Research for a Circus

Previously, I posted a number of Gil Gray/Disneyland Circus photos; this one came a little later, and a zoom-in closeup is included. I always wondered what the exact connection was between Gray & Disney; out of the blue, Gray’s daughter, Mary, contacted me with the details:

At the request of Mr. Disney through Herb Adlequist, the Gil Gray Circus was invited to Disneyland to provide the Mickey Mouse Club Circus with infrastructure, performers and expertise. They opened Thanksgiving Day 1955. The photos on your site give a good representation of the people, animals, and equipment from my fathers show and bring back many fond memories. Many of us gathered in Dallas Texas this past April at a reunion in memory of Dad sponsored by George Carden and it was well attended by many who were at Disneyland. We plan to do it again when the George Carden Circus plays Fair Park in 2011.



WED Enterprises sought out genuine circus wagons that could be purchased or rented, rehabilitated by WED artisans, and included in the Circus. Here are some of the photos that were taken and used by WED staff in development of the parade. Two depict what is likely the Swan Band Wagon:





From a publicity shot, you can see Annette & Gang sitting in the refurbished Swan Wagon:



This one shows a newspaper illustration of Barnum's Orchestmelchor:



The unrefurbished chariot in which Walt Disney and Jimmie Dodd appeared in the parade. (There is a famous publicity shot of the two men in the chariot, drawn by two black horses, taken in November, 1955):









Anyone care for a monkey cage?



The bear cage still has a bear in it!



The guys in the detail view of this shot look like FBI spies! Anyone recognize them as WED employees?





View more Disneyland Mickey Mouse Club Circus photos at my main website.

Travel, Snow, and The Circus

I will admit that my blog has been less than stellar lately; actually, I was in Philadelphia for the last week, visiting family and getting a reminder of why I no longer live on the east coast or the midwest. SNOW! Yup...and a ton of it. As you can see from the first 3 shots, taken from my plane on an early sunny morning in San Diego, everything started out just ducky.





And then I landed in Dallas for my layover. Nothing but white for miles. It was a mess. Fortunately, I was on one of the last planes to leave Dallas before the airport shut down. It was a nailbiter as I felt the wheels skipping on the runway during takeoff, but I made it safely to Philadelphia, and got to watch the de-icing process to boot!



In Philly, I was pretty much on house arrest due to the weather, but still managed to snap a few photos.







You folks aren't here for my travel shots though, so let's get back to the show...or more specifically, the circus. Recently, I bid on a number of negatives that were labeled 1955 Gil Gray Disneyland Circus. I’ve read that Gil Gray’s Circus was involved at Disneyland, but whether it was during the Mickey Mouse Club era or after is unknown to me. Maybe one of the historians out there can fill in the gaps for us. My guess is that it must be during the MMC period since it appears by the bunting on the lightpoles that it could be Christmas time. Unfortunately, one of the better negatives got away from me, but here's a low-rez version of what was advertised. If I were a betting man, I'd guess that the man on the left in the dark uniform is Disneyland Band Conductor Vesey Walker.



And here are the 3 shots that I was able to acquire. Looks like this truck was about to unload its contents. Detail shot included for all the Gladys Kravitz's out there.







The clown on the truck looks similar to the clown featured in this color photo from December 26, 1955.



And a shot of the Calliope going through what is now the Tinker Bell meet-and-greet area.



Chances are the Gil Gray troupe handled the circus part and the Mickey Mouse Club was added for branding. That's my theory! See more Disneyland Mickey Mouse Club Circus photos at my regular website.