Sam Gennawey's Blog, page 28
December 24, 2011
December 23, 2011
December 22, 2011
December 21, 2011
December 20, 2011
The Table Phones at the Brown Derby
Whenever I am at Disney's Hollywood Studios, I always like to take a peek inside of the Brown Derby. If nothing else, the restaurant has great bathrooms. But I like the dining room and like dining there even more.
Like any Hollywood diva (well Pasadena but it is close), I have my traditions and want just what I want the way I want it. This is Hollywood, right? I insist on sitting in a booth, preferably one of those in a corner. Sing my chaueffer is driving (the bus) I feel comfortable cruising through the wine list. And I must finish off the meal with that healthy California treat – a slice of Grapefruit Cake. It can't be fattening because it is made with Grapefruit, right? Must remember the camera adds 10 pounds.
When most people think of the Brown Derby in Hollywood they think of a building that was shaped like a, well, big brown derby hat. That restaurant opened in 1926 and was located on Wilshire Boulevard. The one inside of the park is modeled after a second restaurant that opened in 1929 and was near the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue.
Covering virtually all of the walls of the dining room are portraits of famous Hollywood celebrities. The portraits were part of a grand bargain between an artist named Vitch and owner Bob Cobb. When Cobb wanted to add somebody to his "Wall of Fame" he would commission Vitch to draw a caricature and trade him for a meal. The tradition continued with other noted artists such as Zel, Pancho, and Jack Lane.
Along with everything else, there is one cool little fantasy I like to play when I dine at the Derby. Just like today, there are times when somebody that is as important as I am is desperately wanted on the telephone. Since cellphones did not exist back in the day, it would be inconsistent to pull the phone out of my pocket. The Brown Derby has a solution. If you are sitting at a booth notice the little telephone jacks. Your server can bring you a rotary telephone. This meant it had a dial where you stuck one finger inside of the dial and turned it all the way to the stopper. If the number had a lot of zeros you just grinned and bared it. Like today, time is money and if you can combine a bit of business with your meal all the better. More importantly, in those days talking on the phone while eating was very rare and meant you must be doing something very, very important for the server to walk all that way and plug in the phone. Just ask your server and you may get to talk with a celebrity. Of course, I was talking with my agent at the time…
December 19, 2011
December 15, 2011
Samlandica III
Every now and again I find a bunch of stories that are fun to retell yet don't really add up to a full column on their own. The brilliant minds that run this site came up with a clever solution they call the Encyclopedia Samlandica. Today I present the third installment of this endless series of random thoughts. As always, I enjoy hearing what you think.
READ MORE AT MICECHAT
December 14, 2011
Notable Walt Quotes
"When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, 'But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty.' I told her that was just the point - mine wouldn't be."
December 13, 2011
Book Review: The Dark Side of Disney
THE DARK SIDE OF DISNEY
Leonard Kinsey
172 Pages
2011
$2.99 Kindle
$14.95 paperback
Winner of the most provocative Disney book cover ever – a topless tattooed young woman wearing only unzipped short shorts and Mickey ears with an anarchy symbol smoking something while holding a large liquor bottle. Kinsey promises an "Utterly Unauthorized Tips, Tricks & Scams for your WDW vacation" by being "The anarchist cookbook of Disney travel guides." The book promises to show you "the best places in the parks to have sex, do drugs, and see a gritty rock show, complete with women throwing their underwear on the stage." Right up front the author wants to remind us that he really does love Disney. The author visited WDW more then a hundred times as a boy and he still goes back every year. However, if you are into the light and happy family escape that is Disney you may want to steer clear of this book.
Some of the tricks are a bit odd and something you probably never thought about. You learn how to scam a day pass for the VIP lounges at the airport, how to buy DVC points really cheap, how to sneak into the parks through non-public entrances, the perils of timeshare presentations, how to cut in lines, and where to buy drugs or to have public sex (including photos of his choice locations).
Some of the advice is just stuff you would find anywhere else. He is not thrilled with the Dining Plan, tells you how to eat cheap by splitting food or making a salad from the Pecos Bills toppings bar, recommends Giordano's off property for pizza, laments on how the stuff in the stores is all the same, and how to do a proper monorail pub crawl. He even slams Winnie the Pooh for having a fetish for honey.
He also details other hazards such as bed bugs, bacteria or alligators.
The book is a breezy romp through the resort that promise much debauchery but delivers very little. His advice is public sex will get you in trouble. Buying drugs will get you in trouble. Using improper tickets will get you in trouble. And sneaking down into the Utilidors used to be fun but will now get you in trouble. As an e-book it is really cheap and a fun read but don't get your hopes up too high.
I purchased this e-book on Amazon.
