Royal Beginning to Tour Guide Week

The caption for this Garden Grove newspaper photo from the early 1960s is: Royal Send-off for Disneyland Senior Hostess Donna Jackson...tour guides salute Grove girl before she leaves for Copenhagen, Denmark and "exchange" job at Tivoli Gardens Park. A wonderful image with the riding crop salute to this very cute blonde tour guide. The image captures the outfits and the badges worn by the guides, as well as the camaraderie shared by them.

As I have said before, in the 1960s there was a definite soriority feel to the guides. The guides were chosen and had to "audition" and test for the job to make sure they knew about the park and would be able to answer the questions. This was the premier job to hold at Disneyland and there was a definite esprit de corps within the group. The mom to this group was Cicely Rigdon who chose the guides and kept them on track and looking good.

This week I am planning to showcase the tour guide images I own. Most are black and white press type photos from the mid 1960s. I hope you all enjoy this week.

Souvenir Friday- Country Bear Artifacts

Two artifacts from the Disneyland Country Bear Jamboree. The first is the cover to the press kit for the opening of the newest land at Disneyland, Bear Country. The front cover features the wonderful Marc Davis drawing of the Five Bear Rugs. Unfortunately all I found was just the cover, none of the interior press releases or images. The second piece is the no strollers sign that once was outside of the Country Bear Playhouse. This is the second version of the sign, the first stating Country Bear Theater. I do like the bear faces for comedy and tragedy at the top. This piece was removed when the demolition for the Winnie the Pooh ride was started and a dealer friend of mine had many signs. (Sorry about the slight out of focus on the piece.)

Ringleader of the Country Bear Jamboree- Henry

Here is the ringleader of the Country Bear Jamboree, Henry. The bear who introduces the show and all the other bear acts. The voice for Henry was supplied by Pete Renady. These models are very impressive with the pine tree detailing on the side of the stage and the velvet curtains. That is it for the model photos, I did not get ones for the Five Bear Rugs nor for Big Al. Tomorrow souvenirs will be Country Bear related.

Trixie and the Sun Bonnet Trio Country Bear Models

Two more images of the models used to visualize the Country Bear Jamborees. The first is of the shows Blues singer Trixie. She is always lamenting about lost love...and food. She is voiced by Cheryl Poole. The other image is of the girl group, the Sun Bonnet Trio from Florida. Their names are Bunny, Bubbles and Beulah. The girls were voiced by Jackie Ward, Loulie Jean Norman and Peggy Clark. I love all the details and the curtain in the background for all these shots.

For some images that may be related, check out The Pickle Barrel blog on the Randotti company. I am still trying to determine if these all came from the same source....

Wendell and Gomer Country Bear Jamborees

Two more of the colorful characters who inhabit the Country Bear Jamboree (at least for a little while still in Florida and in Japan) are Wendell and Gomer. Wendell is the hunter of the group while playing the mandolin. Wendell was voiced by Bill Cole. Gomer is the pianist and never gets the chance to speak. He does get to do some pretty good pantomine and is back up to Henry. Once again the detail on the models is rather nice. I believe some of these models are currently on display at the Disneyland 50th Exhibit on Main Street along with some Small World models, Dumbos Circus models and America Sings models.

Liver Lips McGrowl Model Country Bear Jamboree 1971

Continuing with these great images of the models and maquettes done for Country Bear Jamboree, Liver Lips McGrowl. The second photo is a great close up showing the artistry of the models and how much time must have been spent to get the models to look right. The detail of the polka dots on the bandanna tied around his neck is very cool. The voice of Liver Lips was provided by Van Stoneman.

Swinging Teddi Barra Model Country Bear 1971

A model of my favorite character, Teddi Barra who would descend from the ceiling and sing beautiful songs. I especially liked her in the Christmas show with the cast on her leg. The voice for Teddi is Patsy Stoneman of the Stoneman Family band. For more information on the Country Bears, check out the article on Wikipedia and this article on Stoneman Family.

Model Shop Photos- Country Bear Jamboree May 1971

With the new The E-Ticket Magazine out and featuring articles on the model shop at WED, I thought it was time to run this series of images from the model for Bear Country Jamboree. The first is of Ernest playing his one string fiddle. The second is an image of programming Henry. I do not know any of the employees, so if anyone can ID them I would appreciate it. These photos came from an old company that used to make ceramics for Disneyland and there was talk of them making the ceramic bears. But, they never did make the ceramics and kept the photos until the company was shut down.

