Monday, May 05, 2014

Dating Disneyland



Today I look to my knowledgeable readers to help me date these undated 1960s 35mm negatives from a guest's vintage trip to Disneyland. I am presenting what I believe to be the 3 most helpful clues, beginning with a closeup of a Disneyland shopping bag, sitting in this lady's lap on the Matterhorn attraction.



This may seem to be a regular vintage shot of the Teacups in Fantasyland, but looking at the background, you can see that Papotin's Revue is playing at the Fantasyland Theatre.



Not sure how many seasons André Tahon's show was featured here, but this might be the best clue of the bunch.



On Main Street U.S.A., a band with a "W" insignia is marching through Central Plaza.



Zooming in to the right side, there appears to be some sort of Mickey Mouse Club paper ephemera.



Are you up to the challenge? Think you can narrow down these slides to a particular year? I have faith that you can!

See more vintage & current Daveland Disneyland photos on my main website.

6 comments:

  1. The Mad Tea Party/Fantasyland Theatre image featuring Papotin's Revue is from Summer 1963.

    Source:

    http://vintagedisneylandtickets.blogspot.com/2009/07/papotins-revue-summer-1963.html

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  2. Dave - I couldn't find anything else on the other two. Were all these slides from the same batch? If so, then my first answer would apply to the other two slides as well. Summer '63. I always appreciate it when you post b&w Disneyland images. Thanks.

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  3. The Popotin Review was a marionette show by a Frenchman, Andre Tahon. His shows were pretty popular for a time in the US. He was on Ed Sullivan I think and that might have been where I first saw him.

    I was just starting to work at the Hollywood Palace in the talent coordination office when he was booked to do that show. He was on HP quite a few times before and after I got there. I had seen him already over in Las Vegas with someone as the headliner, but I am not sure who - it might have been Andy Williams or Johnny Mathis or even Frankie Avalon - a tad hard to say as I saw a lot of people in Las Vegas. He had a very sophisticated show.

    I saw him again with a different group of marionettes when I was working and living in London - I think it might have been late 70s probably.

    I never did see him at Disneyland - not sure I would have wanted to sit down and take in a puppet show back then while at Disneyland. I tended to jam from one fav ride to another, off to eat, back for rides and lots of going through shops and general rabble rousing with friends!

    Seems like this would be summer of 1963 or maybe he did some preview test runs to see how he did as an attraction first before he spent the summer there?

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  4. I can't name a year but I do know that Popotin Review sign looks very Rolly Crump-esque. I wonder if he had a hand in it?

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  5. Ken - Looks like you got the jump on everyone. Thanks for the help and link to TIm's post! Check it out beach gal - it's all there.

    PsySocDisney - I would have to agree! Very Crump-esque!

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  6. Here is more date conformation. The following web site has numerous print media on the Fantasyland Theatre show Papotin's Revue. It puts it firmly in the summer of 1963.

    http://vintagedisneylandtickets.blogspot.com/2009/07/papotins-revue-summer-1963.html

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