Disney Rewards Visa Card Window

An anonymous commenter correctly pointed out that I incorrectly said the display case is still there next to the bank. It has been transformed into a service window for the Disney Rewards Visa Card. (See the original post here.) I think the construction walls were up during my last visit, so I have no excuse. Below is what the area now looks like. Interestingly, the service window has a very similar shape and size to that original display case!

Adopt-a-Highway: Disneyland Park

While being driven south on I-5 today I saw an Adopt-a-Highway sign (I think at the Harbor Boulevard off-ramp) that caught my attention. I clearly recognized the Disneyland logo from a distance and also noticed a subscripted word. I assumed that word would be "Resort." I was a little surprised to see "Park" instead. Disneyland (Park) obviously has its own identity, but it seems a little strange to me that Disney would use Disneyland Park as the sponsor rather than the resort property. Is this perhaps a relic from the late 1990s? Or does Disney's California Adventure just not care about litter?

I have a full day at Disneyland planned for tomorrow, including dining at the Club. I'll have more regular postings soon!

The Lost Lost & Found

One of the entries of Chris Strodder's Disneyland Encyclopedia that I checked closely was that for Lost & Found. I had worked there, of course, but several months back I discovered a Lost & Found location previously unknown to me. The book didn't mention this location, which wasn't terribly surprising. I don't know anything about it either!

The first photo is from February 1964 and clearly shows Lost & Found utilizing space in the Opera House.

I love that Disneyland logo! The display window is kind of interesting. At other times it displayed merchandise. Were the items in this photograph the lost goods of the day? Here's a close-up so you can get a better idea of the variety of things:

While the facade is part of the Bank of Main Street, that door is functionally part of the Opera House, as you can see from the following 2001 interior photo of the Walt Disney Story:

The display case sits on the other side of the wall here labeled "The Happiest Place on Earth." A year later, Lost & Found had moved (back?) elsewhere. This March 1965 photo shows all traces of the service removed:

...excepting, perhaps, some of the window display. Are those two dolls the same ones as in the 1964 photograph?

Lost & Found clearly had to go when Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln assumed tenancy from the Mickey Mouse Club Headquarters, but why was it there in the first place? And what in the world did the interior look like? That display case is still there, as is the door and the lighting fixture. Compare to this April 2007 shot, courtesy of Daveland:

Disneyland Shop Information

No, I haven't forsaken all of you... I've just been doing my Christmas shopping! I set my time machine for 1958 to take advantage of the catalog Jed posted, but I ended up in 1973. (The dial has been sticking, and you know how the repair people are...) Luckily, the Disneyland Line issued a special edition around December 5, 1973 documenting what each store sells. I just don't know if I'll have enough room to bring back the grandfather clock! (Yes, I'm posting this from 1973.) I might just load up on Funky Groovy Threads over at the Character Shop. Far out!


With thanks to VintageDisneylandTickets for hosting, you too can peruse this unique portrait of 1973 Disneyland shopping.

You Vintage Disneyland Photo Bloggers...

...really need to pick up the pace. The Spring 1967 Backstage Disneyland discloses that "there are 198 million prints and slides" made by Guests and personnel--every year! What do you guys have--a few thousand? I don't think you're applying yourselves at all!

Photos from George Short, Part 14: Tomorrowland, 1963

My posts the next couple of weeks might be sporadic (read: will be sporadic). I'll be visiting California for part of the time. Also, my desktop computer, from which I sometimes draw images and information, is currently out of commission. Anyway... I have some more of George Short's photos for you today. These three shots were taken from the Skyway to Fantasyland in 1963 and show the early Tomorrowland's heavy reliance on ovular, fenced off areas (especially the third shot!)

An Assortment of Obituaries

My search for Disneyland newspaper articles and advertisements would be greatly simplified if I only paid attention to those that were obviously about the Park (e.g., "Disneyland Prepares for Job Applicants," Long Beach Independent Press-Telegram, May 7, 1961). Instead, I'll give at least a cursory glance to each article that mentions Disneyland to see how it relates, and then determine if it's worth saving. There are certain types of repeating articles that I can immediately discount: those that talk about YMCA trips to Disneyland; articles about meetings, conventions, and speeches at the Disneyland Hotel (while it would be very interesting to compile a list of all of these because of the incredible range of subjects discussed and organizations represented, the task is hopelessly beyond the capabilities of even this thesaurus); and references to something being "a" Disneyland. Yeah, those writers and columnists bandied the term about without regard for how much it clutters up my searches!

But all this effort is redeemed (somewhat) when I come across small bits of information buried in longer articles. I can't always determine the accuracy of this information, but it at least gives me something to check out. Obituaries are one such source for this information, and below I share a few such things for eight people all previously unknown to me before my newspaper searches. For each person I provide a few biographical facts and all I know about the Disneyland connection from the obits; if anybody out there has more information on these people and Disneyland, please leave a comment or contact me!

