More vintage Disney pinback buttons

I love old pinback buttons, and have quite a few. They are colorful, and you can find them relating to almost any interest. Politics, comics, cars, candy, farm equipment, sports, movies, TV cowboys, space exploration... ANYTHING. When the buttons in question are vintage Disney, it's like two cool things in one.

Today's examples are, for the most part, non-Mickey Mouse pins. For example, there's the Big Bad Wolf! "The Three Little Pigs" was a sensation when it was released in 1933, and many items were produced bearing the images of the trio of oinkers and the BBW. The "Dumbo D-X" button was supposedly given out by gas stations in the early 1940's. And the Donald Duck "Wanna Fight?" pinback (this one seems to be somewhat scarce) shows the duck when he had a small head and a long bill - he was redesigned with his familiar rounder, plumper look in 1936. 

Next we have three buttons featuring Pinocchio (my favorite Disney feature!). The first example on the left seems to be a somewhat generic "fan" button, although I wouldn't be surprised if it was given out at various stores and events. It has its original Kay Kaymen back paper, which is always a cool plus. The colorful button in the center was handed out to children by dentists (Pinoke and Jiminy are on the path to "good teeth"). The back paper says, "Distributed by the Bureau of Public Relations, American Dental Association". And the button on the right was distributed to children (perhaps at Christmas time) at Hudson's department store, which had its flagship store in Detroit.

The next three pins are a bit of a departure; the one on the left and the one in the center were both given to members of the "Mickey Mouse Weekly" club in England. The Mickey Mouse Weekly magazine continued to be published until 1959. The "Mickey Mouse Chums" button was issued on Mickey's 8th birthday on September 26, 1936, and is nice heavy nickel-plated brass with real enamel. The "Jungle Club" seemed to be related - but different - from the "Chums" club, and the pin is scarcer than the other one. It's also less desirable because it doesn't show Mickey! The example on the right is a wonderful, heavy brass badge that was distributed by the Schutter Candy Company in 1940; kids had to send in 5 Pinocchio candy bar wrappers along with 10 cents. It was intended to look "... Exactly Like The One The Blue Fairy Gave Jiminy Cricket".

And finally, here are three pinbacks starring Donald Duck. The first one on the left is a tin-litho button advertising Donald Duck bread. Now with more feathers! The Icy-Frost Twins button is scarce, from an ice cream company of course. And finally, a smaller button for Sunbeam bread, probably from the 1950's.

I hope you have enjoyed these pinback buttons! There are more to see if your eyes aren't bleeding yet.

Rivers of America, January 1996

The remaining portion of my collection that has yet to be scanned grows ever-smaller, and that includes these 35mm negatives from the mid-1990s. So I'm down to "whatever is left"! Anyway, today we will stay near the life's blood of Frontierland - the murky green waters of the Rivers of America. I feel right at home since my Vulcan blood is also green. 

This is a terrific picture of Cascade Peak, a beautiful feature seen near Rainbow Ridge (back when the Mine Train was still there). One of the canoes has narrowly avoided a dunking beneath the roaring waterfall, which I'll bet was lots of fun. Who would have imagine that Cascade Peak would be torn down just a couple of years later?

"Gullywhumper" is just a fun word to say. Go ahead, try it. The louder the better! The 'whumper is just about to pass one of Cascade Peak's little side waterfalls (did it have a name?). I sure regret never riding a keel boat at Disneyland.

Uh oh, it's those teenagers, racing their canoes again. No respect for other people! It's all fun and games until somebody gets wet. 

Tiki Garden gods

Here are two more selections from a batch of vintage snapshots, this time from The Enchanted Tiki Room's pre-show area.

First we see Hina Kaluua, the Goddess of rain. Her sign (not visible here) says, "In island world there is no gloom, for Hina's mists make orchids bloom. And when this Goddess is at play, a magic rainbow ends each day". She likes to hang out with her BFF, Tangaroa-Ru, the Goddess of the East wind.  

I find it interesting that this tiki has been changed at some point, and appears to be wearing a representation of a woven hat with a wide brim instead of the "hard hat" style chapeau seen here. Perhaps they needed to move the "rain" a bit further away from the tiki due to water damage.

"I am Pele, Goddess of Fire of Volcanoes. Some say I torment poor Ngendei, the Earth Balancer, for when my violent temper rises, the Earth trembles on its foundation!". She is cool because she looks fierce and has frickin' fire shooting out of her head!

SEVEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

To whom it may concern: Happy Mother's Day!

