Tomorrowland Beauties

Here's a pair of TOMORROWLAND BEAUTIES. My favorite! This first one is from June 1, 1961. Thanks (as always) to Jason's Disneyland Almanac, we know that June 1st was a Thursday, the park was open from 10:00 AM until 6:00 PM, the high temp was 70º, and it dropped down to 55º later. Attendance was a mere 7,903!! Our photographer must have been using a better-than-average camera, this photo is particularly sharp and clear. The color has shifted a bit, but it's still pretty, especially with the puffy white clouds and blue sky behind the Clock of the World. The flags of all 50 States lead out toward the Plaza - the sails of the Columbia can be seen in the distance!

Next is this not-uncommon view of the TWA Moonliner as seen from the Skyway, but this example captured the entire rocket (it's often cropped at the top) and it's nicely-centered. While undated, this must have been taken on a busy Summer day, there were certainly more than 7,903 people at the park on that day! The Art Corner is to the right, with those "Matisse"-like panels. In the distance we can see that the buildings along Main Street were actually large industrial sheds, artfully disguised.

NEWS BULLETIN: I happened to be looking for some information about some Disneyland tickets, and went to the old Vintage Disneyland Tickets blog (naturally) - one of my favorites from the good old days when there were many good Disneyland blogs.

Much to my amazement, I found that there were some new posts! In fact, since July, there have been six new blog posts, after an eight year hiatus. COOL!

So be sure to check it out, and leave a comment! 

In Loving Memory

LOUIS PERRY

1929 - 2025

Sleeping Beauty Castle, November 28, 1973

It's December (in case you didn't know) and I think it's time to start sharing some Christmas-ish pictures. I've saved up a bunch over the past year, and Sue B. has some related pix that you'll see as well, so there will be no lack of Yuletide spirit here on GDB. 

As you can see, November 28, 1973 was a beautiful day, with brilliant sunshine, and the bluest of blue skies. Cobalt blue, perhaps. (I probably should have mitigated the off-kilter angle, but I didn't, and I will sleep like a baby tonight). The Christmas decor is tasteful and minimal, just a few humble garlands and a single wreath purchased at Zody's. Flocked trees are in the moat, too, the ground crew keeps cutting them down, and they keep growing back like weeds. Being a Wednesday, there are not a lot of people - just imagine being there on a day like this! 

I hope the lady to the right was not supposed to be having her portrait taken, she's practically lost in the shadows.  Beneath the portcullis, a woman is wearing orange-brown checkered bell-bottoms. It's 1973, folks! Quite a lot of ivy has covered the right side of the Castle, doesn't that stuff do damage?

**********************

I wanted to let folks know about an upcoming book from Don Ballard, who wrote an incredible book about the Disneyland Hotel. Don (a friend of GDB) is about to release a followup that will concentrate on the years 1960 thru 1964... I will let him tell you about it!

Step back into a remarkable era of growth, glamour, and mid-century modern sophistication at the Happiest Hotel on Earth. Disneyland Hotel 1960–1964 unveils a vivid, meticulously researched portrait of the hotel’s most transformative years—when clean lines, bold architecture, and modernist design shaped a new vision of resort luxury.

Packed with rare photos, forgotten stories, authentic ephemera, and newly uncovered details, this book brings to life the hotel’s restaurants, shops, guest towers, celebrity visits, and unmistakable mid-century aesthetic. Discover how the Disneyland Hotel expanded, modernized, and embraced cutting-edge style long before “mid-century modern” became a beloved cultural revival.

Whether you’re a Disney historian, vintage-era enthusiast, architecture lover, or someone who cherishes the classic modern look of the early 1960s, this volume opens the door to a world that hasn’t existed for decades—yet still shimmers with timeless design and Disney magic.

