DISNEY LAND ARTIFACTS

DISNEY LAND -What a fun place to visit.

When I was about 6 to 8 years old, my parents allowed me to put in my room the Walt Disney Bambi Movie Ceramic Characters. They had collected them before I was born, as I have no memory of every going to Disney Land as a child. I always was very careful with them. Once I broke one and I got the glue and put it back together after hours of meticuliously sorting through the pieces. There was Bambi, Faline (Bambi's girlfriend), Flower (a skunk), Thumper (a rabbit), The Great Prince of the Forest (Bambi's Dad), Mother, Friend Owl and Aunt Ena (Faline's mother) and little blue birds. This story was produced in 1942.

I played out events in my imagination with these figurines - like creating stories. I would spend hours in my room after breakfast. Of course, this meant that I would have to dust them weekly. I never minded at all. I would talk to them, like people talk to plants. It was similar to having a play house with Barbi and Ken dolls, that my own children had.

In 1966 I took my own children to Disney Land in California. we not only spent days there, but we also went to the zoo, sea world, the fair with Ferris Wheels and Merry-go-round, and the Museum. This museum had house size insects with wings moving. windows showing spiders and creatures of many kinds. Another area had machines that showed how earth-quakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, volcanoes, and other clamities happen - with moving pictures. It was quite informative. I put pictures in my photo album. I remember in one of the pictures, I had on light green pants and had my hair pulled back. My hair length back then was down to my waist.

When I grew up, it was the tradition for all families to do laundry on Mondays and house cleaning on Saturday mornings, early. There was even a radio program that I turned on to give me a working beat to listen to. I believe it was called "No School Today". They had songs to make cleaning fun. I remember one tune but have forgotten the words. One of my favorite songs to work with was "Teddy Bears Picnic". It goes like this: If you go out in the woods today, you better go in disguise, If you go out in the woods today, you will not believe your eyes, for every bear that ever there was, will gather there for certain because, today's the day, the Teddy Bears have their picnic.

I also remember my Mom's wood floors. They needed to be waxed. I would first lay wax onto the wood by hand. Next, put on my big thick wool socks, then run and slide on the wax to move it around the room until the floor was nice and shiny.

One week-end I remember waxing the hallway between my mother's bedroom and mine. She came home from shopping and went quickly into her room...except I didn't have a chance to tell her that I already had wax down. She went ker-splat on her backside, going around the corner of the living room into her bedroom. She wasn't very happy. I kept real quiet for awhile.

You may not believe it, but when I was young there was no Television - just radio. We went outside after school. We played dodge-ball, kick the can, road our bicycles, played Cowboys and Indians on teams, (my bike was named Rex), played at other peoples houses, or rode down to the desert on Tucson Blvd and played on our home-made forts, or riding around the cane growing in the middle of the block. No one locked their front doors. Kids were safe on the street.
During fruit bearing season, we would knock on someone's door and ask if we could pick some of the fruit off their trees. They always said yes.

My Mom gave me a quarter on Saturdays and I rode my bike to the Movie Theater on Campbell. It was about one-mile from home. On special Saturdays we went downtown to the Mickey Mouse specials. There was always a news reel with current events, then several comic strip cartoons, and then the movie. Sometimes an M.C. [Master of Ceremonies] would get out on the stage and there would be a drawing of gifts, using the numbers on your movie ticket. I never won any prizes. Then I'd ride back home. It was about 5 miles. My brothers only rode with me occasionally. I was the youngest and they would try to lose me often. If someone used your bike to get back home (and not ask you first) they would leave the bike in the desert a few blocks north of my home. I would walk home, then go look for my bike and bring it back home. I always found it. No one took the bike and sold it, or sent it to another country for money.
Life was sweet! No worries!