Disneyland Album Cover Mystery Update!

Last March (can’t believe it’s been that long!), I was asked if I knew any information about the photo on the cover of the John Fahey album, “Of Rivers and Religion” (shown above). As it turns out, one of the people involved in the photo shoot recently reached out to me and gave the 411 behind this little known piece of Disneyland history. Here is the story that Scott J. Tepper (credited as the location scout on the liner notes) told me when I interviewed him.



How Scott met John Fahey: Scott was a brand new lawyer in the Los Angeles area. He moved from a firm in Santa Monica to one in the Mid-Wilshire area, focusing on selective service draft work. The attorneys there typically represented labor unions, communists, the blacklisted, and eventually political activist and philosopher Angela Davis. John had tax issues, and attorney Harry Margolis (who was indicted but acquitted for tax fraud in 1977) was assisting him. Scott became friends with the musicians that worked with his firm, even if he wasn’t all that crazy about their genre of music. In March of 1972, Fahey told Scott, “I just finished this album with an orchestra, and I have no idea for the cover.” When Scott heard the title, “Of Rivers and Religion,” he immediately thought of the Rivers of America at Disneyland. Reprise Reccords supplied the art director/photographer, Ed Thrasher, who told Scott, “This is your idea, so I want to see what it is.” The three went to Disneyland to see if the Mark Twain would work as the subject of the album cover. The day they visited, it wasn’t working. In addition, Thrasher realized what sounded good was not going to work out through his lens. “I can’t get the river AND the Twain in the frame. I also can’t really tie rivers to religion as it is, but while we’re here, let’s look around.” Scott was familiar with the Park from his childhood, so he guided Ed and John around. When he saw one of the Tom Sawyer rafts/barges, things began to come together.



Ed grabbed some of the cast members who were hanging out on the Mark Twain and asked if they were interested in making $5 posing for photos. “Do you have any other clothes?” Ed asked them. “We have rags that we work with,” they replied. Approximately ten cast members donned the old rags, got on the barge, and floated out on the river. Ed took about a half a dozen shots on his old-school Hasselblad camera (which was hidden in Ed’s satchel and snuck into the Park), sliding the plates in and out between each photo. Scott recalls it only taking about five minutes of shooting time before Ed said, “I think I have the photo for the cover!”



The amazing part? They did not have permission to shoot a single photo. The Disneyland publicity folk only gave John Fahey permission to scout the location, which really made John and Scott laugh at how everything came together so quickly. Afterwards, Scott heard from John that he told the people at Disneyland that he got the shot he wanted, and the publicity people told him they needed to see it before publication. After viewing the photo, they told John that as long as Disneyland was given credit, all was OK. In those days, they were just happy to get publicity. A very different mindset from how tightly Disney controls their image today. Something like this could never happen now without a resulting lawsuit! Scott never saw Ed again after the shoot. 

 

When the album was released, Disneyland was listed as the location (as promised), and Scott’s name was credited for the Location Concept. However, he was not happy that his middle initial was not used!

Scott also shared some memories of going to Disneyland as a child. In 1955 for his mother’s 40th birthday (which in a happy coincidence was July17), the family attended Opening Day. Thanks to the television program, “Walt Disney’s Disneyland,” the entire nation (including the Tepper family) was aware of the impending opening of the Anaheim park. The Teppers lived in Pacific Palisades at the time and hopped in the car for what seemed like a 2.5 hour drive, all on surface streets. They had never been to Anaheim before. Scott remembers the gigantic parking lot full of cars, but nothing like what it would eventually become. He also remembered the thrill of being able to park close to the entrance and seeing the Park when they got out of the car. The family didn’t have much of a wait to get in, but rather just walked right through the turnstiles. There were plenty of 15' high construction walls that day, as not everything had been completed. The family walked around the park and went on some of the attractions, with the favorite being The Rocket to the Moon in Tomorrowland.



