Welcome to Disneyland, 1956
Fans of vintage Disneyland paper items are familiar with today's brochures, a 1956 gate handout: WELCOME TO DISNEYLAND, with Tinker Bell as our hostess. They are surprisingly common considering their age; everybody’s mom put them in their desk drawer and there they stayed, for decades. Here's the cover, with a greeting from "The Disneyland Staff":
When unfolded, you get three panels of useful information. Where to eat; phone availability; rest rooms; what to do if you lose your kid; and a list of various sponsored exhibits such as the Wurlitzer shop and the Crane Company "Bathroom of Tomorrow" (though they don't call it that here - maybe "bathroom" was considered to be a bit naughty?).
I love this spot illustration of Tink!
The other side features a nice map of the park, along with Walt Disney's dedication speech from July 17th, 1955. I've seen eBay sellers claiming that this is an "opening day item", though it clearly is not.
"Say Major, you must be hittin' the sauce, you've posted the same scan two more times! Maybe sleep it off!". Well, I appreciate your concern, and yes, I did drink a bottle of A-1 steak sauce. Thanks to blogs such as Matterhorn1959's seminal "Stuff From the Park" I learned that there are, in fact, THREE different versions of this 1956 item. Things changed quickly in those early days! And I love variations.
"You don't really expect me to read that whole thing three times, do you? I got cartoons to watch!".
The easiest way to tell them apart is to look at the exhibits listed under "Main Street"; as you can see, they all vary slightly. In my experience, the example to the left, with only five exhibits, is by far the scarcest, I'm guessing it must have only been available for a few months at most. I believe that it is the earliest of the three. The middle example shows the addition of the Yale & Towne "display of the locksmith's art". And the example on the right loses the Hollywood Maxwell Intimate Apparel shop (home of the "Wizard of Bras"), and replaces it with the North American Companies information center (also known as the "INA Carefree Corner").
In 1957, a smaller brochure with the same Tinker Bell artwork was produced, but we won't talk about that one! I hope today's post was not too nerdy for you. This is the stuff I love!
15 comments:
Major-
It's not too nerdy for me. I thought I had one of the 1956 versions; turns out I only have the ones from 1958 & 1961.
Thanks, Major.
"Lose your kid"? Fugeddaboutit! Your kid belongs to Disney now! Those churros in the churro mines don't make (dig?) themselves, you know. A few lucky lost kids will discover the delights of Pleasure Island... those pack mules don't grow on trees, you know. Disney thought of everything!
"maybe "bathroom" was considered to be a bit naughty?" I guess "fixtures" does sound better. Makes me wonder if anybody wandering through the Crane exhibit actually 'used' the fixtures there? ;-)
I just noticed that Tinker Bell always seems to be "on pointe", standing on her tippy toes. I guess it's no problem for her; she is a tiny, light weight little being after all.
Looking at the map, I sometimes wonder how Disney convinced the authorities to have only one point of exit. Seems very unsafe. Although, in the case of a major disaster, like an earthquake, CMs would guide the crowds to all sorts of backstage exits?
We're all nerds here, Major (of some sort). We can handle it. Thanks for going through your mom's junk drawer to find this gate handout and sharing it with us. ;-)
Crane Company: Wall Urinals of the Future. Each comes with its own pack of urinal mint wafers (not for eating) to place at the bottom of the urinal.
Love the ephemera. Thanks, Major.
I like this little brochure, Tinkerbelle was part of the TV show intro by this time, Correct? So she is a plausible MC for the Park.
It’s a shrewd move to list all the free exhibits up front to reduce the sticker shock of those outlandish ticket prices. “We don’t need to BUY tickets, look at all these things to do that are included, if we something we want to ride, we can get a ticket then”… said Dads everywhere.
I notice other chances between editions, Fixtures becomes the Bathroom, which implies that the first title was so genteel that guests didn’t get it, and Dutch Boy paints changes from Our Future in Color to Have Fun With Color, which basically proves that the world was in black and white before 1956, as I have argued forcefully in other forums.
Looking at all the other Guest Services, I’m amazed at the planning and foresight (and overhead budgeting) to design and include all these facilities in Park 1.0. How many other amusement parks in this era provided first aid, postal facilities, banking, and child services?
And food prices “…from modest to moderate…” a brilliantly alliterative line that is completely abandoned today.
Thanks Major, a fascinating bit of ephemera today.
JG
Also to be up front : those complimentary brochures list those “free” exhibits because sponsors are paying very high fees to be in there! As the Atlantic-Richfield presented said , “we are now the FIRST Disneyland sponsor to sign aboard .. I’m not exactly sure what our 500,000 dollars gets us . But we are the first!”
It’s interesting as to WHY Richfield was never included on attraction posters (??) while every other sponsor was on their related posters .
@ JG-
"And food prices “…from modest to moderate…” a brilliantly alliterative line that is completely abandoned today".