George W. Smith. Died July 4, 1955. George was a 40-year-old foreman at Disneyland and had worked at MGM's set department for 20 years before going to Disneyland. No cause of death is listed, which heightens my curiosity about this man and his role in Disneyland's construction.

Ford B. Dicker. Guest who died July 4, 1959 at Disneyland of a heart attack. He was an executive in the assembly division at General Motors. I don't know the earliest fatality in Disneyland's history (unrelated to anything mechanical), but this seems pretty early. Other noteworthy heart attacks: on June 22, 1960, a 42-year-old member of the royal party of King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit of Thailand died of a heart attack while visiting Disneyland, and on October 21, 1962, singer Monette Moore of the Young Men from New Orleans performing group collapsed on Main Street and died from a heart attack.

Emil E. Mazenec. Died June 8, 1963. Emil was the 45-year-old director of the Disneyland Polka Band. He was previously a trombonist with "many big name bands" before coming to Anaheim or Disneyland (the obituary is unclear) eight years before. (Actually, the obituary gives the surname as Mazenec, but I think it might be spelled Mazanec.)

Kafpar Burgi. Died July 10, 1963. He was a 57-year-old president of his own landscape construction company, coming to Los Angeles from his native Switzerland in 1927 and entering the landscape business in 1933. He helped landscape Disneyland, Century City, and "a number of other projects."

Harvey T. Gillett. Died October 1963. Harvey was a 58-year-old WED Enterprises employee who served as art director of lessee activities at Disneyland. (Does anybody know what that even means? Did he interface with the lessees to make sure what they wanted to do fit in with the Disneyland aesthetic?) He had previously been an artist for film studios.

John Edwin Barber. Died October 2, 1973. John was a retired financial executive. He was apparently "closely associated with Disney Enterprises and was instrumental in arranging the financing of Disneyland." Unfortunately Buzz Price's book omits an index, so I couldn't easily check to see if he's mentioned there. I do not know how he knew Walt (which he must have if he were so instrumental!).

Daniel S. Hoblick. Died September 25, 1974. Daniel was president of Danly Engineering Co., "which installed the Haunted House ride in Disneyland and most of the rides in Disneyworld." Danly Engineering's web site can be found here. There's not much on the site: "Since 1965. Structural steel fabricators and erectors. Miscellaneous and ornamental iron." Maybe they have some interesting Haunted Mansion records! Daniel's son Stephen is listed as the owner in a recent listing of Huntington Beach business licenses, so I guess it's still a family business.

Walter Fon Lee. Died October 1982. The 65-year-old Walter was a restaurateur; his grandparents had opened the Man Jen Low restaurant, which was LA's oldest Chinese restaurant (in its history it moved around a few times, became General Lee's, and closed in 1987). The article states, "At one time there were Men [sic] Jen Low restaurants at Farmers Market, Disneyland and Pacific Ocean Park." Now, the fact that the obit consistently misspelled the restaurant name as "Men Jen Low" makes me question its veracity. I know of no restaurant in Disneyland's history that fits the description. (The only possibility I see is the Adventureland Bazaar, but Lawson Engineering operated that. The Bazaar, also operated by Lawson, had a Lee Bros. store, but this did not sell food.) The fact that POP is mentioned makes me wonder if "Disneyland" really should have been another amusement park name. Anybody have a guess on this?

Do You Have What It Takes to Be the (1974) Disneyland Ambassador?

There are a few restrictions that might eliminate a good portion of my readers: you have to work at Disneyland; you have to be between 19 and 24; and you have to be unmarried. You also have to be female, in good health, and you should probably tell them you don't get car sick or air sick. Oh, and you'll need a time machine, because this is for the 1974 Ambassador! If you do go back in time, you should really watch out for Carol DeKeyser...

You Might Want to...

COVER YOUR EYES!

What Happened to the Carrousel?

I know why they bastardized the King Arthur Carrousel in March 1982... do you? (I'll give you a hint: there's a Sherman Brothers connection!)

UPDATE: See below the photographs...

Todd Pierce has correctly surmised that Disneyland outfitted the Carrousel this way for filming a Magic Journeys scene. The film features a Sherman Brothers theme. Bruce Gordon told me that the film shows the big tarp they used to hide all this construction!

