid fever, dust storms, blizzards, overturned wagons in river crossings, rattlesnake bites - Yes, that type of romantic!
TM! You are cruel to Major. Well, at least you didn't mention Richard Widmark's grapefruits.
It took me a short while to realize that the $16.30 was for "half a hotel room" for three nights, plus bus transportation for one day to Disneyland, and one 3-hour tour of the LA area. You had to get to the hotel first, to start your package plan, apparently.
I think this is now one of my favorite vintage brochures, especially with everyone's input. Quite charming. Thank you, Major.
I'm flashing back to Magic Kingdom Club packages, showcased in the brochures from Personnel and "Disney News" magazine. From the winter 76/77 issue:
ReplyDeleteMAGIC KINGDOM CLUB ADVENTURE
-- Choice of 2, 3, or 4 nights deluxe accommodations at the Disneyland Hotel
-- Two days admission to Disneyland and unlimited rides and attractions EXCEPT shooting galleries (Did somebody make that necessary?). This early passport was a big deal, since peasants still had to buy books with individual ride tix.
-- Choice of undefined other activities.
All from $62.50 per adult, double occupancy. No Greyhound.
The bargain option was the MKC MINI-VACATION: Howard Johnson Motor Lodge, two MKC ticket books, etc. from $38 adult double.
At WDW, you could get four nights at the Contemporary or the Polynesian, five days of the Magic Kingdom (with 16 attractions), a day at River Country, plus "additional tickets and coupons good for choice of WDW activities", which I recall as a tad ordinary compared to the theme park.
From $148 adult double. That's four nights, monorail resort ...
For those of us who didn't even have that kind of money, the same issue promoted cheaper Disney fixes:
-- The future classics "Freaky Friday" and "The Shaggy DA", coming to a theater near you
-- 33 1/3 RPM records of songs from the New Mickey Mouse Club (debuting in January) and, for some reason, early Rankin Bass Christmas specials
-- New cartoon and feature excerpts in Super 8mm, with magnetic sound
-- And for us real cheapskates, Wonderful World of Disney would show "Goofy Takes a Holiday" plus "Babes in Toyland" (in two parts)
Ava Gardner’s house…?
ReplyDeleteMajor, yes....a certain 1950s TV show had an episode where their characters went on a "Tanner Gray Line" bus tour, that took them to Downtown Los Angeles, then down Wilshire Blvd. to the beach, and ended with a drive through Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Bell-Air, Holmby Hills and Beverly Hills. At one point they stop in front of Ava Gardner's house and they can see her laundry hanging out on the clothesline. There is a mention of a movie magazine article stating that Miss Gardner bought "scads of new clothes when she was in Rome, and that she wears nothing but black lace lingerie."
Sorry! Probably more info than you needed, I'm sure!
TM! You are cruel to Major. Well, at least you didn't mention Richard Widmark's grapefruits.
Sue, that's right, I didn't! And I won't go into a detailed explanation here, of Mr. Widmark's low-hanging grapefruits! Or Robert Taylor's orange from the Farmer's Market. Or the tin can that was crushed by Cary Grant's left rear wheel.