Souvenir Friday- Tahitian Terrace Postcard and Menu

One of the most fondly remembered restaurants in Disneyland is the Tahitian Terrace in Adventureland. Most people have great memories of going there and watching the South Pacific Hula Dances and Fire walkers. These are a couple of the scarce souvenirs, a postcard of the interior of the restaurant published in 1965. I believe the dancers in this image are not the dancers in the show, but rather cast members posing for the photographer. The same goes for the guests. The menu below is an early 1970s menu and is in a smaller souvenir size but features the great art of the early menus. When I look at Josh Agles work (Shag), I see this menu. I much prefer the original...

I have discovered a fairly new blog of pictures of 1980s and 1990s Disneyland, along with some older images and it is well worth a visit. The blog is Videblog.

Indian Burial Ground With Fort Wildernes In Back

Another view of a piece of theming and scenic wonder that was once seen while cruising the Rivers of America. This slide is labeled Indian Burial Ground which was located on Tom Sawyers Island in front of Fort Wilderness.

Another View of the Old Mill on Tom Sawyers Island

Here is another view of the Old Mill with the mining town of Rainbow Ridge in the background. Yesterday's image when originally posted was reversed, this slide shows that the water wheel was on the side towards the Mark Twain Dock and during the rehab for the Fantasmic! stage, they moved the mill closer to the Mark Twain dock and reversed the location of the water wheel. I still like the Frontier aspect of Tom Sawyer Island at this time with ladies in dresses walking up dirt paths.

Tom Sawyer Island Old Mill 1960

A view that will not be seen anymore, a Tom Sawyer raft coming in to dock. The dock and hill is now the location of the stage for Fantasmic! This was used when you could catch the rafts at two spots, one deep in Frontierland where the rafts are now located, and one right about where the front of Pirates of the Caribbean sits. The costume on the driver of the raft is very nice, keeping in the theming of the island. But enough talk about history, let's run ashore and visit Injun Joe's cave and listen for his mournful sounds, or I dare you to go on teeter totter rock or we can climb to Tom Sawyer's tree house and take a look at Frontierland!

Plantation Side of Swifts Chicken Plantation Restaurant

To follow up on Davelands Post a couple days ago of the wishing well, this appears to be shot from the opposite side of that image. In this shot, it almost appears that the Plantation was right on the water, but I believe this is due to the lens of the camera.

In the foreground are the tell-tale umbrella's with their tassels. I think that having the umbrella concession (to make and repair them) would have been very lucrative in the early years of Disneyland due to the great number of umbrellas located throughout the park and the fact that the umbrellas were cloth that would get sun bleached and worn out. I wonder what happened to the fixtures from this building? They were probably saved and re-used in other buildings at Disneyland.

Enough about this shot, let's go visit with Major Pepperidge over at the Plaza Apartments for a frosty and thick milk shake.

High Elevation Disneyland Find

Visiting Leadville Colorado which is the highest unincorporated city in Colorado at over 10,000 feet, I walked into the local antique mall on its short Main Street and found a dealer selling postcards and paper. The dealer had a container filled with snapshots, and lo and behold there was a nice little grouping of Disneyland photos from 1970. The shot of the yellow monorail caught my eye immediately, but my favorite are the underwater images from the Submarine Voyage.

Leadville is a mining town with most buildings constructed in the 1890s during Colorado's Gold and Silver rush. But as the name implies, the mineral found here that was valuable was lead and lead is still being mined in the area. The Main Street is about six blocks long filled with small shops and restaurants. Some revitalization has taken place, but it is a fairly remote location being about 25 miles from any other city or town. And the reason I was there is the town does a practice St. Patricks Day Parade the third Saturday of every September. The parade is small with about six different participating groups. Definitely worth a visit for its quirkiness.

Friendly Indian Village Loading A Travois 1960s

Once a scene along the Rivers of America seen only by those enjoying a cruise on the Mark Twain or Columbia was the Friendly Indian Village. In this scene, the figures are poised building a travois to move their possessions. The Rivers of America once held many more figures than seen today although I do like the new village with the storyteller and more motion.

