Disneyland's Haunted Mansion - 55th Anniversary

Today, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion is celebrating it's 55th anniversary!

In honor of this anniversary, let's take a look at some Haunted Mansion-related articles, which appeared in Disney News Magazine over the years.

From the Summer 1969 issue:

I believe this was the publication's earliest mention of the Haunted Mansion.  As the article states, the attraction was "to be completed in late summer."  It also mentions a new fleet of Disneyland-Alweg Monorail trains, which would also be debuting that summer.  These would have been the Mark III five-car trains.  Oh, and that's Yale Gracey, posing with the original Hat Box Ghost figure!

From the Fall 1969 issue:

This issue's article is entirely about Ciro Rolando Santana y Arrite, a Cuban sculptor who was hired to carve "wooden furniture and ornamentation for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion."  The attraction would have been open at this point, but the caption for the photos below the article states, "Here is a sneak preview of the Haunted Mansion."

The blog, "Long Forgotten" has provided some additional info about the work of Ciro Rolado Santa y Arrite, in a blog post from August of 2010.

From the Winter 1969-1970 issue:

This article includes quotes from a few children who were interviewed prior to entering the Haunted Mansion, and also upon exiting.  The child in the photo is hiding behind a tombstone with an epitaph that reads, "Here Lies Phineas Pock - Laid To Rest Beneath This Rock - R.I.P."  I clearly remember this headstone during my childhood visits to Disneyland.  At that time, it was located on the hillside, or "berm," to the west of the Haunted Mansion, along with other headstones.  I remember returning to the park at some point, and the headstones were noticeably missing.

Once again, the "Long Forgotten" blog has an excellent and thorough post, about the disappearing, reappearing, and relocation of the headstones over the years.

 

From the Fall 1974 issue:

By this time, a second Haunted Mansion had opened at Walt Disney World, in Florida.  This article discusses both versions, including the influence for the two different exteriors.

The article also describes how the dust and cobwebs are applied throughout the attraction.

Happy 55th anniversary, to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion!

March Miscellany: "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" Paper Dolls & Toy Train Models

Welcome back to "March Miscellany!"   Just a reminder, I'm doing something different for the month of March, and posting multiple times throughout the month.  This is post #2.

This set of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" paper dolls is another childhood item, which came from a "Lucky's" supermarket.  During a visit with my grandparents in the early 1970s, I went with my grandmother to her local "Lucky's" grocery store.  As usual, I was drawn to the store's "toy aisle."  I don't remember if I was looking at this item and my grandmother told me she would buy it for me, or if she told me to pick something out and this is what I chose.  But I ended up coming home with it.

"Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" was an NBC television show, that aired from 1968 to 1973.  This unused set (from ebay) has "1969" printed on it's front cover.

Back cover:

Inside pages:

This is what's left of my set.  Unfortunately, Jo Anne Worley went missing a long time ago.

Dick Martin was one of the show's co-hosts:

Dan Rowan was the other co-host:

Goldie Hawn left the show after the third season, and went on to have a very successful film career.

Judy Carne (the "Sock It To Me Girl") kind of looks sunburned, here.....or jaundiced.  The discoloration on her face is from a piece of Scotch Tape, which I used to try and keep her head "on."

Jo Anne Worley was lost, but she left behind most of her wardrobe.

Arte Johnson's military helmet also mysteriously disappeared.  "Veeeeery interesting!"  Unfortunately, there was not a Ruth Buzzi paper doll, for his "old man" character to offer a Walnetto.

I think the only reason that any of these paper items survived at all, is because I stored them in this box.  The box originally contained pieces for building a "miniature chapel," to use with model train sets.

The side of the box pictured other models, which were available from the ATLAS company.

While growing up, my family did have a train set, which would get set up every year, underneath our Christmas tree.  The "Chapel On The Hill" model can be seen in the photo, below.  There are also some other models visible....a couple of houses, a little train station, and some animal holding pens/stalls.

These next two models aren't visible in the photo above, but were a part of my family's train set.  My dad was the one who would buy these, and he was always the one who would assemble them.

The Sears price tag was still on this one, but I can't make out what the actual price was.

