Monday, January 26, 2009

The Saturday Evening Post - November 7, 1964


Welcome to Magazine Monday, I hope everyone is enjoying this weekly vintage look at Disneyland thru magazines. The week’s feature is “The Saturday Evening Post” from November 7, 1964.

The POST was another one of those Jumbo “Life” sized magazines.  These are sure fun to hold and read, there’s something luxurious and authoritative about such a large format publication. Are there any magazines still being published in Jumbo size?

The Cover reflects America’s focus on Russia, I like how McNamara declares that we are stronger than Russia! Also, “The negro movement cannot be stopped”, a truly riveting article by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.








This eight page article entitled “The Fantastic Walt Disney” is mostly recycled history about Walt and his life, but there are some interesting items too. Walt looks tired in this picture, hey its 1964 and Walt’s doing 100 things at once.






Did you know Walt Disney was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom? It’s “the highest decoration the United States Government can bestow on a civilian”. I bet Walt was proud of that award!






Disney is about to “rehabilitate the St. Louis waterfront with a multimillion-dollar Disneyland-type establishment under a three acre roof”, also “a proposal to erect an amphitheater at Niagara Falls”. And Disney has “staggering plans under way for a huge amusement park in Japan”!






Neat Photo!






I really like this picture, great facial expressions on these super talented gentlemen.






Walt in pair of Levis, how cool is that!






Wrapping up with some incredible photos on the last two pages of the article. Flying saucer madness!





This teacup photo with the little boy and Goofy is priceless.






Please take a few minutes and read this article by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   Dr. King was a brilliant and thoughtful writer; his talk of a “grand alliance” is inspiring and thought provoking. When you read this article thru the prism of who became president on January 20th of this year, you’ll find we’ve come along way as a nation, still room to improve, but far and away from Dr. Kings 1964.







Now for some vintage advertisements. The big three automobile manufactures are all represented in this issue. First up from GM is a beautiful 1965 Pontiac. Not an ad for a particular model, but for the look of the full size line. I owned two ’65 Pontiac’s, a Bonneville and a Catalina, great “wide-track” cars! And that “Turbo Hydro-Matic” did shift “smooth as cream, but sure as taxes” I assure you.






Chrysler showing off its sporty 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 Convertible! In 1966 Dodge would slightly modify a '66 Coronet 500 by adding hide-away head lights and an extreme fastback, they would call it the “Charger”, it'll never sell….






Ford chimes in with the 1965 Mercury looking long and low. All three cars are quite a contrast in styles.






Generally speaking I prefer Coca-cola, did you see those great cans in last weeks post (link)? However, this young lady is so pretty I might be inclined to join the “Pepsi generation






Embossed vinyl flooring with the look of bamboo! I am totally digging that kitchen.






Back when dial tones where analog and a nice man came to your house to install color coordinated extension phones, those were the days.






***Smoking is bad, etc. *** Follow me along with each scene in this weird ad; (1) Mr. Johnson invites Ms. Smith over to watch some “private movies”, (2) Ms. Smith, always well dressed, is relaxing on the hip sofa while Mr. Johnson fires up the projector, (3) Mr. Johnson's points out some fun scenes as Ms. Smith starts to laugh, (4) It’s so darn funny that Mr. Johnson is breathless and Ms. Smith is holding her head so it doesn’t explode, and finally (5) The projector is off and its time for a Winston, because Winston tastes good… like a cigarette should!  Great art work, weird context.


Sunday, January 25, 2009

Bonus Sunday

From Tuesday's "Circus Fantasy 1988" post (link) here is the entire "Your 1988 Souvenir Guide" to Disneyland.

Disneyland Guidebook 1988 (ver. 1) 19mb





I posted the fun map on the previous post, but I missed something interesting. Looks like Bear Country has a flume ride! Splash Mountain was still a year and half away and it would end up in "Critter Country", but it will always be Bear Country to me.






From Friday's post, here is the complete Vacationland from Winter 1961-62.


Vacationland Winter 1961-62 - 48mb






Already becoming a classic in 1962.





"Fad or Fashion" you'll have to download the entire issue to read the rest of the article.


