If your Spidey Senses were tingling this morning, it might mean that:
A) You were bitten by a radioactive spider, and/or
B) You knew that it is Steve DeGaetano's birthday.
As always, Sue B. has something for the occasion, and undated photo of a vintage birthday party. 3 elves with pointy blue hats sit in a basement (?) at a card table with a magnificent tablecloth, and the finest, most comfortable metal folding chairs. Putting kids in the basement is wise, they can blow on those noisemakers all they want, and folks in the rest of the house won't be disturbed. I like the birthday boy's bow tie! A clip-on, presumably. The boy to the right is hoping that a clown was not engaged for this party. Happy Birthday, Steve!
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Today's photos remind me of "Pepperidge's Third Law", which posits that: "Early photos of Disneyland are just generally more interesting than most because of their earliosity". I'm trying to get this carved into the walls of the Lincoln Memorial, but so far it's all been roadblocks and red tape.
What do you do when standing on the steps up to Main Street Station? Well, you can continue up and ride the train, or you can do an interpretive dance about how you are feeling at that precise moment. "Look Mabel, that man is experiencing a combination of happiness and muscle spasms!". "Land sakes!".
Town Square and Main Street look pretty busy, it must have been summer vacation (the patriotic bunting might be a clue). It looks "June Gloom-ish", but we've had some June Gloom in September, so you never know.
The gray skies kept things cool and pleasant, but pictures like these contain 11% less joy than a bright sunny pic. Still, there's enough happiness to keep me content! I love this photo looking across part of the moat (aka the "dark water system"), with guests coming and going across the bridge to Frontierland. I don't know how long those tree stumps were there by the entrance, I'll bet the trees were cut down by teenagers. You know how they are!
17 comments:
Happy Birthday, Steve-! I certainly hope before all the celebrating ceased you were able to learn about all the countries of the world, thanks to that lovely paper wall map.
Major-
Judging from the disheveled look of many of the patriotic banners, it appears the winds were a-blowing that day on Main Street U.S.A.
Thanks, Major..
My Spidey Senses were tingling this morning! But I think it was just the wildfire smoke in the air. Most of it has cleared away now, but if the wind changes...
Happy birthday, Steve DeG! Looks like Sue has invited some young Smurfs to your party.
I'm not sure what the theme is on the curtains; old world folk art maybe? I wonder what that sheet of paper has on it, above the world map? Those red boxes on the table look like they say "Candy Cigarettes", or candy something. There are matches on the table but I don't think the candles have been lit yet.
Thanks, Sue, for another fun, vintage photo!
In Major's first photo, it must be 1957 or earlier because of the plain green trashcan (I learned that from JG). It's not too June Gloomish, the sky is mostly blue. Nice photo! Looks like a Grandma Moses primitive painting of small-town America.
Maybe the tree stumps were meant to tell part of the story of how most of the trees were cut down to supply logs for the fort? Or, like you said, it was teenagers. That lady's fiery red-orange (coral?) dress sure stands out! And she's smack dab in the center of the picture; maybe she's part of the photographer's group?
Thank you, Sue and Major.
Happy birthday to Steve! The two kids on either side of the birthday boy look a little forlorn. Maybe they were jealous and wishing that it was their birthday and that they were each going to be able to eat a whole birthday cake, without any utensils.
I wonder what that symbol or logo is on the sign over the doorway into the Wurlitzer building?
Lillian Disney brought down those trees outside of the Frontierland stockade, using just her two front teeth. Several years later, she removed those stumps, using only her bare hands. It's time for Disney to now make an A.A. of Lillian and place it next to her petrified tree stump in Frontierland, to honor her and her love of tree stumps. Her A.A. figure can stand there and talk about how jealous she was of her sister, because she was employed as a lumberjack in the Pacific Northwest. It's been "Pick on Lillian Week" for me, for some reason.
Thanks, Major and Sue. And again, happy birthday to Steve!
I think I figured out that symbol over the Wurlitzer doorway. I believe it is a variation of this logo, which I should have recognized, because it's above the keyboard on the piano in my mom's house....the same one that I played as a child.
Wurlitzer Logo
Happy birthday, Steve! Hope you have a great day!
Earliosity is a lot like fortuosity, but without the fort. This may be part of why you are having difficulty defending your idea, Major.
I like photos of the stumps out in front of the Frontierland stockade. Nothing says “progress” quite like a clear cut forest.