Souvenir Friday-INA Magic of Happiness Record Card Thing

This wonderful souvenir piece was created for the Insurance Company of North America advertising and sales campaign. The campaign used Disneyland to tie into the theme of the Magic of Happiness. The ads focused on how good insurance could help create a magic of happiness for those purchasing the insurance. The most visible souvenirs of the campaign are the ads that appeared in Life, Look and the Saturday Evening Post. This flexi disc record folder would be mailed out to prospective customers and the local INA agent would then call on them to complete the deal. The music if I remember correctly is studio versions, not done at Disneyland and there is some sales spiel between songs. Other items seen from this campaign is a nice large set of posters featuring the same images as the magazine ads (and on the front cover of this record) as well as a nice brochure about INA at Disneyland that was sent to agents. And one final interesting note, this record was manufactured by Bing Crosby Phonecards, Inc. Just another investment by a star of the time period.

Scenes From the Autopia 1974

The final two slides of this small collection are what I call scenes from the Autopia. The first one shows a strong memory for me, waiting for one of the cars to arrive and for the other guests to disembark so I could climb in and then race around the track, trying to bump my brothers in front of me and not get bumped by my brother behind me. I always hoped for a fast car as some seemed to run better than others. I also like the view of the Peoplemover load area with the canopies in the tilted state to allow for loading and unloading.

The second slide is on the track showing the cars. I think these may have been taken for a photography course due to the lighting. (I did not lighten these up much to keep them somewhat dramatic and shadowy.) I like slides and images from this time period, but they actually seem harder to find. Maybe less people were taking pictures or they are still in photo albums that are treasured. They definitely bring me back to the Disneyland of my youth and from the comments, the Disneyland of most of your youth.

Autopia Employees 1974

Three photographs of employees working the Autopia Ride in 1974. I distinctly remember these blue and yellow outfits as the Autopia outfits. There was also matching jackets that were cut like gas station attendent jackets. This was a time when individual rides had themed costumes for the employees. In the 1990s, in order to cut costs, many lands went to a generic costume. The generic costumes were awful as the specific theming of costumes helped to create a feeling of reality amongst the fantasy. Also most of the unique badges and patches for the costumes were done away with. The Submarine Voyage felt like a real voyage due to the cast members appearing to be part of a distinct Navy with its own insignia and clothing. The Jungle Cruise skippers were a unique band with their safari style hats, and the Matterhorn cast members appeared Germanic in their Lederhosen. The Autopia crew appeared to be part of a race car pit team. Thankfully, attraction specific costuming is making a small comeback as the last time I was at Disneyland the Enchanted Tiki Room cast members now wear shirts with drawings of the tiki gods on them including a nice rendition of Pele.

Oh- check out the back end of the green Monorail and the nice signage in the second photograph. I also like the blue autopia car as it looks like the car body in my collection.

The Tomorrowland That Was 1974

This is the Tomorrowland of my youth, the ever popular and moving Peoplemover in front with the America the Beautiful Circarama building sponsored by Bell Telephone in the background. The gleaming and to my 9 year old eyes bizarre building siding on the front of the building with spiky planters. I much prefer the color (check out the bright red of the Peoplemover and the great plants in the planter) and motion of this Tomorrowland to the drab (copper and brown) and almost motionlessness of the modern Tomorrowland. Perhaps as society has become more cynical the visions of the future became cynical as well, reflected in the wisecracking Tom Morrow for Innoventions and the dark coloration.

Disneyland Monorail 1974

Unusual view of the Green (yes green!) Monorail at station in 1974. This is my favorite style of Monorails with the large viewing bubble on top of the front cars. According to Monorail enthuasists, this is a Disneyland Alweg Mark III Monorail. I believe this image was taken from the Peoplemover track as it is part of an employees collection. I like the angle and the view, just wished the photographer could have shot without the bars in front.

Strike a Pose- Tour Guide 1974

Coming from a small collection of slides taken by a cast member in 1974 is this very cute Tour Guide posing while she waits for the Disneyland Railroad to arrive in station. All I have to say is the guy behind her has some serious Mutton Chops!

Disneyland Tour Guides were created by Milt Albright in 1958 to increase sales. The first Tour Guides were male employees, but it was quickly decided that girls made for better tour guides. The program was run by Cicely Rigdon who was a mother hen to the girls from all over the world. In fact there was a sorority like feeling with yearbooks, softball teams, cookbooks, and an annual black tie and cocktail dress party. One of the more interesting footnotes is that there was an exchange program with tour guides from Tivoli Gardens.

Okay Jordan- Here is My Monkey!

In response to Jordan's performing monkey post on http://perkypickle.blogspot.com/ here is a performing monkey at Disneyland. If you look at the ground where everyone is looking, you can see the monkey in his outfit. Unfortunately the organ grinder is hidden by the crowd. Enjoy monkey lovers!

