I Got Hitched At Knott's Berry Farm! (Judge Roy Bean's Saloon)

Back in the 1990s, I got "hitched," and it happened at Knott's Berry Farm. "Hitchin' ceremonies" were performed inside Judge Roy Bean's Saloon, by the "judge" himself. After the ceremony, couples would receive this official Hitchin License.

The "Hitchin'" also included two rings, made from bent "antique" nails.

Judge Roy Bean was actually a real person, who lived from circa 1825 to 1903.  He was a saloon keeper and a "self-appointed" justice of the peace, in Eagle Nest, Texas (later renamed Langtry).  The judge gave himself the title, "The Only Law West Of The Pecos."

In 1947, Walter Knott built an "exact" replica of Roy Bean's saloon in his Ghost Town.

This sign outside the building gives a very brief bio of Judge Roy Bean.

A sign inside explains why Judge Roy Bean named his place, "The Jersey Lily," and why he named the Texas town it was located in, "Langtry."  However, info from Wikipedia contradicts this, and claims that the town was named for, "George Langtry, an engineer and foreman, who supervised the immigrant Chinese work crews building the railroad in the area", and Wikipedia is NEVER wrong.  ;-)

There are five different portraits of the famous stage actress, Lily Langtry, inside the Knott's version of the saloon.  That sign states that Bean was a, "life-long admirer," but I'd say, "STALKER!"  ;-)

I wonder if these were all reproductions, or if Walter Knott managed to acquire the original portraits?

Judge Roy Bean himself, can be seen in the black and white photograph on the wall.

Judge Roy Bean's place originally sat just off of Market Street, facing east towards the Bottle House and the Music Hall.

This map shows the original location (circled in red).

In 1992, Judge Roy Bean's was relocated to Calico Square, next to the Calico Stagecoach's entrance and loading platform (the spot circled in blue, on the map above).  The photos below, show the building in it's new location.

Hitchin' licenses are still offered today, along with a Hitchin' ceremony.

That price doesn't seem too bad.  I can't remember what the charge was thirty years ago.

The same year that Judge Roy Bean's place was relocated, "Indian Trails" opened on it's former site.

Indian Trails also extends over towards the Bottle House.

In 2004, the "Silver Bullet" roller coaster was built over part of Indian Trails.

This is the exact spot where Judge Roy Bean's used to sit (up against that building, which has always housed restrooms).  The elevated circle to the right, is used for Native American dancing and storytelling.

Here are two photos that I took inside of Judge Roy Bean's (in it's former location), back in 1986. The employee in the photo was only giving a break at that moment, and was not wearing the "saloon bartender" attire that the regular Judge Roy Bean employees wore.

The stuffed bear always had the hat on his head, and the noose around his neck, but the pickle was placed in his mouth specifically for this photo.  Don't worry, we did not put it back in the pickle jar, afterwards!  (Or did we?)

Here's the same bear, twenty-seven years later (in 2013).  He was still wearing the noose, but someone had taken his hat!

And this is what the official Judge Roy Bean employees wore back in the day.  This photo was actually taken in the Silver Dollar Saloon over on Main Street (now a tacky electronic shooting gallery), but the costumes were the same for both locations, as well as for the Calico Saloon in Calico Square.

Judge Roy Bean's and the Silver Dollar Saloon both sold the same snack food items; whole dill pickles, beef jerky, chips, pre-packaged flavored popcorn, and soft drinks.  They also sold the same souvenir items; boot-shaped mugs (filled with your choice of soft drink), garters, shot glasses, and small bottles of pure maple syrup.  The garters, along with their prices, can be seen in the photo above.  There are also small and large boot mugs visible on the shelf (turned upside-down).

The boot mugs were made by Anchor Hocking.  Back then, they were void of any writing or printed design.  Today, the mugs have "Knott's Berry Farm, Buena Park, California" printed on them, along with a couple boysenberries.

 

There were three different styles of garters available; single lace, double lace, and "gun garters."

The "gun garters" had a holster with a little removable gun.

They came prepackaged so that the guns wouldn't fall out and get lost.

The gun garters were the most expensive of the garters, but still sold for only $1.79!

The mugs and the garters were very popular items with guests, but one of the souvenirs which did not sell very well, were the mini bottles of pure maple syrup.  They were made to look like mini bottles of booze, and had names like "Ole Polecat" and "Sudden Discomfort."

