It's the tiki tiki tiki tiki TIKI ROOM

The year after I moved back from Hawaii my family went to Disneyland where we met up with my best friend and her family who had also recently moved back to the Mainland. There is only one photo, that we know of, showing us standing in front of the Matterhorn.

There are two things that are hardwired into my brain from that day. The first is seeing Jimmy Dodd and Roy from the Mickey Mouse Club signing autographs in a room that also contained a lot of sets from the movie "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." It was all a strange mix. One side of the room was dark and mysterious with the sets while the other side had Jimmy and Roy sitting at a table in front of I believe the Mouseketeer house all brightly lit. Sort of the yin and yang of Disney I guess. I so wanted an autograph, but was too shy to walk up to the table. Jimmy Dodd died the next year in Hawaii.

The second thing I vividly remember is the Tiki Room. It was "An entirely new concept in entertainment" according to the brochure. It certainly was! I don't think Disney had used animatronics at the park before this. And it was perfect for two families who had just lived amongst the lush jungles, bird calls, and tikis of Hawaii. We enjoyed it on a level I'm sure the other patrons didn't. I remember feeling a bit at home for the first time since leaving Oahu, even if what I was surrounded by was unreal. It was watered down touristy Hawaii which we generally only saw when we went down to Waikiki. But ohhhhhh talking tikis! How good could that be?

My best friend and I first became enamored of tikis aboard the Matsonia on the way to Hawaii. They were exotic and funny, maybe even a little bit scary. There were tiki statues in the lobby where we'd sit next to them playing with our favorite dolls. Tikis are still important to us beyond the pseudo hipster-ness with which they are thought of today. I have a tiki god standing near my front door that was carved by a prisoner on the Big Island of Hawaii in probably 1960 or '61 that my folks bought while on R and R at Kilauea. 

But then back to the Tiki Room. I found this brochure dating from that summer in '63. The Tiki Room was new, exciting, and very colorful. And all you did was sit. Sit and look up. Of course most of the stuff you do at Disneyland requires nothing more than sitting (and standing in lines), but this took sitting to a whole new level. You didn't sit in something pretending to be something other than what it was, a motorized chair. No, you sat in a chair. Just chairs lined up. And the "guides" were dressed in, for us, familiar Hawaiian attire. The sort of clothes we had worn all the time. 

This brochure has survived 46 years because it's been stashed away inside a Disney book my folks bought me that day. So take a look at the brochure, clicking on each image to see it larger. Then take a look at the fun videos I found.

This shows the front and the back of the brochure.

Opening up from the first fold.

And finally completely unfolded, the brochure inside.

This video is a fun bit of information telling you how the Tiki Room came to be.

Here's another fun video showing what goes on behind the scenes in the Tiki Room.

And here's a nice video of just the theme song.

Then take a look at this video of what appears to be the full Tiki Room experience, including the "pre-show" as you stood in line.

And as far as the puppeteer advertised on the back of the brochure, André Tahon, you can click here to read about him in French and English.

Who is HYMIE FINK?

When I first decided to scan this delicious little puff piece about Joan Crawford from the April 1949 Photoplay I thought I'd just let the stupidity of the piece stand on its own. But then...ohhhhh...I just had to dig into the details. I didn't get far because there's not far to get. I stopped at the byline. Hymie Fink. Who is Hymie Fink and why am I inclined to say silly things about him? 

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I googled Hymie and very little showed up. All I can find is that he photographed movie stars and got a few bylines. Seriously do you think this fellow wrote this piece? Nahhhhh...neither do I. I'm thinking a studio publicist sent this drivel in, Hymie took some pictures, Photoplay threw this together with a nice little layout. 

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I don't know if Hymie was a staff photographer for a studio, freelanced, or was employed by a magazine. His name does seem to pop-up with stars from the late 30s through 50s. There's a really nice Montgomery Clift shot on this page, a mention of Hymie here in an article about Clark Gable, and finally the best of all, a photo of Hymie Fink with Marilyn Monroe here. And then there's another byline with photos in an August 1948 Photoplay about Tyrone Power.

Do you think "Fink Photos" was ever printed on the back of any of his work? Nah, me neither. It seems strange that a man who obviously had very close proximity to so many of the stars of long ago has little known about him. I'd have thought somewhere along the line someone would have compiled at least a website, if not a book, of his work.

Enjoy. You probably thought I was going to write something snarky about Joan Crawford. There's no need for me to say anything since all of this blather in the magazine was outside her control. Poor Joan will forever now be known for some great acting and a coat hanger raised up against the little blond daughter on the left. This article and photo were camp long before the beautiful Faye Dunaway had the painted on lips and eyebrows in Mommie Dearest.

Do click on the image above to read the ohhhhh so fine copy that just sounds soooooooo natural. Then take a look at Hymie with Marilyn and decide for yourself if he wrote it.

Consider this the one new item you learned today. Hymie Fink. Remember the name. 