Disneyland's Last Night Alone

We've had a lot of text here over the past week, so I'll just provide a couple of photos today. There's nothing too remarkable about the following images in and of themselves. Sure, they show Disneyland without any Guests, but it's not like 1955 Disneyland or anything! On February 7, 2001, I had a closing shift at Lost & Found. I recall that day being particularly dead. If you recall my post on Guests helped at Disney's California Adventure Lost & Found, it was something like that (but with more foot traffic because of the lockers). I even remember the rather unusual event of the Lead going on break and leaving me there alone. Anyway, at the end of my shift I took this photograph:

As I said, somewhat interesting, but not particularly remarkable... until you take account of the date. Disney's California Adventure opened on February 8, making this a photo of Disneyland on its last day alone. Never again (well, probably!) would Guests step foot on Main Street, U.S.A. and be inside the only California park. And because I have it, here's a companion shot of the lockers:

I have a key from one of the old lockers that I can share at some point, but you know how it is--in an ironic twist, the locker key itself is in storage, thousands of miles away from me!

How Does the Compendium Differ?

In my review of Chris Strodder's Disneyland Encyclopedia, I promised a write-up of how The Disneyland Compendium (an umbrella term for several different products Kevin Yee and I are working toward) differs from what's currently out there. I believe our wide-ranging research efforts and attention to detail will set these products apart. Now, what follows are somewhat tentative plans and as we're yet two years away from expected publication of the first part, they could very well change. They should give a sense of what we're attempting, though.

In regards to Strodder's encyclopedia, he is clearly an author (seven books in eight years) who took Disneyland as a subject; Kevin and I are Disneylanders who are taking an encyclopedia as our subject. He writes solely as a fan, limiting himself to some published documents; Kevin and I bring an intimate familiarity of the subject to the table. As I read through the encyclopedia, I could see some of my own past research in there (like the January 1997 date problem mentioned in the review or things Bruce Gordon or Kim Irvine told us in response to our questions). He can tout that he didn't talk to Disney, but we're happy to draw on the people that know the place best! We have the Cast experience and--of course--have visited the Park as Guests many, many, many times. We both have academic training in the humanities which can help us to contextualize some of the happenings at Disneyland. Alas, neither of us have worked as Imagineers, but we have had and continue to maintain friendships with many Imagineers who can help to fill in gaps in that perspective for us. (Oh, and I guess I did co-found the short-lived Walt Disney Imagineering Fan Club!)

This leads to my next point: we are striving for an integrated history of the Disneyland Resort, incorporating the Guest experience, the operational side of things, Imagineering, and broader cultural significance. I've been arguing for many years that the Cast side of things is usually neglected in publications. With the exceptions of a few memoirs (such as Van France's Window on Main Street or Kevin Yee's Mouse Trap), it is difficult to find reliable information on operations. A few Cast Member names are known (particularly those who have been named Disney Legends), but others still in relatively anonymity have also significantly impacted Disneyland's history. There's a treasure trove of information in internal publications: the Disneylander, the Disneyland Line/Disneyland Resort Line, Backstage Disneyland, and departmental newsletters. In my research I'm thoroughly combing such resources to find information on departments, departmental functions, significant Cast Members, and other details that have been lost through the years.

Disney A-Z utilizes an internal perspective, pointing to how Disney things relate to other Disney things--but usually not outside the company. And this makes perfect sense, given the immense size of a Disney encyclopedia documenting all such outside connections! For example, we'd like to draw out some of the sources used for designing parts of the Resort and look for background information on the various lessees and sponsors through the years. What made the outside company want to be a part of Disneyland? How did each benefit? Time permitting, we might inquire with what corporate archives exist, as they may have records documenting such decisions and maybe providing additional information on the exhibits or shows. For example, the Monsanto archives (housed at Washington University in St. Louis) shows some intriguing folder titles. Some of my posts that document Disneyland's connections to various things (like that on freeways) hints at what we might do here.

I think the way we're organizing our research will result in something different, too. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you'll know I have a thesaurus database to figure out the different concepts and relate them to one another. (I'm thinking I should put up a more detailed post on the thesaurus, with screenshots, examples, or maybe even a video.) Strodder's encyclopedia mostly documents proper nouns, like geographic locations and people. He includes a few generics--restrooms, attraction posters--but it's mainly a gazetteer (places) and pantheon (people). The way the thesaurus is structured, however, Kevin and I are gathering information on both the proper nouns and more generic concepts. So, we might find it worthwhile to have entries on theming, architecture, water animation, or rockwork. (I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but my plan is that Kevin and I will sit down in the future and go through the terms I've collected one by one and decide what needs an entry. Because of the thesaurus's hierarchy, we can easily determine at what level of specificity we want to write. For example, all of the attraction posters and all of the versions of the souvenir wall maps are thesaurus terms, but we'd likely just have a single entry grouping them all together.)

As I keep alluding to, I believe our research effort to be the most wide-ranging on Disneyland's history. Of course, we have Bruce and David above all others to thank for that because of The Nickel Tour, but I think we're pulling out more details than anybody has before attempted. I've spent countless hours saving over 6,000 newspaper articles and advertisements--and I still have about a quarter of a century to go. There are also the Cast Member publications mentioned earlier, the books we all know, The "E" Ticket, other magazine articles (even those featuring Disney obsessives!), people (especially people!), photographs, souvenir guidebooks, guidemaps, souvenir wall maps, the wonderful blogs that always reveal the unexpected, and any other reliable paper we can get our hands on.

