Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Minnie of My Dreams

One of the joys of looking at vintage photographs of Disneyland is looking at the evolution of the character costumes. This Minnie Mouse is especially intriguing (or frightening.) It appears to be from 1961 when the costumes were transitioning from the large head and no stuffed body to the more rounded and "on model" costumes. If I remember correctly, John Hench was involved in redesign of the costumes in the mid 1960s to make them more "on model." One caveat, do not blame me for the nightmares you may have with this Minnie Mouse in them!

5 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

I think that this is one of the cuter Minnie costumes, with the little parasol.

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

That little girl and her adult dress is odd, something tells me she has an evil twin!

Hey, what's on the post to the left? Was this one of those "Picture Spot" signs? Looks like it has sample photo's, oh oh oh I want that!!!!!

jedblau said...

Good God! What a beast!

CoxPilot said...

I remember that the guy that played Mickey (David ?) married the girl that was Minnie (probably in the photo). He later went to work at the OC Register, in Classifieds. (My wife worked with him there).

Kevin Kidney said...

I like this period of Minnie - AND Mickey. While they had limited movement (the parasol was a prop to keep her otherwise limp arm looking alive...) but I like the proportions of the large head and little body. Closer to the drawn cartoon character proportions. Mickey of this vintage wore a large top hat to hide the performer's head. When we created our pewter miniatures set for Disneyland's 50th, we chose this version of Mickey to represent the 1960s. Here is a picture of that figurine, if you'd like to see it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miehana/2045921211/in/set-72157601848341798/