Hey howdy hey, today marks the SEVEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY of Gorillas Don't Blog! I can hardly believe it. In addition, I haven't missed a day since October 30, 2009; if my math is correct (and it probably isn't) that would make today my 1,300th consecutive day in a row. Wheeeee! 

So let's get to the pictures already. First up is this supa-cool scene featuring the northern part of Fantasyland as it was in 1957. There's the old Fantasyland Station, complete with train (and original yellow passenger cars); the Viewliner; the Midget Autopia, the Motor Boat Cruise, and the Junior Autopia. It is interesting to note that basically nothing in this photo exists today.

Here's a neat photo of a sign heralding the addition of the "Primeval World" section of the Grand Canyon Diorama, which is still one of my favorite things. The sign is a cool variation on the wonderful attraction poster. And you may have noticed some construction going on.  Somebody had the bright idea to put up a new Administration building around the chunk of railroad track that would roll past the Primeval World scenes. Commenters on this blog have mentioned being able to hear dinosaur sounds (Triceratops babies querking) from the employee locker room upstairs!

This next picture (from April 1962) shows the rather startling image of an antique hot-air balloon sitting at the end of Main Street. Or maybe it is not so startling, considering that it is blocking a fairytale castle. Somehow, "La Coquette" from Mike Todd's 1956 roadshow extravaganza "Around the World in 80 Days" wound up at the Hub for Easter. It does look pretty cool! At some point the balloon was released into the air, which would have been quite a sight.

This next photo is from a slide date-stamped "September 1963", and it shows a packed Huck Finn raft crossing the glassy waters of the Rivers of America. But lo! What's that in the background?

Why, it's a certain Haunted Mansion under construction! Did the people nearby have any clue what was being built? Of course the ride itself would not open for another six years, which only increased the public's anticipation.

Aaaaand, since I am in a good mood, I am adding one last nice photo. The slide might be labeled "Matterhorn", but we all know that this is really Cascade Peak, still covered in scaffolding. If only they hadn't used so much wood in the construction. Leaks were bound to happen eventually. It's kind of cool to see the hard-hatted construction workers all over the Peak.

Seven years is a whole lotta time! Many thanks to everybody who continues to read GDB, or at least look at the pictures. A special thanks to those of you who take the time to comment; people come and go over the years, but if it wasn't for comments, I would have quit a long time ago!

I'm on my last box of images. It's a BIG box, probably over 1000 slides (500 of which are Mark Twain and castle shots), but they won't last forever - keep in mind that I have already scanned a portion of them. When it's all done, your pal Major Pepperidge will retire to his secret island lair and learn to play the ukelele.

NOTE: To all of you who commented this morning, THANKS! Apparently people were having trouble seeing the larger versions of the photos, so I re-composed the whole post, stupidly deleting the comments by accident. Sorry about that....

Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco

Today we're going to spend a minute or two in San Francisco's "Fisherman's Wharf", a popular tourist attraction found at the northern waterfront area. Wikipedia sez that it "... gets its name and neighborhood characteristics from the city's early days during the Gold Rush when Italian fishermen settled in the area and fished for Dungeness crab. From then until the present day it remained the home base of San Francisco's fishing fleet".

This first great picture is undated, but probably from around 1950 (or perhaps even earlier?). I love the late afternoon light and the rows of beautiful vintage autos! "Alioto's" and "Fisherman's Grotto" are two restaurants that you can still eat at today. The area is considered kind of a tourist trap these days, and I haven't been there for years, but I still remember my simple but excellent meals of clam chowder and sourdough bread, and a glass of wine.

Here's another photo, focusing on Fisherman's Grotto circa 1954. The bright blue sky and spots of vivid color really bring this picture to life. And oh man, more cars! Two-tone paint jobs were the thing.

Knott's Berry Farm, June 1966

Today's trio of fuzzy Knott's images all center around Calico Square... the heart of the old Ghost Town! 

While waiting in line to ride the Calico Mine Train, our photographer snapped this picture with a giraffe's-eye view of Calico Square and the summer crowds. I love that the train is there, stopped to take on new passengers; notice also that guests are standing out on the balcony of the Calico Saloon... that's where I would want to be (if I wasn't about to ride the Mine Train). As far as I know all of those eucalyptus trees are long gone.

Yep, that's where we were in the first picture, up there in the covered area. You can see two of the Bud Hurlbut-designed trains. Two for one low low price. I'll bet that waterfall added a lot to the cost of this building, but it makes all the difference (and provided some cool mist on a hot day).

