I Love a Parade, 1984
Today I have the pleasure of sharing more slides from Lou Perry, scanned for us by his daughter, Sue B. These are from 1984, a mere 40 years ago (gulp). I assume that the "5" on the date stamp means May, while the "G" stands for Golf.
I have the feeling that Disneyland sometimes let high school bands march on Main Street? I do know that they let schools come to visit and perform, my niece and nephew did it for several years. Though they did not march! They just walked up to people and made a noise on their respective instruments as loudly as possible. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
Anyway, here's the Mountain View (El Monte) marching band. El Monte is east of downtown LA, if you must know.
Thank you for your service, ladies! I'm imagining a marching band version of "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince and the Revolution. I'm sure Prince was a big fan of marching bands! You can just tell.
I guess the school colors were (are?) blue, white, and gold; Mary Blair would approve.
My friend told me that people in marching bands wear those tall hats because they can keep an ice-cold 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew stored for especially hot days. Why did I never think of that?
Not being an expert on marching bands, I'm not sure what you would call the group of young ladies following the band. Majorettes (not to be confused with Raisinettes)? The Color Guard?
Why, my school spirit is soaring! I hope the team murdalizes the opposition! But in a scholarly fashion, I'm not a barbarian.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
16 comments:
Major-
In the 2nd image I spot a 'hair malfunction' - bangs run-amok. (Someone grab the Aqua Net-!)
When marching bands move into [their respective] stadiums, they are usually followed by its drill team. I assume that's the group 'bringing up the rear', as it were, as seen in the 5th image.
Thanks as always to Lou and Sue. And The Major... (are you the 'Band Major' for this post-?)
Nice, crisp & clear photos; Lou Perry's trademark!
1) The banner bearers are saluting us. Or maybe the sun is in their eyes. Man, those are REALLY big marshmallows the band members have on their heads! Oh, and there are 5 (visible) trashcans.
2) Nanook has this one covered, so I'll skip to number...
3) They put too much starch in the flag, it's standing straight up!
4) Major, I still think those "tall hats" are super-sized marshmallows.
5) I don't know what those young ladies in the back of the parade are called either, but they're carrying large ice cream cones. (I know it's their gloved hands, but why are they holding them in the air?) That one gal in white just noticed, "Dang! My shoe is untied!" The gal next to her seems to be having a wardrobe malfunction.
6) Black Bart must've showed up; all the girls have their arms in the air, "Stick 'em up!"
Happy birthday Donald! And thanks to Lou, Sue, and Major for today's photos.
I agree with Nanook, the young ladies are most likely the school's "drill team."
My high school's band was invited to march at Disneyland every year, I believe. I've mentioned this before, but during my senior year, I was one of my high school's mascots. We were invited to join the band at Disneyland, but they would not allow us to drive ourselves onto the property. We would have had to arrive on the bus with the band. Since it was a long tradition for the mascots' identities to be kept a secret until the very end of the school year, we just weren't willing to reveal ourselves to the entire band, and it wouldn't have been practical to stay in costume for the entire trip. Oh, well! But that was the same year that I was in Disneyland's Christmas parade, so I still got to "parade down Main Street."
Thank you Major, Lou, Sue and Mountain View High School!
Young lady, that is not the proper way to render honors while carrying a rifle! And there is no way that weapon would pass inspection. Good grief - how on Earth did you manage to lose both the trigger group AND the barrel? Drop and give me twenty! No, you idiot - dollars! Fine, I’ll take it in a mix of bills and quarters but NO PENNIES! Now MOVE!!!!
My high school had a Cheerleader Squad, a Flag Corps (which was part of the Band), and a Drill Team (which was not but marched after them in local parades but were not invited on trips to places like the Rose Parade). There were also more colorful names used by Band members to (mostly inaccurately) describe these groups of young ladies - the Thrill Team, the Seduction Squad, and another name I won’t repeat that rhymed and ended with the word “Corps.” Ahhh…the maturity of high school boys…
TM!, you could have worn a white oval on the bus. Well, maybe not. Everyone would have recognized you.
^ That was Chuck. Thanks, Blogger…
Thanks for reminding me Major that this was 40 years ago...I'm feeling so very young right now: not only was I an adult then, I already had a somewhat seasoned Disneyland career...in a word "eek". Thank God for moisturizers. That being said: Disneyland gets free entertainment, and the kids get a free day at Disneyland and the day off school...sounds like a win, win, win. I'm not sure the band costumes communicate "Viking", but in California there are many meanings for many things. Band people seemed to be in their own world: with much more discipline than the thespian-types that I was hanging with. We were slightly unbridled...shocking as that may seem. It's nice to see a somewhat OG Main Street: with Hallmark and Kodak there. and a perfectly painted Castle at the end of the street. Looks like the new trees on the street are at their appropriate scale: and Donald has a birthday. 1984 was quite the year. Thanks to Lou and Sue and Major. Is a male majorette called a major?
WDW has high school bands all the time, I think.
I remember on my honeymoon trip we were astonished to see the Graham, Texas High School marching band going down Main Street. Graham is my father-in-law's home town, with a population of about 8,000.
Yes, a male majorette is called a Major. And a Color Guard precedes the band, and indeed, the whole parade, carrying the National Colors, as well as other subsidiary flags as may be required for the event.
Those tall hats are modern versions of the bearskin shakos worn by the French Army Imperial Guard, and subsequently adopted after their victory over the French by the British Grenadier Guards, who still wear them on guard in Whitehall. They could undoubtedly conceal a goodly quantity of chilled drinks.