I do not know of anybody previously attempting a day-by-day chronology of the Resort's history, as I'm now attempting in the thesaurus. I'm including Park operating hours (striving to be as accurate as possible, but realizing the impossibility of 100% accuracy), linking openings, closings, debuts, ending dates, airings, release dates, event occurrences, promotions, and anything else noteworthy. It's a great way to look up anniversaries for possible blog posts! And this dementia that drove me to do attempt a day-by-day history will also lead to a very thorough Compendium.

Chris Strodder's Disneyland Encyclopedia: A Review

Today I received my anxiously awaited copy of Chris Strodder's The Disneyland Encyclopedia: The Unofficial, Unauthorized, and Unprecedented History of Every Land, Attraction, Restaurant, Shop, and Event in the Original Magic Kingdom (Santa Monica: Santa Monica Press, 1998). I'm usually not one to review things myself, but I do have some qualifications that pertain to the topic at hand. To wit, I'm a Disneyland historian (with an encyclopedia in progress) who has gone through library science training! If you're new here, yes, my work on The Disneyland Compendium may bias me against a perceived competing book... however, I think the product Kevin Yee and I are creating is vastly more comprehensive than this encyclopedia. In a coming post (probably this week, maybe very soon), I will expound on how the Compendium differs from anything currently existing or likely to be created.

Here I'm going to review the encyclopedia from an information access perspective, using my class notes to assess its authority, reliability, and encyclopedianess. While this may be overkill (should it be considered an encyclopedia just because it's called an encyclopedia?), I found the principles used to assess these rigorously constructed sources useful to think about in reviewing this encyclopedia. My comments below point out the flaws I found in the book, but I don't believe it's a bad book. This is an evaluation from a library science and how-I-will-do-it-differently perspective; I have no doubt that the volume contains a lot of information unknown to a lot of Disneyland fans and he seems to have expended considerable effort in pulling it together. I know one wouldn't attempt something like this unless they loved Disneyland!

So, who is Chris Strodder, and what makes him qualified to write this book? I admit I hadn't heard the name before I saw that this book was coming out. From his About the Author and Introduction, we learn that he is a Mill Valley-based web designer authoring on the side and that this is his sixth book since 2000. Two of his other books have very tangential relations to Disneyland: an adventure novel had a Disneyland-like park as a major setting, and The Encyclopedia of Sixties Cool talked about Disneyland in the 1960s. He grew up a fan of Disneyland, getting there every few years and more frequently while he attended UCLA.

He makes a point that he had no special access, nor has he at any time been employed by The Walt Disney Company. Disturbing to me was his seeming pride in pointing out that he did not "correspond with any Disney executives, officials, publicists, or archivists," and the dates used throughout the book are "as accurate as [he] could make them without having access to the official Disney Archives." Despite the use of the word unauthorized in the title (there's at least one Amazon comment on my own book 101 Things You Never Knew About Disneyland complaining of our use of "unauthorized" in the subtitle), there's very little in here that casts Disney in a negative light. The only two instances I saw in three hours with the book tonight were a very brief discussion of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad's safety problems and problems endured by walk-around characters. So, why is he proud of the outsider status, when it does nothing to enrich the work but does detract from its authority? Although the Walt Disney Archives is well-nigh impossible to get into for research, Dave Smith will review outside manuscripts sent to him for accuracy.

The fan perspective shows up frequently in the writing, sometimes expressing personal affection for a removed attraction and sometimes grasping for information on an entry. In regards to Adventure Thru Inner Space, Stoddard writes, "Sadly, its sets aging and its wait-time disappearing, Adventure Thru Inner Space closed in 1985..." Or he mentions that the "coolest" job in the Park is "usually considered" to be the Jungle Cruise skipper. He signals less confidence in his authority to the reader with many uses of "usually" or "supposedly" ("John Hench is usually credited" as the designer of Carefree Corner's exterior, for instance, or writing "The Adventureland Bazaar...seemingly included..."). He repeats some rumors (such as that the Bengal Barbecue will be removed for an expansion of the River Belle Terrace--probably this last expansion), or that the Skyway was removed because of unruly Guests, safety concerns, or the theming of the towers in Fantasyland (without a mention of the labor savings!).

Where does he get his information, then, if not from personal experience or from anything unpublished? His bibliography is rather thin, but lists the Disneyland books you would expect. Surprisingly missing is any mention of The "E" Ticket magazine; I felt sure that would be a key source. Instead, much of his information comes from souvenir guidebooks (not the guidemaps that VintageDisneylandTickets has been posting, but the more book-like ones issued annually). The encyclopedia contains unending references to these guidebooks, frequently even talking about how long it was before the entity had its photograph in such a guide. The Crystal Arcade entry contains the line, "Somehow the flashy frontage missed the photographers' cameras for all of the park's early souvenir books until a wide photo put it behind the Disneyland Band in '68." It's regrettable that Strodder includes so many references of that type, for he's otherwise a very engaging writer.

