Along Main Street, September, 1968
You all remember the song from the classic album, "Walt Disney Takes You to Disneyland": Main Street, Main Street, something something, Main Street. Beautiful! I used to have the album, "Walt Disney Takes You to Tijuana", but it got lost in a move, durnit.
I don't have any slides featuring Tijuana today, but I do have some Main Street views. Like this lovely look at the Beaux Arts (?) Opera House. "Reginald, let's go to the opera tonight!". Reginald: *heavy sigh*. Most operas don't feature robots, in fact "Carmen" only has one android in a minor role. But Disneyland's opera house has the best robot of all, Abraham Lincoln, who moved in during the 1965 season. His robotic twin was still performing in New York at the World's Fair!
18 comments:
Major-
Make that... ♬ Main Street... Main Street... Meet me tonight on Main Street.
'Cuz we've got a date tonight at eight, so meet me down on Main Street. ♫ etc.
It sounds like a beginning language exercise for ESL students.
Thanks ,Major.
I remember the album "Walt Disney Takes You to Tijuana". I especially liked track three, "Walt visits his aunt, Mary Jane". I don't recall all the lyrics, but I do remember that she "smoked like a pile of burning leaves". And her house "smelled like a skunk that got ran over and peed on by a feral cat".... Now that I think about it, I hated track three.
A couple of nice, colorful, ostrich plume hats here. I don't recall seeing a red-and-yellow one before. Also a couple of those psychedelic shopping bags. And a nice Hawaiian shirt. The guy in the black slacks is waiting for Godot.
Imagine how astounding it must have been for folks at the 1964/'65 world's Fair, and Disneyland, to see a truly realistic Abraham Lincoln come to life in front of their eyes. Nobody had seen audio animatronics that detailed and sophisticated before then.
I don't see the driver of the Omnibus; he must've gone after some whale oil, like you said. This is a nice picture of the Bus. The angled front wheels adds motion to the photo. Plus, it's a sunny day, and we get to see a yellow PeopleMover in the background.
Two more pics with portrait orientation! Just like yesterday. (What are the odds?) Thanks, Major.
His robotic twin was still performing in New York at the World's Fair!
Sometimes I forget that before the Fair closed down, Lincoln was bi-coastal!
If the Walt A.A. is popular, I wonder if they will duplicate him for Walt Disney World? If they don't want to stick him in the Hall of Presidents theater, they could always build a special theater for him in Wookie World, and then put a light saber in his hand and a pair of R2-D2 mouse ears on his head.
There’s also “Main St. USA….Main St. Night Or Day! …. To Fantasy Or The Wild West , ……” etc, etc…. And in 1979 -1980 …. “We’re Walking Right Down The Middle of Main St. USA!! ….. It’s The Heart of America , The Heart-beat of a Holiday !…..The Place was Designed With a Magical Plan , and Just Around The Corner is a Fantasyland ! …. We’re Walking Right Down The Middle of Main St. USA!!”
I use to have a roll of those Lincoln posters … I sold them off except for one. They were silkscreen printed with a lacquer ink and have like a plastic feel to the front …. A former Disneyland sign shop painter told me back then they used an ink that was “color fast “ and was almost impossible to ever fade …. But the ink became illegal by the 80’s ( so you know it must be good!! )
I LOVE the Disneyland Omnibus …. Even though today they are 1984 built replacements and NOT the 1950’s originals … both Disneyland originals - despite some damage survive in private collections.
Ah … that PeopleMover isn’t just yellow …... It’s “Fiesta Yellow” by Ditzler Marine - Fiberglass division.
Walt Disney Takes You to Tiajuana was Herb Alpert’s first album.
Early in our marriage, I used to serenade Mrs. Chuck along with the Mellomen, although I would sometimes perform my own interpretation of the lyrics:
”We'll take a ride on an old horsecar
I'll buy you a cheap cigar
And you'll be the smelliest girl by far
Down on old Main Street…”
The woman is a saint to have put up with me for 31 years.
