NEW POST! Disneyland Photo Album w/ Photo - 1956

I usually don't really go for souvenir-ey stuff, but when I saw that this 1955 photo album actually contained Disneyland photos (as well as Marineland and Beverly Hills) circa 1956, I had to get it.

This guy/gal is my kind of photographer because he/she took a nice shot of some fine attraction posters instead of wasting another exposure on yet more Jungle Cruise/Castle/Main Street shots. A note to all of you time-travelers out there: shoot more of the attraction posters in their natural habitats. And in color, please.

I own or have owned 4 out of 5 of the posters in this shot and wish I could get my hands on one of those 3-stripe Frontierland beauties. And I wish I could fly. Let's see which happens first.

I'm Fine, Thanks

Thanks for all of your emails of concern for both my back, but more importantly (for you, anyway) my blog.

During my recovery, doing the blog with all of the schleping of binders in and out of storage and my poor posture at the computer made posting impossible. Then, I got better and posting just seemed like a pain, even with all of you out there wondering what the hell happened to me and very nicely waiting for me to resume. I dunno...the truth of it is...I guess I just lost my mojo for it. And, I'm busy as hell.

So...I guess I need to find a way to regain my enthusiasm again. Any ideas?

October 1959

Sorry again for the lengthy space between posts. Now that I am (sorta) back to normal, I will try to be more consistent.

My sister found these somewhere...it's two shots of my grandparents at the park in October 1959. Not great environs, I know, but I was so happy to receive them that I wanted to share.

Back in Action...Kinda

I'm back for this brief and kinda lazy entry. I'm still not supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds or bend down, and unfortunately for this blog, that includes schlepping and plugging in my scanner. So, for now, this is as good as it gets.

This is a photo of the exterior of the Art Corner in the late 1950's. It was sold on Ebay (the photo, not the exterior), and I managed to grab it before it was taken down a few minutes after the auction ended.

Check out the $20k in attraction posters hanging in the window. Back then, these would have all cost about...oh, let's say...$15.

Love the lettering affixed to the exterior.

Surgery

I'm having surgery on my back Tuesday afternoon, so they'll be a longer delay than expected. Will begin posting again when I can. In the meantime, please continue to enjoy all of the other great Disneyland/Disney blogs, some of which are on my link list.

Delays...Delays

Hi, everybody.

A severe bulging disc in my L5 has me seeing stars, so I'm not doing much of anything, including this blog. I'm getting some treatment early next week, so look for me then. On second thought, once this Vicodin kicks in, I may go on a posting frenzy.

1957 Ruggles China & Gift House Mailer

I have a bunch of Disneyland store catalogs and mailers like this one. There's something cool about this sort of paper from the park. Maybe it's that they're so ephemeral and were never meant to be kept. Or, maybe they make all of our favorite souvenirs that much more connected to the park since we have evidence that yes, they were in fact sold there.

Whatever...I like them.

An Unprinted Attraction Poster? The Coolest Sign Ever?

This is either a never-printed attraction poster or a photo of what has to be the coolest handpainted sign ever; I don't know which. There are a few unprinted attraction posters (Phantom Boats, Tomorrowland Skyway), but this is my fave. If this WAS posted as a sign at the park, does anyone have a (color) photo of it???

Pixie Kitchen

Hi, everybody. It's good to be back.

I don't know how many of you out there have heard of this place (I know that Mr. Goodsell has...), but when I lived in Oregon as a little kid, it was my FAVORITE. You ate excellent (at least according to a 4-year old) fish and chips and watched a pixie diorama out of the huge picture windows. You sorta get the idea from one of the postcards. The large postcard shows most of the diorama. They also put in a short-lived amusement park, which only lasted a couple of years.,

The place closed years ago, but you can find souvenirs and ceramics from it on Ebay. Wish I could find one of those pixies for my backyard.

Sorry For the Hiatus

Hi, everybody. All of my stuff is packed away so I can move it to a new room in the house.