TED KRAMER, father

There once was a man named Ted Kramer who kept scrapbooks about all the important events in his life. Two scrapbooks full of ephemera from his college days in the 1930s, illness, graduation, courting, marriage, and fatherhood. I'd never before seen scrapbooks so lovingly put together by a father/husband. Unfortunately the albums ended up on a junk table at a flea market being sold by a daughter. It was a cold foggy day and the daughter was thrilled to unload the albums and go home. She gave me a photo of her father so that there would be some connection with all the lovely cards, letters, telegrams, and dried bouquets.

Ted is gone, but let's wish him a Happy Father's day for once being someone who cared so much. 

A card from his children on Father's Day.

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Card publisher: Wishing Well Greetings, date unknown

WILLIAM HOLDEN in the summer

One of my favorite summer movies is Picnic starring William Holden and Kim Novak. This post has nothing to do with that. It's just a mental reminder to me that some warm evening I need to get out my copy of the film and settle in for a bit of summer movie viewing.

I was out and about at flea markets today. No major purchases, but then I'm looking for things most people don't care about. Old paper stuff. If I'd been in the mood for junk jewelry or odd ceramic doodads I'd have come home with a trunk full of junk. No, I was looking for paper. I found an old movie magazine, Photoplay, from 1949 for a buck. The cover isn't in great condition, but I don't care. I didn't buy it in order to retire to the Hamptons. I bought it because it has a ridiculous article about Montgomery Clift with nice photos. Plus it has ads for old movies. Stick with me. This is why I'm thinking about hunky Holden. 

I can't afford old movie posters though I'd love to have a lot of them. The only one I have is a reproduction of a  Roy Rogers movie. It never dawned on me that old movie magazines would have ads. Duh! But I just never seem to find these magazines, at least not at prices I'm willing to pay. So it was a nice surprise to find this one for (here it comes) a William Holden film from 1949, Streets of Laredo. I'm sure I've seen this movie, but right now I can't remember it. According to my DishNetwork guide it won't be on this month so I'll have to check next months listings of the Western channel. Love the Western channel. Until then...

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Okay, I'll admit the "Amigos! One for all and all for one" has me thinking of Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short doing their silly hip thrusting cough salute in Three Amigos.

To hear the theme song from the movie written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, who also wrote Buttons and Bows, click here for their official web site. And to see a couple of the actual posters from the film, as opposed to a magazine ad, click here and here. It's amazing how varied the advertising can be for a film.

And now that I've got the old classic Streets of Laredo running through my head I'll end with the beautiful voice of the late Marty Robbins.

FORGOTTEN child actors and animals

Oh sure, we all remember cute little Puff. Yeah, Puff had it made. Puff was driven to the set each day where he was groomed, fed, and played with. He went out to stud later in his life and then retired to a lap of a librarian somewhere outside Boston. But what of Fuzzy? Nobody knows what happened to Fuzzy. He never gets mentioned with fondness by people tripping down memory lane. That's Fuzzy above acting his little heart out.

Children's readers from the 1930s until the 1970s starred Dick and Jane. They're famous. Each made a tidy little sum which was invested by their parents so they could retire early. Dick has a nice place in Boca, Jane lives near Mt. Hood, Oregon where she runs a successful organic jams and jelly company. 

But what of the child stars Bill and Susan? Bill and Susan you ask? Who are Bill and Susan? Well, they're the two forgotten tykes of publishing history.

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Just as cute and obedient as Dick and Jane, Bill and Susan starred in the 1945 production of "Bill and Susan" produced by the Silver Burdett Company. Unfortunately they both had lousy lousy agents. Bill's money was squandered by an accountant who left on a steamer for Pago Pago sometime around '52. By then Bill had lost his cute childlike quality and was having trouble getting work. Around '56 he enlisted and served a few years in the Army on the border between North and South Korea. When he returned he bummed around the country and wrote a book entitled "Bill On the Road" but could never find a publisher. He eventually worked as a short order cook in Laramie and then just seemed to disappear. He could never get over having people ask him if he was Dick. When he'd say, "No, I'm Bill" people would just shrug and say, "Never heard of ya."

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Susan did have it slightly better. Her folks had wisely invested her earnings, but Susan didn't handle her teen years well. She married at 17, had two children, and was divorced by 20. By then her ex-husband had managed to gamble away all of her money. Susan was last seen in a small town out near the Salton Sea taking orders at a greasy donut shop, reading glasses dangling from a chain around her neck. No matter what anyone says to her she only responds with, "Order please. Fast. Fast. Order order." She has few friends because most people are a bit turned off by her speech pattern.

It's a tale as old as showbiz. The little tykes get used and thrown aside. The Coogan bill was designed to safe guard the funds child performers earned, but the stars of Primers weren't part of the deal. No, those tykes were forgotten. 

And then there's Perky. Well, Perky met Spot on a cross-country junket when they were both heading to New York to do some promotion work. Let's just say Perky wasn't as perky after meeting Spot. She had 6 puppies with all but one looking like Spot. Her career was over. She was labeled a bitch and never worked again. 

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Okay, here's the truth. "Bill and Susan" was published in 1945 by Silver Burdett Company as part of their "Learning to Read: A Basic Reading Program" by Nila Banton Smith. The illustrations are by Janice Holland.