When Scott exited the attraction, he looked for a restroom. Just one month away from being 10 years old, Scott was fiercely independent and went exploring on his own. He saw a wooden door in one of the construction walls and it opened, revealing a man who asked him, “How can I help you?” Scott told him  he was looking for a restroom and the man pointed down to the end of the wall. “There should be some there,” he told the child. “What did that man say to you?” Scott’s mother asked him when he returned. “Do you know who that was? That was Walt Disney!” Scott remembers his demeanor was kind, like a favorite uncle. Walt even seemed a bit bemused, especially since Scott had no idea who he was.

As for the oft-told stories about guests having to buy beverages because there weren’t enough water fountains, yes…that was true. Scott’s father was an orthodontist, so he was not crazy about having to buy sugary soft drinks for his kids. As for choosing between water fountains and restrooms, Scott says “Walt made the right decision!” He remembers it was a very hot day and that his father’s Buick sank into the recently paved asphalt of the parking lot. This made him even less happy than having to buy soda!



If you’re wondering how the Teppers got into Disneyland on opening day…so did I! One of Dr. Tepper’s patients was Annette Funicello. He took a technique from the 1930s and became the pioneer of removable braces in the early 1950s. Once the word got out, he got the business of every child actor in Hollywood. They all came to him so that they could have the removable braces, allowing them to snap them out before a scene. This helped give Dr. Tepper connections with everyone, including the rest of the Mousketeers. Years later, he also helped teen idol David Cassidy straighten his teeth.

And there you have it. The mystery of the album cover has been solved!

See more photos at my main website.

Disneyland, 9-15-1960 in 3D, Pt. 3

The final conclusion to this short little series of Genuine FauxD©images from September 15, 1960. In this view of the Burning Cabin, you can see Cascade Peak in the background. Below is the composited left and right view:



Yes, I had to zoom in to the dead poor settler.



The oft told quote of Walt Disney saying that things would always change at Disneyland was certainly true for this tableau. Originally, there was no settler:



He appeared in this October 1956 shot:



In this July 1970 image. he had changed outfits AND positions AND had an arrow in his chest. Now THAT’S what I call plussing an attraction!



Back to the topic at hand…the last one is of Cascade Peak. The 3D effect is not so good on this one.



The composite view:



See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Toilet Paper at the Chateau

Another reminder that I have an obsession with the Chateau Marmont hotel in Hollywood occurred when I saw an ad on Instagram and INSTANTLY recognized the bathroom as being the one in room 32. Stephen Dorff is the celebrity hawking healthy toilet paper. Please read that again.



The same guy who encouraged everyone to vape is now worrying about UTIs, hemorrhoids, and cancer of the a** because of toilet paper. He calls your “normal” roll of toilet paper “a nightmare for your body.”

Dorff became associated with the Chateau Marmont as a result of the 2010 Sofia Coppola film, “Somewhere.” For the film, Dorff’s character was filmed staying in room 59.



The color of the vintage bathroom tile is the same in both 59 and 32, but the layout of 32’s bathroom is slightly different. Below is a shot I took recently when I stayed in 32. A perfect match!



The bathroom from 59; not a perfect match:



There is already buzz out on the net about Dorff’s ad. This article popped up and is fairly hilarious:

I still remember where I was, kinda sorta, the day I saw Stephen Dorff shilling for Blu e-cigs. Certainly he was paid to do the ad, but something about his leathery skin, cement-truck voice, and popped suit collar just screamed “I have indeed sampled many electronic cigarettes.” He sold the hell out of that thing. To the point that I think I immediately texted my father, who is still a smoker despite being nearly 80, to ask if he’d ever tried an e-cig. “Vaping” wasn’t a word yet and what little I knew about it made it seem like it might be a slightly healthier alternative to cigarettes (probably still is, but we don’t need to get into a whole thing about it). My father never brought himself to switch to vaping, but I don’t blame that on Stephen Dorff. In fact I’m still grateful to the Blade star for giving me the idea. Why was I inspired to share with you such a memory? Well, because today I discovered (aka my old editor Brett sent to me) this new Instagram ad starring Stephen Dorff, in an arguably even better pitch than Blu e-cigs. These days, he’s hawking “100% toxin free” toilet paper. “I know a thing or two about assholes,” rasps a bathrobe-clad Dorff, sitting in a tiled, baby blue bathroom. “They're more sensitive than you may think. And your normal roll of toilet paper is contributing to your risk of cancer.” So you’re saying that it’s toilet paper… and it doesn’t have… poison? You have my attention. The ad goes on to claim that the bleach and formaldehyde used to process your toilet paper are “forever chemicals,” linked to a whole slew of maladies, from “inflammation,” to UTIs, to hemorrhoids. The causal link smells a little vague to me, and calling bleach a “forever chemical” seems like some kind of nominative overreach, but I do wipe my butt and also sometimes experience medical issues, so who am I to say? Being a human in the modern world means nothing if not cautiously believing in magic whenever convenient. Is that why I’m tired in the afternoon and I can’t drink the way I used to? Is it the toxins? All I know is that when you give Stephen Dorff a product to pitch, that man sells the shit out of it. I haven’t seen a commercial performance this committed since Michael Imperioli told me my tequila was gay (or possibly not gay enough?). He finishes things off telling us that his new poison-free toilet paper will cost only $15 more dollars per year. “That’s two damn moccachinos,” Dorff says, in the no nonsense tone of a cowboy who has just sidled up to you in a saloon and correctly surmised that you enjoy moccachinos. Can you not spare a couple moccachinos, pardner? Think of your asshole! In conclusion, God bless Stephen Dorff for bringing his A-game no matter the product, and also I would love to interview Stephen Dorff’s agent some time to see what gigs he has turned down. I also wouldn’t be surprised if eight out of ten of Stephen Dorff’s friends were electronic cigarette and poison-free toilet paper entrepreneurs.

Alicia Silverstone, of “Clueless” fame, is also promoting the same product. Unlike Dorff though, she doesn’t rate a Chateau Marmont restroom. Instead, she gets a regular bathroom stall and also has the added bonus of talking about “vulvoginitis.”



You’ll be happy to know that this product is approved by Dorff’s a**.



If you haven’t seen the ad yet, here it is:



See more pop culture photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley at Lake Arrowhead

“Honor Bright” was the title of Jack Kirland and Melville Baker’s story upon which “Now and Forever” (1934) was based. Fox loaned Shirley Temple to Paramount, receiving $3,500 a week as part of a two-picture deal that began with the blockbuster hit “Little Miss Marker.” Shirley had a good rapport with costar Gary Cooper, who played her father. Henry Hathaway, the director, had worked with Shirley before in “To the Last Man” (1933), starring Randolph Scott. Shirley’s character, Penny, is introduced to us, playing by the lake. Lake Arrowhead was used for these outdoor scenes.



Cooper’s character is a con man with very little morality. To raise some much needed cash for his extravagant lifestyle with his girlfriend/wife (it’s not really clear through most of the movie), he decides to sell his rights of guardianship to his father-in-law. Once he meets darling Shirley, he changes his mind and takes her with him, attempting to form a family trio. The film is an uneven dark mess, with slight amounts of humor and quite a bit of unpleasantness to it. The review from The Hollywood Reporter, July 20, 1934:

Cooper, [Carole] Lombard and Temple form a trio that’s hard to beat for a box-office combination right at this moment. They are the sure-fire sales argument and they won’t fail. The picture itself is mild entertainment, frequently bathed in tears, that has a few moments which lift it into the “fair” picture class. It is the story of Jerry, Toni and Pennie. Jerry is the crook who wants to reform eventually, but circumstance forces him to do one more job that is literally his finish. Toni is the gal who has given up Society for Jerry and who cannot ever bring herself to give up Jerry. Pennie is Jerry’s child, who succeeds in reforming him, but at the same time is the cause of his untimely death. Of course, that’s reducing it to its essentials. The story has got its moments of grace and good cheer, but on the whole it is a vaguely motivated, rather overly-sentimental tale, with a sudden melodramatic ending, that seems to have missed its point in concentrating on childish cuteness.