And finally, a father and child check out the "Red Cliff" locomotive, with an ex-secret service agent at the helm. Trains have helms, right? Don't bother him! He can kill a man with his little finger and smile while doing it. Note that the depot shows the population of the Ghost Town as 93. I wonder what that number was based on and if it ever changed like Disneyland's did.

Main Street USA, 1996

Welcome back to 1996! We were rocking out to Hootie and the Blowfish, the Macarena, and Alanis Morissette. Hits in the theater that year: Independence Day, Happy Gilmore, Fargo, and Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". Now you know.

Here's the good old Penny Arcade, complete with a genuine "Indian Head" penny above the entrance (remember when pennies weighed 20 pounds?). This picture is from November, and it must have been a bit chilly based on the clothing; of course there is always somebody in shorts at Disneyland. Notice the kid at the Esmerelda's fortune telling machine out front . At this point it looks like the arcade was still full of vintage coin-operated machines that I remember so fondly.

This next photo is from July, and Mr. X tried to take a good portrait of the Candy Palace (right next door to the arcade), only to have the fire truck ruin the picture. There's Roger Rabbit in the window, wondering if he will ever star in a sequel.

Over on East Center Street you will still find the Hotel Marceline. In this December photo, Christmas decorations are evident; the entrance to the lockers is just to our right, and you can just see the brick wall that is half "nice and neat" and half "wavy", supposedly to help Walt (or somebody) to decide which would look best on Main Street. Frankly the wavy bricks look kind of terrible, so the right decision was made. Hooray!

Personal Viewmasters - Fantasyland 1961

Here are a few more selections from some "Personal Viewmaster" reels. The views themselves are nothing special, though it was neat to be able to view them in 3-D when seen through the viewers. Since the reels were loaned to me, I only had time to scan one of the images per stereo pair. 

There's Casey Jr., chugging through the patchwork quilt of Storybook Land. This attraction is very much like a large version of a tabletop train layout; it is easy to imagine the whole ride reduced to the size of the top of a ping pong table. In fact, I want that right now, in my living room.

Casey again; the stylized rockwork is really cool.

You know what Skull Rock needed? Giant googly eyes. Genius, right?

And finally, here are the sculptures at Snow White's grotto. As is often the case, Dopey got cut out of the picture. How come there isn't a Major Pepperidge grotto anywhere?

Haunted Mansion Exteriors, 1970-ish

Mr. X, my pal, recently gave me an envelope with some great vintage photo prints. I love getting stuff and not paying for it! My thanks to Mr. X for his generosity.

It's always nice to feature the Haunted Mansion, since I have so few HM-related photos of any kind. These are exteriors of course, the old Instamatic probably wouldn't have been able to do much with the low light levels of the interior.

Do you dare to enter the grounds of that stately mansion?! The outward appearance is beautiful (and completely convincing); hard to believe that this is in an "amusement park". The many years that this structure stood before opening allowed the grounds to mature to a point that it feels like it's been there a very long time. I am guestimating that both photos date from around 1970 (in part because Mr. X got himself a 35mm camera by the early 1970's and ditched the Instamatic). Notice that the copper or bronze plaques on the brick columns look like a lightly-tarnished penny at this point. When they were brand new, they shone like... well, like new. Eventually they turned a very patinated coppery green - and in some photos they look practically black. At some point I believe that they had been chemically treated, but in this picture the tarnish appears to be the result of natural oxidation.

Is that a cast member, the young lady in the red vest? Hard to tell, though that does kind of look like a name tag on the vest. I've always loved those wonderful magnolia trees, with their dark glossy leaves and big white blossoms. Perhaps the color is a bit off in these pictures, but the wrought iron doesn't look quite as "celadon green" as they do today. 

Magenta Slides from 1956

Delving back into a box of previously rejected slides (rejected because they had turned magenta), I spent some quality time with Photoshop in an attempt to restore today's offerings.

The Bertha Mae keel boat is featured in this first photo, as it glides past Fort Wilderness on Tom Sawyer Island. The island looks very raw in '56. Check out the guy in blue who has climbed out onto the side of the boat for a better view; I'm pretty surprised that he was allowed to stay there! 

Over near Sleeping Beauty Castle, we can see that the low fencing doesn't seem to be keeping guests off of the grass. Any idea what that sign was for to our left? All I can see is "...ARK". Obviously the sign had something to do with an aardvark, that much is clear. Notice that modest Christmas decorations can be seen on the castle.