One of the crown jewels of this book is an extraordinary, never-before-published section devoted to the remarkable photography of Lou Perry. A frequent visitor to the Disneyland Hotel throughout the 1960s, Perry captured scenes, angles, and locations that no other known photographer documented at the time. His images reveal rare corners of the property, fleeting architectural moments, unique mid-century modern details, and historically significant views—some depicting things even I had never seen before encountering his photographs.

Presented with beautifully restored images and thoughtful accompanying text, this special section offers an intimate, almost time-capsule glimpse of the Disneyland Hotel during some of its most dynamic years. Lou Perry’s work is not only visually stunning but historically invaluable, providing a fresh and deeply authentic perspective on the hotel’s evolution, charm, and spirit.

Books will be shipping in early to mid January. 1,000 copies are being printed with almost 600 already accounted for. I am taking pre-orders now. If this is good for you knowing this, you can place an order through PayPal and I will offer free shipping for these initial orders. Details are: send $76.30 (book $70.00, tax $6.30) to Don@magicalhotel.com and again, shipping is free once we ship in January. Book is approx. 300 pages, hardbound with over 1200 pictures and special sections.

If you are on Facebook, you can read more about the book HERE. I have preordered my copy of Disneyland Hotel 1960-1964 and you should too!

Snapshots

Let's continue to look at a group of vintage snapshots - they were all in one stack, but clearly were from a number of different trips, so dating them is difficult. 

It's nice to see the Carnation Milk Truck, especially knowing that it still exists, warm and cozy at the Carnation Farm up in Seattle. It is Simonized twice a week, and is only given organic gasoline. The oval windows were a common feature on old delivery trucks, so that the drivers could make hand gestures to cars right next to them.

When I first flipped through the pile of photos, I noticed this photo of the old Bandstand that used to be in Frontierland, right on the River. It was removed sometime in 1961 when early construction for what would become New Orleans Square began - so much for all of these being from 1965. You can see the Strawhatters are performing for guests in the Bandstand.

 

Main Street Vehicles, September 1968

Oh boy, the Horseless Carriage, one of my favorite Main Street vehicles. To be honest, I like them all, but there's just something about this "Gurrmobile", a completely convincing "antique" automobile that is not antique at all, first going into service in 1956 (though this yellow vehicle was first used in 1957). It has a  two-cylinder, 4-horsepower engine that will take the car up to 400 miles per hours! Hard to believe. 

Next, the familiar (but still beloved) Horse Drawn Streetcar - although it looks like our photographer was more interested in the Main Street Theater, which was showing (among other things) Harold Lloyd's 1917 film, "All Aboard", all of nine minutes long. The synopsis: A father takes his daughter on a trip to Bermuda in an attempt to separate her from a suitor. Little does anyone know that the suitor has stowed away on board. When he is discovered, he is credited with catching a crook. The hapless hero receives a reward, and also the girl.

 

Snoozles™

It's that time again - SNOOZLE SUNDAY! This first scan is from July, 1962. It's not too dark, and is in focus, so it has that going for it. It's just kind of an odd image - one that somebody aboard the Skyway took as they neared the Matterhorn. Is it just me, or is the water actually dyed a pale greenish-blue? In fact it looks like the water has colored the "rocks". Maybe they put a Ty-D-Bol tablet in the alpine stream, I hope the little man in the boat was OK. For some reason I'm fascinated by the molded in "pots" where stunted trees are planted. They are fed a diet of beer and junk food to keep them small, because (I hate to tell you) TREES HAVE SCALE.

Next, from 1970s is this not-so-bad photo of a family of Triceratops, as seen in the wonderful "Primeval World" diorama. Little Tricerapups are hatching out of their eggs, and they are doing a pretty embarrassing job of it if you ask me. No wonder they went extinct. Still, they are cute, and I wish I had a pet baby Triceratops. When it got too big, I'd release it into the sewers. I've always liked the smiles on the faces of the parents, and the "querking" noise that the babies make.

