Today I am sharing one of my favorite early Disneyland souvenirs. Looking at the photo, you might wonder what the heck it is; admittedly the shape is a bit odd, but there's a reason for it. This is a fan, made up of five segments all shaped alike; when unfurled, you can "lock" the individual "leaves" in place by overlapping the tabs with the leaf next to it. It's harder to describe than it is to do.
"Acres of Fun", short and sweet. Notice the 1955 copyright date.
Here's one side, featuring those wonderful, colorful illustrations of five attractions; including the "Canal Boat Ride"; the Astrojets (which didn't officially open until March 24, 1956}; the Mark Twain; the Pirate Ship; and Sleeping Beauty Castle.
The other side is just as nice, with more beautiful illustrations, including the Casey Jr. ride; the Clock of the World (and Rocket to the Moon); the Skyway (which did not open until June 25, 1956); the Stage Coach Ride; and the "Tropical River Ride". Yes, the word "ride" was used liberally back in those days, no matter what Marty Sklar said.
I'm a bit puzzled by the inclusion of two attractions that did not open until 1956; it's possible that whoever designed this item was told about those upcoming features. Or of course this fan might not have been sold until 1956, in spite of the 1955 copyright.
The fan came with a mailing envelope (often lost over the years), what a wonderful thing to send to a friend or family member. "Marge, we gotta go to California next Summer and see this Disneyland place!".
D-23 made a reproduction of the fan years ago (fortunately clearly marked as a "Disney Archives" copy), it's well done, and can usually be found for $20 or so. The concept of this item is so simple, just five pieces of die-cut card stock, printed on both sides, held together with a grommet. You'd think that they could have produced updated versions, or unique variations for each land, or even for individual attractions. Imagine one for the Haunted Mansion, for instance! But this was a "one and done" souvenir.
Major-
ReplyDeleteWhat a great keepsake - and in such fine condition.
"I'm a bit puzzled by the inclusion of two attractions that did not open until 1956..." YEAH - inquiring minds want to know-! Were they attempting to pull a fast one, or what-?
Talk about difficult choices in Tomorrowland: Clock of the World or Rocket to the Moon. Decisions... decisions... NOT-! Naturally, it's the CLOCK.
Thanks, Major.
Monstro is looking especially fierce, like he can't wait to gobble up the approaching canal boat.
ReplyDeleteI like the pointy noses on the Astrojets. "Fly it yourself", well OK. I see that the artist used his/her artistic license to the max in depicting the Jets flying freely all over the countryside.
The Mark Twain and the Pirate Ship are both shown with a lot of accurate detail. Although, I don't think the Pirate Ship ever had red and yellow sails, did it? I always picture them as red and white.
I, for one, am disappointed... they left out The Dent and The Stain from the Sleeping Beauty Castle illustration! ;-)
The TWA Moonliner was, and always will be, the most iconic Disneyland image to me. How much ya wanna bet that the artist didn't know how to tell what time it was by looking at the Clock of the World, any more than the rest of us?
I was going to comment that the Skyway Ride is depicted as going over vast stretches of open fields, orchards and undeveloped land... but of course, that's pretty much how it looked back then.
I really like the artistic style of these illustrations; colorful, exciting, and fairly accurate. Thanks for sharing the fan with us, Major.
Wow, such beautiful artwork! I like your idea, Major, of having fans for the different lands and even individual attractions. It's too bad that they didn't think of that. Thanks for sharing this item with us, Major!
