The Sound of Disneyland - January, 1963

What we have here is a big binder full of scripts that represent every piece of taped, live, and filmed narration used in Disneyland as of January 14, 1963 (the front page [unscanned] has that date hand-written in pencil.)

I'm going to try (!) to scan the whole binder, but at my rate of posting, that may take until 2019. Oh, well. Every little bit helps.

Here's the first few pages: a table of contents that lists the binder's archive. One portion not listed but that can be found in the binder is the live narration one would hear in the shuttle that schlepped guests from their cars to the main gate.

I bought this at an NFFC show at least 12 years ago for about....$30. Hard to believe.

Culling the Herd...Disneyland Style

It's that time of year again when I take a long look at my pile of stuff and decide what needs to go. This year, I'm selling the following:


Yes, it's one of the U letters from the old Adventures thru Inner Space sign.



The listing is here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220630993663

I have no idea which U it is, but it's definitely one of them. Anyway, it weighs a ton, takes up room I don't have, and isn't really something for the walls. And, about a month ago, it almost toppled over and crushed my atomobile. Can't have that happen. Ever. So, out to a new owner it goes, provided someone comes up with the green. Well see...

A FANTASTIC WDI FIELD TRIP!!!!!

A couple of months ago, Chris Merritt cc'd me on an email that he wrote to a woman at WDI about a book that's being prepared to document and celebrate the much beloved attraction posters of Disneyland, WDW, and beyond. In the email, he told her about a piece in my collection that I wrote about here:

http://vintagedisneylandgoodies.blogspot.com/2008/06/tiki-room-attraction-poster-art.html

It's a piece of original attraction poster art, and Chris thought WDI should include it in their book or at least be aware that it exists.



The incredibly nice archivist, Vanessa Hunt, invited me down to the WDI archives/library so that they could view and possibly scan my Tiki Room piece for the book.

Yes, please!

I also co-own, with a fellow blogger, a WDI binder from 1962 that was used to catalog all of the styles, orders, and quantities of posters that WDI had produced up to that time. I brought that along just in case. Vanessa and her colleagues were incredibly complimentary about both pieces and scanned them.

Then, the fun began. Vanessa allowed me to view some genuine treasures in the WDI archive. I saw the original Marc Davis sketches and final paintings of these:



HUGE AND AWESOME...AWESOME...AWESOME!

Then, I saw Herb Ryman's original of this:


And she took requests!!! I asked to see this Peter Ellenshaw masterpiece, and was allowed to do so:


Then, certain to be turned down, I ventured a request to see this incredible painting a very special and rare way: under black light. As the words left my lips, I turned around to see Vanessa actually WARMING UP THE BLACK LIGHTS! To my knowledge, and Vanessa confirmed this, the painting had not been seen in public and under black light...EVER! You can see it under black light in an early Disneyland program, but only in black and white. In color, it is stunning...totally incredible...beyond words. The bright red boilers burning in the Jungle Cruise boats...the tiny lights illuminating the interiors of the passenger trains..the blue moonlight reflected in the Rivers of America. It's a completely different painting in the dark.

Thanks to Daveland, here is a shot of Ellenshaw preparing this masterpiece.


I also saw a trove of Marc Davis originals, Mary Blair concepts for Small World, and more Sam McKim than I can name. And the poster composites! Attraction posters that never came to be were paraded under my nose thanks to the amazing cataloging system Vanessa and her department have available on their servers. One in particular was SO amazing (3 Ways to Dine in Frontierland! WITH THE FRITO KID!) that I offered a straight trade for my Tiki cel. No deal. No surprise.

If WDI uses only 10% of what I saw, the book is going to be INCREDIBLE! So many images and comps that have never seen the light of day. A lot of love and care is going into the book, so it's really something to look forward to in the next 18 months or so.

THANKS, VANESSA!!!!!

A GREAT Animated Film

Nothing to do with Disneyland...again.

I want to highly, highly recommend this film, SITA SINGS THE BLUES. The backstory behind it is incredible, and you can watch the whole thing, legally, on HD YouTube. Do yourself a favor...find 72 minutes and enjoy.

p.s. Why isn't the whole damn YouTube window appearing in the blog? Anyway, don't watch it here. Follow the link to YouTube.

Funniest Thing Ever?

Kevin Kidney found this, so I deserve no credit. I just think it's absolutely hysterical.

"It's Cream.......of WHEAT!"

REOPENING SOON!

For those of you still sticking around after 18 months....

Inspired by my weekend with the fellow-bloggers at Knott's last weekend, I'm happy to announce, for those who care, that this blog WILL be back during the first week of June. Posts will be weekly at first, or perhaps more...who knows? But at least once-a-week. I'm really looking forward to it!

Thanks to Mouseplanet for allowing me (I assume...) to use their image.

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.