The encyclopedia is only available in paperback and does not claim that it meets the permanence of paper standards that academic books usually do. I doubt this book would stand up to the use I gave my first copy of The Nickel Tour! There are lots of photographs throughout--almost all taken in 2007 by the author or another individual--but I found them to be a little small, particularly photos of signage and Main Street Windows. There are also some maps unique to this volume for the various lands.

Organizationally, the book is arranged alphabetically (it claims A-Z, but delivers A-Y--might I suggest "Zorro Days"?). The first thing one notices is that all the entry names are rendered in the Disneyland font; I didn't care for this. I think Strodder made a big mistake by how he combined various attractions and such. For example, Astro-Jets, Tomorrowland Jets, and Rocket Jets are all treated by one entry, while Astro Orbitor is treated separately. When he combines terms this way, it only appears in the listing under the first name. So, if you're looking for Rocket Jets, you won't find it alphabetically in the listing... or in the Land by Land listing at the end of the book... or in the index (yes, an encyclopedia with an index!); you have to know that it began life as the Astro-Jets. Same thing for the Plaza Inn (Red Wagon Inn), Disneyland Railroad (Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad), and a host of others; he uses the first name an entity had, even if most people would know it as something else. I think he lumped together things too disparate, as with Submarine Voyage and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, or the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train and the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland.

The amount of space given to various topics is uneven. The three early permutations of the Rocket Jets were given one entry, but Critter Country Plush, an undistinguished shop of about six months' duration, gets its own! Strodder's love of the souvenir guidebooks is evident in that the entry for those is about as long as that for Sleeping Beauty Castle. Sometimes he seems to just put in what he knows (the fact that the All-American College Band performed from June 14 through August 13, 2007 is hardly relevant by itself).

There are sidebars throughout the text. These provide bits of trivia unrelated to the entries. (Not that I have anything against trivia.) I can see the value in things like a list of Opening Day attractions or boat names, but "10 Serene Hideaways" and "12 Terrific Views" hardly seem encyclopedic. The Land by Land appendix is nice, but would be better if it cross-referenced the terms lumped together and provided operating dates. The bibliography could be improved with a listing of all the souvenir guidebooks he used. (One of the things my Information Access professor stressed was the importance of letting your audience know what you have looked at, so they also know what you have not researched.)

On the bright side, the work is largely accurate. There are a few incorrect dates... even some I unwittingly contributed via my Disneyland Timeline! (For example, I had listed Carnation Ice Cream Parlor closing on Saturday, January 4, 1997, and the Rocket Jets on Monday, January 6, 1997; I later found out from Dave Smith that the Archives uses the last operating date as the closure date, so those should be shifted forward one day.) At one point I could tell he accepted a few sentences from The Nickel Tour without doing additional research. In what may have been convenient for their story structure, Bruce and David wrote, "There would be no Mineral King Resort. By now it was December of 1966." Strodder repeats twice in the encyclopedia that Mineral King was dead in 1966, but that was the first year of Disney's provisional permit; the project didn't completely die until 1978.

Some things I'm not sure where he got. He says there were "about a dozen" unscheduled closures of Disneyland; I know of three. Strodder writes that Cast Members are those Disneyland employees "who work in view of Guests, while it is actually all Resort personnel employed by Disney (and he makes no mention of the affectionate Disneylander term used through the years). His use of terms is mostly OK, though I don't know why he uses "Main Street" instead of "Main Street, U.S.A." as the term. My biggest gripe with his nomenclature is the exhaustive use of the incorrect "Plaza Hub." I have never seen or heard it referred to this way before. As near as I can tell, Central Plaza is the correct term, with alternates through the years of Hub, Hub Area, The Hub, Plaza, Plaza Circle, or The Plaza. On The Disneyland Story, Walt stands over the Main Street model and points to the area and says, "The Plaza, or the Hub, is the heart of Disneyland."

Who is the work for? The author doesn't say, except that it's a book he wanted to read himself (I can understand that!). If you own the books listed in the bibliography--and know them fairly well--you probably don't need this book. I know I would have loved this when I was just getting interested in Disneyland's history. But it suffers from some authority problems. Strodder relied on a very narrow range of sources and often takes the reader along with him as he compares guidebooks. I fail to see how consciously ignoring Disney as a source for information improved the book.

But I realize that my perspective in this is unique. I had a hard time finding many new things in the book, but that surely will be atypical. For a few years Kevin has been telling me that we could do at least the encyclopedia portion of the Compendium and I kept resisting because I didn't feel I had enough information. In a sense, this is kind of the book I think we would have ended up with. I'm confident that the sources I've had opened up to me, along with my approach to organizing the research, will result in something vastly different from Strodder's encyclopedia. Check back soon to hear about it!