ReplyDeleteAt first I thought this was a newer item: possibly from the 70's or something: it seems so colorful, and the logo is decidedly the more commercial Disneyland than the more fanciful/hand drawn Disneyland we often see in older pieces. Even the different shades of blue look lightyears ahead of their time. This is a very well crafted piece, as simple as it is. Perhaps this is something that I would have kept in my collection as it's "Acres of Fun". All of the illustrations are lovely..with some very appropriate creative license. I like the pointy-ness of the Rocket Jets and how they mimic the TWA version. Everything is awesome. As a kid I would be staring at this for hours and hours and hours. As and adult: probably the same. I don't know if I've seen the actual sign for the Tropical River Ride: will have to check Jason's site: I'm sure something exists. I'm also sure they probably had to say "ride" to help the guests: which at that time were probably commonly referred to as customers, understand what these things were. Now we just take these things for granted. I'm trying to remember if we referred to anything as an "experience"....or was it experience the adventures and attractions? The Clock of the World gets a lot of screen time on this: "CLOCK OF THE WORLD and rocket to the moon." Was it always down or something and we were embarrassed? The future is full of palm trees of course. It's amazing that the envelope is unscathed and word has it Major that "mint" is your flavor. Congrats: this is a winner: and very interesting that the logo is the "skinny" font on the envelope. The "feeling" that this piece gives me is of the 1970's "dial guide" which I bought at the Alpine Gardens souvie stand: along with a Mickey square lucite keychain: I LOVE those keychains too...everyone in school had one when they got cars: I didn't get a car, and the keychain was too precious to me to actually use for anything. The dial guide I looked at for hours and hours and hours. It wasn't as special as this fan: but it had some "game". I kept it in it's flat bag to "preserve" it, and had the employee put the flat bag in another bag to preserve that. Since cash was scarce, anything of any value was very much kept as mint as possible...you would have been very proud Major! I don't covet too many things anymore: but If I had this fan: it would probably be preserved in a drawer in a very special way. From a wanna be illustrators perspective: it is very nicely done. Thanks Major for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI've seen this Disneyland souvenir show up on eBay from time to time, but never in such beautiful condition as this. What a treasure. It's these odd but creative Disneyland items that I love. Great artwork. It would've been super cool if they did other fans of "lands" and attractions as you said.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Major.
This is so unusual, Major. What a find!
ReplyDeleteI had no idea something like this existed. Have we seen people carrying this in photos? It’s an odd concept if it wasn’t meant to be used for cooling.
The little drawings are just perfect. I think you’re correct, the illustrations of things to come are based on descriptions. I think we have seen that on some other early ephemera where expectations exceeded eventual reality.
Also, someone, somewhere, was pretty excited about that World Clock, which, like most futuristic architectural design, only makes sense to architects and can’t be figured out by mere mortals. At least the Moonliner is included, which everyone remembers.
Thanks for sharing this unusual souvenir!
JG
There sure were a lot of "rides" back then! Before that term was stricken from the DL lexicon.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I think I’ve seen other early Disneyland items that mention the Skyway, at least, so it is very possible that the creator of this fan was told about the upcoming attractions. I love the Clock of the World, but it’s got nothing on the Rocket to the Moon!
ReplyDeleteJB, it’s true, Monstro looks extra PO’d. The poster for the Astro Jets shows the rockets with pointy tips, I guess that’s what they thought they’d look like initially. Not sure why, since it is an “off the shelf” ride, we’ve seen it at other parks. As for the yellow sails, I think that’s just artistic license, the yellow shows up better against the white background. No idea if the artist knew how the Clock worked, but it’s not that hard! And yes, when the Skyway opened, there really was still a lot of undeveloped land.
TokyoMagic!, maybe they could make similar fans today??
Bu, yeah, this is one of those great early items that is so fun - a great idea, great design, and wonderful artwork. Not a Stitch or Elsa or Baymax in sight! I’m glad that I have my example, since these have gone up in price so much. In fact I had three at one point, sold the one without the envelope, and am thinking of selling the other one. Imagine getting one of these fans in the mail from your friend who went to California! It would definitely be one of those things I would have looked at a LOT. And then begged my parents to go to Disneyland someday. Maybe the Clock got top billing just because it was closer? I do like “mint”! Those dial guides are great, I made a point of getting those, with all of their variations. I think there might be 7 different versions. I am very proud that you managed to keep yours in mint condition!
K. Martinez, if only we could buy things like this today, I usually go into the shops at Disneyland and walk out empty-handed. It’s all so homogenous! And boring.
JG, I don’t recall ever seeing one of these in the hands of a guest in a photo, but it would be a fun find for sure. And yes, many early Disneyland items are charming in their inaccuracy, it’s what I like about them! In the case of the Clock illustration, I wonder if the artist worked from a photo? It’s pretty spot-on.
Steve DeGaetano, you aren’t kidding!
What a cool souvenir! I bet a lot of ladies picked one of these up on a hot afternoon in the park. At first glance I thought it was going to be like those die-cut fans like you see in Southern churches, but I really like the design. I have a whole box of fans in my costume closet, and now that I know these exist I'll have to add one to my wish list.
ReplyDeleteIf I had gotten one of those, I'd be begging to go to Disneyland to fly an Astrojet myself and then figure out what the Clock of the World did.
ReplyDelete