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!
2 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. ;-)
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