Dancing Haunted Mansion Ghosts Celebrating Halloween

The photograph is another opening year publicity photograph of the Haunted Mansiion. This time it is the ballroom scene where the ghosts are celebrating Halloween. I like how you can see the painted detailing and the Trompe L'Oil work on the railing on the second floor walkway and on the wall. The back tag reads: Every "body" loves a waltz in the Grand Hall of Disneyland's very Haunted Mansion, which has just scarefully welcomed first mortals to its cobwebbed interior. In the Hall, just one of 11 main rooms and areas in the Mansion, some of the more permanent residents enjoy a birthday party.

Happy Halloween everyone and Trick or Treat!

Haunted Mansion is Open

Today's view shows the Mansion exterior the first year it was open. I can just imagine the excitement of the people waiting in line to see this new attraction in this house that has been sitting there for years. The back tag states Ghosts Welcome- Disneyland's new "Haunted Mansion" is now open with 999 ghosts, goblins and ghouls of every description. The stateley looking mansion is finished with cobwebs, creaking doors and even a murky graveyard== just the kind of unearthly atmosphere that high spirited ghosts enjoy.

Haunted Mansion is Coming

Today's image is taken from an early 1960's publicity photograph showing kids waiting in line to see an empty Haunted Mansion. I think all they got to was to the door, to find out that no ghosts or attraction was inside. Here is the tag line from the back of the photograph:

Look for more Haunted Mansion images on Monday and Tuesday.

SOP Saturday- Tour Guides

This week's SOP as promised is "it's been my pleasure." the SOP for Tour Guides of the 1960s. This one has some pretty cool images and even better instructions. So without further ado, I present the SOP:

Souvenir Friday- A Mixed Bag

Taking a concept from Daveland Blog , today I am posting a mixed bag of souvenirs. The first is a candy dish featuring the Global Van Lines Truck. This one is a lot smaller than the large ashtray that usually features a local Global Van Lines company logo. I like the graphic of the truck with all the Disneyland information on the side. The next piece is a first flight cover for Japan Airlines with a postmark of 1959. The simple graphics of Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty Castle, Skyway and happy guest just really speak to me of great 1950s design.

The final piece is an artist rendering by Bruce Bushman of a theme park that once was planned for Los Angeles, Bible Land. I first heard about this years ago when I attended a talk given by Ward Kimball at the San Diego Comic Convention and he described this park and showed this image. Years later there was a show at a small gallery in Los Angeles that was actually the front of a paint your own ceramic shop where many of the concept pieces for the park were being shown. It appears that a person stumbled across the drawings as part of the architecture office and framed them and put them up for sale. Unfortunately, the prices they were asking were rather steep, more along the lines of cost for Disneyland concept pieces.

Hallmark Communications Center Main Street 1960

The Hall Brothers company who later became Hallmark have a long history with the Walt Disney Company. In the 1930's they were the license holder to manufacture the Disney character greeting cards and other stationary. In 1960, they gained the license to be the provider of greeting cards, postcards and other items at Disneyland with this large store. Some of the most unusual views ever sold as postcards are from the famous PDL series. The story goes they were named PDL as they are Pretty Darn Large. The realist in me believes they were named for Postcards Disneyland. I like this image with the worker welding the crown and getting ready to paint. The holiday scenes in the window are nice as well. Hallmark was at this shop until the mid to late 1980s if I remember correctly.

Swannee Lady Jungle Cruise Boat

Continuing yesterday's discussion of what a Jungle Cruise skipper wears, here is another image of another boat. The shirt the skipper is wearing is one I have in my collection, a three quarter cotton Hawaiian shirt with lots of flowers. Taking a look at yesterday's, the shirts are cut the same with the odd three quarter sleeve so they must have been issue items. I like his Mexican huarechees as well.

I also think the first costume company was located in Hollywood but was not Western Costume, but another supplier. Somewhere in my collection I have a dress used by the Janitorial staff or at Pablum baby Station with a tag for the costume company and it is not Western. I also have read that the lessee's had their own costuming made and used specifically for them and that the lessee employee's took the costumes home.

Nile Princess Jungle Cruise Boat

Today's image is one of my favorite rides at Disneyland, the World Famous Jungle Cruise. This image shows a man taking a photograph which is neat, but I want to focus on the two Jungle Cruise employees. The boat loader is wearing a Hawaiian shirt with a bamboo pattern and huarachis for shoes. I am sure these gave lots of protection when the guests would step on his feet. But the theming is right on. And of course these days, the State of California requires the wearing of proper personal protective equipment (full work shoes, they may even require steel toe shoes in case the employee gets his feet between the dock and the boat!)

The boat skipper is also wearing a Hawaiian shirt, this one composed of an abstract pattern. In either case, it appears they just wore a shirt they had from home and were not issued specific shirts as part of a uniform. But also look at his arm as it appears he has a visible tattoo. Now how cool is that, your Jungle Cruise boat is being skippered by a real Sailor who received a tattoo at some foreign port! Talk about appropriate theming.

Attempting to Drive the Carnation Truck

For years this C-Cab design Gurrmobile was parked next to the Carnation Ice Cream Store on Main Street. And I am sure many young guys would climb up into the seat, grip the steering wheel and push the gas pedal, hoping the truck would start and they could drive it right down Main Street and out into the real world.

I have also shown a close up of the windows to show that the windows were initially just set pieces and it was not later that the practice of creating a window to honor a retired employee was started.

Antique Autos Main Street 1960

Today I just want to say this is one nice view of the Antique Autos on Main Street. I miss the days of ticket books where guests would ride these cars to use up their A Tickets instead of waiting in line for the big new ride all day long....

SOP Saturday- Tahitian Terrace

One of my main collecting interests has been trying to find the various SOPs and Guides for Host and Hostesses published by the University of Disneyland over the years. Most have very unusual images of the park and some great spot illustration art. Since I had this one scanned (and some of you may have seen it on Tiki Central), I am starting this series with The Tahitian Terrace Touch... A Guide for Hostesses and Hosts. The next one I will show will be the Tour Guide SOP that I showed the cover. I have received a request to show that SOP. So enjoy and look forward to many more SOPs.

Souvenir Friday- Tinkerbell Disneyland T Shirts

Today's souvenirs are two different Tinkerbell T Shirts sold at the Emporium. What is neat about the shirts is that on the end of her wand is a little metal piece that kind of glows and catches the light. I believe the bottom shirt is actually older from 1955 or 1956 and the top shirt approximately from 1959. T shirts are a very unique collectable from the early days of Disneyland. I have seen a couple of different ones that are not in my collection. One T shirt is of the native from Adventureland that Gorilla's Don't Blog showed with a kid wearing the shirt as his first post, and there is one that is a shield design as seen on some of the pennants from the late 1950s. I would almost think there is a T shirt with the spaceman or the Rocket to the Moon from Tomorrowland. A great source of information are the various gift catalogs printed. But the trouble is that the gift catalogs are collectables in their own right.