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.