Flower Market, September 1983
Way back in 1983, Lou Perry took a stroll around Disneyland. He took lots and lots of photos - you've seen a bunch of them here (thanks to his daughter, Sue B.)! It still blows my mind that 1983 was 42 years ago. Argh. I always wonder how many people realized that the flowers on display were not the real thing? Thanks to NASA, our fake-flower technology had grown by leaps and bounds.
Hey look, there's some white ones, and some red ones. I think roses, and some orchids, and... well that's about it for me.
Tulips and daisies and daffodils?
Lillies, geraniums, crocuses... who knows.
If there's one thing I've learned today, it's that I know almost nothing about flowers. Shameful considering that my mother and grandmother were obsessed with their flower beds!
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
18 comments:
Major-
Those sound like the right flower names to me - from what can be discerned in the images. Tell the truth, Major, you're actually a horticulturist, aren't you-?
Thanks, Major.
I never looked closely at these pictures, until now. There’s a creepy ‘vintage’ doll haunting that one window display in the last photo.
In the first pic, I'm concentrating on those yellow fruits to the right. Not sure what they are. Pears? Lemons? Loquats? Mutant bananas?
I wonder if these mounds of flowers are arranged differently every day, using different combinations of colors?
Major, your guesses on the flower varieties are close enough for me. It's hard to tell what's all in there when they're all bunched together like that.
Sue, why oh why did they make vintage dolls look so creepy in the olden days? It's like they deliberately tried to give kids nightmares!
Thanks to Lou, Sue, and you (Major).
In that first pic, we can see some little topiaries on that cart. Or maybe they are "fake" topiaries. But it does look like they have started some ivy growing on some little animal shapes. It looks like there is a cat on the highest tier, but it's hiding in the shadows. There also might be a moose, a rabbit and a swan.
I don't really remember the Flower Mart selling wind chimes, but there they are. And I also don't remember them selling "country craft" type items, but in the last pic we can see a cutesy duck and possibly a kangaroo cut out of wood and probably hand-painted. I think they call that type of thing "tole painting."
I wonder if they still have that creepy doll (that Sue pointed out) in storage somewhere? Instead of attempting a "RoboWalt," they should have just placed that doll on Abraham Lincoln's lap like a ventriloquist dummy, and had the two of them singing songs and telling jokes. "S'alright? S'alriiiiiiight!" I bet that would have increased attendance in the Opera House.
Thank you Lou, Sue, and Major, too!
I did not know the flowers were all fake. That's what I get for being a WDW kid!
The flower market was such a lovely "Walt" thing...and not for "making money" per se.. of course, the flowers were for sale, but that was not the point. Later in life I designed a few flower "shops within shops" with the Main St. Flower Market as inspiration: the layers of buckets and terracing...with interesting surfaces to put them on...again: we didn't do it to make money, it was for the ambience, the fragrance...etc etc. REAL flowers were used...and it was a huge expense...but not to make money: in fact, we knew that having it would be "minus $"....longer story, but it was incredibly popular, and still around. This year, I did my own "flower market" in the yard, with an antique cart, et al...a bit whimsical, but it's nice to see it every day and takes me back to these scenes from Lou. I DO see that creepy doll...speaking of creepy dolls: some neighborhood news: some comic bought the "conjuring house"...with the occult museum still intact: and "the doll". "Annabelle" recently went on a national tour, and the paranormal investigator that headed up the tour was discovered dead in his hotel room. Police say: "nothing suspicious" ohhh...kayyy. Back to rainbows and unicorns and the wonderful flower market: Disneyland today does give a small nod to it, which is nice...and quite honestly, it wouldn't be hard to recreate a larger and more "Instagramable moment" with all the regular tacky merchandise they want to peddle there....seems with all the saturated color they want to use these days, it would be a no brainer. Thanks to Lou and Sue and Major!
Thanks Lou, Sue, and Major, for this painstaking documentation of one of my Mom’s favorite parts of the Park before the Diminishing.
Bu summed up my other comments from a position of knowledge. I would have surmised that the flowers didn’t generate much income, but were mostly for Good Show. And some minor praise for the current management for bringing back a bit of the memory to East Center Street. An Instagram stage could be a thing.
One flower I see that you didn’t mention, Major. In photo three, a small pot to center left in front appears to have artificial cyclamen. Mine bloom in winter or nearly so, long before the roses. This is like one of those Dutch still life paintings with flowers that bloom at different times. The magic of Imagineering.
