Friday, July 20, 2007

Souvenirs: Hollywood Pennants


I have not been good about maintaining my Souvenirs Department here at 2719 Hyperion, especially considering the sheer volume of Disney theme park memorabilia that adorns my walls and clutters my household. One of my earliest posts from back in the fall featured one of my favorite types of souvenirs, the now largely extinct pennant. Once a mainstay of places like Main Street's Emporium and EPCOT Center's Centorium, the pennant has pretty much all but vanished from Disney theme park shops.

These particular examples date back to 1988 and 1989 and showcase Disney-MGM Studios. In those early days of the park, while the water tower was largely considered to be the Studio's iconic symbol, the graphic of Mickey Mouse holding the clapboard was the image that was featured on the vast majority of merchandise and marketing materials. This went back all the way to much of the park's pre-opening materials including the pennant pictured above.

I would venture to guess that a substantial amount of current guests to Disney-MGM Studios do not bother with the Backlot Tour and Catastrophe Canyon. Yet in those early days before Muppet*Vision 3D, Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Rollercoaster, Catastrophe Canyon was a true headliner attraction, as this particluar pennant reflects.

7 comments:

Matt said...

How many wonka bars can I trade you for those bad boys? Those are fantastic souvenirs Jeff.

Jeffrey Pepper said...

Well Matt, I was going to dedicate the post to you personally, but a certain Mr Mongello is still uber-sensitive about the whole MagicMeets thing. (Jeez, it was just a Wonka bar for crying out loud, it's not like we exchanged rings or anything . . .)

Anonymous said...

Ah the pennants. I do miss them. I once had one - from I believe a Nov 1971 WDW trip. It was blue with orange lettering. Pennants and license plates - my favorite types of Disney park souvenirs.
(Wonka Bars - very funny.)

Disneyana World said...

I used to be a pennant freak.

I have a WDW one around here somewhere.

Unknown said...

When I was a kid, I had the pennants all over my room from various tourist destinations that we went to.

There were also collector's coins that many places had that I would pick up. I have one from Epcot somewhere.

Anonymous said...

I've got one from when I was a little girl (35 years ago maybe)hanging on the wall of my Disney Room. It's pink and says DISNEY ON PARADE and at the bottom says copyright Walt Disney Productions. I must have loved the thing and carried it around with me because the condition isn't nearly as nice as yours Jeff! LOL!

Matt said...

Thanks to this entry Jeff, I bought the opening in 1989 banner off eBay. Darn my impulse purchases...