Souvenir Friday= 1947 Postcard from the Walt Disney Studio

Not really a Disneyland item, but one of the coolest Disney postcards I have ever seen. This postcard features a small watercolor painting of the studio along with a witty description of working at the studio. Signed by the Pixie with a little pixie character. The postcard is addressed to a bunch of girls in Laguna Beach, his ex co-workers at an artist studio? If anyone has an idea, please let me know. Postcard is postmarked 1947 so production on Cinderella was in full swing along with the various package films.

Also check out Jordan's Perky Pickle Post on the Snow White queue for some great images and history. His blog is becoming the blog to read!

Tomorrowland Autopia 1966

This post is for all the signage freaks out there who love images of the various signs that were at the park. This set consists of signs for the Tomorrowland Autopia when Richfield sponsored the ride. The Eagle on the globe was one of Richfields trademark signs and is often seen in pictures of Tomorrowland and also pictures of Richfield gas stations. But other signs were unique to Disneyland such as the C ticket sign:

The outside covered line also had a large long sign advertising the ride. The sign was obviously designed with the design aesthetics of the time period, appearing as a googie style sign with two different type styles. The Autopia typestyle seen in this image and of the Eagle is amazing. I have strong memories of waiting in this line with anticipation to drive my car and bump my brothers in front of me, although we all know that bumping was not allowed. With lots of brothers, it was always a fight to get behind one you wanted to bump!

Though I do like the new Autopia since it is a lot longer and the imagineers were able to redesign and keep the ride, it does not speak to the future as this sign does:

This sign obviously uses imagery from the Man in Space series to create a Tomorrowland sense of place.

Crystal Arcade Main Street Late 1950s

Continuing on yesterdays thoughts, here is the Crystal Arcade on Main Street. The entrance to a shopping area, the interior is seen on Major Pepperidges Gorillas Don't Blog post number 2. This was one of only a few shopping locations with the other buildings being filled with a musical instrument display, general store display, pharmacy display, lock display and even the Wizard of Bras was a display on the history of bras! What is really interesting is that on the right hand side is the start of the Upjohn Pharmaceutical display on the right hand side. I have added close ups of both of the windows. Enjoy.

Town Square Realty and Bank of America 1950s

One of the things that has changed is the Bank of America building as part of the Opera House. Instead of a real functioning bank where guests could cash checks, purchase money orders and employees could deposit their paychecks, now the location is used to process the hordes of people who have annual passports. Where tellers once stood, there are now cameras to take the image for the passport. Where Town Square Realty once set up shop promoting Apple Valley as the next big suburb and giving away Disneyland Maps, vinyl packages of Disneyland dirt and the deed to go along with that dirt, now it is the display area with the Disneyland 50th artifacts. I miss the old bank, just knowing that there was a bank on Main Street left a feeling of greater believability. And once that feeling of believability starts disappearing it is harder to escape the realty and fully enter the fantasy of Disneyland.

Art Festival Main Street December 1960

Over on Major Pepperidge's blog a couple of days ago, he posted a similar slide of the Art Festival which was on Main Street. His image however had a couple of the employees looking quite bohemian in their smocks, berets and rolled cuff Levis. Here is an image of the location with no employees or guests. It appears that Christmas lights are being strung up. The banner is a great piece of 1960s style and typography. Was this the banner that Howard Lowery had? If so, that would have been a great piece!!

Displayed on the racks are some artwork which appear to be hand tinted photographs of the rides at Disneyland including the Columbia and the Teacups. Here is a closer scan of the racks. Enjoy the rest of the weekend as I am taking some time off and my next post will be on Tuesday.

Souvenir Friday- Nara Dreamland

In the 1960s a group of Japanese investors and developers made the trip to Disneyland with the idea of building an amusement park in Nara Japan. When the group was here, they purchased every souvenir they could find and pored over the guidebooks and maps. Then the builders got to work and ended up building a clone of Disneyland with some definite Japanese touches. The first image is a photograph taken in 1964 of the Main Street Station. The next two images are postcards of the park showing the Castle and Main Street from the Castle. The final images are from the guidebook published by Dreamland featuring the front and back cover and one of the pages of their Fantasyland with the Haunted House with satan in it. I have another set of postcards, some wrapping paper, gate handout map and a wonderful full map poster that is designed like the Sam McKim maps of the 1960s. One day if your lucky, I will share them with you....