Magic Circle Magazine - June 1956

It’s been a little while since we’ve had a vintage magazine here on the blog so here we go. Disneyland was featured in quite a few different types of magazines in the early years. There’s plenty of vintage magazine still left in my collection, but as you will see the magazines will get more and more obscure.

From June 1956 it’s “Magic Circle” magazine. “Published in the interests of Perfect Circle distributors, dealers, garages, repair shops and super service stations all over the world, by Perfect Circle Corporation.” The back cover has an ad for Perfect Circle, they make piston rings!

Great front cover. This magazine is “Life” size at about 10 ½” by 13 ½”, but with only 15 pages in this issue.






The inside of the front cover. My first car in 1980 was a 1956 Buick just like the one on the far left in the middle photo! Nice Mercedes setup and Cynthia Patrick looks mighty fine too.






Now presented for your enjoyment, an interesting "look at" Disneyland as it looked and more importantly felt in 1956.










If you had trouble viewing the pages clearly, the entire magazine will be posted in a higher resolution (including those exciting articles on piston rings!) on Bonus Sunday.

Fortnight revisited, November 1954 - Before the attitude....

When we previously visited the “Fortnight” Magazine, it was in August 1955 and they had quite the attitude about the newly opened Disneyland. Some readers described the tone as “Snooty, "Snarky" and even more "Stick-up-their-butt’y!" You can read the August 1955 issue here (link) and decide for yourself.

This issue of "Fortnight", from November 17, 1954, had a much better attitude about “Mickey Mouse’s Fabulous New Playground”.

Interesting how each realm is a “Land” of its own; Adventure Land, Tomorrow Land, etc. “Pirates” in Frontier Land, it will never happen.






“A Paddle Wheel river boat (capacity of 300)” HEY, I thought they didn’t figure out the “capacity” until after the park opened and the Mark Twain almost capsized?

“Passengers can identify the places they are passing; Mt. Vernon, New Orleans, Mobile.”? “Drink root beer at Paul Bunyan’s Bar”? Looks like there were some changes to the plan after this was written.






And for some color, here’s a great ad for Old Sunny Brook Brand whisky. Yup, those guys look just like me and my friends when we go camping: coffee, whiskey, a large ax and fishing poles, ah the good life.

Being 9/11, I decided not to work today, I work in a high-rise building and frankly, it’s just somewhere I’d rather not be today. So “I’m going to Disneyland”, and while I will be having a nice time, I will say a prayer for all those fellow country men and women who lost the lives or loved ones on 9/11. I hope you will do the same.

Buick Magazine - May 1957

Staying with the odd vintage magazines, today we’ve got “Buick Magazine", from May 1957. That clock is way cool!






Straight forward two page article.







1957 Buick Special, longer, lower and wider than the 1956 Buick I used to own. It‘s still a classic design.





Fun article on how the design of Buick’s (and Bra’s) has changed.





** The blog will be quiet for a day or two. I have to work over the holiday weekend, including traveling up to Sacramento. It stinks having to work over the weekend, but nice to have a job so I shouldn’t complain. Hopefully the blog will be back for Bonus Sunday… **

Tandy Leather Museum at Disneyland - 1960

Today’s post falls squarely in the category of obscure. From November/December 1960 it’s the Leather Craftsman magazine. Hey now, keep the excitement level down out there…

The Magazine is pretty serious about all kinds of crafts you can do with Leather. There is also a interesting“Occupational Therapy” angle to the whole issue.

Did you know Disneyland had a “Tandy Leather Museum” in Frontierland? I may have read about this somewhere else, but I don’t know where. I couldn’t find much on the blogs or Google, maybe Progressland knows more about the Museum’s history and fate.






A few odd things on this page. The cartoon lady – no comment. The Hooded dog, well, he has the potential to look scary, but that big smile makes him look happy.





Here are both sides of the back page. Things sure were different Forty-Eight years ago.

United Mainliner - July 1965

From July 1965 United Airlines Mainliner “A magazine for United Airlines Guests”. Celebrating Disneyland’s 10th Anniversary, there are a few neat photos and short article of mostly standard stuff. All still fun to look at.










On the back cover, Hertz did a whole series of these “flying man” ads including TV commercials. Awesome 1965 Chevy, I love the triple round tail lights, those seemed so cool when I was a kid, heck they still do!

