Disneyland in Black and White- Monkey God and Posing at the Exit

Two nice early images of Disneyland in nostalgic black and white. First up is a nice shot of the Monkey God from the Jungle River Cruise.

The second is an interesting shot of a woman posing in front of the exit. I don't remember seeing the landscaped shrub in the right hand part of the photo before.

River Ride at Busch Gardens

When Busch Gardens opened, the major attraction was a Jungle Cruise like ride through the lagoons, islands and the Gorge. If I remember correctly, the ride was filled with birds and other animals. There were no animatronic figures on the ride. However, the landscaping and rock work was stunning. The family also thought the same with five photographs of the ride and the gorge. First off is an image of the boat.

Next up is a nice Father Son bonding moment. Check out the camera on the son.

A couple of views of the rock work seen at the gorge, the second one being from what appears to be from the lookouts that overlooked the ride.

Final shot is of the son standing in the landscaping. Due to the nice landscaping, it appears the son is standing in the middle of a pine forest, not in the middle of the city of Los Angeles.

Back to Busch Gardens 1966

Two more residents of Busch Gardens. A consistent rumor is that the park closed due to an outbreak of Newcastle disease. Although endemic at the time of closing, the real reason for closing the park was expansion of the brewery operations.

Souvenir Friday- Some Unusual Postcards

I am always on the look out for unusual postcards. These three are some of my favorite finds from throughout many years. The first appears to be a normal postcard front (to be exact, it is D-109, (Nickel Tour #0098.)) A nice postcard, but not that unusual.

However, flipping the postcard and reading the back reveals it was used by INA to promote a conference for local insurance brokers. For those into animation, the beautiful pictures that Mr. Disney had for the recipient are Art Corner cels.

The next postcard was purchased from the file copies of a postcard publisher. The card is a Christmas card for Philippines City Council member and commemorates his trip to Los Angeles (with a stop at Disneyland.)

The last is a favorite of mine, the Walt Disney Park in Marceline Missouri. A spectacular view of the sign and the municipal pool. The Mickey is a little off model, but the train looks great. Postmarked from Marceline in 1958.

Busch Gardens August 1966 Part 1

Once a nice garden spot in Van Nuys, Busch Gardens was built next to the Anheuser Busch beer factory. The theme park was home to a wonderful collection of tropical birds, which is the focus of these images. The factory is still there, but the garden spot has been eradicated due to expansion of the brewery.

Dancing Pinocchio

A quick post then off to catch an airplane to Salt Lake City for my job. I will not be able to post tomorrow. Here is a dancing Pinocchio from a float or stage. Based upon the trees, I believe this is Walt Disney World.

Views from a Passing Mark Twain

Three nice views from the Mark Twain. First off is everyone's favorite piece of infrastructure, Fowler's Harbor. The shot looks like it was an overcast day.

The second is of a place I have not posted in a while, the burning settlers cabin. This looks fairly early as the vegetation is still sparse.

The final one is of the saluting Indian. Here he is on the lower slope and much more visible. In later years, he was moved on to the higher slope and closer to the railroad tracks.

Disneyland Is Closed Mondays and Tuesdays

A nice image of the old Disneyland Marque sign. It appears the poor visitors in the lower left hand of the photograph did not read and are now finding out that Disneyland is closed. Behind the sign is the Park employees parking lot. During this time, maintenance and construction was performed on the Mondays and Tuesdays the Park was closed. Maybe that is why large construction projects (Tomorrowland 1959, Nature's Wonderland, Small World) were completed a lot faster than the construction projects of today?

Souvenir Friday- Todd Shipyards Industrial Bulletin

From September 30, 1955 is this industrial bulletin from Todd Shipyards. The bulletin is numbered 1004 and features Disneyland "The City That Grew Overnight" in Anaheim California. The bulletin details the work Todd did for Disneyland. Todd constructed the Mark Twain hull, the Mark Twain paddle, the Graving Dock (Fowler's Harbor) and the rigging for the Chicken of the Sea Restaurant ship. An interesting read and tie in to early Disneyland.

Holidayland with the Mousekeeters, In COLOR

One of the more unusual photographs in my collection is this image of Karen, Cubby, Doreen and Bobby hanging out in Holidayland. It must have been a colder day as they are all wearing their Mickey Mouse Club windbreakers. What makes it unusual is the hand coloring of the image. This may have been used as a publicity shot for printing in a Sunday News insert. It is a nice view of the playground equipment in Holidayland.

Summer Time Entertainment at Disneyland 1973

Two publicity photographs found with yesterday's Bear Country photo. This time the focus is on the Summer entertainment at Disneyland. Summer has always featured the largest parades and more music. First up is a fan favorite, the Main Street Electrical Parade. Although not a fan, I can appreciate the joy of seeing the lights on moving floats. Here is the caption from the photograph: Electrical Spectacle- Disneyland's breathtaking "Electrical Parade" featuring a quarter of a million tiny, twinkling, colored lights will highlight the Park's summer season beginning this Saturday (June 16). The Parade will be presented nightly at 9 and 11:30 p.m. through Sept. 8.

The next tradition is the All American College Band. You can see this years version at Disneyland on a daily basis. The caption reads: All Americans- Entertaining Disneyland guests is only part of the "university" curriculum for twenty of the nation's finest collegiate musicians who comprise the Park's All-American College Marching Band. Participating in the Disney Fine Arts Work Experience program this summer, the group attends special classes and performs in a regular show aimed at providing both classroom and professional show business experience. This unique workshop will continue through Sept. 1.

Bear Beginnings

Quoting from the caption on the photograph: Bear Beginnings- Two "Imagineers" from WED Enterprises inspect final sketches of Disneyland's newest attraction, "Country Bear Jamboree." The concept for this 15-minute country comedy was developed through a series of artists renderings at the Glendale, Calif. planning and design firm.

