Fantasyland Friday: Storybook Land Changes

Storybook Land, like other attractions at Disneyland, has seen a number of changes over the years since it first opened in 1956. One such change included the move of Toad Hall so that Agrabah could be added to the attraction. This 1950s image shows the original location of Toad Hall:



Look at all that movement! Casey Jr. circles Storybook Land while the Canal Boats journey through the water. Two different views of the same attraction; a photographer’s dream!



Flash forward to the addition of the Aladdin tableau where Toad Hall once lived, showing the bustling city of Agrabah. In Storybook Land, you will not see any bustle, as it is purely architecture and landscaping; no people or characters. You have to use your imagination!



Fortunately, Toad Hall was spared and put in another area of the attraction. See the Windmill in the lower portion of the frame? Keep that in your brain for a second.



Ratty’s house was also moved:



In October, the Disney Parks Blog excitedly announced the addition of a “Tangled” tableau to Storybook Land;

One of Disneyland’s original rides has reopened after an extended closure for refurbishment and the addition of a modern movie setting: Rapunzel’s tower from the 2010 film “Tangled.” The Storybook Land Canal Boats reopened on Friday, once again taking guests on a journey past the miniature villages of Disney classics like “Pinocchio,” “Alice in Wonderland” and “Cinderella.”

When making a change to Walt’s original Park, Disney Corporation typically tries to justify it by trotting out his famous quote, “Disneyland will never be completed…as long as there is imagination in the world.” If only true imagination was used in some of those changes! Some of the historic info the blog gives about the attraction includes these tidbits:

Walt long had a fascination with miniatures, which he collected for many years. His love of these petite creations was an inspiration for the creation of the attraction that would become the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The attraction reopened as Storybook Land Canal Boats in June 1956, inviting guests to tour a tiny wonderland of fantastical realms. Residences from some favorite stories were painstakingly recreated at 1:12 scale and surrounded by impressive works of horticulture. Today, tours through the peaceful waters are narrated by expert cast member guides who point out landmarks from some favorite Disney stories, like the castle from Cinderella perched high on the hill and the humble workshop where Geppetto carves his wooden masterpieces. Over the years, the attraction has evolved to introduce iconic scenes and sounds from Disney Animation stories such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Frozen. On the opening day of Disneyland 70 years ago in 1955, Canal Boats of the World debuted as a serene boat ride. The attraction underwent a transformation months later to bring beloved, small-scale fairytales to life along the banks.

What they failed to mention is that in order to make room for “Tangled,” they removed the Windmills from “The Old Mill” (1937). If you want to honor the history of Disney, why would you rip out that significant scene?!? “The Old Mill” was one of the Silly Symphonies animated shorts produced by Walt Disney, and was the first use of his multiplane camera, which was instrumental in the look of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”(1937), released a month later. Below is a shot of said camera on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco:





In 2015, The Old Mill joined the Three Little Pigs as a Silly Symphonies short selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” Below are a poster for the short as well as concept art by Gustav Tenggren:



This May 2007 image shows a good overall view of the area where Toad Hall exists, along with Gepetto’s Village and the Three Windmills. Hopefully, you were able to enjoy them before they were removed!



Faded closeups of two of the windmills from 1969:





Was there not enough imagination to figure out how to keep this historically significant scene?
 
See more Disneyland Storybook Land photos at my main website.

Hump Day on Tom Sawyer Island, September 1969

Welcome to Tom Sawyer Island, circa September 1969! Our first shot was taken aboard the Mark Twain and shows The Old Mill, the raft to the Island, and the Fishing Pier. Yes, you once were able to catch fish at Disneyland. Below, Apple-Skirt Girl is posing next to the Three Falls and steps to the Treehouse.



Not to be outdone, her brother poses for the same shot. Dad did a better job this time, capturing more of the Three Falls this time. Practice makes perfect!



The fam finally made it to the Treehouse.



A detail of the Tom + Becky carved detail, mentioned in a previous post:



Now you can see that Tom and Huck's Tree House was made from boxes that contained oderless (sp) feathers for pillow stuffing.



Dad handed the camera over to Mom for a shot by the Old Mill.



Just in case you wanted to read the sign and learn something. Edutainment.



Time to brave Injun Joe’s Cave! Who knows what dangers lurk inside those dark caverns?



Mom was not going to let go of the Tom Sawyer Island brochure. No way she was going to get lost on the Island. Nice ring, too! That must have set Dad back a pretty penny.



A rare interior shot of the caves. Thank goodness for flash bulbs!



Final one for today shows the fam (minus Dad who took the photo) on top of Teeter-Totter Rock:



See more Disneyland Tom Sawyer Island photos at my main website.