No update until after August 9 or so...

Sorry!

Awesome Ticket Book Gift Sleeve

I had never even heard of this sort of thing until it happily appeared before me at the recent NFFC show. I gobbled it up, of course. The paper is flecked with glitter and the graphics are classic 1955/56. Really beautiful.

Unbelievably, this is my 100th post. Thanks for the 32728 times you've stopped by (as of right now) and for the kind words and comments over the past few months.

A Goody Returns to My Collection!

At yesterday's NFFC sale, my good friend Matterhorn showed up with a super rare folding Hills Bros. menu that I used to have but sold to another collector a bunch of years ago when I needed the dough. I was THRILLED to get it back...with the envelope no less. If folded (yeah, right), the menu becomes a cute model of the Hills Bros. Coffee Garden.

The "E" Ticket # 1

Here it is, the one that started it all. This is my mint-condition and Janzen-stapled first issue of The "E" Ticket. I am fortunate to have a complete run of issues 1 through 45, the final one.

With the NFFC show coming up this weekend, I think back on the innumerable hours I spent with the brothers Janzen as we swapped stories, shared tales of recently-found treasures, and kibitzed about the upcoming issues and how I could be of help. It was always my honor and privilege to be asked and to do so. When I was regularly selling at the shows, the highlight of the morning was when Leon and Jack would saunter up to my table, root around, and try to gently low-ball me on some of my wares. Usually, it worked. What a couple of charmers.

I started my subscription with issue 6 and filled in the back issues over the years. I would never, ever have become a Disneyland collector without The "E" Ticket, something I'm sure many can say. I don't know the particulars of its demise after Leon's death other than Jack put out a couple of solid issues on his own, and then it was gone. Whatever the cause, its folding was a major loss to collecting and to me personally.

I can still smell the fresh "E" Ticket paper scent that used to emanate from the envelope containing the newest issue as I greedily ripped it open. You probably can, too.

RIP Leon Janzen
RIP The "E" Ticket

*******UPDATE!!!

Just spoke to Jack Janzen here at the NFFC show. He tells me that Issue 46, the last one, is coming soon. Very cool to hear that they'll be one more before The "E" Ticket packs it up for good.

1967 Blue Bayou Child's Menu

Ok...a couple of observations...

1. Love the Marc Davis illustrations. Were these done exclusively for the menu or taken from Imagineering?

2. I would order the Captain's Feast.

3. Thank goodness they tell us that the milk is from a cow rather than a sheep or a pig or an emu. And I'm relieved that it's pure and not befouled by God-knows-what. Sometimes that retro copy is just plain weird.

4. For some reason, the marketing department at Disneyland felt that the back of the menu provided a good opportunity to push POTC to the kids eating at the Blue Bayou. As if watching those loaded boats float by in the dark and the whooshing water below wasn't enough incentive.

Disneyland Souvenirs - The Bad and the Beautiful

Once upon a time in 1956, my dad and his sister went to Disneyland with my grandparents. They each were given the opportunity to purchase a souvenir within a spending limit.

Here is what my dad chose:



Here is what my aunt chose:



Now, I love jumbo pens and all, but clearly my aunt had her head in the game back then. I'm told that Dum was also purchased at the time but unfortunately does not survive. However, Alice and Dee are still looking swell while that jumbo pen doesn't even click anymore.

Fortunately, my dad has become a top collector in his field of interest, so all is good.

Haunted Mansion Press Preview

This Haunted Mansion press pass is in the form of a key chain...the cheesy skull-with-a-patch-and-jewel-eye was originally threaded through the hole in the pass and then detachable for future use after the pass was thrown away (AH! Did I just say that?!?) Thank heavens this one wasn't tossed.

I won't be posting again until after July 6, so I hope everyone has a great July 4th! See you back here in a little over a week.