Here's a 2007 photo of the building's interior.  It was closed at the time, so I took the picture through the metal bars/gate that went across the open doorway.  Even though it was closed that day, they still could have put those boxes of stock behind the bar, just to prevent the place from looking so "junked" up.  But that's pretty much par for the course at Knott's.

A close up of the bar's carved details:

We will end today's post, with this artwork that currently hangs inside Judge Roy Bean's, titled, "The Famous "Judge" Roy Bean Horse Thief Trial."  It was a promotional print for the San Antonio Brewing Company, but I don't know the year that it was created.

The artwork was based on this original 1900s photograph.  The real Judge Roy Bean can be seen sitting on that barrel on the porch of his building, holding his "law book."

For anyone who's interested in learning more about Judge Roy Bean, his Wikipedia page has quite a bit of information about his life.  There was also a 1972 film, "The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean," starring Paul Newman, but I don't know how accurate it was, since Hollywood tends to "tweak" the facts when doing a biopic film on someone famous.

Bonus:

Since today is Valentine's Day, here is something extra.  This is a page from the February 11th, 1983 issue of The Berry Vine, a weekly Knott's Berry Farm employee publication.  The photo shows an employee in The Berry Market, decorating/personalizing chocolate hearts for Valentine's Day.  I previously posted this page along with the rest of that article on the left, which gave a description of the soon-to-open Camp Snoopy.  To see that whole Berry Vine article, you can click here for my Camp Snoopy - 40th Anniversary post from June of 2023.

Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians - 65th Anniversary

This month marks the 65th anniversary of Walt Disney's "One Hundred and One Dalmatians," which was released on January 25, 1961.

Today, we will be taking a look at some memorabilia from this classic animated film.  We'll start with some personal items from my childhood.

This "Golden Shape Book" was published by Golden Press, which was a part of the Western Publishing Company, Inc.

And this comic book adaptation of the film was published by "Gold Key Comics," which was also a branch of the Western Publishing Company.  (This item actually belonged to my brother.)

I received this 101 Dalmatians Colorforms kit for one of my birthdays.

The board:

The pieces:

The instruction booklet:

My brother and I also had the "View-Master" version of the film:

A booklet came with the View-Master reels, so you could follow along with the story while viewing the "stereo pictures."

This postcard was from one of my childhood visits to Disneyland.  It was part of a series of "squeaker" postcards.  Theses postcards were sort of "fat" or "puffy," because they were made of two separate layers, with a little "squeaker" device in the middle.

Also during a childhood visit to Disneyland, my parents purchased this 101 Dalmatians record album for my brother and me.  I have a clear memory of this being purchased in the Main Street Emporium, on our way out of the park that day.

Even though the inside cover has a copyright date of 1965, the record was purchased during a 1970 visit to the park.  My mom even wrote our names and the date on the inside.

Inside cover:

Page one of the illustrated storybook:

The back cover showed all of the pages from the storybook:

I purchased this pinback button in Disneyland's Main Street Emporium, during the film's 1979 re-release.

These ceramic figurines were also sold at Disneyland, back in the 1970s and 1980s.  They could be found in the Character Shop in Tomorrowland, as well as in the Emporium and the China Closet on Main Street.

In the 1990s, they "updated" the look of the figurines.

 A Cruella figurine was created around this same time.

Also available in the 1990s, was a series of head-shaped villain mugs.  The mugs that were available were, Cruella, the Wicked Witch, Ursula, and Captain Hook.

Here are some other items that were sold in the park, back in the 1990s.

A Cruella pin:

 A Cruella pinback button:

A tin/container, filled with chocolate chip cookies:

All of the Cruella items above, were available in the Villains Shop in Fantasyland.  The shop also featured this permanent Cruella display.

When One Hundred and One Dalmatians was re-released in 1969, three-dimensional scenes from the film were created and displayed in the windows of the Main Street Emporium, at Disneyland. Those scenes are my earliest memories of the Emporium's window displays.  In 2005, some of the scenes from past Emporium displays made a return for the park's 50th anniversary. This window contained scenes from The Rescuers, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, The Fox and the Hound, and The Jungle Book.

Next, we'll take a look at some film-related advertisements, from various issues of Disney News Magazine.

This ad is from the back cover of the Winter 1969-'70 issue of Disney News Magazine, and was for the film's first theatrical re-release.

The Spring 1979 issue of Disney News Magazine featured an ad on it's back cover, for the film's second theatrical re-release.

The back cover of the following issue (Summer of 1979) was still advertising the film's second re-release, along with two new "live-action" film releases from Walt Disney Productions.