Disneyland-My Parents' House Connection

Not only did I just now find a way to connect my parents' house in Orange County with Disneyland, but--even better--the Carousel of Progress!

Beginning in 1964 (or so), General Electrical began sponsoring a Gold Key Builder Award. On a national level, the program recognized builders and developers whose projects reflected "significant achievement in design and construction." An executive committee chose recipients based on nominations from GE regional offices. The Carousel of Progress at Disneyland had a display space for large photographs of some of these developments until the attraction moved to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. (I have not yet pinned down if this practice began in 1967 or sometime later, but it definitely existed between 1970 and 1973.) I assume this was near the Progress City scene, but I have no idea. Anyway, in September 1973 GE presented The Presley Companies with such an award for the Parkside Estates in Diamond Bar.

No, they weren't being honored for the housing development in which my parents live, but our house is in a later community designed by Presley! For a small fee I can tell you how your housing development is connected to Disneyland, too!

Tencennial Summertime Entertainment Advertisements

As a follow-up to Friday's post on the overwhelming amount of Guest Talent booked during the summer of 1965, I present a few of the advertisements which ran in area newspapers. I pieced my schedule together from over fifty articles and advertisements, so this is really a very small sample!

May 23, 1965, Disneyland Holiday Swing:

July 5, 1965, Hootenanny:

July 20, 1965, Humdinger:

September 17, 1965, Dixieland at Disneyland, 1965 Edition:

The eagle-eyed amongst you may have noticed that the Humdinger announcement uses "Fantasyland Theater," whereas I prefer "Fantasyland Theatre." (Are you out there, eagle eyes?) Some sources--including a few guidebooks--use "Theater," but the signage always said "Theatre," and other sources concur. In the absence of a good reason to go against it, I side with the signs.

Photos from George Short, Part 13: Cascade Peak, 1962

Because we all loved Cascade Peak, I would have posted these sooner, but they needed the green channel tweaked. The shots all come from a 1962 trip on the Columbia sailing ship. George obviously found the different viewpoints of the mountain worthy enough to snap several photos!

The deteriorated condition of the mountain warranted its 1998 removal. Walt, however, found such features to be a good value. In the 1975 book given to Club 55 members, Roy Brehm remembers Walt talking to him about water animation being the cheapest thing to build and operate in the Park and pointed to the several waterfalls of Skull Rock as an example. Cascade Peak fit the bill, as did the waters flowing from under Tom and Huck's Treehouse on Tom Sawyer Island (the "headwaters" of the Rivers of America), Schweitzer Falls, the Matterhorn waterfalls, and the Submarine Voyage waterfalls disguising the cavern entrance. What other water animation did Disneyland have during Walt's time?

Tencennial Summertime Entertainment

It's hard to believe everything going on at Disneyland in 1965. As the New York World's Fair entered its second season, Disneyland made plans to open Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln in the Opera House and the renovated Plaza Inn in the Central Plaza--in addition to New Orleans Square and "it's a small world" construction and planning for the New Tomorrowland of 1967. But Disneyland is more than just the built environment; live entertainment had played a large role in the Park since Opening Day. The hugely successful Date Nites had been built around live performances! Dixieland at Disneyland, an annual separate ticket party, started in 1960 and brought together popular and legendary jazz artists.

My focus today is on the Guest Talent who performed throughout that Tencennial summer. Disneyland featured not only famous big band names, but also folk artists, young recording stars, and the already impressive amount of day- and nighttime Atmosphere Talent. During the day, Disneyland Guests could expect to find the Disneyland Band, the Dapper Dans, the Gonzales Trio, Bud and Scott (who might have only performed at Disneyland 1964-1966), Indian Village dancers, and the Golden Horseshoe Revue. At night, the following groups performed: Bill Elliott and the Date Niters (at the Plaza Gardens Stage), the (Original) Clara Ward Singers, Kay Bell and Her Humdingers, the Yachtsmen Quartet, the Royal Tahitians dancers (at the Tahitian Terrace), the Young Men from New Orleans (on the Mark Twain), the Disneyland Mustangs, and the Firehouse Five Plus Two. The Park had nightly fireworks, of course; "Fantasy in the Sky" lit off each night at 9 PM.

The Park's summer season ran from June 19 through September 11. It operated every day from 9 AM to midnight, with an additional hour each Friday and Saturday night. A Disneyland Holiday Swing over Memorial Day weekend and Dixieland at Disneyland in late September bookended this summertime entertainment.