Indeed, today's 'truth-in-advertising' line would be: ... from excessive to exorbitant-!
I saw one of these brochures in my dad's collection, a while back...though I fear it's probably one of the brochures that's rubber-cemented to his scrapbook. I don't even want to know how much a pristine one would be worth, cuz I figure mine is probably only worth 1/50th of that price. Just like all the jumbo 1956 postcards in that scrapbook, too.
Tinker Bell (Tinkerbell?) is so cute, especially on her tippy-toes carrying the food tray. The artist also wisely positioned Tink on the cover - with her legs blocking The Dent.
I love the map, and have a couple questions - maybe someone can answer...What attraction is drawn immediately to the right of the COS pirate ship?? Also, was there ever a waterway circling around the 'baby Matterhorn' area, and are those two 'things' supposed to be the boats?
Thanks Major- neat brochure. With the simplified illustration style, in the park map, the TWA rocket looks like a very large Lava Lamp. Sue- that must be a representation of the Storybookland ride next to the COA ship.
-DW
…the Chicken of the Sea ship.
-DW
Sue: those are likely the Tomorrowland Airboats. They were planned and announced - they appear in the background of the 1956 SKYWAY attraction poster , and their own attraction poster was designed . However the test boats made way too much noise and sometimes spit out black smoke at startup so Walt said “ not in my Disneyland!”
The whole area prior to the Matterhorn had been planned as “Holiday Park “ - the picnic grounds for MAIN ST. USA …. And about a dozen other concepts including International Land , “Switzer-Land” ( with a Tobagon Coaster - but NOT yet a Matterhorn. ..)
Nanook, considering some of the rare paper items you have, I’m surprised that you don’t have one of these 1956 brochures!
JB, some people say that those “animatronics” are actually former “lost children” dressed up in robot costumes. I would never believe such a rumor! Maybe “fixtures” is nicer, but I do believe that the exhibit was the “Crane Bathroom of Tomorrow”. It’s a room with a bath! The only scene I remember from “Peter Pan” in which Tink walks is when she’s on Captain Hook’s map, and I do think she is “on pointe”. And I think you’re right, if there was a true emergency, there are actually a number of other exits that guests could use to escape a disaster.
K. Martinez, ha ha, they should make urinal mint wafers that people CAN eat!
JG, yes at this time Tink was sort of the “hostess” of the “Disneyland” TV show. I never thought about it, but maybe you’re right, seeing all those free offerings might have helped a bit with the “high price” of admission (and those ticket books? Two or three dollars! Outrageous! I’m sure that if I truly scanned all three of these variations for differences, there would be more. Even I couldn’t be bothered! Kudos to you for finding the Dutch Boy changes. I have to imagine that some of the services at Disneyland were standard for a large amusement park, but banking? Postal facilities? Those seem “above and beyond”. Imagine telling somebody from 1956 what late 2024 prices would be. They’d laugh at you for your ridiculous story!
Mike Cozart, good point. I actually did not know that Atlantic-Richfield was the first sponsor, somehow I would have thought it would be Santa Fe. Hmmm, interesting, it does seem like Atlantic-Richfield might have wanted a mention on the Autopia attraction poster!
Nanook, it is sad but true.
Lou and Sue, these 1956 brochures are surprisingly common, there must be tens or hundreds of thousands of them out there. You could probably get one on eBay for not too much, though the prices on that platform can be all over the place. Speaking of the dent, I saw a pre-opening photo of the castle still being built, but I am almost certain that you can just make out the dent! I think that the thing to the right of the Pirate Ship is Monstro (facing us), back when he was part of a “shoot the chutes” sort of ride. I never noticed that on the map before, so… cool! This was pre-Storybook Land. And as far as I know, no waterway surrounded Holiday Hill, though perhaps some of the “dark water” system ran underground.
DW, ha, I am a fan of Lava Lamps, and still have one from the 1970s in a box somewhere. I should send it to my niece, who also loves them! And yes, that is definitely the Storybook Land whale, but if you look at very early concept art, his open mouth disgorged boats that slid down his tongue, sort of like flume rides of today. I’m not sure if that was the whole ride, or if you also got to see miniature villages as well.
DW, I knew what you meant!
Mike Cozart, ah, interesting, I forgot about the Airboats. As with any never-built attraction, I would love to have seen it in its finished form. But I think Walt was right, they would have been way too noisy! It also seems like you'd want to pick up speed in an Airboat, something you could never do on that Tomorrowland lake.
Food & Refreshments, at Disneyland…thanks for keeping our nerdiness nourished Major.
MS
MS, this was from the days when you could go to a restaurant and get grilled lamb chops or a sirloin steak, too!
DW, Mike and Major, thank you! Now I see why Monstro looks so strange...that's because it's a drawing of the "chute" version.
And I also learned something new -- Airboats were in the planning, too.
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