Disneyland Weather Vanes

Inspired by one of my favorite readers, Eric C., I decided to put together a photo display of all the weather vanes at Disneyland (DCA can be another post!). The first one is from the Red Rose Taverne location when it was formerly known as Village Haus in Fantasyland. A closeup:



This one is debatable; there are no NESW markings, but it does have an arrow and appears to spin, so I'll include it. It is also part of the former Village Haus complex.



From Mr. Toad’s:



From Pinocchio’s Daring Journey:



From the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans Square:



Atop the Toon Town Depot:



Minnie Mouse house in Toon Town:



Mary Poppins rests atop the Jolly Holiday Bakery in Central Plaza:



Across the Plaza is this rooster at The Plaza Inn:



Edelweiss Snacks in Fantasyland:



Zooming in:



Another one that is debatable; no arrows, no NESW markers, but it is often lumped into the category of weather vanes.



Any others I missed?

Later additions to this post:

Bryan - Thanks for jogging the memory! This one on the Harbour Gallery:



Back in Toon Town, you can find Miss Gadget Hackwrench on the roof of the loading area for Gadget’s Go Coaster:



In Town Square at the Guided Tours waiting area:



Thanks to Daveland friend Stacy, I now have a snap of the Matterhorn weathervane:



See more Disneyland photos at my main website.

Is That All There Is? DCA 23rd Anniversary

I had the opportunity to visit Disney California Adventure on May 18, 2001, just a few months after it opened (hard to believe it’s been 23 years!). I was part of a behind-the-scenes tour of all the dining facilities that were part of the Disneyland Resort second gate. One of the dining managers in my department was friends with Mary Nivens, who was Senior VP at the Disneyland Resort at the time, thus our tour. What did I think about DCA? As soon as the tour was over, I went home. I didn’t ride a single attraction nor did I take any photos. If you know me, that speaks volumes. I kept thinking of the Peggy Lee song, “Is That All There Is?”

It wasn’t until April 2002 that I returned with camera in hand and began to document the second gate. True to Walt’s quote about change, none of what you see in these photos remains at DCA today. Below, you can see the stationary California Zephyr, on of my favorite aspects (designwise) of the new Park.



Because of their ownership by Disney, there was significant cross-promotion going on for ABC programs, especially the soap operas.



One of the restaurants at DCA was titled, “Soap Opera Bistro,” featuring themed dining areas based on the sets from your favorite ABC soap operas.



These tile murals at the entrance were gorgeous.



An overhead view showing the first incarnation of Paradise Pier, before Pixar took over.



These imposing elephants at the Hollywood Pictures Backlot were an homage to the ones used in D.W. Griffith’s silent epic, “Intolerance” (1916).



Whoopi Goldberg in DCA? That’s right. Where the Little Mermaid attraction now resides, guests once entered a theatre to watch a film entitled “Golden Dreams,” starring Whoopi as Calafia, the Queen of California. She lost her thrown when the theater was torn down for Ariel in July 2009.



Was there ever a need for Fastpass for It’s Tough To Be A Bug!?!



Over at the Hyperion Theatre, a Reader’s Digest version of the Broadway show Blast! was playing.



In 2004, I returned for my birthday and posed with Minnie in the Condor Flats area.



The Tower of Terror was the first big draw to be added to the Park in 2004, followed by Monsters, Inc. This aerial view is from August 2006.



In other news, I just realized that DCA, James Dean, and Lana Turner also share the same “birthday.”





See more Disney California Adventure photos at my main website.

I Love A Parade: 1968 in 3D!

Back in July 1968, a photographer shot these 3D images (now presented in genuine FauxD©) of a Disneyland parade. It’s as close as you can get to being there, folks!

Captain Hook, Peter Pan, and Mr. Smee are waving to the crowd.



Any idea what these ribbons/tags are on Pan and Smee?



Donald is feeling lazy, too:



Snow White and her Seven Dwarfs (Dopey is hiding in the back):



From Pinocchio comes J. Worthington Foulfellow:



Even the recently released Jungle Book was featured in the Parade:



Alice skips by the Wurlitzer Shop:



With Splash Mountain gone, will we ever see these characters back in the Park?



See more Disneyland Parade photos at my main website.

Temple Tuesday: Memos and Letters

Producer David Selznick was known for his prolific memos; a rather large book was published in 1972 filled with his correspondence titled Memo from David O. Selznick. Two of the memos from the compilation include our gal Shirley. In a June 15, 1943 memo the producer wrote to his Director of Advertising and Publicity, Joseph Henry Steele:

When we’re ready, the story on “Since You Went Away” should be built on the following:

David O. Selznick today announced that…“Since You Went Away” will mark the return to production of Selznick, and be his first picture since “Gone With the Wind” and “Rebecca.” At the same time, Selznick confirmed previously published reports that Claudette Colbert will play the role of the young wife and mother in the film, which is based upon the Whittlesey House and Ladies’ Home Journal story of the same title…

With Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Monty Woolley, and Shirley Temple, the cast looms as one of the most important of recent years. Selznick also stated that there would be other important players cast shortly, to give the film a cast rivaling that of the producer’s famous production of “Dinner at Eight.”