Here are some behind-the-scenes shots of Cooper and Temple at Lake Arrowhead.



Director Hathaway sits on the dock, his back to Shirley:



You can see Shirley looking up adoringly at Cooper:



Shirley puts on a sweater to stay warm between takes, while drinking a glass of milk:



Below is a shot of Shirley and her mother during filming. The accompanying publicity blurb:

CHILD ACTRESS STUDIES ON LOCATION

Little Shirley Temple, sensational child film player, recites her lines to her mother before facing the camera while on location at Lake Arrowhead, southern California resort, with a motion picture company. 6/26/1934



While it is a bit of a hot mess, mainly due to a protracted battle with the censors over  the unsavory storyline, it does have its moments, thanks to the chemistry between the three leads.

See more Shirley Temple “Now and Forever” photos at my main website.

Disneyland, 9-15-1960 in 3D, Pt. 2

Two more from my September 15, 1960 Genuine FauxD© series, beginning with this side view of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. Notice the coat of arms is still missing from above the drawbridge. Below is the stitched version of the left and right images to provide a wider panorama view:



On the left of this shot of the Columbia, we have the hand of a guest who screwed up what would have otherwise been a perfectly lovely shot.



The wider view, which shows both keelboats in the same frame:



One more post to come from this series; stay tuned, and a happy Monday to you all!

See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Disneyland, 9-15-1960 in 3D, Pt. 1

Hold onto your chairs, as my Genuine FauxD© images can cause queasiness! The first shot from September 15, 1960, shows the entrance and ticket booth area at Disneyland. The changing of the times is already in motion, as you see the two ladies dressed. up in hats and heels on the left and the more casual youth on the right in shorts. Below, I have stitched both the right and the left side of the 3D image so that you can see the full panoramic view of this shot:



This set also included the Flower Market located on Main Street between the Upjohn Pharmacy and the Carnation Ice Cream Parlour:



The full stitched view:



As a bonus,  here’s a rare interior shot of the Carnation Ice Cream Parlour from August 1968:



See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Back to the Biltmore

…The Biltmore Palm Springs, to be more exact. I have been to the Arizona Biltmore, the Biltmore in Los Angeles, and The Biltmore estate in North Carolina. Who knew there were so many Biltmores? Built in 1948 and designed by architect Fred Monhoff, The Biltmore Palm Springs it was once a  popular resort with the Hollywood crowd. This color image from 1949 features actor Don DeFore, best known for the sitcom “Hazel,” and wife Marion. Looks like the hotel used a Woodie wagon for transportation. Any of my vintage auto nuts able to give more info about the make and year?



DeFore also ran the Silver Banjo BBQ restaurant at Disneyland (1957-1962) in Frontierland (now the River Belle Terrace). The Silver Banjo was the only establishment at Disneyland to display the name of a non-fictional person and the only business ever to be owned by an individual. Below is DeFore behind the serving line. Sure looks tasty!



But back to the Biltmore Palm Springs! This previously posted shot of singer/actor Tony Martin and wife actress/dancer Cyd Charisse shows them sunning poolside.



A 1954 shot of actress Virginia Mayo ready for a dip in the pool. Did she actually go in? I doubt it!



The resort lost favor and closed in the late 1980s. It was converted into a condominum community and its clubhouse became an office building. It was bulldozed in 2003 because the city claimed it didn’t realize it was significant historically/architecturally.

See more Palm Springs photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Shirley & Rita

In June 1942, Shirley Temple was between film gigs and paid a visit to Columbia Studios. One of her stops was for a few publicity shots with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth, who does not seem very pleased that her dancing partner is being borrowed by Shirley. The shot below was accompanied by the following caption:

BUSMAN’S HOLIDAY — Shirley Temple, on a recent day off, visited Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth on Columbia’s “You Were Never Lovelier,” set. Standing is Xavier Cugat, the rhumba king, who plays himself in the musical.