This ad was inside the Winter 1985 issue of Disney News Magazine, and was for the film's third theatrical re-release.

And this ad from inside of the Spring 1993 issue of Disney News Magazine, was advertising the film's premiere on The Disney Channel.

This poster was for the film's re-release in France, in the 1990s.  Note the mention of "Euro Disneyland Paris" in the lower left corner.  This is actually a postcard, which I purchased during a 2005 visit to Disneyland Paris.

 

 The film had it's first release on videotape, in 1992:

A refund offer was included inside the video's packaging.

Customers could receive $3 back, by sending in the proof of purchase for the video, and the "brand seal" from three Nabisco products, along with the receipts for those products.

In 1999, the film was released on DVD for the very first time.  And in 2008, it was re-released as a special 2-Disc "Platinum Edition" DVD set, following a full digital restoration of the film.

In 1996, Disney released a "live action" film, based on the 1961 animated film:

That same year, the Christmas Decor on Disneyland's Main Street was promoting the release of the live-action film.

There were 101 dalmatian figures that could be found in various locations on Main Street......

 ......and in Town Square.

The next two photos were taken inside the Main Street Emporium.  The Emporium used to have a central "hub" of registers, with an elevated turntable in the center.  The displays on this turntable would often change for the various seasons, or to promote whichever Disney film was playing in theaters at the time.

And these painted plywood displays were located next door to the Disney Showcase shop, in the patio area of the former Hills Brothers Coffee House/Town Square Cafe/American Egg House restaurant.

It's difficult to make out in this photo, but the "basket full of puppies" was a separate plywood cutout, in front of the larger backdrop.  This allowed guests to stand behind the basket, and appear as if they were sitting inside it, along with the puppies.

Also at the time of the 1996 "live action" release, there was a Cruella de Vil "walk-around" character, who resembled Glenn Close's version of the character.  I only shot video footage of her, but I still need to locate that.  In October of 2005, I took this pic of the traditional Cruella "walk-around" character.

Getting back to merchandising....in the 1980s and 1990s, a company called, "PopShots Inc.", made a series of 3-D "pop-up" greeting cards.  Many of these were Disney-themed, including this 101 Dalmatians birthday card.

 

 

In 2000, McDonald's ran a "100 Years of Magic" promotion.  It was supposed to celebrate the 100th birthday of Walt Disney (even though he was born in 1901).  For the promotion, they released 100 figures of various Disney characters.  The dalmatian pup, "Lucky," was included in the series.

 

A Cruella De Vil figure was also available.

In June of 2003, the Bradford Exchange released a limited edition "plate and figurine" combination piece of Cruella De Vil.  The Cruella figurine stands in front of an oval plate, which has several images of her painted on it.  The piece is titled, "I Have an Attitude and I Know How to Use It."  This was the third issue in a "Disney's Legendary Villains" series, which began in 2002.  The series also included Maleficent, Ursula, Lady Tremaine (from Cinderella), and the Evil Queen and Wicked Witch (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs).  This piece was a gift from a friend!

Each edition of the Villains series was limited to 295 casting days, and every piece was numbered and came with a certificate of authenticity.

In 2020, Hallmark created a Christmas ornament featuring one of the dalmatian puppies in front of a television set, while the "Kanine Krunchies" commercial is playing.  This ornament was a gift from my brother.

You can insert a light bulb from a string of Christmas lights, into the bottom of the ornament to make the TV screen "light up."

The following year (2021), Loungefly created a lenticular pin with the same "television set" theme.  This pin was also a gift from my brother.

The television "screen" is the lenticular part of the pin.

And last up for today, is this 2014 photo I took of a "generic" dalmatian statue, inside Disneyland's Fortuosity Shop.  I can't remember now if it was for sale, or if it was just being used as shop decor.

I couldn't help but wonder if this was a leftover item from the park's "One Of A Kind Shop," which closed in 1996.  For many years, the shop's inventory included a collection of ceramic "sentry-type" dogs, which were usually on display outside in the adjoining Royal Courtyard.

**BONUS**

I scanned every page of my 101 Dalmatians "Golden Shape Book," so here it is in it's entirety:

Happy 65th anniversary, to Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians!

***UPDATE***

This is a page out of the January 24, 2016 edition of "Parade" magazine, which was a Sunday supplement to The Los Angeles Times for years, until it went completely digital in 2022.  Five "fun facts" were listed about 101 Dalmatians, in honor of the film's 55th anniversary.