The two Imagineers are Al Bertino who was the model for Big Al and Marc Davis. Al and Marc are the two Imagineers credited with the story and character development for Bear Country. The storyboard on the top is of the beginning of the show. What is more unusual is the storyboard below. It appears to be some sort of 1890's Nell and Snidely melodrama with a full on saw scene and a dim witted, large hero. Anybody know the film or project that these storyboards are for? (Note: I have left the image at a large size so you can click on it and get a larger picture than normal.)

The Walt Disney Studio Commisary

When Walt and Roy Disney constructed the new studio in Burbank, they went all out. Hired one of the best designers and architects in Los Angeles, Kem Weber. Kem was known for his streamline modern design, the most famous being the "Airline" chair. Knowing that his employees would need great food, Walt had a large dining room with menu service constructed. The Walt Disney Studio was the same as the other large studios (Warner Brothers, Universal, MGM, etc.) Here is an early photo of the interior of the Walt Disney Studio Restaurant. Some of the neat design elements are the 4 waitress and bus stations in the middle of the room, the clock on the wall and the wall treatment itself. In the lower left hand corner on the table is a menu and there are placemats on other tables. In looking at the image, I can not see if the placemats were unique or more generic. The caption for this image is rather nice: The studio restaurant is a streamlined, air-conditioned building which serves excellent meals for studio employees at moderate prices. Actually Walt Disney prefers to operate it at a loss, so that his employees can have the best of foods.

Parking Lot 39 Years Ago

Two photographs of the Disneyland parking lot taken in 1970. The first is from the Monorail with the Disneyland Hotel tower in the background. Check out the number of Volkswagen Bugs in the lot.

The second image is from the ground showing the Anaheim Convention Center. In September, I will be in that building with my vintage Disney items at the D23 Expo. Stop by if you are planning to attend the Expo.

And just because it is Sunday, a portrait of the Big Bad Wolf.

Two Publicity Shots- Focus on Landscape

It is interesting to see how a good PR team can take an image and focus it for a specific event. In this case, the event was the March 3-4 "Cinderella Festival" held in the early 1970's (Jason- I am looking at you for the exact years!) The caption taped to the back of the first photo reads:
Jungle Shade- Adventureland's "Jungle Cruise" dock is shaded by a Erythrina Caffra (Coral) tree, which is native to South Africa. Weighing more than 12 tons, this bare-rooted tree, when in bloom, is noted for its bright red and orange blossoms. Disneyland's unique landscape will be spotlighted in twice-daily garden tours presented specially during the Park's March 3-4 "Cinderella Festival."

The second photo caption is:
Land of the Giants- One of the most unique forms of "Disneylandscaping" is found in Storybook Land's mini-gardens. Park horticultural experts leave most of this attraction's greenery in gallon cans, which keeps the landscape in scale with its surroundings. Plant health is maintained by careful fertilizing and watering.

I can see where Disneyland publicity would send these photographs to the Home and Garden editor at newspaper's and magazines to promote the Park.

Souvenir Friday- Walt Disney School Pennant

The first Walt Disney School was opened in Pennsylvania in 1955. Walt Disney himself laid the cornerstone and officialy opened the school on September 24, 1955. This is an early pennant that a student would purchase to decorate his or her room. The pennant was found with early Storybook land Pennants from nearby Gettysburg Pennslyvania. Check out more history or the Walt Disney School.

Photo Album Page Number 5 and 6- Disneyland in 1960 and Tiki Luau

The final two photo album pages featuring the artist couple. My favorite caption is Mod House for the Monsanto House of the Future. If you think about it, it really was a mod house. The interior design was by a cutting edge designer from Laguna Beach and the items used were all fantastic mid century modern icons such as lights by Nelson and furniture by Eames. And what swinging spy would not want to live in a plastic house?

As an added bonus, the couple moved to Sun City. One of the activities at Sun City was a Luau with Hawaiian dancers, fire dance and adult beverages. Unfortunately no Tiki mugs to be seen. And for all the Tiki people (who may be at Tiki Oasis), here is a nice image of the Palm Tiki in Sun City.

Photo Album Page Number 4- Disneyland in 1960

The nice thing about this photo album is the couple went once a year and kept photographs from each trip. We are now in 1960 and the couple is visiting with another set of friends. Notice in the Jungle Cruise photograph, the skipper is wearing a three quarter length sleeve Hawaiian shirt and flip flops. Those must have been the days to be working the Jungle Cruise.

And another missing photograph which I do not know why it was pulled. It was gone before I purchased the album.

Photo Album Page Number 3- Disneyland in 1959

The next page in the photo album. I love the caption on the Horse Drawn Street car as well as tracks as the caption for the POV Motorboats image. I can never resist a nice image of the Monorail, especially when it is in the Tomorrowland Station.

Photo Album Page Number 2- Disneyland in 1959

A while back I posted a photo album page with the promise to post more. After a few detours, here is the second page from the album. All of the photographs on the page are nice shots of Main Street, the majority being taken in the Main Street Flower Mart.

Note: the image is quite large when clicked on.

Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary

In honor of the Haunted Mansion 40th Anniversary, here is the set of souvenir slides sold right around the opening of the attraction. Most of the views are the same, although the seance room has gone through the most changes. The captions are from the slide. First up is "A "Spirited" Organ Recital".

Next is "Seance with a "Head" Medium".

"Old Friends with Grave Problems"

"Spooks Play a Haunting Refrain"

Last slide is of my favorite inhabitants of the Mansion. "Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts"

For more Haunted Mansion goodness, check out Daveland's blog.