New York World's Fair, October 1964

Deciding what to share on "Anything Goes Saturdays" is always vexing. It's like trying to decide what to have for dinner. Lobster thermidor? Yuck, not again. Filet mignon? Eh, not in the mood. Kraft mac 'n cheese? EUREKA! And so, I somewhat randomly chose to select some slide scans from the 1964 New York World's Fair, from October, 1964.

First up is this nice shot looking across the Pool of Industry (not to be confused with the Puddle of Ennui) at the Bell Systems pavilion, with a jet from La Guardia passing by. To the right, the Fountain of the Planets can be seen. Man's speediest communication was once by drumbeat and smoke signal. Now he sends messages around the world by bouncing them off satellites in space. The story of this breathtaking advance in communications is told visually in a 15-minute armchair ride in the giant "floating wing" that comprises the upper story of this pavilion. The wing itself, 400 feet long, is covered with lightweight Fiberglas and rests on just four pylons.

As for that tower, it was one of the tallest structures at the Fair, a 140-foot microwave tower through which TV shows originating at the Fair are transmitted.

Next, the "Festival of Gas" building. A huge white umbrella-roof on two columns shelters a restaurant and exhibit areas set amid landscaped gardens. A giant elevated carousel carries visitors on a tour of the World of Gas, from the gaslit streets of yesteryear to a futuristic City of Tomorrow.

Inside that semicircle we can see a blue-uniformed tour guide. Up above is a giant carousel, 12 feet off the ground, slowly revolves within the exhibit area and permits riders to view the displays they are about to visit. A complete turn takes about five minutes.

A surprising number of photos were taken of the Mormon Church's pavilion, which resembled the temple in Salt Lake City. Guides from the first year of the Fair's operation mention a white cloud, visible for a great distance, hovers around three towers. I'm not sure I've ever seen a photo of this pavilion with the mysterious cloud! By 1965, the guides no longer mention this feature. 

And lastly - mama mia! Just look at that crowd gathered near General Electric's "Progressland" pavilion! The Fair's first season ended on October 18th, and I can't help wondering if this is from that date, or possibly from right before? I do have some other slides from the Fair's final closure in 1965, and they resemble this one. As most of you already know, Progressland contained (among other things) Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress.

I hope you have enjoyed today's photos from the 1964 New York World's Fair!

Bonnie, August 1961

I have a fun one for you on this Thanksgiving Friday! It all begins with this humble photo print, hand-dated "August 1961" on the back, with the name "Bonnie" helpfully included. She looks nice! Bonnie is a Cast Member (I presume) who worked at the news/souvenir stand that was just outside the East tunnel into the park. Is she wearing sneakers? I started to try to see what sort of items were for sale, and got carried away. Of course there are some that I never could ID, but it was an entertaining exercise anyway.

Here's a key for the items on the left side of the photo that I managed to identify:

#1 - This was a bit tricky, but I recognized the shape of those awesome little travel totes that had the wonderful Monorail graphics on the side. These came in a variety of colors (the webbing on the handle and between the vinyl panels, I mean), and are very popular collectibles today (as I'm writing this, there's one on eBay for an $888.00 "buy it now"). Notice the price tag hanging down in the Bonnie photo, just like the one in the hand of the kid below.

#2 - Coloring books, paper dolls, and other "activity books" were produced by Whitman Publishing in huge quantities back in those days; this is a coloring book with a pretty portrait of Annette on the cover.

#3 - This one was surprisingly hard to find, considering how large the actual book is; it must be at least two feet tall. It's another activity book from Whitman, with various Disney characters on each page. Punch them out and stand them up in your rumpus room! Then knock them down with a dart gun. That's what I would do, anyway.

#4 - Pana Vue must have sold zillions of these slide packets over the years - they changed as time wore on, and one unfortunate change is that they almost always faded to various shades of red - because they are from GAF and use their crummy film. These are the bane of Disneyland slide collectors. 

#5 - I'd never seen these attractive paper parasols until a few showed up in some well-publicized auctions. They were offered in a variety of colors. The first one or two auctions fetched pretty high prices, but I could have bought one more recently. I just didn't want to have to store a big item like this.

