A New Years Tradition and A Look Back at Mr. Lincoln

Today I feature two different press photographs. First up is the traditional meeting of the Rose Bowl participants at Disneyland. From the 1966 game in which UCLA beat the number 1 ranked Michigan State 14 to 12, are four stars of the gridiron. The two UCLA stars are Barry Leventhal (now an Academic Dean at Southern Evangelical Seminary) and Jim Colletto (now an offensive line coach back at UCLA after coaching in the Pros) shaking hands with the MSU stars Steve Juday (a runner up for the Heisman trophy and now a businessman) and Don Japinga (now an insurance broker.) Standing between them is the Rose Bowl Queen Carole Cota and tour guide Connie Swanson.

In honor of Mr. Lincoln returning to Disneyland, here is a 1988 press photograph featuring Abe. The caption on the reverse reads: Presidential Salute-- This life-like re-creation of our nation's 16th President highlights "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln," which is offered to guests as a feature of "The Walt Disney Story." Presented by Gulf Oil Corporation, the salute to Abraham Lincoln is showcased in the Main Street Opera House and includes a timeless speech rendered by the Audio-Animatronics figure.

Six Flags Over Mid-America Mississippi Adventure Dark Ride

Today's flea market was very cold and not well attended. However one vendor who usually has some photos and other paper ephemera was there. In his boxes was this little group of four pictures from an unusual dark ride. With the photographs was a picture of the St. Louis arch. After a little Internet digging, I believe the images are from a dark ride located at Six Flags Over Mid America with the name Mississippi Adventure. This Six Flags park opened in 1971 and this was one of the rides at the park. The ride closed at the end of 1982. The park is now named Six Flags St. Louis and features many roller coasters and other rides. For those who know the history of Six Flags Mid-America, let me know if I am not correct in my research.

Christmas Photographs for Boxing Day

Many times when purchasing slide collections there are other fantastic slides. Since it is boxing day, I have decided to show off a grouping of Christmas images from the classic Americana period. This set is one family celebrating Christmas in 1961 and 1962. First up is 1961 in a room that has the Colonial Design Aesthetic. I love the knotty pine walls. First up reminds me of the line from A Christmas Story- You will shoot your eye out!

Classic 1950s era Christmas Tree.

Caught cracking nuts!

A night shot with the tree lit up.

Christmas 1962 with an aluminum tree and red ball ornaments.

A plethora of Santas.

The traditional tree with lots of presents.

Opening the presents, check out the gifts of booze!

Two Eddie Haskells attending the party.

Tomorrow back to theme parks.

Souvenir Friday- Dining Area Decked Out For the Holidays

I posted the Monorail sign a while ago and got many requests for a picture of the dining area in my house. For the season, I have placed many of my Holiday decorations and collection of vintage plastic Santa Claus figures from the 1950's along with some smaller trees on a Heywood Wakefield sideboard. If you look closely, you can see some Disneyland Tomorrowland items hiding in there along with some other 1950s Space themed toys and figures. The large Delta airplane hanging on the wall came from the old Circle Vision theater when it was sponsored by Delta. The framed piece under the jet is a nice large color photograph of the Submarine Voyage circa 1959.

And just because she is so cute, here is the latest addition to our family, our kitty Molly Bento. We have had her about a month. We adopted her from a local animal shelter.

Very Merry Christmas Parade Part 2

Two more photo stills from the late 1970s parade and then one for the Spanish speaking readers. First up are various Disney characters working at Santa's toy factory.

Next up is Doc working at the North Pole post office, checking the list to see who has been naughty and who has been nice. I hope my readers are on the nice list.

The last image features the big man himself, Santa Claus at the end of the parade. This still is from around 1998 and was included in a packet of stills sent to the Hispanic media.

Hope all my readers have a Happy Holiday!

Very Merry Christmas Parade Part 1

One of the traditions at Disneyland is the annual Candlelight Procession and the reading of the First Christmas. In this undated photograph, Ross Martin who was known as Artemus Gordon from Wild, Wild West was the star to read the First Christmas. Does anyone know the year Mr. Martin was the narrator?

From the same year are these two stills of the parade. First up is the Candy Shop with the Fairy Godmothers leading the float.

The second still is of Mickey Mouse leading the parade in an 1890's style landau with a driver straight out of Dickens.

Country Bear Christmas 1985

Debuting in 1984 was a special show at the Country Bear Jamboree. The bears were redressed and reprogrammed to sing Christmas and Holiday songs. This was always a hit with the crowd, with many singing along. Disneyland publicity published these two images in 1985. First up is a nice group shot of the bear performers featuring the Five Bear Rugs and Gomer in his Elvis glory.

The second image features Gomer in his Elvis glory and Henry the emcee of the show.