When they finally get around to tearing down most of Main Street to replace it with some Disney-acquired IP that loses its shine in less than 10 years, they could park an omnibus on the Hub as a static display and use it as overflow seating for whatever retheme is current for the old Plaza Pavillion. It wouldn’t make any thematic sense without the rest of Main Street, but neither does Jack Sparrow on Tom Sawyer Island across the river from Tiana’s Haunted Hundred Acre Wood Square.
Loving the dude casually strolling into the Opera House with the orange and red ostrich plume. Only at Disneyland… or maybe Oxnard…
When they finally get around to tearing down most of Main Street to replace it with some Disney-acquired IP that loses its shine in less than 10 years, they could park an omnibus on the Hub as a static display.
Chuck, don't worry.....it will fit in just fine when they replace Main Street with the "Avengers Campus North.
The same way that the static Mark Twain will fit in just fine, when they replace DL's Rivers of America with Avatar Alley.
Is that an actual California license plate on the Omnibus?
Although they sponsored the attraction for around 5 years, you don't see too many clear head-on shots of the Lincoln Savings signage on the Opera House. They were out of the park around 1972 or so, over a decade before the Keating Five scandal took down the bank in the 1980s.
If the MS Opera House starts staging "Our American Cousin", they'll have carried the Lincoln reenactment thing too far.
Reginald had a little painless introduction to opera in the Tiki Room, with its "Barcarolle" originally used in two Offenbach works. And Pirates of the Caribbean in spirit and song is a lot like "Pirates of Penzance" ; the latter even has a scene similar to the first auction in POTC. "Barcarolle" and Wench Auction have been given the heave-ho, so it's back to "What's Opera, Doc?" for Reggie.
JB, if you hate track three, I'm sure you really hate track six! We shant speak of it ever again!
I checked out the "New and Improved Super Fun Happy Time Mr. Lincoln (sponsored by Tic-Toc) when I last went to Disneyland. It was interesting to see how they combined the two coasts' shows.
Every time I see the Omnibus, I think of the Osmonds singing CCR tunes. Why? I'm weird!
Beaux Arts? OK, I’ll allow it. That is certainly an “exuberant” facade. I’ve always enjoyed the way the lamp posts support the awning and come straight through. The detail is similar in concept to the old Yacht Bar, flag poles supporting the canopy and passing through, although different in style. Same Imagineer?
JB, my Dad was convinced Lincoln was a real actor, not AA. after seeing the show repeatedly, he finally agreed it was a machine.
All the best vehicles run on whale oil, which is why the Indianapolis 500 is so fishy-smelling. Disneyland used to farm whales in the Rivers of America, so they had a plentiful supply to run the Mark Twain and the Monorail.
One of America’s astronauts is putting his ticket book away after shelling out 2 “A” coupons. He just splashed down his Apollo Capsule in the Sub Lagoon and is taking the bus home.
@Steve D, I think Mike Cozart established in another post that certain Main Street vehicles were licensed because they operated partly on a city street somewhere. I might have been overcome by whale oil fumes too but I think I remember that…
Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, I could have looked up the lyrics, but you know me, always desperate for a cheap laugh!
JB, I’m told that the Tijuana album is somewhat rare today, I’m sad that my copy is gone. Stolen by the movers?? I agree, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bi-colored ostrich plume before, that guy chose wisely. Where is that damn Godot, anyway? I’m tired of him always being late. Why I oughta! From what I’ve read, people did not believe that Lincoln was not a man in a costume, which seems crazy looking at film of that attraction back then. But… it was all new. Whale oil was available at the popcorn wagons, it was also an option to butter. Taste the krill!
TokyoMagic!, it is kind of amazing to think that there were two Lincoln shows running at the same time back in ’65. I can almost imagine the folks in Florida wanting an animatronic Walt, they were very upset that they didn’t have a Radiator Springs Racers. Now they’ll have one of those, but no Rivers of America. Way to go! I just want to hear Walt say, “Chewie, I have a bad feeling about this”.
