One of the many pleasures from doing this blog is the connections that I have made over the years. Although I have yet to meet her, frequent reader/commenter Sue is a total joy. After reading last week’s post about Ruggles on Main Street, Sue shared a few pictures of a cherished souvenir in her possession.
Seeing these Flower Market pictures brings back wonderful memories! My parents and I loved shopping at the Park and at the Disneyland Hotel, in the 60s and 70s, as they carried unique items we didn’t see in the Chicagoland area, where we lived at the time. My mom purchased a number of those items (napkin holders, etc.) that you see on display in the Flower Market, for Christmas presents and birthday gifts. I do miss those days when Disneyland carried lots of fun items, with each shop carrying things you didn’t see in all the other Disneyland stores, unlike today where it’s quite predictable that you’ll find a lot of the same pins, mugs, key chains, T-shirts, and stuffed animals in most every store. Thanks, Dave, for this trip down Memory Lane!
Thank YOU Sue for sharing these very cool photos! I found this blurb on giftshopmag.com about Phil:
Established in 1955 by founder and industry icon, Phil Papel, the company’s roots were on Main Street, Disneyland (Anaheim, California) as a retail shop known as Ruggles China & Gifts. The company quickly grew to a successful retail chain of more than 20 stores in Southern California, and established a wholesale division called Phil Papel Imports. This wholesale division was sold to Russ Berrie in 1987, and in 2000 to Cast Art Industries.
The vintage images below are from my collection and show not only the artificial flowers you could buy at the Disneyland Flower Market on Main Street, but the other decorative items available that would have made a nifty gift for anyone’s home. Circa 1960s-70s, of course! From 1969:
This closeup view shows the yummy vinyl grapes (hard on the tummy, though) and a variety of miniature glass potted “plants,” similar to what Sue shared.
From 1974:
Anyone need a macrame owl wall hanging?
These gigantic ladybugs are sure to spruce up your yard; or are they fly swatters? I can’t tell.
From March 1975:
The first thing that caught my eye was the vintage Japan Air Lines bag.
Fairly easy to find on ebay!
I remember this vintage Disneyland shopping bag!
Back to the topic at hand…more of the miniature flower pots!
July 1977:
There’s a surplus in this shot! And are those glass mushrooms on the shelf?
The owl is still for sale. I wonder if he ever found a home?
I do like these wrought iron candle holders. Hopefully they’ll still be around at the end of the day. I guess that’s what the lockers on Main Street were for!
By April 1979, the Flower Market moved from West Center Street to East Center Street:
The flower pots made the transition!
Want a Phil Papel piece of your very own? There are plenty on ebay!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to Sue for inspiring this follow-up post!
See more Disneyland Flower Market photos at my main website.
When we last visited Main Street with my story on the Hollywood Maxwell shop, I mentioned that it was replaced/combined with the Ruggles China & Glass Shop. Ruggles? Who came up with that name? Apparently it was named after actor Charles Ruggles, who starred opposite Hayley Mills in “The Parent Trap.”
Created by Phil and Sophie Papel, “Ruggles China and Gifts” was selected by Disney to be among the first few shops to operate on Main Street U.S.A. when the park opened in 1955. Phil Papel’s experience in the giftware industry and his commitment to quality and customer service made him an excellent partner for Disney. When Papel was informed he had been selected to be an opening day merchant on Main Street, he decided to name his shop after Charlie Ruggles, and actor in the 1932 film, “If I Had a Million,” in which the owner of a China Shop receives an unexpected gift of a million dollars. To Papel, the possibilities of what could happen from a partnership with Disney rivaled the level of excitement that the actor felt in the film, and “Ruggles China and Gifts” was born.
The shop flourished on Main Street, and the company would grow to have numerous retail chains and sales in over 15 countries. While Ruggles’ partnership with Disney eventually ended in 1964, the high quality souvenirs from this cherished shop are still sought-after today as reminders of the great early days of Disneyland.
Renamed the China Closet in March 1964, the shop remains in the Park today, although its inventory is less about china and more about whatever the Disney Corporation cares to sell. The first shot above is from July 1963, shortly before the name change. The previously posted image below from October 1960. I wonder how many of those wacky lamps were sold?
Moving into the 70s, the shop appears to be all about the electric lamps that were attempting to evoke the gas lamps of yesteryear.
