I have two fun scans featuring one of the old "photo ops" that used to be near the Red Wagon Inn back in the 1950s. And as an added bonus, we have an exact date on these, November 24th, 1956. That was Thanksgiving weekend, though Turkey Day was Thursday, and the 24th was the Saturday after. Attendance was only16,314, and the park was open from 10 AM to 7 PM. The temperature got up to 89ยบ! (Thanks to Jason's Disneyland Almanac, as always).
Anyway, we have two cute little girls who posed as Minnie Mouse. I guess Minnie was portrayed as a baton twirler? She's high-stepping in white boots, not her usual footwear.
Next, another girl (with laser-cut bangs) takes her turn. If the photographer was good, and the photo itself was trimmed appropriately, the picture would resemble an old Art Corner postcard.
These two little girls are adorable as Minnie.
ReplyDeleteHOW did Minnie squish her fat feet into those skinny boots?! Ouch.
Thanks, Major….and Jason.
Major-
ReplyDeleteI would like to challenge your accounting of "laser-cut bangs". As a detective of wonky bangs, I'm afraid little 'Suzy' was fidgeting while Mommy was attempting the 'ruler-straight cut'. No amount of fabulous boots or distracting baton can cover-up a failure of the hirsute arts as portrayed here.
Thanks, Major.
I see London.
ReplyDeleteI see France.
I see Minnie's underpants!
1) Hmm, are we sure that's a little girl peeking through Minnie's missing face? The haircut looks like a little boy. Hard to tell at that age.
2) This girl's expression and facial position within the cutout makes for a better photo. She looks more natural here.
Shouldn't Minnie be wearing her patented red dress with white polka-dots? Thanks, Major.
As 50’s charming as these cut-out photo ops are … they seem tacky by Disney standards of the 70’s and 80’s. I know the art corner had much more elaborate photo ops … near these Minnie panels was a Davey Crockett photo op.
ReplyDeleteJB - the costume character of Minnie had multiple variants over time …. Florida mostly has Minnie in a yellow dress … Disneyland in the 60’s and 70’s used the yellow dress and there was a early version of the red with polka dots - but Minnie sported a giant straw hat with flowers then. In 1978 the main “fab 5” characters were completely redesigned to the main styles that have continued today ( with some modification) the kick-off was Mickey & Minnie first during their 50th … but the real reasoning fir the major redesigns was new FRP materials and to have the new characters ready for all the 1980 Disneyland 25th parades and marketing promotions. These characters redesigns were done by costume designer Jack Muhs who did all the America on Parade costumes and Main Street electrical parade costumes , the Golden Horseshoe/Diamond Horseshoe Revue among almost all Disney park
Entertainment costumes till his retirement in 1993. Before coming to Disney in the late 60’s Jack was the costume designer for all episodes of THE WILD WILD WEST .
By-the -way … even though Minnie was not really animated in the famous polka dot dress she is seen in the parks with , the Disney company’s copyrighted the specific polka-dot pattern starting in the late 1980’s.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I don't think that's supposed to be a baton. I think it's a cue stick. There's even a cue ball on top of it. Most people forget that prior to the opening of Disneyland, Minnie mostly hung out in pool halls, and was quite the pool hustler.
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, Minnie had a little surgery done, she was tired of not being able to wear Ferragamos.
ReplyDeleteNanook, hey, you have your lasers, I have mine. I got it at “Crazy Al’s Laser City”!
JB, Minnie’s underpants were there from the earliest days (there are underwear jokes in “Plane Crazy” and “Steamboat Willie”). I would think that a boy wouldn’t want to be Minnie, but you never know. Some people really “sell” their Fun Photo, others need to go to The Actor’s Studio. It would have been nice to see Minnie in her traditional outfit, but you know how girls are.
Mike Cozart, I get the feeling that these cut-outs weren’t there for a long time, based on the fact that there aren’t a ton of photos of them. People seemed to enjoy them, anyway! And hey, it was free. I know that these sorts of novelty photo-ops were common in various fairs, carnivals, amusement parks, etc. Somewhere on this blog I have a photo of Minnie wearing a very yellow dress! What are “FRP materials”? Very nice that the man who designed those original costumes was the same guy who did The Wild Wild West!
Mike Cozart, when I took a tour of CalArts, thinking I might go there, one of the girls in our group wore a red dress with white polka dots. She seemed “eccentric”, I’ll bet she was an actress!
TokyoMagic!, aha, you are right. Minnie was a grifter. “A girl like me can’t play pool!”. And then she’d clear the table. She’d sometimes make a few thousand dollars a night, but she had to move from town to town.
FRP : FIBERGLASS REINFORCED PLASTIC
ReplyDeleteDisneyland , Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland of the 70’s and 80’s was mostly made of it.
These are just plain cute.
ReplyDeleteMinnie’s boots were made for walking, Nancy Sinatra style…
Thanks Major!
JG