#6 - Of course the souvenir stand would offer the wonderful guidebooks. This 1961 example has a particularly bold cover design. I believe that one of these would cost 25 (or possibly 50) cents back in those days. A bargain!

# 7 & 8 - Dell sold Disney comics from 1940 to 1962. It took me a while to figure out the two specific issues on the newsstand, but here they are!

#9 - This one puzzled me a bit; of course Walt Disney had a smash hit with his Davy Crockett miniseries in 1954-55. And Crockett star Fess Parker eventually portrayed Daniel Boone on NBC from 1964 to 1970 (a pretty good run!). But this Daniel Boone coloring book is from years before the NBC show. What I did not know is that Walt had produced a four-part Daniel Boone TV series for "Walt Disney Presents" in 1960, starring Dewey Martin (who was also in "The Thing From Another World", as well as episodes of "The Twilight Zone" and "The Outer Limits").

Here's the key for the items on the right side of the photo:

#10 - One Hundred and One Dalmations was a smash hit when it was released in January of 1961; it became the eighth highest-grossing movie of the year, though "The Parent Trap" and "The Absent Minded Professor" were #4 and #5 - Walt had a great 1961! Here's a Whitman coloring book.

#11 - Here's another coloring book, not from Whitman Publishing. I could only find two images of similar books; believe it or not, this was the best example.

#12 - Oh boy, the iconic and wonderful souvenir wall maps, drawn by Legend Sam McKim! You can tell that this is the 1961 version by the pink border, and also by the addition of the Flying Saucers.

#13 - The humble and popular felt pennants - I don't happen to collect these at all, which is just as well, since there are MANY varieties. I like them, I just don't want them!

#14 - Years ago I shared a photo of my Disneyland "Magic Pencils", on their original card. Purchased in Owatanna, Minnesota! In Bonnie's photo, we can see similar pencils, offered individually. I no longer have my set, having sold them on eBay. Oh well!

As an avid collector of vintage Disneyland postcards, I was very interested in that display rack on the counter. Here's a quick look at the cards I recognized:

How much time did I spend on today's post? DON'T ASK. Still, as I said before, it was kind of fun.

That's it for now, I'm still out of town, but I look forward to reading your comments!

THANKSGIVING, Nov 27

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! The Day of the Turkey. I have some fun vintage scans for you, starting with this first example, shared with us by Sue B. You can see the family resemblance between these women! They've begun serving dinner, a drumstick has been claimed already; the daughter seems to have some pieces of cooked potato, perhaps she's about to whip them into the mashed variety? Seems a little late in the game! There's cranberry sauce, stuffing (I think), and... something I can't identify in that shallow dish to the left. Love that vintage kitchen! Thank you, Sue.

Next I have some of my own scans from Thanksgiving, 1957. Location unknown, sadly. Gramps is carving the bird, serving up big slabs of white meat. I hope there's lots of gravy! I'm not sure how to interpret Gramps's expression, perhaps he's blinking to avoid being blinded by the camera flash. Grandma (to the right) has dressed to match the Delft china. I see that a bottle of ketchup is on the table, which makes me realize that my whole life has been a sham.

A bronze bust of Elvis watches over the festivites; what in the world is that sculpture to the right? Little sis has been helping herself to the cooking sherry in the cupboard, but it'll be just our secret. 

Most people have glasses of tomato juice, but Gramps has a giant bottle of Schaefer beer. When you think about it, it is just liquid bread. Seeing the basket with sliced bread makes me think of my grandparents in Minnesota, they always had bread and a tub of margarine on the table for every meal.

The big meal is over - perhaps the TV is on, and the tryptophan is starting to kick in. Soon everyone will be sprawled on the floor, snoring loudly - the sign of another successful Thanksgiving! 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to each and every Junior Gorilla!

