Budsdrinker

Could also be about the LA Rams and Disneyland

SaintsBro

^^^^ THIS. No need for conspiracy theories. Has more to do with DisneyLAND and the "New Orleans Square" that was opened there (in California) in 1966. That's the real "Disney" connection between the two cities -- New Orleans Square. Which was brand new Disney attraction, at that time, barely nine months old.

The palm trees are an old symbol of Hollywood -- particularly 1960s Beverly Hills, Wilshire Boulevard, Mulholland Drive and the famous view of the Hollywood sign. This has nothing to do with Florida, Hollywood has been known for its palm trees since the days of Charlie Chaplin in the 1920s, as a symbol of Hollywood glamour.

The same palm trees and sun also show up in several other Rams programs by the same artist/firm in 1967. There's no hidden meaning. Unless Disney was also dissing Chicago?



The castle in the bottom of the picture is very obviously pink, which is the Sleeping Beauty castle in Disney LAND in California -- the castle in Disney WORLD is white/blue, and wasn't built until much later. Nothing to do with Florida, or New Orleans for that matter.


New Orleans Mayor Victor Schiro attended the grand opening of New Orleans Square, in July 1966, which Disney joked was more expensive to build ($18 million) than the Louisiana Purchase was to, well, purchase ($11,250,000).

As christened by Schiro, the French Quarter-themed area covered three acres near the banks of The Rivers of America (Schiro and other dignitaries arrived at the party via the Mark Twain steamboat replica), and included the future home of the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction (opened in 1967) and was adjacent to the future home of the Haunted Mansion (opened in 1969).

So THAT was news, in fall of 1967.

The whole Disney/New Orleans corruption story comes from ONE ANONYMOUS SOURCE, cited by someone else who wasn't even involved in politics at the time, and people have chased that story for years and years and never found any real tangible PROOF of it, other than that one Slidell politician telling yarns about something he overheard someone say on a car ride.....

According to various Disney books and sources, the Disney site selection committee had its eye on Florida for a second Disney site as early as their first initial recommendation in 1958 and recommended it to Walt again in 1961, and they never really wavered from that. Because of its proximity to the Atlantic Seaboard/coast, Florida was the front runner from the very start. They may have explored and looked at Louisiana a little bit, but Florida was always their main choice from the beginning. So it's a nice story, but not a lot of real facts to back it up.