Disneyland Backstage Cafeteria - 1961

Disneyland’s backstage cafeteria, 1961
http://www.retronaut.co/2012/10/disneylands-backstage-cafeteria-1961/

Ok, when I was a little kid, I remember meeting the "space man" at the entrance to Tomorrowland. Somewhere my family probably has old Kodak slides of photos taken with that guy. But they probably got lost in a move, or trashed, or any number of things that happen to old unused stuff.

I wanna know how Mr Spaceman planned to eat with that helmet on. Not to detract from the "coolness" of the photo, that shot looked posed to me.

Cool photo... BUT I was at first going to question its posting on the General Forum. Many Tiki nerds might be Disney nerds but I ain't one of them. :evil:

Looking at the photo more closely I then spotted the "Polynesian" wahine. What attraction would she have been working at in 1961? Both the Enchanted Tiki Room and Tahitian Terrace opened AFTER 1961.

Even more interesting was the astronaut in the "Space Escapade" style space suit...

:)

Indeed a nice photo, and indeed, it does not belong here.

On 2012-10-10 20:15, MadDogMike wrote:
I wanna know how Mr Spaceman planned to eat with that helmet on. Not to detract from the "coolness" of the photo, that shot looked posed to me.
-- and --
On 2012-10-10 21:03, JOHN-O wrote:
Looking at the photo more closely I then spotted the "Polynesian" wahine. What attraction would she have been working at in 1961? Both the Enchanted Tiki Room and Tahitian Terrace opened AFTER 1961.

Three thoughts:

1. I would agree that the photo is posed. I say this because the character costumes are always hand-made (not mass-produced) and therefore very expensive. In my years at D-Land the policy was ALWAYS "no eating in costume" if you are a character or performer of any kind. This did not apply to ride operators, custodial folks, merchandising folks, supervisors, etc. who wore more "regular" work clothes.
2. The person dressed in Polynesian or island garb does make me call into question the 1961 date for the photo. Since my memories of the Spaceman date from around approximately 1966-1970 when I was a wee little kid I would personally date this photo later than 1961.
3. I agree that this thread is not really tiki but I do think it barely squeaks under the bar because of the "island gal" in the photo. :) In any case, we really don't need to go into more detail, consult Disney historians, compare other photos, etc. but it was a fun diversion. (Good connection, JOHN-O, of the space man to the Les Baxter album cover.) I got a kick out of seeing this - it is a new backstage photo to me and I'll probably copy and send it to along to some of my friends who will also get a kick out of it.