JG
Like the cookies and candy aroma on Main Street they must have smelled nice, Right? I have no recollection of them other than in photos like these. We were probably listening to the party lines or watching the glass blower. We planted a garden this year in new raised beds my wife built. Anyone want a tomato or zucchini?
Thanks for stopping to smell the flowers Major and Lou and Sue.
Zach
Sue, it seems sometimes there was an odd creepiness to the Victorian era! Those Victorian dolls seem to epitomize it. I've got a great book of photos from the time (Hometown USA, by Stephen W. Sears) with a photo of a couple's wedding day. Not one single person is smiling for this couple's happiest day! Including the couple. Creepy and weird.
@ TM!-
"S'alright? S'alriiiiiiight!"
That's exactly what the Opera House needs: A Señor Wences AA figure and smaller AA puppets. I dare say that would be far more entertaining [and authentic] than the current show: Mike Lindell starring as Walt Disney-!
Nanook, I am many things, but a horticulturist is not one of them!
Lou and Sue, funny, I was just looking at another Disneyland photo (which you will see next year!) with a creepy ventriloquist doll in the window. I guess dolls are just creepy!
JB, I’d say “mutant bananas” is correct! I don’t know if the flowers were arranged every morning (that would be my guess), or if they were covered by muslin tarps at night. That sure would make life easier for the CMs. I agree, it is hard to ID flowers when they are bunched up, but it would still be hard for me even if they were NOT bunched up.
TokyoMagic!, I noticed what looked like a stuffed monkey, but there does appear to be at least one other “topiary” critter. Maybe they used miniature ivy? That cat almost disappears into the blackness! I’m guessing that all of the other tchotchkes were there in the hopes of an “impulse buy”, just like at the grocery store. “This would look just darling on my front porch near the doorbell!”. That’s what I would say, anyway. I do like the idea of Lincoln and Walt together onstage, with Walt on Abe’s lap. The Walt doll could smoke and cuss!
Magical Trash, so the flowers in the Florida Flower Market were the real deal?
Bu, I can’t imagine that the sales of those silk flowers (etc) were very huge, but the Market did add a lot of beauty to that side street that was mostly a pathway to the restrooms. I’m assuming that the displays were based on what you might have found in the flower districts of many cities, I remember the Farmer’s Market in LA had TONS of flowers if you got there early. Very nice that you have your own “flower market” in your yard! I have to say, seeing the real Annabelle doll is a letdown. I would let that doll sit in my bedroom and I’d sleep like a baby. I have to wonder if the story about the dead paranormal investigator is “just a good story”?? Or if it is true?
JG, at one time they did sell the flowers via mail order, believe it or not. I doubt that was a big cash cow. But as you said, the Market was “good show”. I didn’t know that there is “a bit of the memory”= to East Center Street”?? I thought it was just random stuff, bottles of water, sodas, maybe a banana or two. I have no idea what a cyclamen is or what it looks like! Ditto ranunculus.
zach, again, fake flowers - no aroma! But maybe you could smell the Candy Palace from there! Oh I used to love to watch glass blowers making little animals or flowers, I literally could have stood there for hours.
Steve DeGaetano, I wonder, horror movies loved to use Victoria dolls for “added creep” in big old mansions, maybe we’ve just grown to associate the dolls with scary situations?
Nanook, they should have a Mike Lindell AA lecturing a Walt AA. There’s no way it can be bad!
OK, I wasn't going to bring this up here but as for Walt's likeness, I gasped when I first saw it. OMG it looked to me like they modeled if after Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney in Saving Mr Banks! I grew up in the 50s seeing Walt every week and that isn't the way I remember him. Anyone else?
End rant.
Zach
I remember at Walt Disney World , the Greenhouse shop - basically the register sales an area for the West Center Street Flower Market sold little topiaries - it looks like Disneyland did too. Over at Walt Disney World Village you could purchase large size topiaries growing or just the frames. I learned later that those large topiaries were created by Disney for sale to guests - but none seemed to be copies of the famous ones used at The Vacation Kingdom.
In the early to mid 1980’s country decor and toll pairing was wildly popular and it was everywhere at Disneyland at the time … in the Emporium, the China Closet had stuff … the Gourmet Shop and One of A Kind Antiques in New Orleans Square … the Indian trading post and Ursus Bear Mercantile too! There was even a cart in Bear Country for awhile called the gingham goose!!! WDW’s sales cart BIG AL’s - then Bearly Country went from selling country bear jamboree merchandise to selling country decor and nic-nacs made from wood, cloth and stencil painting .
