Vintage Disneyland Ephemera
Oh yeah, more paper ephemera from Disneyland! My favorite.
Let's start with this unusual item, an advertisement for "Papotin's Revue" - a puppet show that was performed in the Fantasyland Theater. "Incomparable puppet-master" André Tahon was in Disneyland in the Summer of 1963; this unusual attraction even appeared in the ticket books, requiring an "E" coupon. For a puppet show! I don't know about you, but puppets scare me. Those staring eyes, you know? I'm not crazy! I'm not sure if these cards were handed out at the front gate (they are about the size of a large postcard), or if they were displayed, poster-style, in the windows of the ticket booths. Either way, I've only seen two or three in my many years as a collector.
Next is another scarce and unusual item, a single-sided flyer encouraging guests to RIDE THE MONORAIL TO DISNEYLAND. Which implies that this was handed out to folks who were staying at the Disneyland Hotel. Don't walk like a sucker! And trams are so old-fashioned. There's no date printed, but Monorail service to (and from) the Hotel began in 1961. Yes, the discoloration bugs me, but so far crying loudly has not changed a thing.
I hope you have enjoyed today's vintage Disneyland ephemera!
11 comments:
2 part tickets...better hold on to that second half or else you'll have to take the DH Tram home...! Thank you Major
Major-
"I don't know about you, but puppets scare me".
But they're presented by André Tahon - that "Fabulous Parisian Puppeteer". You simply can't argue with such stellar credentials. Just think, it could've been worse... Disneyland might have chosen “Les Poupées de Paris” - that 'adult-themed' puppet show with topless puppets - produced by Sid and Marty Krofft (as seen at the Seattle World's Fair). THOSE puppets were probably scary-!
Thanks, Major.
"Y'know the thing about a puppet, he's got...lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes..." ; -)
Major- Cool ephemera today Major. Things I've never seen before. Thanks.
-DW
Hmmm, "André Tahon".... Sounds an awful lot like "André Toulon", the puppetmaker in the horror movie "Puppet Master" (1989). I wonder if they named the movie character after this real puppeteer? The puppet illustration in today's card even looks vaguely like one of the murderous puppets in the film. Too many coincidences to be a coincidence, I think.
Somehow it seems odd to see this kind of entertainment in Disneyland. Maybe Walt and Lillian saw this puppeteer while visiting France?
"but so far crying loudly has not changed a thing."
Major, try stomping your foot real hard and holding your breath... always works for me. I don't mind the discoloration; it looks like sepia tone. OK, so it's a little blotchy; that just makes it look like it's been deliberately 'antiqued'.
"The trains cannot accommodate strollers or wheel chairs." Is that still true today? If so, then that calls into question the reason they gave us for removing the Skyway.
Thanks for more of your paper collection, Major.
Oddly: when I saw this paper ad, with the puppet guy...it was extremely familiar to me- have no idea or why....but I've seen this guy, I've seen this show...somewhere, somehow. Perhaps in Paris? I don't know, but I'll do some meditation to roll back the tape. Some puppets kind of creep me too (Thunderbirds are Go!: completely fascinated and creeped me at the same time with it's SUPERMARIONATION): but not like clowns. I LOVED my puppets back in the day, my escape into my "little world". I had a puppet stage as well: that wasn't like the Sound of Music, but it had a little curtain and I loved doing shows. I just saw a video history about Charles Nelson Reilly and he had a similar childhood with puppets. Also as a kid I remember seeing the Bob Baker Marionette show at Christmastime: which was actually kind of "Disney Magical": with puppets that could very well have been designed and produced by WED. The Monorail "one sheeter" is interesting...and interesting that they had to market it...I guess since it was so innovative and new, they had to tell people what it was. Tram or Monorail? Is that a real question? I do enjoy a more "traditional" entry into the park, with each "scene" being viewed as designed. I'm glad the WDW Monorail drops you at the gate and not in Tomorrowland. I think that in 63...being blast into the center of Disneyland in Tomorrowland was way more exciting than being dumped at the gate: and they could also market a round trip from the hotel without guests going into the park. In my time that was $4.00, and not really "advertised". I suppose an E ticket for the Monorail and and E ticket for a puppet show don't really equate: I will have to ponder that. It also seems that the puppet show should have been a free attraction: but perhaps Andre was an expensive guy to book: with all that travel from Paris. Or perhaps the show was financed by Walt like the Monorail and he wanted the cash? There is a story somewhere: a random French puppeteer in Fantasyland needs some explanation. No strollers or wheelchairs in the Monorail...what about prams? Are there any photos of big English prams in Disneyland? Just asking. Thanks Major for Empherathursday.
walterworld, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one of those two-part tickets, but I sure would love to have one in my collection!