Album Cover Mystery

These days, it takes a lot to surprise me or pique my interest on all things Disneyland. Yes…I admit it. When it comes to vintage Disneyland, I’m fairly jaded. Yesterday, I was contacted by someone who was looking for background information on the album cover shown above. Originally released on August 15, 1972, the photo for John Fahey’s Of Rivers and Religion is from the CD reissue. At first glance, it appears to be a vintage Daguerreotype from the Civil War era, portraying a group of slaves on a raft with an Old Mill behind them. For sharp-eyed Disneyland nutz (like myself), you can see that it was snapped on the Rivers of America with Tom Sawyer’s Island behind them. The liner notes shown below… 



confirm that the photo was taken at Disneyland, with art direction and photography by Ed Thrasher.



Don’t believe it? Compare with this photo from my collection taken a few years earlier. Even the vegetation on the Old Mill matches.



The raft and the red buckets match, too. The photo was taken before Photoshop was available, and it is too good to be a composite from the time. So now that we know it’s genuine, what’s the story behind it?



I contacted my usual sources and they were all stumped. One was genuinely interested and wanted me to do a post; the other didn’t seem to care too much. Maybe he had just woken up and hadn’t had his Wheaties yet. I took the advice of the former and am now creating this post!

For the photographer, here’s what I found. What a pedigree! Edited from his August 2006 L.A. Times obit:

When Frank Sinatra ended his two-year retirement at 57 in 1973, Warner Bros. Records art director Ed Thrasher came up with the perfect title for the legendary singer’s comeback album. The album — for Warner’s Reprise Records label — with its cover photograph by Thrasher showing a relaxed and grinning Sinatra during a recording session, was called “Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back.” “Ed showed the artwork to Frank, and he just flipped, as we all did,” recalled Joe Smith, former president of Warner Bros. Records. “Frank thought ‘Ol’ Blue Eyes Is Back’ was a great phrase, and it later turned out to be an ad hook when Frank was out on the road again.”As an art director, Smith said, “Ed had the talent for getting along with the talent, especially with a Frank Sinatra, who could get very cranky. With Ed, Frank was a pussycat. He never gave Ed any trouble about the covers.” Thrasher, who worked on hundreds of major albums as an art director, died of cancer Aug. 5 at his Big Bear Lake home, said his son, Jeff. He was 74. Thrasher received 12 Grammy Award nominations as an art director from 1962 to 1974. Joining Warner Bros. Records in 1964 after having been an art director at Capitol Records, Thrasher was the art director on a long string of albums from major artists. Among them: the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s “Are You Experienced?,” Joni Mitchell’s “Song to a Seagull,” the Grateful Dead’s “Anthem of the Sun,” Sinatra’s “My Way,” Van Morrison’s “Tupelo Honey,” Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Earth, Wind & Fire,” the Doobie Brothers’ “Stampede,” Commander Cody’s “We’ve Got a Live One Here,” Bill Cosby’s “Wonderfulness” and Richard Pryor’s “Was It Something I Said?” Thrasher did the photography for many of the albums, in addition to working on print ads and posters. Said Stan Cornyn, a former Warner Bros. Records executive vice president who was director of creative services when he worked with Thrasher in the 1960s and ‘70s, “He was skilled and flexible, and flexibility is not a bad attitude to have when you’re dealing with rock ‘n’ roll stars.” Thrasher, Cornyn said, was able to “handle whatever came along,” because of his “charm, sense of humor, and he knew his job.” Thrasher’s humor extended to occasional practical jokes. Noticing that the company’s top executive routinely made a 10 a.m. stop at the sole upstairs restroom in the old Warner Bros. Records building, Thrasher installed a life-size dummy — with shoes, socks and pants pulled down to the ankles — on the toilet in the restroom’s only stall. Thinking the stall was being used, the executive made repeated trips to the restroom, Cornyn said, before “he finally got down on his knees and figured it out.” “This was Ed’s idea of a good time, and I must say it was shared by all,” Cornyn said. After leaving Warner Bros. Records in 1979, Thrasher formed Ed Thrasher and Associates, an advertising company that created art for films, including Prince’s “Purple Rain” and Mel Gibson’s “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Thrasher studied art and illustration at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and the County Art Institute before being hired as an assistant in the art department at Capitol Records in 1957. Thrasher, whose 22-year marriage to actress Linda Gray ended in divorce, is survived by his son; his daughter, Kehly Sloane; two grandchildren; and his sister, Marilyn Ball.



Yes. That Linda Gray. The one who played Sue Ellen Ewing on “Dallas.”

According to allmusic.com:

On Of Rivers & Religion, the ensemble included many of the New Orleans players who performed on Walt Disney's Song of the South film soundtrack.