Don’t sweat it Major, they didn’t always detail fake flowers too greatly…gladiolas/lilies-on-a-stick, tulips/crocus, geranium/hyacinth…Whatever! Definitely seeing lots of Carnations though, appropriately enough. Artificial flowers seem to have gotten much better quality in the 1980s, just as these beauties fades away.
MS
So yesterday I had to drop some stuff off in Anaheim and got to leave early from work … we parked backstage and ran in real fast and saw the Walt Disney Story two times in a row … and later another two times. I had seen the figure months ago but it was static .. but in all honesty the figure looked and moved great . It wasn’t perfect but I’d agree it’s probably the most reality looking AA figure EVER. I was actually very impressed …. The online videos and vlogs somehow do not do the figure justice. I was expecting to be disappointed or disgusted as I was with so much of the online footage …. But I wasn’t - maybe it was where I sat - I don’t know … but I was actually impressed… all showings I saw the theater was mostly to 3/4 full. I did hear a single negative comment or joke from anyone … at least not around me. Guests clapped at the end of all four shows. The whole exhibit is astounding with hundreds of WED-WDI art images on display ( replicas of course) unfortunately non of it is available on PRINT ON DEMAND. The displays also have a balance of Mr. Lincoln related as well . My only real criticism is the displays of AA figures from tiki - small world and pirates .. while I understand the importance and how it relates to the show … it also reveals secrets and highlights the fact it’s all fake … also diminishing those attractions within the park . It’s almost like seeing a magic show … but beforehand they reveal to the audience how the tricks are done - watering down the actual show to follow.
Correction: I did NOT hear a single negative comment or joke from guests …
Thanks for all the fun [and informative] comments, today, from everyone. I always loved this little section of Main Street.
Zach, I LOVED watching the glass blower. I remember buying a necklace, but don't recall what the little glass figure was....I'm trying to remember.... And yes, I'll take some tomatoes and zucchini, please, thank you. And if you have any carrots, I'll gladly take some too....I currently have six neighborhood bunnies that I feed carrots daily.
Steve D., speaking of "creepy and weird," those old victorian era family photos with the dead, propped-up family members with painted-on eyes -- are THE CREEPIEST. I'd love to see that wedding photo you mentioned...please email a snapshot of it, if you are able and feel like it. I'd love to see it.
Mike, thank you for telling us about the Walt AA. It's encouraging to hear a good report about it. I'd like to see it, when I get out there.
Thanks, Major.
zach, I don’t understand why it seems so hard to capture Walt’s likeness, when there are so many photos, and hours of footage - skilled sculptors should be able to do it! But even the “young Walt” sculpture in DCA has its issues. Like the “Chiclet” teeth.
Mike Cozart, with so many WDW guests coming from far away, I assume that a customer could have their miniature topiary shipped to their home? Sounds expensive, but perhaps not so bad years ago. One of the many arts and crafts that my mom got into when I was a kid was tole painting, we still have a small chest of drawers that she decorated, little hearts on the wooden knobs, and curling flowering vines. It’s pretty tasteful, actually!
MS, I can’t speak to the accuracy of the fake flowers at Disneyland, but I’ve marveled at the fakes that I’ve seen a Michael’s, some of them are truly convincing!
Mike Cozart, very interesting. Maybe seeing the AA Walt in person is quite different than seeing a zoomed-in YouTube video. Now that I’ve seen several videos, I don’t hate it as much as I initially did. I assume that Garner Holt made the figure? I think part of what bugs me is the odd “always smiling” expression, but I realize that they have to work within certain limitations. They did the best with what they had. I know that people have enjoyed it, and I’m glad - I’ve taken a break on the padded benches outside the Lincoln show, and watched as nobody went in for show after show. Which is sad. I wonder how many people even knew about it?
Lou and Sue, I never bought a glass item from the blower at Disneyland, but I still have a little glass dolphin from Japanese Deer Park. It used to have a blue dye on it, but that has all worn off. Still, whenever I find it in the box of stuff, it always makes me smile. Tomatoes… I’ve been getting amazing heirloom tomatoes lately, we’ve been enjoying big BLTs for dinner once a week! Gotta get those tomatoes while we can. Somehow seeing that the actual Annabelle doll is just a Raggedy Ann doll really removes a lot of the fright from the idea.
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