On Saturday, May 29, and Sunday, May 30, Disneyland was open from 9 AM to midnight and featured The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, directed by Sam Donahue, from 8 PM to midnight. Frank Sinatra, Jr. (who made his public singing debut with the Elliott Brothers band at Plaza Gardens on July 28, 1962), Helen Forrest, The Pied Pipers, Charlie Shavers on trumpet and Larry O'Brien on trombone accompanied the orchestra. Sinatra, Forrest and The Pied Pipers previously performed with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in Tomorrowland August 4th through 6th, 1963. Like the big bands that followed in 1965, the Dorsey Orchestra performed at the 20,000 Leagues Bandstand.

The big bands mostly played for eight night engagements, from 8 PM to midnight on days the Park closed at midnight and 9 PM to 1 AM on Fridays and Saturdays. The schedule of big bands is below. The big bands took Monday night off (see below):

June 19-June 26: Si Zentner and his Orchestra
June 29-July 4: Stan Kenton and his Orchestra
July 9-July 17: Wayne King and his Orchestra
July 23-July 31: Harry James and his Orchestra (with drummer Buddy Rich and vocalists Ernie Andrews and Cathy Carter)
August 6-August 14: Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
August 20-August 28: Woody Herman and his Herd
September 3-September 11: "Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller" with Tex Beneke and his Orchestra and Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

On Mondays, the Park featured a Hootenanny: "Disneyland's salute to folk music the world over. Featuring top names in the folk field, brought to Disneyland for your enjoyment!" The Yachtsmen Quartet acted as Disneyland hosts. Tuesdays had a Humdinger: "A 'Humdinger' of an event! Every week you can enjoy the sounds of swingin' young America. A young people's show to end them all!" The Humdinger took place in the Fantasyland Theatre and was also described as a "musical variety show" featuring "teenage recording stars and the Humdinger dancers."

June 19, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 20, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 21, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: The Back Porch Majority; Danny Cox; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

June 22, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra
Humdinger: Gary Lewis and the Playboys; Kelly Garrett; The Christian Brothers; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

June 23, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 24, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 25, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 26, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Si Zentner and his Orchestra

June 27, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM

June 28, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Modern Folk Quartet; David Troy; Casey Anderson; Yachtsmen Quartet

June 29, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra
Humdinger: Don Grady; Jerry Wallace; Jan Rado; The Pair Extraordinaire; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

June 30, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

July 1, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

July 2, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

July 3, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

July 4, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 2 AM
Stan Kenton and his Orchestra

July 5, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Greenwood County Singers; The Legendaires; John Denver; Yachtsmen Quartet

July 6, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Humdinger: Sir Douglas Quintet; Dobie Gray; Tina Edmundson; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

July 7, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM

July 8, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM

July 9, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 10, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 11, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 12, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: The Dillards; Steve Gillette; The Roadrunners; Yachtsmen Quartet

July 13, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra
Humdinger: The Dixie Cups; Gayle Harris; The Turtles; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

July 14, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 15, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 16, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 17, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Wayne King and his Orchestra

July 18, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM

July 19, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Hoyt Axton; The Young Folks; Stewart Clay; Yachtsmen Quartet

July 20, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Humdinger: Jody Miller; Paul Revere and the Raiders; Curtis Brothers; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

July 21, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM

July 22, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM

July 23, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 24, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 25, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 26, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Glen Yarborough; Phil Campos; The Roadrunners; Yachtsmen Quartet

July 27, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra
Humdinger: Ray Peterson; The Rivingtons; The Edmundson; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

July 28, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 29, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 30, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

July 31, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Harry James and his Orchestra

August 1, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 2, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Greenwood County Singers; Stoneman Family; Cathy Taylor; David Troy; Do Stuffers; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

August 3, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Humdinger: The Olympics; Jackie and Gayle; The Edmundson; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

August 4, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 5, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 6, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 7, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 8, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 9, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: The Back Porch Majority; Baytown Singers; Aquamen; Katie Hartman; Stewart Clay; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

August 10, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
Humdinger: Barbara Lewis; The Spats; The Round Robins; The Mustangs; The Humdinger Dancers

August 11, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 12, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 13, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 14, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Duke Ellington and his Orchestra

August 15, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 16, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Joe & Eddie; The Irish Rovers; Richard and Jim; Mickey Elley; Steve Gillette; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

August 17, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Humdinger: April Stevens & Nino Tempo; The Bobby Fuller Four; The Swinging Apollas; The Mustangs; Humdinger Dancers

August 18, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 19, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 20, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 21, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 22, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 23, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: The Mitchell Trio; The Survivors; Phil Campos; Fred Thompson; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

August 24, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd
Humdinger: Joey Paige; The Young Men; The Mustangs; Special Guest Star Jackie de Shannon

August 25, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 26, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 27, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 28, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
Woody Herman and his Herd

August 29, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 12 AM

August 30, 1965 (Monday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Lou Gottlieb; Jose Feliciano; Cathy Taylor; Sam Hinton; Aquamen; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