Aunt Jemima Coffee Cup

There's a lot of authentic Aunt Jemima Kitchen stuff floating around (plates, ceramic mugs, etc.) that may have come from an AJK somewhere, but probably not the one in Disneyland. This paper coffee cup, however, did come from the Disneyland location, as evidenced by the printing on the side of the cup.

Anyone out there going to the NFFC show next month?

Viewfinders? Photo Viewers? Photo Postcards?

I don't know what to call these...except cool. Here's one per land (circa late 50's) plus a general Disneyland one. I've had multiples of these with different photos, so there's no telling how many unique versions of each were made.

I wonder if these would actually make it through the mail as they were intended.

An Odd POTC Item

This is a weird one.

As you can see, it's one of those souvenir doubloons from the POTC souvenir shop. This one is stamped, typos included, "OPENING DAYPIRATES OF CARIBEAN" So...was this actually stamped on March 18, 1967? Is there some sort of historical record for these souvenirs? I had no idea how to authenticate it to 1967 when I bought it (and still don't), so I took the reputable dealer's word and went with it and hoping to someday know for sure.

Any help out there from the peanut gallery? Does this look like the ones sold in 1967? Were these ever altered and revised over the years? If so, what do they look like now?

Casa de Fritos Mug

Matterhorn posted this on his blog a few months ago, but in case you missed it, I thought I would repost this very special Disneyland goody. And besides, my model is a cutie! On the back of the mug is a sticker that says that the mug is a souvenir from the "Frito House" at Disneyland.

Extra credit for identifying the attraction poster behind my model!

Last One From My Walls...

This isn't a vintage item, but I treasure it just as much, if not more, than anything else I have in my stash.

This is an original painting (reproduced here in low res; the original is MUCH more beautiful, trust me) that my wife and I commissioned from Kevin Kidney. We wanted a very 50's feeling portrait of our kids at Disneyland, and Kevin came through in a HUGE way. We love the portraits of them in their retro clothes and surrounded by their favorite retro Disneyland attractions. Kevin also drew such wistful expressions on their faces as they dream of their next trip to the Magic Kingdom. And the oil can with the classic "D"!

I've also included, with Kevin's permission, two photos of the painting at his work station with the photos of my kids in the background.

I didn't know that Kevin accepted commissions until I asked him one day. If you're in the market, it is money well-spent, and he is a dream to work with. I can honestly say, without irony, that he is the most talented person I have ever met.

Check out his blog...the link is in my link list.

* Forgot to mention...I love how Kevin painted the lightly shaded area above and around the kids to resemble the shape of 1955 Disneyland.

Tiki Room Attraction Poster Art

Something else from my walls...

This is the original art that the Disney studio sent to Stuart Burrows, the man whose print shop produced all but the very early Disneyland silk-screened attraction posters. It's a hand-drawn cel that Mr. Burrows would share with his artists and screen-cutters in preparing the final poster. I purchased this directly from Mr. Burrows a few years back. It's very small (maybe 6 inches by 3 inches), and there is some chipping and paint loss inside the Tiki god. This photo doesn't do the piece justice, particularly in the quality and color of the background.


This version is the 2nd Tiki Room poster, produced in the late 1960's. Here's a repro of what that looked like in its final form.

POP Ticket Booth Sign

More stuff from the walls of my home...

This is a ticket booth sign from the early days of POP. When the park was auctioned off, lots of the smaller POP design elements and signs made their way into various bars, restaurants and homes. Then, when the place was finally abandoned and left to rot, lots of left-behind bits and miscellany were looted from the park and also found new homes.

I bought this and another POP sign right off the wall of a bar on Melrose about 10 years ago. I know of others who have found POP remnants at swap meets where the dealer had no idea of the treasure they possessed. Still, pieces of POP are unreasonably rare.

1967 Tomorrowland Press Program

Remember that 1967 press badge that I posted way back in December? Well, this goes with that.

