Monday, September 26, 2011

The Saturday Evening Post - June 28, 1958

Welcome to Magazine Monday. Today’s magazine post is a long one, sorry if your browser is overloaded but this is such a great magazine I had to include all these scans. From June 28, 1958 it’s The Saturday Evening Post.




This five page article has some decent photographs and some excellent text about a three year old Disneyland. If you have time, read the entire article, it’s a nice detailed look at the early days of the park.












The artwork on the articles is simply outstanding, here are a few samples.








No artwork, but too cool!





Some stunning advertisements; did this idealistic world ever really exist? Better question; Can we get it back? I think we could use it right about now.



















I want one of those race cars!





Smoking is gross and will make you have this expression on your face- permanently!






6 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

That is a great article! Half of those anecdotes (especially the adorable quotes from children) sound like they are made up by the enthusiastic author. I could be wrong though!

"The most frequently voiced complaint concerns the high cost of fantasy". General admission is ninety cents for adults. The average daily expenditure is $3.63 per person, INCLUDING parking, admission, rides and refreshments.

Even accounting for inflation that is an incredible deal by today's standards.

And those ads, zowie! That was the high point for illustrations and fun advertisements.

keeline said...

Yes, $3.63 in 1958 is equivalent to $28.43 in 2011 according to the CPI. That's quite different from the current cost of parking+ticket+food today.

I wonder about the longevity estimate of the concrete given. The cement parts of the 110 Pasadena freeway, perhaps as old or older than this article, seem pretty worn now. They are certainly narrow with almost nothing in the way of on and off ramps.

I'm always happy to see an article about Disneyland from the first decade or so, during Walt's lifetime.

James

JG said...

Very nice. Exceptional ads. Thanks very much.

JG

Connie Moreno said...

I'll have to go back and read the articles including the "love story", LOL. But those ads - what a crack up!

janet said...

What a great post. The article was great - can you imagine - it's possible for a family to spend $30 on a day at Disneyland? Outrageous!

Loved the ads, as always.

Thanks for posting!

TokyoMagic! said...

Yep, great DL article and great ads! That cement ad is strange....did people ever have picnics alongside the highway like that?