These are fine parade photos, thanks Lou and Sue! Major, thanks for the commentary!
JG
@ Chuck-
"There were also more colorful names used by Band members to (mostly inaccurately) describe these groups of young ladies - the Thrill Team, the Seduction Squad, and another name I won’t repeat that rhymed and ended with the word “Corps.”...
Just what sort of high school DID you attend-? Sounds awfully racy-!
Nanook, that hairdo is NEW WAVE! “Drill Team”, that sounds right. I always wanted to be in the “harmonica squad”, but it turns out that those don’t exist. But I still practice every day for hours and hours in Starbucks. The other customers love it! I can’t be a Band Major, it would be a conflict of interest.
JB, I always like being saluted, finally some respect. I have worn little marshmallows on my head (who hasn’t?), but never a big one. It must feel great! Don’t skip that New Wave hairdo! I actually remember my mom bought these extra-large marshmallows, I wonder if they are still made? Not quite the size of my fist, but I wasn’t sure what they were supposed to be used for. Too big for hot cocoa or s’mores. Yum, ice cream cones and marshmallows, those girls are living right. Is the “untied shoelace” girl doing that thing with a baton where she rolls it around her neck?? Black Bart, where is he?? He’d be old and gray by then.
TokyoMagic!, wow, you got a raw deal. I guess you couldn’t even show up and play the triangle (for the experience of marching with the rest of the band) because everyone else would wonder why you were there suddenly. The “secret mascot” thing seems a little weird. Did people really not know it was you? At least you got to do the Christmas parade!
Anonymous, “render honors”, that’s a phrase I did not know. Those weapons required no trigger or barrel, they fired mind waves. All of those girls were the products of CIA experiments! You know, just like in that Stephen King book, “Drill Team Cheerleaders”. Oh wait, that was a movie I saw, never mind. Oh, those colorful names, what would we do without them? Hey, “Cookie Corps” sounds cute to me! I was going to make a “white oval” remark too, but I didn’t want to make TM cry.
Chuck, how do I know it’s really you?
Bu, trust me, I am not happy about 1980 being 40 years ago. I recently found some ticket stubs to concerts I attended, and some of them were from around the same time, I could not believe it. My niece and nephew had their first trips to Disneyland as part of their bands, they went all the way from San Luis Obispo to Anaheim (and back) in one day. It sounds grueling, but they loved it of course. Besides Hallmark and Kodak, there’s “Rings & Things” and “Sun Coast” was a sponsor at the Market House.
Stu29573, I’m glad to know that the high schools in Florida get to march at the Magic Kingdom. Wow, a band came all the way from Texas? That’s not a one-day trip!
JG, I like a thick frosty chocolate shako. See what I did there?? No need to send me money, you can have that incredible joke for free. Meanwhile, I love videos of people messing with the guards at Buckingham Palace, and getting a well-deserved punishment for rudeness. Don’t be a jerk, people! Not JG, he would never be a jerk.
Nanook, I think Chuck attended a standard high school with standard boys who make everything dirty. However, “Cookie Corps” isn’t dirty at all!
Major : I believe it was SUNMAID ( of nuts and raisins fame ) that sponsored THE MARKET HOUSE.
1984 was one of the last years to see mostly original Main Street USA … as this was when Disneyland based imagineers began to refurbish the rotting wood and crumbling plaster and now failing patch repairs . Lots of details were replaced in foams and fiberglass and lost details from years of overpainting were restored . This Main Street renovation was geared foot the park’s 1985 anniversary … but it lasted a bit longer to complete. This was also when new color schemes were tried out on most of the buildings … but they felt it looked “flat” so Kim Irvine began her first candy colored Main Street completed in the early 1990’s.
Love those 1984 crowds!
MS
TokyoMagic! I'm curious....what was your mascot costume? Maybe, just maybe, you could've worn a different, more comfortable, disguise on your entire trip?? I'm not sure what, but I'm thinking,,, Paper bag on head? Netting? Though I guess you couldn't talk for the whole trip, too, or you would be discovered. Bummer.
MS, I MISS those crowd sizes!
Thanks, Major and all; glad you enjoyed these.
Chuck, I hadn't come up with the "white oval" idea yet!
Major, I never told any of my friends that I was one of the mascots (there were four of us). It was just a very long school tradition of nobody knowing who was inside the costumes. It wasn't revealed until the very last school assembly of the year, and we also received an award at that time for our effort/involvement.
Sue, the school mascot was the cardinal. There were four of us, sort of like a "family" of cardinals, with two male costumes and two female costumes. Fortunately, we didn't have to wear feathers or "bird feet." The heads were more like plush or rag doll versions of a cardinal. The female costume was a dress, and the male costume was a jumpsuit and vest, white gloves, and red Vans tennis shoes. I do wish we had been able to join the school's band at Disneyland! However, we did get to be in several local parades, we showed up at all of our school's football games and assemblies, participated in a school fair, and even went to a local mall to support the school's cheerleaders, when they were competing in a regional contest. I had a blast!
“Sun Coast” was a sponsor at the Market House.
I believe it was SUNMAID ( of nuts and raisins fame ) that sponsored THE MARKET HOUSE.
Bu and Mike, it was Sun Giant that sponsored the Market House, as well as the recently opened Village Inn restaurant in Fantasyland (later renamed Village Haus).
Major, the “G” meant this was his 7th roll of film used for this trip.
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