The next photo opp I have in my collection showing Shirley and Rita together is from April 1943 when the two  welcomed Madame Chiang Kai-shek to the Hollywood Bowl. Left to right are Norma Shearer, Marlene Dietrich, Mary Pickford, Shirley, Loretta Young, Rita, and Barbara Stanwyck.



In the fall of 1945, Shirley found herself back at Columbia Studios. From the accompanying caption:

WELCOME HOME — Director Charles Vidor, Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford welcome Shirley Temple back to the Columbia lot on the “Gilda” set. Shirley recently starred in “Kiss and Tell” at the same studio.

“Kiss and Tell” had a $1.2 million budget while “Gilda” came in at $2 million.



“Kiss and Tell” was released October 18, 1945, and “Gilda” had its New York City premiere on March 14 1946. A lovely portrait of Shirley in angora to publicize “Kiss and Tell” below:



The American Film Institute website states that Rita Hayworth was the original choice for “Kiss and Tell”:

According to pre-production news items in Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety, Columbia spent two years negotiating for the screen rights to the F. Hugh Herbert play. The studio initially conceived the play as a vehicle for Rita Hayworth and assigned Al Hill to direct.…According to Columbia publicity material, Herbert based the character of "Corliss Archer" on his teenage daughter. A New York Times article notes that David O. Selznick, who loaned Shirley Temple to Columbia for the production, initially demanded approval of the screenplay and daily rushes because he was concerned that the subject matter was too "sexy" for former child star Temple.

Herbert’s play of the same name debuted on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on March 17, 1943 and ran until June 23, 1945, with a total of 956 performances.

That last tidbit I could find about the two actresses was this none-too-flattering remembrance from Shirley’s autobiography, Child Star:

As the New Year [1949] rang in the Hollywood Women’s Press Club nominated me, after Rita Hayworth, the second least cooperative star in the industry. The vote came to me as a thunderbolt. My lifelong conviction held that a critical aspect of professionalism was popularity, including popularity with the working press, upon whose opinion the public relied…At my request, on January 5, 1949, I met with the entire club. The reception was sincerely unfriendly. Epithets like “stinker” and “always totally unavailable” were delivered, albeit with a smile. One writer claimed to have tried unsuccessfully for an interview for three years. Only columnist Hedda Hopper rose to shift the blame, saying officious underlings of the Selznick studio had rejected press inquiries without consulting me. In rebuttal another woman snarled things would never change; I was simply terrified to speak candidly with the press. “How about now, this afternoon?” I called back from the podium. Far too late to rescind my award, the group apologized as individuals, and lined up to schedule exclusives. Far from an egotistic exercise, my appearance recognized the pervasive power that the Women’s Press Club exercises, its opinion echoing in unexpected Hollywood crannies, as I soon found.

Shortly after, Shirley and then husband John Agar attended a party at Errol Flynn’s home. When she declined his invitation to join him in his steam room, he replied, “So that’s why the press voted you most uncooperative, eh?”

And that’s all I have for the Rita/Shirley connection!
 
See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Treasures from 1957, Pt. 2

We are back at Disneyland in 1957 inside the Swift Market House on Main Street. Guests are busy perusing the wares, probably not noticing what immediately caught my eye: a flyer high on the wall promoting the Southern Fried Chicken Dinners at the Chicken Plantation Restaurant in Frontierland.



The Chicken Plantation:



Back to the Market House – imagine going to Disneyland to purchase toilet soap!



Up the street, guests are relaxing outside the Coca-Cola Refreshment Corner:



Over to the right is the Cole of California shop, which closed the year this shot was taken.



This particular shot from 1957 was dated June 9, showing the Adventureland entrance gate:



This guy must have been a professional photographer; that’s some rig he’s got strapped around his neck.



Here’s the main drag of Adventureland, circa 1957:



Interesting to note that the Jungle Cruise attraction was still being referred to as the Jungle River Boat Ride. That’s a mouthful!



See more Disneyland photos at my main website.