Instamatic Pix

It's time for another installment of Kodak Instamatic pictures! 

Here's an unusual shot taken in front of the Hills Bros. Coffee House; a mysterious gentleman in a blue sport coat shares a table with a Mouseketeer; holding a microphone is none other than Disney Legend Ginny Tyler! Ginny's voice was heard by zillions of kids as the "Disneyland Storyteller"... I can still hear her as Captain Hook, saying "I'm a codfish!". 

According the the Disney Legends site, When the original "Mickey Mouse Club" was re-edited and repackaged for syndication in 1962, Tyler was appointed Head Mouseketeer, live from Disneyland. A Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters was constructed inside the Main Street Opera House, where Ginny hosted a live 15-minute daily segment of the program.

I sure wish I knew what these three were discussing! Who is the boy? Is that a souvenir map that he is partially holding? Could that man be the producer of the live segments?

Ginny Tyler passed away on July 13th of this year, but she will always be my Disneyland Storyteller!

Somebody forgot to tell the Disneyland Band to follow Mickey Mouse; he's out there all by himself. How embarrassing! Either that or the Band has implemented its advanced cloaking technology. Whatever the case, those two ladies are just plain tickled to see such a big star up close.

And who doesn't love seeing the E.P. Ripley (or any of the Disneyland locomotives) passing by? Man, they keep that thing shiny, you've got to hand it to them.

More Vintage Disneyland Wardrobe Department Stuff!

Wecome to the penultimate installment of our look back at the Disneyland Wardrobe Department - courtesy of our pal Huck, as always.

This fellow looks both brainy and adventurous in this April 1966 Jungle Cruise outfit (Winter edition!). And he is ready for the monsoonal floods, judging from the cut of those pants. Hang on to those glasses, dude, they'll be right back in style in another 45 years.

Form June 1969 we see this demure young lady in her Winter "Carrousel of Progress" ensemble. She has aerodynamically efficient hair, which women will need in the future. I assume that the big chunky watch was an official part of the costume?

And here's the Summer version of the same outfit, the only difference is a white skirt. Did I mention the swoopy hair?

Huck was kind enough to send me this followup to a previously posted image; I could see this lass on a Storybook Land canal boat, perhaps. So durn cute!

Stay tuned for one final Wardrobe Department post!

More From Knott's, October 1967

Here's a great shot of one of the old San Francisco cable cars that used to be at Knott's Berry Farm. Did they run using underground cables when they were at Knott's, or were they converted to some sort of electric motor (or whatever)? 

Another view that includes a cable car (not sure if there was more than one) as it rumbles past the ice cream parlor. Mmmm, ice cream!

And finally, the old prospector heads into the sunset with his mule Stinky. It's been a long day, but a good day!

3 More Snapshots, August 1963

Here are the last 3 snapshots from a small lot from August, 1963. See the first batch here!

Dad is trying to herd the kids together for another photo, but realizes that it is just not gonna happen this time. Too bad, because the old Matterhorn bobsleds would make an excellent background. Hey, I have a hat exactly like the one that girl is holding!

Awww, they look like li'l angels here. I love the mouse ears, before people started wearing them ironically (I'm talking to you, hipsters!). Notice how the fence behind them is all business for the most part, but they've taken the trouble to make the top level an undulating wave, to take the edge off.

Now they're in front of Tinker Bell's Toy Shop (I believe)... I wanted to zoom in on the stuff in the window, but that doesn't work too well with photo prints... it just turned into a blurry, impressionistic mess. I'm sure there's all kinds of cool stuff in there, though! 

Keel Boat and Cascade Peak, 1996

Well, here's something a bit unusual for GDB... photos from the 1990's! All four of todays images are from July 1, 1996, and were taken by a buddy of mine who visited the park almost weekly in those days. Some of the photos are just plain pretty, others show stuff that has changed or vanished entirely. 

Por ejemplo, the Keel Boat "Bertha Mae" and Cascade Peak are featured prominent in these pictures; my friend took so many photos of both that I wonder if he had a premonition that they would be going away eventually. I particularly love this first picture... imagine hearing the roar of the waterfalls and feeling the cool spray on your skin.

These next two were taken from Tom Sawyer Island, I believe. At some point the flow of Cascade Peak's waterfalls was dialed down to about half of what it had been, and it shows. I'm sure those big pumps used a ton of electricity ($$$). Still, half is better than nothin'.

A similar shot... I like to think of the Keel Boats as a sort of frontier version of the Peoplemover: a slow-moving, relaxing mode of transportation that afforded a great view of Frontierland and the river.