TM!, good job on the link today. You seem to have fully recovered from your anesth-, ansth-, er, um, your knockedoutedness.
Thanks, Major!
I get bitten by a radioactive spider every year for Steve DeGaetano's birthday - how do you think I stay so young? Hope you're having a happy birthday, Steve!
Sue always comes up with the best birthday pictures! So many great details here: the "Pennsylviania Dutch" curtains, the candy cigarettes, the map and list on the wall (tracking a relative's world travels?). My Mom and her twinr sister got a dress just like the little girl's for Christmas every year.
t
Looks like a nice windy day on Main Street, with the breezy blowing banners and swirling striped skirts. And the reflections in the muddy waters of Frontierland are evocative and dreamy. I wonder what the finger-pointing lady on the bridge is saying? "Get that camera away from me, you beatnik, or I'll chuck it off the nearest steamboat!"
TM! I hope you're feeling better today.
Happy birthday Steve! Many happy returns of the day!
I love those curtains in the party pic, I’ve seen some like that somewhere, but not sure where. Happy kids are a good start to the day. Thanks Sue!
That is a very early Town Square pic, not only the plain green trash can, but the drinking fountain with exposed plumbing, before being replaced by the white fluted pedestal type. And plenty of the wire fencing around the flower beds.
More wire fencing at Frontierland, where the audioanimatronic Justin Beaver has been working. He took lessons from George Washington. The lady in orange in the absolute center of the view, like a pimento in an olive. I like this picture, the gardens aren’t quite perfect, definite signs of earliosity. Major, you can blame me for your troubles in DC. I’ve been lobbying for your quote to have a monument of its own so your wisdom isn’t outshone by Lincoln.
Glad to see yesterday that friends are safe from fires. A answer to prayer. Thanks too for the post of the caricature stand, too. Much appreciated. Tokyo, from the style of that sketch, we were drawn by the same artist.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nanook, the mom was early on the concept of Edutainment!
JB, oh no, do you have wildfires near you too? They’ve been popping up all around us, but far enough away (mostly), and luckily it hasn’t been windy so the firefighters have been able to knock them down quickly. I would tell you all about those curtains, since I wrote a six-volume treatise on the subject, but you probably don’t want to go “in-depth” as much as I do. Candy cigarettes, yes! Does that mean that mom smoked? I guess by now I should have learned to determine the dates of those early photos by the trashcans, but I will *never* learn! It’s weird that the sky looks fairly cloudless, and yet there is no direct sunlight on Town Square, I guess there were clouds just overhead. Tree stumps can’t tell a story, silly! They can’t talk! Believe me, I’ve tested it. And yes, if you want to be noticed, wear a bright orange (coral) outfit.
TokyoMagic!, amazingly, those kids ate the cake with chopsticks, which mom brought out right after the picture was taken. Very civilized. That sign is the Wurlitzer logo, I thought I did a blog post that included it, but on doing a search, I guess I never did one. Lillian’s front teeth continued to grow throughout her lifetime, so she HAD to gnaw on logs to keep them manageable. Sometimes she kept tree branch cuttings in her purse so that she could gnaw during church. And nobody could complain because she was famous! I seem to remember that Lillian’s sister was married to animator Milt Kahl, she was supposedly a wild woman. He based Madam Medusa on his ex!
TokyoMagic!, YES.
Chuck, I never thought about how my lack of a fort affected my life, but now I realize that you are on to something. I read a novel about the early days of settlers in North America, and even in a fictional book it was painful to read about the massive deforestation of some places. The trees were there for the taking, I guess.
Melissa, not only do radioactive spiders keep you looking young, but your appetite for flies keeps your grocery bill affordable! Could you easily tell your mom from her twin sister? I have twin cousins, and I still couldn’t tell you which was which if they were standing in front of me. Their sister thought they were as different as night and day. I thought the lady might be pointing at Tomorrowland, but you’re right, she could be scolding the paparazzi.
JG, this is what I get for commenting early. Those mid-century textile designs could really be fun, I love how playful they could be. Those drinking fountains are so utilitarian, I’m a little surprised that they weren’t made more attractive right away, but I guess providing water was priority #1. “Justin Beaver”, ha ha. As you know, I’m a big Belieber. Thank you in advance for your efforts for my monument!