Mike Cozart, wow, you sure know your Main Street songs. You probably sing them all day long, or at least whistle them. I never had any Lincoln poster, I guess I always wanted examples that were a bit more graphically exciting. I regret it now, since those were not expensive at the time, and surely are NOW. Did that light-fast ink use whale oil? Huh, I’m not sure I knew that the original Omnibi were in private collections, maybe you said it before. If I ever own a chihuahua I will name him “Ditzler”.
Chuck, aw, so romantic, serenading Mrs. Chuck. Did you play a ukulele and wear a raccoon skin coat? I look forward to the “new improved” Main Street. It’s louder! It’s more EXTREME! It’s IN YOUR FACE! All the things I want in a Main Street. The band could ride motorcycles up the street; they won’t play any songs, they’ll just rev their Harleys. I feel like I’d better visit Jack Sparrow on TSI as soon as I can, animatronic Walt and I both have a bad feeling about the island. I like that you recognize the distinctive joie de vivre of an Oxnard native!
TokyoMagic!, I still don’t know what goes on in the Avengers Campus over at DCA, and have no interest! It can’t be good.
TokyoMagic!, hey, “Avatar Alley”?? Rip out that river today!
Steve DeGaetano, I wondered the same thing!
Brad Abbott, heh heh, thanks to my sneaky ways, the Keating Five were not known as “The Keating Six”! I love fraud.
Stefano, I’ll bet a staging of “Our American Cousin” would bring in more viewers! “Don’t sit under the balcony, that’s the splash zone”. I have limited experience with opera, having only seen a performance of “Carmen” in San Jose, and in that instance I was already very familiar with the music. Jeez, I didn’t even notice that “Barcarolle” was no longer played in the Tiki Room, shows how much I pay attention.
Stu29573, oh trust me, I know track six! It was excised from some later pressings of the album, according to Discogs. I was surprised to see that the new Lincoln show has Abe doing a puppet act. A robot with a puppet? I guess it’s no surprise in Southern California. The reason you think of the Osmonds singing CCR tunes is that they sang them better than CCR. John Fogerty knew it.
JG, Beaux Arts was just a guess, I don’t claim to be an authority on architectural styles. I never really notice the way the lamp posts went right through the awning! Just seeing the way Abe stood up (arthritic at best) was enough to convince me that he was an AA figure. Yum, fishy-smelling oil on Main Street! Remember when people claimed that the reused oil on the Disneyland Railroad still smelled like French fries? I’ve never caught the aroma of fries on that ride, and think it was just the power of suggestion. I think you are right about the Main Street vehicles occasionally operating on city streets, though I can’t imagine that happened very often.
@ Chuck-
"... across the river from Tiana’s Haunted Hundred Acre Wood Square".
Are you referring to Tiana's Rainforest Café Adventure: Woke Mountain-?
Ditzler automotive paint has been used since the early 1900’s and by the 70’s used almost exclusively by the auto manufacturers, aircraft, marine and even railroad equipment - several years ago the DITZLER line became a division of PPG Industries …. Who just recently became an official sponsor at Disneyland And Walt Disney World . Look for their 1900’s paint shop facade on Disneyland’s EASTSIDE Center Street - ( where the pay phones used to be) it’s a few store fronts down from Bob Gurr’s Main Street window - Bob used Ditzler automotive coatings on all sorts of Disney park vehicles.
Nanook, I wish Tiana's Bayou Adventure had an element of "scare", I was surprised that Dr. Facilier did not make an appearance at the end. It seems like a perfectly nice (but bland) ride that has a drop at the finale.
Mike Cozart, do you mean that there is a window for Ditzler on East Center Street?
“Don’t sit under the balcony, that’s the splash zone”
............... Ohhhh, myyyyyy.
Not a window … a whole store front of a building!
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