The Keel Boats would only be around for about another year, being permanently "retired" sometime in May 1997, and Cascade Peak would be torn down in 1998. Frontierland just isn't the same...

I'll have more fun from those crazy 1990's coming up!

Random Views

It's time for two leftover images (photos that were part of a set, but are the only ones not yet posted). 

This first picture is from November, 1961, showing the Disneyland band as they march into Tomorrowland. Vesey Walker leads the way, and because he was prescient, he knew that hip-hop music would be popular in the future, and he often preferred Crunk. It blew guest's minds!

This kid has gone Hollywood. He calls everyone "Babe", he orders salads for meals, and he's always an hour late to everything. He has already mastered the art of shmoozing; this photo captures the moment that he signed the Tobacco shop Indian to a three-picture deal. 

Blimp Saturday

Don't you wish that every Saturday was Blimp Saturday? Maybe that would be too much of a good thing, just like eating a whole package of pork rinds in one go. (I have still never eaten a pork rind, by the way).

I have little info to accompany these pictures, except that they are from the 1950's, and were part of a lot that belonged to a Navy nurse (who also took these pictures). I expect that one (or more) of my knowledgeable readers will be able to provide some facts!

This almost looks like a gag photo, the woman is wearing a giant blimp for a chapeau! Notice the other blimp in the distance, for double the fun. The clouds and flat landscape look very midwestern to me, but I really have no clue.

This next photo gives a better idea of the sheer size of those airships. The gondola hanging below has a wonderful look, part WWII bomber, park steampunk (and all awesome!). Looks like it was a two-level compartment - for passengers? Maybe the pilot flew looking out the top bubble-window, and then landed using the lower windows. All I know is that I want to commute by blimp.

I hope you have enjoyed Blimp Saturday! Hug a blimp today.

Two From 1956

Yeeeeeaaaahhhh, 1956, baby! Disneyland was still a bit rough around the edges, but that's what makes pictures from this era so fun.

Then again, there isn't much that's rough about this first photo (except for the slight lack of focus) from Tomorrowland, and featuring the fabulous 1/3 scale (76 feet tall) Moonliner. Imagine how amazing the rocket would look if built to its full height of over 200 feet! The distinctive round awnings seen on either side of the picture provided shade for "Hobbyland", basically a series of outdoor souvenir stands. There's no Skyway just yet...

Considering that this next photo was not taken with a flash, it's a miracle that it came out as good as it did. This is a rare look at the Golden Horseshoe Revue when Judy Marsh played Slue Foot Sue, and Donald Novis was the Irish tenor. If you are familiar with "Bambi", you might remember the tune "Love is a Song", which was sung by Novis years before his 9-year stint at Disneyland. I'm not really sure why Judy Marsh's time with the Revue was so short - only about one year before she was replaced by Betty Taylor. Anyway, I think that this is a neat picture!

More Instamatic Pix

Here are two more mid-1960's Instamatic photos...

I like this pretty shot of the Matterhorn through the branches of a tree (you can juuuust see the star atop the mountain). The light has an interesting quality here, not really sure why. We get a pretty good look at the Monsanto sign; the blue shape echoes the shape of the House of the Future in the background.

Standing in Town Square looking toward Main Street Station, we can see a sign on the steps telling us that the Disneyland Railroad isn't operating on this particular day. I think the train might have been closed while the early construction on the Haunted Mansion was going on - but it's hard to say for sure, since I don't have a specific date on any of the pictures in this batch.

Souvenir Wednesday

Don't you wish you could have seen Disneyland on the day of its Press Preview? I know I do. But I was still sitting on a cloud up in heaven waiting to be born. Anyway, today's souvenir selections are related to that historic day. 

I wonder who Robert J. Sullivan was? Obviously he worked at the L.A. Times (I used to work for them!). He probably wore one of those green eye shades and had ink-stained fingers and spoke like a character out of a Preston Sturges film. Hey look, a letter from the Richfield Oil Company! 

Oh man, an invitation to the Press Preview, complete with tickets and a parking pass! In fact you can see the area where the ticket turned the letter brown, and the circular area where the (folded) parking pass was. Apparently Bob was too busy to go (or just not interested), because the tickets and pass were still in the envelope.

And here they are! The silver tickets are the most common, by FAR... I'd love to have one of the gold, metallic green, orange, or white versions (which all had different entry times). Still, it is nice to have an artifact from the big day along with some neat documentation. The parking pass is nice too; a shame they folded it to fit in the envelope, but what can you do. A friend and I divided the two tickets, one for him, one for me; he also got an additional Richfield flyer, I've never seen another one like it. 

I hope you have enjoyed Souvenir Wednesday!