I’m not quite sure how I feel about the doll with the bulb up her skirt.
An undated color shot from the 1960s.
The exterior sign, circa September 2010:
An exterior overview of the shop from May 2011:
See more Disneyland China & Glass Shop photos at my main website.
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.”
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!
Actor Alan Dinehart co-starred with Shirley Temple in two films. First, he played a private investigator determined to get Shirley’s father (played by James Dunn) behind bars again in “Baby Take A Bow” (1934). Four years later, he had a short role as Purvis, the rival radio executive of Tony Kent (Randolph Scott) in “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm” (1938). Below is a screenshot with William Demarest, Ruth Gillette, Shirley, and Dinehart.
How did Dinehart’s name appear in my brain? As I was re-watching childhood TV favorite, “The Brady Bunch,” I encountered yet another Shirley connection.
The Season One November 14, 1969 episode was titled, “A-Camping We Will Go.”
I noticed on the credits the name Alan Dinehart as one of the writers. Did Dinehart become a writer? Thirty-one years after “Rebecca” was made? It didn’t seem possible.
The episode is cute. This panorama shows the location of where the blended Brady family went camping, the Upper Franklin Canyon Reservoir in Los Angeles. If it looks familiar, you might recognize it from the opening of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
The story is a mix of boys vs. girls and “The Parent Trap” (1961). With the family unable to catch fish for lunch, Carol (Florence Henderson) pulls through with her backup picnic basket.
Fried chicken and cold cuts for days! Greg (Barry Williams) scoffs at the basket, calling it “sissy food.”
Yes, there are some cringe moments when watching this vintage show, but for the most part, the stories promote equality, and not just between the sexes. It was also groundbreaking in showing the mother and father’s love for each other. Almost every episode shows them in bed (the same one!), kissing, hugging, and flirting with each other. While today’s jaded generation may find the show laughable, for me, it evokes a sadness for a time when healthy relationships were promoted in the media. Sadly, “healthy” has become “corny.”
As always, I digress. Turns out that the Alan Dinehart in the credits was actually Alan, Jr., son of the actor and his first wife, Louise Dyer. This 1934 photo shows Alan and his son, with Dinehart’s second wife between them.
From the accompanying vintage publicity blurb:
Alan Dinehart, stage and screen star, and his bride, flew back to California April 17th, after a brief ten days sojourn in New York, accompanied by Dinehart’s 16-year-old son, Alan, Jr. who is to make his home henceforth in California. Like his dad, Alan, Jr., is a polo enthusiast and the new estate they have secured in Riverside, Calif., will offer plenty of opportunity to improve his game. The trio is shown above at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, shortly before leaving New York. Mrs. Dinehart is the former Mozelle Britton. 4/18/34.
Alan Dinehart, Sr. died of a heart attack in 1944 and was buried at Forest Lawn (Mozelle would “join” him there in 1953). Alan, Jr. (1918-1992) worked as a producer, scriptwriter, voice-over artist, and voice director for “Top Cat” and “The Flintstones.” Besides “The Brady Bunch” episode, he also wrote for “Gilligan’s Island.”
Yet another mystery solved here at Daveland! See more Shirley Temple photos at my main website.
When the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse opened at Disneyland in 1962, it had one massive tree trunk.
When it morphed into Tarzan’s Treehouse, a second (albeit smaller) tree was added to the mix.
One of the tree knots was supposedly a tribute to Jabba the Hutt from Star Wars.
Yes, I guess I can see that. I am assuming (and we know how dangerous that can be) that with the recent remodel and removal of this second tree, that Jabba also bit the dust.
Over on Tom Sawyer’s Island, the young ones could climb up into Tom and Huck’s very own treehouse. You could get some pretty spectacular views of the Park from up here.
If you look a little closer at the March 1958 image, you can see that Tom and Becky have their names “carved” into the artificial tree.
It’s also visible in this July 1965 shot:
Just before Tom Sawyer’s Island was converted into Pirate’s Lair, I snapped as many photos as I could in February 2007. The carving appears to be the exact same one, unchanged after over fifty years.
Huck had his own little spot at the base of the tree.
Whether these little details are still around or not I have no idea. I remember Tom and Huck’s treehouse was closed for quite some time, but it appears that guests are able to climb up into it once again. Anyone know if that’s correct or not?
See more Disneyland Tom Sawyer Island photos at my main website.