Rewrite the above as much as you want to, but please be careful to: (a) handle the mother and sister angles almost exactly as above; (b) use the casting in the recapitulation as stated above, i.e., Colbert first, Jones second, Woolley third, and Temple fourth; (c) I’m anxious to get the accent off this as a Temple vehicle and start hammering away at its tremendous cast.…I’m getting tired of being referred to solely as the producer of Gone With the Wind and Rebecca, and would like to get some of the other pictures alluded to as often as possible (I can see my obituary now: ‘Producer of Gone With the Wind dies!’)…



The above shot of Shirley taken in October 1943 was accompanied by this publicity blurb:

Fresh Start for Shirley Temple

Brentwood, Calif. – Now 15 and a typical teen-age girl, Shirley Temple is launching a “second” career. As a child actress, she was at the top as film box office drawing card from 1935 to 1939, under a 20th Century-Fox contract. Since 1941, she has made only two movies, and in 1942 she starred in a radio series, “Junior Miss.” At the same time she gave more attention to her school work at the Westlake School for Girls, and to growing up as a normal girl.



Now, under a new contract with David O. Selznick, a new program is being worked out, with adult stardom as the aim for the future. For the present Shirley will continue her schooling and make occasional pictures in which she will have important roles but not be starred. She is at work now on“Since You Went away,” in which she plays the tomboy daughter. These photos were made at the Temple home here. Shirley is seen with her new friend Abby Wilder, whose mother, Margaret Buell Wilder, wrote the novel “Since You Went away.” Shirley plays Brig Hilton, who in real life is Abby Wilder.

The below image shows Ingrid Bergman visiting Selznick (who she was under contract to at the time), Shirley, and Jennifer Jones on the set of “Since You Went Away.” Selznick may have been looking at Shirley, but his romantic attentions were about to be focused on Jones, who he would eventually marry.



This November 3, 1944 memo from the Producer was to Reeves Espy, a Selznick executive:

Shirley is exceedingly hot at the moment. We can”t commence to fill demands for interviews and other press material on her from newspapers and magazines; and this is, of course, an indication of the interest of the public. At the preview of “I’ll Be Seeing You,” costarring Ginger Rogers, Joseph Cotten, and Shirley Temple, Shirleys name was received with the biggest applause of all three, despite the fact that the Gallup poll shows that Cotten is the great new romantic rage, and that Ginger is one of the top stars of the business.

Shirley’s publicity in the New York press, both in connection with this appearance and in connection with her prior trip East to sell bonds, received more publicity_including, astonishingly, big front-page breaks in the middle of a war—thank I think has been accorded the visit of any motion-picture star to New York in many, many years. Indeed, it is said (and I believe a check would confirm it) that her visit received more space than that of General de Gaulle! She has made a great hit in Since You Went Away; and in her first grown-up part, that in “I’ll Be Seeing You,” is a sensational success. Her fan mail is great than that of any other star on our list—actually exceeding by a wide margin that of Ingrid Bergman, Jennifer Jones, and Joan Fontaine, who are the next three, in that order.

If Shirley was so hot, why didn’t her teen career flourish more? You can probably chalk it up to Selznick’s obsession with promoting Jones. All the choice lead roles for a young woman went to her, as the Producer ended up loaning Temple out to other studios while he focused on building up Jones’ career.



See more teenage Shirley Temple photos at my main website.

Barbie, The Movie

I finally saw “Barbie,” the blockbuster 2023 Greta Gerwig movie starring Margot Robbie in the title role and Ryan Gosling as her male counterpart, Ken. The fact that Mattel played a part in the production was a slight turnoff to me. I wondered how edgy and innovative could a film be when sponsored by a high profile corporation? It worked for the 1971 classic, “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” (sponsored by Quaker Oats, who was hoping to sell candy as a result of the movie), but that was over fifty years ago when the world was different (and there was no social media or internet). Still, “Barbie” surprised me in a good way. Overall, I would recommend seeing it; unlike “Wonka” though, the finale was a bit of a disappointment for what was generally a very creative production. If you haven’t seen the movie, fair warning: plot spoiler alerts ahead! Read at your own risk.



In a nutshell, Stereotypical Barbie (Robbie) resides in a live-action world with the other Barbies, Kens, and discontinued dolls (Midge, Sugar Daddy Ken, Earring Magic Ken, and Skipper). All the diverse Barbies hold positions of power in Barbie Land. Like their doll counterparts, they don’t factor into the storyline in a very meaningful way other than as supporting players. It would have been interesting to see a storyline that examined how the lesser-selling (aka more diverse) Barbies felt about being relegated behind Stereotypical Barbie. Would Mattel have backed a movie like that? Doubts.