I'm not sure why these empty model boxes survived, but they did, and were found stored in my family's garage.  My brother has the actual assembled models, now.  If I get a chance, I will photograph them and include them in a future post.

This one still contained it's instructions for assembly:

Please check back throughout the month of March, for more "miscellany!"

The 1969 Tournament of Roses Parade

Happy New Year, everyone! I thought for today, we'd travel back to January of 1969. While I have never been to an actual Tournament of Roses Parade, my family has gone a few times to view the "parked" floats after the parade, and this was one of those years. My dad took the color snapshots of the floats, included in today's post.

The parade's theme was, "A Time To Remember."

This Dr. Pepper-sponsored float was titled, "Playmates" and featured the characters from the story of Pinocchio. Walt Disney's Pinocchio was reissued in 1962 and 1971, so this would have been in between re-releases. I wonder if these were not supposed to be the Disney version of the Pinocchio characters?

A photo of the float, appeared in the Los Angeles Times.

Here is the original artwork for the float, taken from the Official Parade Program. The artwork definitely looks like the Disney characters.

After writing last month's post, I thought it would be fun to show some childhood toys (again), that relate to the floats in my dad's pictures. Here is my brother's Pinocchio marionette, which we saw in last month's post.

My brother and I also had a few Pinocchio children's records. Each of them included a song "From The Original Soundtrack" on one side, and "A Story From Pinocchio" on the other side. I've always liked the artwork on the Disney 45 RPM record sleeves.

We also had this "non-Disney" Pinocchio record.

Next, we have the Sunkist Growers' float titled, "Return of Doctor Dolittle." The original version of Dr. Dolittle (with Rex Harrison playing the title character), had been released in theaters thirteen months earlier, in December of 1967.

My brother and I had quite a few Colorforms sets, including this Doctor Dolittle set. Does anyone remember the jingle from the Colorforms commercials?

♪♬ "It's fun to play, the Colorforms way!" ♬♪

For those of you who aren't familiar with Colorforms, Wikipedia gives this description of them: "Colorforms is a creative toy named for the simple shapes and forms cut from colored vinyl sheeting that cling to a smooth backing surface without adhesives. These pieces are used to create picture graphics and designs, which can then be changed countless times by re-positioning the removable color forms."

Colorforms are still manufactured today. For a decade by decade history, check out their official site at: http://www.colorforms.com/history/

Here's the background for the Doctor Doolittle play set.

And here are some of the pieces. Unfortunately, a few of the pieces were lost over the years.

This photo from eBay, shows what the complete set would have looked like.

The instruction booklet gave an example, of how you could arrange the pieces.

Getting back to the parade, the "Friends of Dr. Seuss" float was sponsored by the City of South Pasadena and featured The Cat In The Hat, as well as other Dr. Seuss characters.

The Cat In The Hat book was written by Theodor Geisel under the pen name, Dr. Seuss and was first published in 1957. This float would have been appearing in the parade two years before the book was adapted into an animated television special.

My mom enrolled my brother and I, in a "book club" for the Dr. Seuss books. I can't remember the frequency, but every so often (maybe monthly?), we would receive a new book in the mail.

Back then, the books came with dust jackets. It appears that the original books, with their dust jackets still intact, go for big bucks on ebay!

St. Paul, Minnesota sponsored a float titled, "Minnesota Fun - Winter and Summer." The float featured a giant "jack-in-the-box," representing Minnesota's Winter Carnival.

My brother had a generic "clown" version of a jack-in-the-box toy:

And I had a "Flipper" version, which was given to me on my third birthday. Neither one of our jack-in-the-box toys survives today, but I found the ones that we had, on eBay.

This Universal Studios-sponsored float was titled, "Remember When." After the parade, the float was taken to Universal Studios and could be viewed by guests on the tram tour. This photo is used here, courtesy of "Matterhorn1959" (and originally appeared on his blog, "Stuff From The Park," in September of 2012.)

I'm including a few other pages, from the Official Parade Program.

The 1969 Tournament of Roses Royal Court:

Information on post-parade viewing of the floats in Victory Park:

Various advertisements from the Official Parade Program:

The back cover of the program:

Once again, a VERY happy New Year to all!