It's hard to imagine what a truly weird place Disneyland used to be. For a short time after Disneyland opened, the park was full of costumed demons like the one above. I think that's because the park didn't have many walkaround costumes of its own and had to borrow hideous ones from the Ice Capades.
It was decided that a new costume look was needed and photos from the period show some of the experiments.
Here's (above) The Three Little pigs again. This time they're buck naked below the waist. It's something you never notice in cartoons, but somehow the costumes bring it out.
Wow! Here's (above) a Mickey from the next costume era, which favored a cartoony look. This time they got it right. My guess is that Ward Kimball had something to do with it, but I could be wrong. Mickey looks great here!
So does Minnie (above)!
In our time the lumpy corporate Mickey (above) dominates. I can't believe that anyone actually preferred this.
Back to the classic, cartoony look: Haw! I love this picture. It looks like a little girl has stopped to talk to one lone pig and doesn't notice that other demented pigs have come in and surrounded her. Finally the Big, Bad Wolf comes in. Uh-oh! It's too late to run away now.
To judge from old photos it used to be common to see both villains and nice guy characters wandering around the park. Good! That's the way it should be.
The cartoony Grumpy (above) used to wander around.
So did the cartoony Mad Hatter (above). Disney should bring all these walkaround costumes back into everyday use.
I'm not a fan of the plush toy look of some of the newest costumes, but I have to admit that I'd like a picture of myself with this Pluto. That face is just made for photos.
7 comments:
The only thing I don't like about the latest mickey costumes are the eye blinks. It really creeps me out for some reason. Its the uncanny valley of costumes.
Cartoon characters with human proportions just don't look right. I vote for big mascot heads every time!
That corporate looking Mickey looks so terrible especially with that puny little head! Blech!
I think the modern costumes are like that because of the influence of furries.
The Mad Hatter is now simply a regular guy in makeup & a costume-he wears a fake nose-and does an Ed Wynn Impression! Utterly unbelievable next to the good old giant head Hatter. A pity.
Anon: Yeah, why did they make the Mad Hatter so real? I'm hoping that's just something they do in the peak of the summer to spare the guy in the suit, but I'll bet that's not it.
No, the old big-headed hatter is gone, gone with the wind, Cynara!
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