I was walking through the flea market here in NJ today and came across some neat old Disney World paper items. One was a neat 1988 brochure for the High-Tech Shows at WDW and the other for a Sneak Preview of the new Disney MGM Studios coming in 1989! Both are a neat look back at Disney attractions and shows long gone. I love this old paper!  

Ah Spring is finally here! I was walking through our local flea market yesterday with my son Davey and came across a box of old 45 records. Now I'm really not much in vinyl, and 45's do not seem to be especially popular these days. But the neat organization and condition of the records themselves drew me to the box.

You see these were not typical 50s rock and roll records like you'd expect on 45s. But rather they were someones collection of vintage jazz 45s from the 1950s! Each was neatly placed in the box, with all of the records in their original sleeves and some still wrapped! There were all kinds of jazz duos, quartets etc. But one and only one caught my eye.

This particular 45 cover had a colorful graphic of a bunch of guys with a firetruck. I flipped the record over and started reading the first few artists names...Ward Kimball, Frank Thomas....Hey wait a minute! Weren't these the same names of early animators at the Walt Disney Studios back in the 40s and 50s?    

Sure enough, they were! The record was called the "Firehouse Five Plus Two, Good Time Jazz". It is dated "Copyright 1953 by Good Time Jazz Record Co. Inc.". Songs include: Five Foot Two, Mississippi Rag, Show Me The Way To The Fire and San Antonio Rose.  I grabbed up the record for a dollar and headed home to find out more!  

I did some quick research and found out some neat info. 

The Firehouse Five Plus Two was a Dixieland jazz band, popular in the 1950s, consisting of members of the Walt Disney Studios animation department. The members included: Danny Alguire on cornet, Harper Goff on banjo, Ward Kimball on trombone-siren-tambourine-sound effects and band leader, Clarke Mallery on clarinet, Monte Mountjoy on drums, Erdman (Ed) Penner on bass saxophone and later tuba and Frank Thomas on piano. Later other Disney artists joined in; Jimmy McDonald, George Probert, Dick Roberts, Ralph Ball and George Bruns.

The band was active from 1949 to 1972, playing and recording while never giving up their day jobs as animators and artists with the Walt Disney Studio in California. They appeared in several Disney television specials, including the very first Disney special in 1950 called "One Hour In Wonderland". They also appeared on the early Mickey Mouse Club tv series, and appeared in animated form in the 1953 Goofy animated short, "How to Dance", and the 1999 direct to video Christmas film "Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas".  

You'll never know what will turn up at the flea market!   

I came across these three old postcards in a box of stuff I had packed away for a few years. They each show a cool old motel, just steps away from the Disneyland park in Anaheim California. Apparently there is some neat history behind this motel and several others owned by Al Stovall. 

The Space Age Lodge was one of a number of futuristic themed lodges opened by a man named Al Stovall. He was a personal friend of President Eisenhower who was a large supplier of manganese to the government during World War II. He was also an owner of copper mines and a large plastics factory. Stovall invested heavily in Disneyland area and built the Fabulous Space Age Lodge at Disneyland, the Inn Of Tomorrow, the Cosmic Inn, The Galaxy Inn and the Apollo Inn (see any  trend here?). All were in located Anaheim Calif.

This must have been some place! The first postcard shows a vintage view of the motel from the street with space graphics, signage, cool VW bus with rocket on its roof etc. The second postcard shows the groovy motel room interior! And the third shows the Moon House and Cosmic Pool.

Must have been a cool place to stay back in the day! I believe it looks nothing like this today and was converted into a plain old Best Westen Hotel. Ah, the good old days!

I went to the local flea market here today in New Jersey. The temperature was a chilly 30 degrees, but there were a few diehard sellers set up at the market. As always I was looking for neat old postcards, paper items, old bottles etc for my collection, eBay auctions and for sale on our website.

The tables were few and far between, but I was suprised to stumble upon two neat old Disney items for sale. The first was a 1972 "A Fun Filled Visit To Walt Disney World With Mickey Mouse" popup book for my own collection! The book was produced by Hallmark back in 1972, the year after Disney World Florida opened. The price was right and the condition was absolutely beautiful!

A short time later at another sellers table I found a 1971 United Air Lines and Color & Send Cards From Disneyland To Hawaii postcard book! The condition again was very nice and it still contained the original six uncolored postcards still attached!

The latter is up for bid on eBay this week, with a 99 cent reserve to protect my initial investment! Definately worth a trip out to the flea market on a chilly February Sunday morning!