August 31, 1965 (Tuesday)
9 AM - 12 AM
Humdinger: Jewel Akens; The Bobby Sox & The Blue Jeans; The Association; The Edmundson; The Mustangs; Humdinger Dancers

September 1, 1965 (Wednesday)
9 AM - 12 AM

September 2, 1965 (Thursday)
9 AM - 12 AM

September 3, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 4, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 5, 1965 (Sunday)
9 AM - 1 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 6, 1965 (Monday)
10 AM - 12 AM
Hootenanny: Josh White; Steve Gillette; Young Folk; The Hilltop Singers; The Aggies; Dapper Dans; Clara Ward Singers; Yachtsmen Quartet

September 7, 1965 (Tuesday)
10 AM - 12 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires
Humdinger: Dick and Deedee; Mary Wells; H. B. Barnum; The Mustangs; Humdinger Dancers

September 8, 1965 (Wednesday)
10 AM - 12 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 9, 1965 (Thursday)
10 AM - 12 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 10, 1965 (Friday)
9 AM - 1 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

September 11, 1965 (Saturday)
9 AM - 1 AM
"Music Made Famous by Glenn Miller": Tex Beneke and his Orchestra with Ray Eberle and the Modernaires

The sixth annual Dixieland at Disneyland took place on September 24 and 25 from 8 PM to 2 AM. Tickets cost $4.95 in advance or $5.95 on the night of the event. The event actually began at 6:30 PM with a Tailgate Ramble down Main Street, U.S.A. in "old-time Dixie freight wagons." Louis Armstrong led the parade, which featured the the night's performing stars: Sweet Emma Barrett, Turk Murphy and his Band, Bob Havens and the Dixieland All-Stars, including Matty Matlock, Eddie Miller, Nick Fatool, Stan Wrightsman and Ed Garland, The Firehouse Five Plus Two, Johnny St. Cyr, and the Young Men from New Orleans featuring trombonist Kid Ory. Starting at 8 PM, the artists played at 6 bandstands around the park until 2 AM. Admission included all rides and attractions except the arcades, but... come on! Was anybody really there for the attractions? One preview of the event said it promised to be "one of the biggest musical events in Disneyland's ten-year history," which is quite amazing considering the summer entertainment schedule!

I'd sure love a time machine to go back and experience some of those Hootenannies! Does anybody out there have memories of attending any of these performances? CoxPilot or ViewlinerLtd., perhaps?

Photos from George Short, Part 12: Fixed!

With much thanks to Daveland's wonderfully simple yet enormously helpful tip to shift the green channel over a few pixels, I'll have a number of additional great images to share. Not today, though! I went back and fixed some images previously posted, as well as those I threw up the other day. You can find corrected photographs in the following posts:

• Photos from George Short, Part 1 (Space Mountain)
• Photos from George Short, Part 6 (America Sings, Act 1)
• Photos from George Short, Part 10 (Tomorrowland Station)

And here are the corrected versions of photographs posted in Part 11:

Rivers of America, 1959:

Town Square, 1963:

Christmas Tree, 1978:

Photos from George Short, Part 11: What Happened?

In response the first installment of this series, VintageDisneylandTickets asked what happened to the Space Mountain photos. They look slightly "off," while other photos--such as the Nature's Wonderland collection--are crystal clear. I really have no idea! Does anybody out there with more photographic experience know what caused the problem? It's almost like the colors are slightly misaligned, but I don't know if that's a good (or accurate) explanation. Below I exhibit a few more examples of this problem, which unfortunately mars otherwise very nice images. I have more like this, which I'll post in the normal course of things.

Rivers of America, 1959:

Town Square, 1963:

Christmas Tree, 1978:

Photos from George Short, Part 10

George continues to show us Tomorrowland today, with photos dating from 1958 and1959. Tomorrowland Station here sits empty and fairly new (or "gently used" from its days as a Viewliner station). He perhaps photographed the station during the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad's closure to permit construction of the Grand Canyon Diorama.

The Excursion Train pulling away from the station:

This somewhat unusual vantage point of early Tomorrowland affords a great look at the rooftops! And an empty Disneyland--either a normal closure or pre-opening. You can just make out the top of the Clock of the World in the distance (you know where to look!):

This fantastic photo of the Thimble Drome Flight Circle dates from 1958. Cox Pilot shared some insights about the banners over at Davelandweb's Tomorrowland page; be sure to go over and read them. George must have been on a rooftop for the photo--or strapped to a jetpack!

And we conclude today's Disneyland photos with another elevated shot, of the beloved Moonliner:

RIP, Kong.

Nixon and Disneyland, Part 4

I previously blogged about Tommy Walker organizing the parade for Nixon's second inaugural. Today I discovered that Walker also organized some campaign rallies for him in 1968.