Nanook, yeah, that naughty puppet show from the Kroffts is so strange, but hey, sex sells, even if it’s just puppets. I believe that the Poupèes were also at the New York World’s Fair - I can’t remember if I’ve shared a photo of the exterior yet.
DW, “lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes”, say that would be a good line in a movie!
JB, I’ve never seen “Puppet Master”, my mom won’t let me see scary movies! It does seem like an odd coincidence that the two names are so similar. Maybe Wikipedia has some info? My mom won’t let me go on Wikipedia either. I think “Puppet Master” should have been about puppets who like to hug and encourage each other to make pictures with glitter and macaroni. I’ve tried stomping my foot, especially at job interviews. It always works! That’s why I am the CEO of Google. I’ve heard so many differing theories about why the Skyway went away, I’m sure lack of wheelchair access was at least one reason. But Skyway-type rides have largely vanished from amusement parks, in general - sadly.
Bu, I can’t guess as to where you might have seen an ad for Andrè Tahon’s “Papotin’s Revue”, especially since it is from 1963. Maybe you just saw a similar vintage piece of ephemera on some other blog? There are at least two other Disneyland paper items with ads for that show, I have them both. One is very rare, the other is fairly easily found. “Thunderbirds are Go!”, I loved that show when I was a kid, for some reason I always noticed when the characters had beads of sweat on their foreheads. Puppets sweating! Who knew. I don’t ever remember playing with puppets, though I might have when I was very young. I know I had some sort of marionette that I could never get the hang of, and then the strings got hopelessly tangled and knotted. Like you, I enjoy the traditional entry via Main Street. Only once did I take the Monorail into the park (because we were directed to park in some distant lot), and I did not care for the experience of starting in Tomorrowland, as much as I love Tomorrowland. That being said, staying at the Disneyland Hotel and having the opportunity to travel via Monorail to the park would have been a pretty unique experience. I think JB might be on to something, perhaps Walt saw Mr. Tahon in France, and thought that it would be just the thing for Fantasyland. I’ll have to see if I can find any more info online. I can’t imagine the life of a puppeteer was an easy one, full of glamour and riches. Perhaps a puppet show would work better in Europe for tourists (wanting to experience some old-world charm) than at Disneyland?
I want to start off by saying I am not anti-puppet, but there is no puppet show in the world that would get me to part with an E ticket. Sorry friends, it’s a C ticket max.
I always wondered how the monorail ticketing worked for hotel guests back in the day.
We stayed at the DH in 2015 and rode into the Park, but all we had to do was show the entry ticket, of course. Major, like you, I’m not a huge fan of skipping Main Street, but it was ok to do once.
I’ve heard that catching the first train in is a reasonable alternate to rope-drop madness, although you still don’t get a short line to Space Mountain.
Thank you for these rare ephemera, I would never have known about the puppets otherwise.
JG
Pro-Puppet here. It's an ancient form of theater that goes back to Ancient Greece BC. In many ways it's similar to animation in that by giving an inanimate object movement it gives it the illusion of life. Kind of like Audio-Animatronics, but more primitive.
A favorite of mine are the shadow puppet films from China in the early 1900's telling a story and narrative. Amazing artform that has been used in film today.
I'd pay an 'E' ticket for a puppet show.
Happy Ephemera Day and thanks, Major.
Forgot to say I LOVE Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5 and Stingray. Gerry Anderson's futuristic puppetry and sci-fi storytelling television shows were a major part of my childhood.
Major-
If you miss seeing a 'proper' puppet production [speaking of alliteration...] there's always the scene in Stanley Donen's 1963 film, Charade; and for a real thrill, you haven't lived until you've witnessed "Le petit Chaperon Rouge' in puppet show form as seen in CINERAMA - which was a part of the 2nd production - Cinerama Holiday, (1955) when the [real life] American couple visits Paris - although both productions use stick or rod puppets - no strings here.
JG, I’m afraid I agree, I can’t see myself parting with a precious E ticket for Papotin; Remember, at best you only had four or five of those! You could buy more, but my guess is that a lot of people wouldn’t spend more money. I wonder if there was ever any discussion of having a Monorail station out front? Not directly in front of Main Street Station of course, but perhaps off to the side? No idea, really. There is not often a big line for the DLRR, so I think I would have to save that for later and head to one of the “big rides” - in my case it is always Space Mountain. What a treat to walk on in a mere couple of minutes! You can often do it twice in a row, with only a minimal wait for the second ride.
K. Martinez, I’m not really anti-puppet, though I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a puppet show that I loved. When I was VERY young my grandparents took us to see Bob Baker’s marionettes, but I only remember flashes of it, including a big spider that was walked out into the crowd of kids!
Nanook, I’ve seen Charade many times, including fairly recently on Amazon+, it’s one of my favorites. I’m not sure how to view Cinerama Holiday, especially in its crazy ultra wide-screen format.
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