The Barbies live in luxurious dream homes with fulfilling lives, while the male dolls have little to do but play at the beach and serve as the Barbies’ male arm candy. Beach Ken (Gosling) unsuccessfully seeks Barbie’s approval, constantly trying to outshine the other Kens to gain her attention. Interestingly enough, the Barbies are completely asexual; the Kens seem to lean towards the homosexual side (wrestling and offering to “beach off” each other). Beach Ken seems to have some heterosexual hormonal drives, as he desires to spend the night at Stereotypical Barbie’s place; she wants no part of that.



Because of actions going on in the real world with a teenager (Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha) and her mom (America Ferrera as Gloria), Stereotypical Barbie begins to undergo some strange transformations: her previously arched feet fall flat, cellulite appears on her legs, and worst of all, she begins to have thoughts about death.



Like Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” Barbie is told to seek out someone who can help: Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), who is the result of what happens when little girls play too hard with their dolls. Weird Barbie tells Stereotypical Barbie that she must go to the real world to fix the hole/rift in the “space-time continuum.”



Beach Ken stows away with Barbie on her road trip and the two encounter all kinds of people when they arrive in Los Angeles, including the CEO of Mattel (Will Ferrell). I’ll leave the rest of the plot discovery to you, dear readers, as I hope you will watch this film for yourself



What works:

The casting and performances are spot-on. A movie like this depends so much on the actors, especially when you are representing both a fantasy world and the “real” world. Robbie and Gosling give nuanced performances that separate them from the other Barbies and Kens. They have neuroses, fears, and problems just like people in the real world. Robbie obviously has the larger part in the film, but Gosling does even more with what he is given.

I normally do not care for Will Ferrell; “loud” does not equal funny for me. In “Barbie,” he is genius casting. As the CEO of Mattel, watching him attempt to explain to Barbie the lack of females in the boardroom is one of my favorite scenes. You can hear him speak the typical rhetoric while knowing damn well that it is an extremely hollow stream of bulls&*t.



Visually, the film is stunning. Making use of classic old Hollywood techniques, the film avoids relying on CGI and other digital tricks that rarely hide a poor script. Instead, the visual artistry of the film stays consistent with the tongue-in-cheek tone of the film. I especially like the transition scenes where the characters travel back and forth between Barbie Land and the real world.



Rhea Perlman has a cameo as Ruth Handler, the real-life creator of Barbie. This seems like a good segue into…

What didn’t work:



Attempting to escape getting “boxed in” (figuratively AND literally), Barbie runs away from the Mattel CEO and stumbles into a vintage kitchen where Ruth Handler seems to just pass the time away. Perlman is great casting in this role, but it ends up being a wasted opportunity. Was Gerwig trying to allude to the fact that Handler spent less time with Mattel when she went through her ordeal of breast cancer and eventually resigned from the company after being charged with fraud and false reporting to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission? Was she trying to say that the originator of Barbie was just shoved into a corner while the men took over? This is never really explained. Instead, the film’s Handler speaks in a benevolent manner to her doll creation and helps her escape the CEO. Later, the Handler character reappears to give some more lengthy mumbo-jumbo that just comes off as very poorly written Psychiatry 101. With Perlman as Handler, so much more could have been done. Below is the real-life Ruth Handler and a shot of the first Barbie doll from 1959.



In general, “Barbie” tries to be too many things in just two hours. How would I describe “Barbie”? It’s “The Wizard of Oz” (lost girl seeks happiness in a strange land and meets friends along the way) meets “Back to the Future”/“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (gotta’ fix that time-space continuum in the alternate reality!) meets “Legally Blonde” (not all pretty/blonde girls are stupid) meets “Enchanted”/“Splash!” (fish out of water gags). While it does an admirable job, that’s mainly because of the actors and the visual aspect of the film. The storyline begins to lose its way about the time Stereotypical Barbie returns home with Gloria and Sasha. Speaking of the Gloria and Sasha storyline; more backstory is needed on those two to fully understand the conflict and motivation; a few quick flashback scenes don’t provide enough meaningful context. This speaks to my point about the movie trying to be too many thingse.

The saddest part for me is that a movie that supposedly celebrates women gives two very poor messages at the end: first, to get what you want from a man, you have to result to subterfuge and sexuality, and two, the world is either all about women or all about men. The movie doesn’t teach the two sexes how to effectively communicate, learn from each other, and cohabitate in a meaningful way. While the Barbies promise to do better, it’s hard to believe after they choose deceit to get to a place of power again.

The long-ass “epiphany” dialogue towards the end between Stereotypical Barbie and Beach Ken seems to be “you need to find yourself.” I need a two hour movie to tell me that? While the ending is a cute twist, I was expecting to see Barbie’s exciting new career and how she grows as a “human.” Instead, we get a joke that emphasizes Barbie’s body, not her brain. “Barbie” is a thought-provoking movie that gets the dialogue started, but does very little to provide positive solutions.

See more Daveland photos at my main website.