Friday, January 23, 2009

January 1962 Mint Disneyland Tickets or Where's Adventure Land?

A recent addition to my collection is this nice ticket book from January 1962. The E, D and C tickets are in mint condition. It always amazes me how paper that is 47 years old can look so new.






In reverse order, let’s start with the Grand “E” ticket. I’m holding this ticket right now and I swear it looks and feels like it was printed yesterday. Globe safety paper was made to last. Flying Saucers!






Some of the attractions on the “D" ticket are just as good as an “E” in my opinion.






I wonder where the Tomorrowland Autopia was?  It’s not listed on the attraction list either, closed for the winter maybe?






This “B” ticket is from June 1961, it’s close to the “B" ticket that’s missing from this book.






The “A” ticket has an odd stain, weird since none of the other tickets are stained?






Disney was a genius with these ticket books. You the customer felt you were getting a discount, in this case $1.75 less than the face value of the tickets and the admission ticket. Here’s the catch, it seems most people didn’t use all the tickets. They kept them for future visits never taken or scrap-booked them or just didn’t use them all (later to be sold on EBay to collectors for more than their face value!). I bet if you did the math, Walt came out on the Plus side.






Babes in Toyland” listed on Main Street, I never noticed that before.






From the Winter of 1961-62, here’s a fantastic cover to the Vacationland. I like the ’60 Chevy station wagon almost as much as the Yellow and Red Monorails!!!






Interesting…





Check back on Bonus Sunday for the entire issue, it’s packed full of fun stuff.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Greatest Construction Show on Earth & Jumbo Tickets

Undated, but most likely from late 1958 or early 1959, this flyer told you of the Greatest Construction Show on Earth. More specifically it told you all the neat things you weren’t going to see on this visit, but lots of reason to come back! “Watch for announcement of the opening”.






Since these new attractions were on a grand scale, let’s look at some Jumbo Tickets from 1958! This a mixed set, the B and C tickets are from other ticket books, but you get the idea.









What a Jumbo deal! Three bucks for admission to Disneyland and 15 rides (hey aren’t they “attractions”)






When these say Jumbo, they mean Jumbo. These tickets are BIG. Here is a comparison for the “D” ticket over the years. From the top down; Today’s 1958 “D” ticket at ¢35, next from the early 60’s “D” at ¢45, then May 1971 “D” at ¢70 and bottom from September 1980. The magic shrinking “D” ticket!


Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Today at Disneyland Jan. 18 thru Jan. 22, 1988

It’s Today at Disneyland, January 18 thru January 22, 1988 and Circus Fantasy is back! To see a previous post on the original 1987 Circus Fantasy, click here (link).  






This is officially a “parking lot” flyer. Lots of choices about the tickets. The unlimited annual pass seems like a bargain at $140, then again $21.50 for day seems pretty fair too.






Clown face painting at Videopolis, how utterly 80’s! The rest of this entertainment sounds really weird, too much circus and clown stuff for me.






The big map is where to find all that fun Circus Entertainment. This is when Circle Vision was running two different show each day, “Wonders of China” and “American Journey” wow that sure is a lot of films reels to change out twice a day.






The coming attractions show a little more series entertainment following all this circus stuff.






The New Disney Gallery… Ok, make that the “Old” Disney Gallery. Lets hope the New-new Disney Gallery is just as nice. I hear it will be where the bank/AP center is now. While I am sorry to see the “Bank” go, it would be fun if they open it to the upstairs!






Alpha Beta decided this “Circus Fantasy” thing was just too good to be left out. This little ticket was good for $5 off an adult ticket to Disneyland. It was only good during 6 magical days and nights in February 1988. With the stub you also got two Disney Dollars, what a deal. To see the history of Alpha Beta Super markets and many other stores, check out this fantastic blog: Pleasant Family Shopping.






These were the valid dates in February 1988, includes free parking.






This post needs some color! Here’s the cover to the “Your 1988 Souvenir Guide”, this is version one of two for 1988.





The fun color map inside of the souvenir guide.





Come back on Bonus Sunday for the entire Guide.