Knott's - Covered Wagon Show Remnant

Hey kids, let's visit Knott's Berry Farm again! I posted this photo (courtesy of Major Pepperidge of Gorillas Don't Blog) back in January in a Knott's "Then and Now" post. If you look on the far left of the pic, you will see a sign that reads, "Covered Wagon Show. FREE. Lasts 3 min."

That sign used to be attached to the Gold Trails hotel, which housed the Covered Wagon Show on it's ground floor. This was a diorama show (actually a "cyclorama" because of it's curved painted backdrop) that told the story of Walter Knott's grandmother and mother as they journeyed west across the desert in a covered wagon.

Here's the Gold Trails hotel as it appears today. Unfortunately, when the hotel was rebuilt in the nineties, the Covered Wagon Show was replaced with a gift shop.

This photo and description of the diorama is taken from a souvenir Chicken Dinner Restaurant menu and used here with permission from Connie Moreno who originally posted it on her "Life is a Journey" blog. To see the full souvenir menu, as well as some great Disneyland trip reports, click here: Life Is A Journey.

Here's the show's original concept art painted by Knott's artist, Paul von Klieben.

And here's a vintage ViewMaster shot showing the diorama after "nightfall."

If you look closely at the previous three photos, you will see a man on a horse next to the covered wagon. He was the "scout" that had gone out ahead of the wagon train in search of water (Ma, I'm thirsty!) Well, the diorama is long gone, but this figure still exists at Knott's today! He can be found inside The Pony Express Outpost/Museum, which is located in Ghost Town between the Wilderness Dance Hall (Jeffries Barn) and Boot Hill.

Incidentally, the museum building used to be the Rivera School House and is a California Registered Historical landmark.

Here are some shots of the scout and his horse on display inside the museum. The museum's curator informed me that this figure was carved by another well known Knott's artist, Claude Bell, but I'm not completely sure of that fact. I know Andy Anderson carved Sad Eye Joe and many of the other Ghost Town "peek-in" figures. Hopefully someone out there will let me know for sure.

Here's another vintage shot of the diorama for comparison.

And here are some more "today" shots of the rebuilt Gold Trails Hotel. The center doors used to always be closed and locked.....I believe that the diorama backed up against them. The doors to the right of that were the show's exit doors and the door on the far right was/is used for employee access to the building's second floor.

The show's entrance and lobby were located for many years through the doors on the far right of this next pic. In the earliest years, guests actually entered through a covered wagon that was parked alongside the hotel.

This is the view today looking out from inside the gift shop.

For five and a half years, I worked literally within yards of this structure and never went in to see the show....not even once! I can't believe it, really. I don't know what I was thinking at the time, because even as a teenager I had an appreciation for these kind of attractions. Fortunately, I had seen it several times as a child, but I do regret never seeing it during the time I was actually working there. I guess I used to think that this stuff would just always be around....like the Haunted Shack. :-(

Some of you may remember that blogger "Outsidetheberm" wrote an absolutely incredible post about the Covered Wagon Show a while back and included a word for word transcript of the show's soundtrack. Unfortunately that post is no longer available on his blog, but I'm hoping he will repost it someday (hint, hint!). He is the one that actually tipped me off about the existence of this figure (thank you, OTB!) after I asked him if any of the props from the show still existed. It just took me a little while to find a time when the museum was open so I could check it out!

Mickey Mouse Leaves Disneyland for Camp Snoopy!

I'm not feeling too creative today, so I have decided not to do an "April 1st" Disneyland Trip Report post as I have the past two years. Instead, I'm posting this "Knott A Berry Vine" from April 1, 1988 which was a parody of the Knott's Berry Farm employee publication, "The Berry Vine." Enjoy!

Elizabeth Taylor, 1932-2011

Happy St. Patrick's Day From Flick's Fun Fair!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! Here's just a little bit of green for you today from Flik's Fun Fair and A Bug's Land.