Pirates of the Caribbean - LIFE Magazine September 1967

Taking a much needed break from the Magic Kingdom, today lets journey back to Disneyland in September 1967.

This LIFE magazine article on the new Pirates of the Caribbean is about 6 months late and it’s located at the very end of the magazine. However, it’s a great article with some fun original pictures of the attraction.

The cover showcases’ the lead article. “The Intimate Recollections of Stalin’s Daughter”. To be honest I didn’t read it, it sounds dull and I’ll read just about anything.






It cost Disney eight million dollars to build this attraction and produced one million riders a month at 75¢ each, a pirates life indeed! That’s an average of 2,083 guests per hour, 16 hours a day for a 30 day month. Seems easy with a claimed capacity of 3,600 per hour, WOW!






“Shift your cargo and show your larboard side”. The Auctioneer still looks remarkably the same, even at the Magic Kingdom.







Interesting how the end of the article talks about reprogramming the computers if repeat guests get bored with the show. Does adding Johnny Deep and removing Black Beard count as “feeding a new plot into the computer”?






And now some classic full pages ads. Better Ideas for Ford in 1968. I guess 1967’s ideas we just "good". I want that Mustang with the 427, thanks…






A fish for the Mopar fans.






7up. Back when there was no Sierra Mist.





This isn’t an ad, it's part of an article on the Saturn 5 Rockets, beautiful machine, isn’t it?






And you just gotta love Avon men’s cologne. They all basically smelled the same but came in these unique shaped bottles. I bet there is an entire sub-culture on EBay for these things now!





Tomorrow: ?

Saga Magazine 1956 - Trapped in Disneyland

The magazine featured in yesterday’s Autopia post must have inspired countless kids to want to go to Disneyland even more than they already did. Today’s post is a fascinating article about a family that felt pressure from everywhere to take the kids to Disneyland.

From “Saga” magazines September 1956 issue, the article is titled “Trapped in Disneyland” It’s told from Dad’s perspective, his wife Irene seems to be on his side, the Kids; Steve and Andy are classically at odds with the parents.

This article is either a total put down of Disneyland or it's cutting edge 1956 comedy & sarcasm or possibly both, you be the judge. My favorite part is when dad gets upset because the Pirate Ship ride turned out to be a tuna restaurant! Enjoy…









I told you it was fascinating. I’m actually at the park today, my friends mother-in-law’s father’s cousin that used to work part-time as a janitor at Disneyland said it wont be crowded today…

A look at Autopia in print - 1955

By all accounts Autopia was an instant hit from the day Disneyland opened. Today’s post will feature two car enthusiast magazine’s from 1955 that demonstrate how popular the attraction became and how quickly it happened.

First up from October 1955 it's “Hot Rod” magazine. Hot Rod still arrives in my mailbox every month; it’s the grand daddy of car magazines. A classic cover, those little “Tailgate Torpedoes” look ready to take Peggy Sue to the Hop!






This article is fairly short at just two pages. However, this is just a few months after Disneyland opened. I bet this made every kid who read this magazine beg their parents to go to Disneyland.






Neat that Robert (Bob) Gurr gets proper credit for being in charge of the project.






Our second car magazine today is “Rod & Custom” from November 1955, this is a smaller sized magazine, about the size of the old TV Guides.






Rod & Custom dedicated more space for their Autopia article. In fact, there is a TON of information on the first generation cars in here, specs and all. There are some great rare photos too, they are Black & White and faded, but still fun to look at. Bob Gurr gets credit in this one too! As does Johnny Hartman and Hartman Engineering.








This last page has just the last two paragraphs of the Autopia article. Check out the “Christy’s Corner” article about fuel injection. It predicts the 1956 Ford Thunderbird and Cadillac El Dorado will have Fuel Injection, “The two are almost positive bets”, then it goes on to claim a “fair bet” that the Corvette will get Fuel Injection also for 1956. None of those came true in 1956. The Corvette did get optional Fuel Injection in 1957 and the 1957 Pontiac Bonneville got Standard Fuel Injection (I want one! Link), but the Eldorado would not get F.I. until 1976 (it was optional) and the Thunderbird would not get F.I. until the 1980’s!




******** UPDATE ******************

This just in from Major of at Gorilla’s Don’t Blog, from "Road and Track" September 1955. A single page article on the two month old Autopia! Thanks Major!