Monday, April 22, 2013

Disneyland Diary, 1965



1965 ADDITIONS

• GREAT MOMENTS WITH MR. LINCOLN (a personal experience with history, in a new theater in the Main Street Opera House) — Main Street, U.S.A.



• PLAZA INN (offering dining in the grand manner) — Main Street Plaza.



HIGHLIGHTS

Disneyland celebrated its tenth anniversary with a year-long "tencennial celebration."







New Year's Eve brought 20,000 to begin the observance of 1965,

A new addition to Disneyland, "Fantasy on Parade" was introduced during the Christmas season.



Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Color" television show saluted Disneyland's first decade.

Disneyland's first Ambassador to the World, Julie Reihm, traveled to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and throughout the U.S.



Valentine's Dance, Catholic Schools Day, "Spring Fling" and special youth days attracted record attendance.

More than 50,000 celebrants from 138 high schools attended four all-night Grad Parties.



Les Brown, Si Zentner, Frank Sinatra, Jr., Stan Kenton, Wayne King, Harry James, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Tex Beneke, Hootenannies and Humdingers filled the summer with music.



Disneyland's Community Service Awards program honored 17 county organizations with cash awards totaling $15,000. The Outstanding Award was won by the Orange County Association for Retarded Children.

FAMOUS GUESTS

• Lord Louis Mountbatten of England (March)
• President Maurice Yameogo of Upper Volta (April)
• New Zealand Defense Minister Dean Eyre (April)
• Gov. Mark Hatfield of Oregon (June)
• Princesses Chandra and Suddhavong of Thailand (June)
• Prince and Princess Mikasa of Japan (September)
• Gov. Hayden Burns of Florida (November)
• Premier W.A.C. Bennett of British Columbia

See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.

8 comments:

K. Martinez said...

I remember watching the "Disneyland Tenth Anniversary" show when it first aired on television. Those were the days. Disneyland of the 60s and 70s was the ultimate for me.

Anonymous said...

I agree with K. Martinez. That young couple is from Costa Mesa High. - KS

Daveland said...

KS - You are correct. You can read Barry's bittersweet recollection of that nite here:

http://davelandweb.com/frontierland/#barry

PsySocDisney said...

I recently acquired a souvenir DL photo guide book from 1965. Between the "new" features and the "upcoming" ones it seriously takes you back. Especially with the anticipation of the NYWF exhibits, it's a great treasure!

Anonymous said...

Dave, this is an epic series. I am reading with great enjoyment. I admit that the later ones are more interesting as they are now dealing with the Disneyland I remember, not the one I have read about.

I remember the arrival of: Lost Safari, Mr. Lincoln, Tiki Room (and the barker bird), and oddly enough, the traffic lights mounted on the monorail pylons.

Weird how these things get caught in your memories.

Thank you so much, your blog is much cheaper than therapy, and more fun.

JG

Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness. I went back to read Barry's article.

How sad and terrible and wonderful all at once. Thank you to Barry for sharing it, and for living it, and Dave for putting up for us to read.

JG

Barry said...

Dave, Thank you for reusing my photo and story of Stephanie and me. She will always be in my heart.
Barry

Dan said...

Wonderful stuff, and what a year:

I saw snippets of PsySocDisney's guidebook, and she's right about anticipation: the park was well-rounded by '65, but the features to come in the next four years would be the icing on a multi-layered cake.

Speaking of which: that dancing cake stunt could still be re-created today, couldn't it? Such a fun idea, and likely a product of Bill Justice's then-growing costume design department.

Barry: your affection for Stephanie shines through, thanks so much for sharing the photo and recollection. - Dan