Universal Studios Tour - "Adam-12" Show (1973)

It was the summer of 1973 and I was eight years old. My grandmother was here visiting from out-of-state and we took her to Universal Studios. My family had been to Universal Studios once before (I've previously posted a few slides that my dad had taken in 1967), but being only two at that time, I had been left at home (hopefully not alone!), so this was my very first Universal visit.

I can recall a few things from that first visit, like the Flash Flood effect, the submarine that fired a torpedo at our tram, and the parting of the Red Sea, but the thing that I remember the most about that visit was that my dad was chosen to participate in The Stage 70 Show. This was the show where audience members were chosen to act in scenes from the television show, "Adam-12." The scenes were filmed, edited and then played back at the end of the show. Guests could also purchase a copy of the film and of course, since my dad was in it, we had to buy it.

The real stars of "Adam-12," Kent McCord and Martin Milner.

I remember my dad showing the souvenir film, whenever he would get out our "home movies." I have since been given most of the family slides and home movie footage, but this is one that I did not have and had not seen in over 30 years. Well, my dad recently located this film and had it transferred to DVD, so I am posting it here. Oh, and my dad was chosen for the Martin Milner/Pete Malloy part, so he is the one behind the wheel of the police car and in the later scenes, he is the police officer wearing the white patend leather shoes. Universal provided the costumes that the policemen are wearing, but they didn't provide shoes and my dad was wearing white dress shoes that day! I've posted the film below, and here is the link for watching it in a larger format on YouTube: Universal Studios - Adam-12 Show

The thing that actually sparked my memory of this show and led me to ask my dad to look for it, was seeing this slide posted over at Gorillas Don't Blog, last July.

The slide is reposted here with permission from Major Pepperidge (thanks, Major!) You can see the set for the exterior of the bar on the far right with the telephone booth to the left of the front doors. The set of the bar's interior is visible on the left side. People chosen to be patrons in the bar can be seen sitting in the chairs and one of the policemen can even be seen standing next to them. One thing that my brother recently pointed out to me is, that they didn't try to alter the lighting for the indoor shots, so when you are watching the film, the indoor set is just as bright and sunny as the outdoor set (both sets were located outside as you can see in the photo.)

Here are two vintage postcards showing wider angles of the Adam-12 set.

This photo of the Stage 70 Show was taken from a 1974 Universal Studios brochure.

By 1975, the Stage 70 Show was re-themed to the television show, "Emergency!" Here's a postcard showing what the new sets looked like.

A few years later, the show was re-themed yet again, to the movie, "Airport '77." At this time, the name of the theater was also changed from Stage 70, to the Screen Test Theater.

I remember seeing both the "Emergency!" and "Airport '77" versions of the show on multiple occasions, but I was never with anyone that was picked from the audience. The last incarnation of this show used a "Star Trek" theme, which I remember being surprised to see at Universal Studios, since "Star Trek" was a Paramount television show and movie franchise.

***Post Update***: Shortly after posting this, I realized that the "Emergency!" version of the Stage 70 Show and the "Airport '77" version are both available on YouTube (unfortunately, neither of them include the audio). Here are those films:

Disneyland Train and Monorail SOLD! (& Mickey Too!)

Today, we have another vintage newspaper clipping. This is among one of the oldest in my collection. I don't have an exact date, but I think I cut this out of the newspaper sometime in the late seventies or early eighties. I remember being confused at the time about why the family owned only the train and monorail and not the rest of the park and also why they were willing to sell them and Mickey Mouse. Perhaps after reading this, someone out there will be able to pinpoint the exact year this all took place.

Just in case anyone is curious, here is the back of the clipping. I did a little research using just the names "Dood and Elrod" that appear in the middle of the artwork, and it appears that this is a piece of the "Mark Trail" comic strip. A bit of trivia: Mark Trail began in 1946 and is still in syndication today.


Since my last post included a personal Disneyland souvenir, I thought I would include another one from my collection. This book of Disneyland "Hi-Lites" measures approximately 4" by 3" and was purchased for me during an early childhood visit to the park.....probably around 1969 or 1970.

I always loved the way the pages in this book were glossy and trimmed with a white border as if they were actual snapshots that you had taken yourself.