The musicians listed in the credits on Fahey’s album are:

John Fahey – guitar
Chris Darrow – second guitar, dobro, fiddle, mandolin
Joel Druckman – double bass
Jack Feierman – trumpet
Ira Nepus – trombone
Joanne Grauer – piano, calliope
Nappy La Mare – banjo
Alan Reuss – banjo
Joe Darensbourg – clarinet

While I was unable to find the names of the musicians who specifically played on the “Song of the South” soundtrack, I did find a number of Disneyland connections for Fahey’s musicians. Chris Darrow put together a bluegrass band called the Dry City Scat Band which played at Disneyland during the summer of 1964. On Ira Nepus’ website, he states: “I have been a professional musician for over 40 years, beginning at age 17 while I was still in high school and working at Disneyland and numerous recording sessions.” Nappy La Mare played for the Straw Hat Strutters and with Bob Crosby at Disneyland. Alan Reuss played rhythm guitar for the song “Grim Grinning Ghosts” at Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Joe Darensbourg also played at Disneyland according to Disney History Institute with the Dixie Flyers in 1960.





For a taste of Fahey’s album, you can listen to this track on YouTube:



That’s all I could find for now. Unfortunately, the details of the photo shoot itself are still unknown to me. I think it’s fairly safe to say that a photo like that (and its story) is not something the Disney Corporation is going to discuss any time soon. If you have any information, please drop it in the comments section!

See more photos at my main website.

The More You Know, The Less You Know

When you find yourself laboring on Labor Day, something’s wrong. I have been collecting vintage Disneyland slides for over fifteen years now. Some have dates stamped on them, some have handwritten notes, and others come with a big fat zilcho. Over the years, I have learned a few clues that determine when the undated ones were shot (and some help from a team of experts who know way more than I do). Originally, I had these first two images of the Mark Twain marked as 1955. However, when I recently noticed that Tom Sawyer Island was in existence, oops…must be after 1956.



The rest of these images were all marked March 1956.



On the Mark Twain, you can clearly see the patriotic bunting which I believe was only used during the month of July. In the background on the right of this image you can clearly see that Tom Sawyer Island is alive and inhabited by guests, which pushes the date to after June 1956.



Whoever coined the phrase, “Ignorance is bliss,” sure wasn’t fooling. At the end of the day, you have to realize that in the grand scheme of things, you just have to let go. OCD be damned. I’m tired of laboring on Labor Day.

See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my main website.

1968 Journey Through Storybook Land, Pt. 4

More vintage photos to illustrate the 1968 narration for The Storybook Land attraction in Fantasyland:

HERE ON THE LEFT IS ONE OF THE MOST UNUSUAL SUCCULENT AND DESERT FLOWER DISPLAYS IN THE COUNTRY INSPIRED BY THE MOVIE "LULLABYLAND". THIS GIANT PATCHWORK QUILT IS DECORATED WITH MORE THAN FIFTY DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF CACTI. PLEASE BE VERY QUIET BECUASE IT IS RUMORED A GIANT SLEEPS BENEATH THE QUILT AND WE WOULDN'T WANT TO AWAKEN HIM.

Note the little boy sticking his hand in the water!







AS WE PASS ALICE'S VILLAGE AGAIN (ON YOUR RIGHT) BE SURE TO LOOK FOR ALL THE TINY TOMBSTONES IN THE CHURCH YARD, AND THE BEAUTIFUL STAINED GLASS WINDOWS IN THE CHURCH.



ALL OF THE TINY TREES AND PLANTS HERE IN STORYBOOKLAND HAVE BEEN MINIATURIZED THROUGH A MAGICAL PROCESS KNOWN ONLY TO THE FANTASY CHARACTERS WHO LIVE HERE. MOST OF THE PLANTS GROW NO MORE THAN AN INCH A YEAR.



AROUND THE BEND YOU'LL SEE THREE DUTCH WINDMILLS FROM THE STORY "THE OLD MILL".



THE ONE IN THE CENTER IS WHERE ALL THE BIRDS AND LITTLE ANIMALS TOOK REFUGE DURING THE GREAT FLOOD IN HOLLAND.



THE DIKES AND LOCKS HERE IN FRONT HELPED KEEP THE WATER FROM FLOODING THE FARM LANDS.



One more installment to come!

See more vintage & current Disneyland Storybook Land attraction photos on my Storybook Land web page.

Viewliner & August 1958 Mixed Bag

It’s a wacky bag of assorted shots today from August 1958, with one standout image, which will hopefully make it worth viewing for all of you readers out there. It’s a busy day at the castle, with Main Street vehicles dumping people off left and right.

Let's get right to the gem of the batch, shall we? Here is The Viewliner, in all its miniature toy-like glory. These two ladies are either very savvy or just plain lucky, as The Viewliner was only in operation for one more month after this photo was taken.



The photographer obviously felt that once was not enough, and decided to capture this view of Dumbo & The Skyway twice.





As we look at the Jungle Cruise lanai, I begin to drift off into boredom.



With this last shot of the Old Mill on Tom Sawyer Island, I have drifted off to sleep completely.



Stay tuned for tomorrow's 5 year anniversary post; no snoozers for that one! See more vintage and contemporary Disneyland photos at my regular my main website.