Happy Birthday Steve! Thanks for all you do to fill us in on vintage trains, as personally I am fascinated by it. The birthday party is in full vintage swing....with the scary blue cone heads....and matches are for one thing only: CIGARETTES. I can't see the smoke, but I'm sure it's there. A different time. Love the textiles, and a good friend is a textile collector, so I'm sure these are in the collection in some form. I have dishes with this same pattern from the 50's. They are quite charming, and were popular back then: this kind of stylized Dutch theme...which takes me a little bit to it's a small world, with a Mary Blair kind of feel. The kids have rather large pieces of cake...but I dont see the cut outs on the cake...and does the cake say "Disneyland"?!...oh...it's "Birthday".....The map has some opportunities in leveling, and the mimeographed CHORES FOR CHILDREN above it, is a bit odd...and I think this is in a basement due to how high the window is.....and the kiddies pale skin...not sure if this was taken in California, or if the kiddies only played in the basement. Instead of cake they may need Vitamin D supplements. That being said: Disneyland at it's finest really! Postcard lovely. "Free Range Guests"....don't go by the flagpole, but you can crawl all over the grass. It's actually very perfect looking, and authentic. I will have to do more forensics later, but right now I need to go waste paper, as that is what the picture says to do. The Frontierland moat looks a trifle dry, but no worries: still is super. Coral dress lady is Baroness Von Schrader from Vienna...she gives possibly the most gay parties, and has a rather glittering circle of friends. When I went to see the first "Sing a Long Sound of Music" at the Hollywood Bowl a thousand years ago, there used to be a costume contest...and the Baroness was a popular choice.....for drag queens... coming from far and near. I think they did a better job than the actress actually. Kathy Najimy was the MC....and she took that torch and ran with it. She was hilarious. Of course, Debbie Reynolds grandkids actually came in costumes from the movie: talk about vintage fabric. I'd like a bolt of that one please to make my own "play clothes" to dangle about in trees. (Hope everyone gets those references.) Adventureland looks pretty groovy too...however I'm not seeing tusks. (?) Check out photos of Mombasa ,Kenya: they also have tusks as you enter the town, my first thought was "DISNEYLAND"! Lot's of fashions in here, and Melissa I await the commentary :) Happy Birthday to Steve, and Thanks Major!
A VERY interesting rabbit hole and worth the trip if you have time: Phyllis Bounds was Lillians niece...and yes, she was married to Milt Kahl (and others)...and yes it seems that it was a fiery 10 years before the divorce, and her time before that was "active" to say the very least....and yes: she is the "real" Madame Medusa. Lillians sister is Hazel...who married Bill Cotrell (WED) and he's the (allegedly) is one that informed his sister in-law that "people are in your apartment" ...you can connect the dots. Hazel died in the late 70's while Bill died in the mid 90's.
Hey, thanks everyone! I'm literally late to the party!
Major, no fires near me. The nearest is (I think) at least 40 miles away. But we (here in Oregon and most of the rest of the U.S.) are getting the smoke from numerous fires in the northwest.
The only fashion items that really jump out at me are the baby blue bobby socks (say that five times fast) on the redhead on the left-hand bench in Town Square, and the vaguely sailorish dress and hat of the lady next to Baroness Schraeder in Frontierland. Helloooo, Sailorette!
Bu, I myself am deeply jealous of your experience at the Hollywood Bowl Singalong Sound of Music! The only one I ever attended was at the student cinema at the university where I used to work. The top costume prize went to a lovely young lady in a cocktail dress made of brown paper with a twine belt. Because it was a university crowd, there were enough of us who could keep up with the Latin lyrics near the beginning, which got a big laugh from the rest of the crowd. But the tone for the evening was set when Maria got to the pause after "A Captain with seven children..." and a voice in the audience called out, "...AND A HUNK!" After that, we catcalled and wolf-whistled poor Christopher Plummer until I swear he was blushing through the screen and the span of fifty years.
Maj, my mother and her twin sister weren't identical, but they had a close enough resemblance that people mistook them for each other when they weren't together. (I never know what tense to use for the pair of them; my mother's still around, but my aunt passed away a few years ago.)
Happy Birthday, Steve DeG! I hope you're having a wonderful day -- and celebrating in Disneyland or at a train museum!
Happy Birthday Steve. I hope you got all the candy cigarettes you wanted.
Thank you, Chuck and Melissa! I am doing better, but maybe not back to 100% yet. I guess it can actually take 24 to 48 hours for it to be completely eliminated from the body.
JG, our caricatures do look like they could have been drawn by the same artist. But I have a feeling that there was some kind of training that was done for the caricature artists, so that the end results weren't too wildly different from artist to artist.
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