This is the program/schedule of events that the press was given that day. It looks pretty ordinary at first and has some useful attraction information on the back. But when you pull on the Flight Plan tab, the fun really starts. Not only does sliding open the Flight Plan provide the day's schedule of events, but some clever pop-up style paper animation gives the rocket on front some flame and illusion of movement. Very cool in person, trust me.

The Final Set of Me

I have more of these, but this will be the last set since the remaining shots are pretty much redundant.

From 1974 or so, here's my sister and I with the 1970's Minnie in front of the Main Street Opera House, as well as another shot taken at the Fantasyland snack stand.

The other two are from 1978 or so and show us in the retro Tea Cups and me in my Dumbo with the beloved and decaying (now, not then) Fantasyland Skyway station. Looks like it was closed that day, which must have been very vexing for me.

Back to the normal collectible stuff for the next post...

Thank you!

The people who read this blog are really cool. Not only have you left a ton of very nice comments about my childhood Disneyland photos, but you have also provided lots of information to me about exactly where they were taken. But Jason (aka Progressland) has really come through.

Below please find a couple of 1982 snapshots of the Snack Shack, the very spot where my family and I ate in that photo featured in my last post. The umbrellas seem to have been changed, but otherwise, it's the same. I have no memory of a restaurant being in this location, but that's why you blogging friends are so valuable...you take people's subjective and foggy memories and verify them with hard evidence.

Thanks so much, Jason!

More of Me...

More of me at Disneyland, this time around 1974 or so. This is the trip where I remember riding Nature's Wonderland and through Rainbow Caverns, but oh so vaguely.

Check out the glimpse of old Fantasyland behind my sister (also featured wearing the stylish Mary Poppins hat.) Zooming in on the postcard in my sister's hand reveals the Dumbo ride, I think.

I LOVED that Robin Hood hat with the feather; I think it finally disintegrated from constant use and abuse.

And, no, I did not save our greasy food containers. Does anyone know what restaurant this was, located in the shadow of the Matterhorn? Could it be the Tomorrowland Terrace across from the subs???

Photos? On THIS Blog? Yes...it's true

Here is a truly stunning set of photos, mainly because of its compelling and charismatic subject matter...me!

These were all taken sometime around 1977/78. I mean, when was the last time you saw Orville walking around? Just behind my sister and I in one of the photos is the beloved Peoplemover; we probably just stepped out of Inner Space, which we went on about five times per visit. I wonder what was in those little bags we're holding.

I wish...I wish...I wish I had a photo of me in the Circlevision pre-show with all that AT&T stuff and the bank of Disney character phones. My parents used to have to drag me out of there.

Lastly is a shot of chubby little me on a pee-wee lion bumper-car thingee at, I think, Lion Country Safari around 1973/74.

Thanks to my dad for finding these and saving them so I could show my kids that their old man really DID go to Disneyland when he was their age.

More of these to come unless I receive disproportionate protest.

Disneyland Opening Day - Meal Coupon

Part 3 of my opening day ticket trilogy...

I wonder why the former owner of this coupon didn't use it. Maybe they ran out of food on opening day like everything else.

As for value, I think that the Red Wagon Inn would have provided the most value (i.e. highest priced meal), whereas the Chicken Plantation would have been the tastiest.

I need to get a life.

Opening Day Parking Ticket

Here's the gold parking pass that came with the gold ticket. There are also silver and green versions of this pass out there. In any color, they are rare.

Let me take a moment to compliment my fellow Disneyland bloggers about the tremendous quality of the images and items that have been posted over the last couple of weeks. Pick any of the links to the right...they are bound to lead you somewhere great.

The gold meal coupon is next up...

Gold Opening Day Ticket

This is not a mint ticket, but for some reason, knowing that it was actually used on July 17, 1955 and not just tucked away in a drawer makes it that much cooler. When I bought this ticket, it also came with the parking sticker and meal ticket, which I will post at a later date.

Over the years, I've owned green, silver, white, and gold tickets, but never an orange, although I know they exist and have seen one in an Anaheim museum. Does anyone out there have one???