Mine Trains and Mad Hatters

I have two undated scans for you, though both are certainly from the 1960s. The first one features a nice "you are there" view from aboard a yellow Nature's Wonderland mine car. The ride is much more fun if you do your best to imagine yourself as a pile of ore. "So THIS is what it was like!". The guy next to you isn't even trying, and it shows - what a derp! It's a full load today, and the train is just about ready to move forward, through the tunnel up ahead, and into Nature's Wonderland. 

Young women who had long blonde hair could count on being cast as Alice. Was it necessary to fake a British accent? Just study films of Dick Van Dyke in "Mary Poppins", and you'll learn from the best. I like that they gave the Mad Hatter a somewhat threatening expression, children love people with eyebrows like that. Notice that the top rim of his hat is very frayed, evidence of many falls. Probably from when he tackled a guest with no warning!

Folks, I will be out of town for a few days. You know, stuff and such. Of course there will be new posts for you while I'm away. I'll talk to you soon!

Town Square & Castle, November 1961

Here's a pair of "nice but not spectacular" photos from the holiday season, 1961. We'll start with this look at Town Square and Main Street, as seen from the steps of Main Street Station, on a clear November day. An uncrowded clear November day!  Just look at it, it bring a tear to my eye. The Horse Drawn Streetcar is loading up, but the lady with the gray sweater was kicked off because she kept grabbing the microphone and cursing. Her mistake is that she didn't wait until the Streetcar was already in motion, the Geneva Convention stipulates that they must go all the way to the next stop!

Speaking of the next stop... here we are, with a particularly pretty view of Snoozing Beauty Castle. The color is so nice! Obviously it was later in the day, the shadows don't lie. OR DO THEY? The Dent is hard to discern, but I feel as if I can still see it when I stand on my head. To the left, a white-flocked Christmas tree. Just look at that flocking tree! To the right, giant gophers have been digging up Walt's grass. 
 

Frontierland

Well, what do you know, it's more scans from The Mysterious Benefactor! As usual, these show details from Frontierland.

Here's a random kid, climbing on some random rocks. He's up to no good! Maybe I'll report him to Disney security. "No, he didn't sass me, but he could have!".  "Don't worry sir, where he's headed, he'll never sass anyone again".

I have no idea what's going on here, and I don't WANT to know. But you have to admit that you don't see four men hugging on a log every day.

I'm guessing that those kids are on Teeter-Totter Rock, named after Sir Albert Teeter-Totter. Or are they on Bad Smelling Rock? It's nice that the little girl is giving the young woman a helping hand. Before she bites her! Notice the Columbia passing in the background.

A family has just deplaned from a Huck Finn Raft, and aren't sure what to do next. The little girl is content with her box of popcorn, but Dad will need an hour or so to look at his complimentary map of the Island (held by Mom), so that he can make a full itinerary. I believe that the man with the yellow sweater is wearing an early version of a park passport around his neck.

And finally, more teeter-totter action! So many kids waiting their turn for such a simple thing. But there was a risk of injury, and so it had to go bye-bye. Let's just be grateful that we got to experience it for ourselves.

 As always, THANK YOU, Mysterious Benefactor!

Snoozles™

It will be no mystery as to why today's scans fall into the "Snoozles™" category. The most controversial category of all?? "Colliers" magazine wrote a piece about it, and Colliers hasn't even been in print since 1957! The article was titled, "Are Snoozles™ Corrupting Today's Youth?". The answer is YES.

Yeesh, this one is pretty lousy. It's the familiar African Veldt tableau, which always reminds me of the scene in "The Lion King", where all the animals gather at Pride Rock to see baby Simba. Only the Jungle Cruise has some lions munching on a dead zebra. Maybe the other animals are just glad it isn't them on the menu? "I never liked Zoltan anyway".

From a different lot we get this "meh" look at Castle Rock, an incredible natural rock formation caused by tectonic forces, erosion, and bugs. Seeing this image make me have the overwhelming desire to plant a Yippee flag at the top and be a general annoyance (more than usual, I mean).