Frito Kid and Deeee-licious Fritos!

 
 
Click to hear the Frito Kid speak!

From 1952 until 1967, the Frito Kid was the official mascot of Fritos corn chips.  In the 1950s and 1960s, at Disneyland's Casa de Fritos, guests could pay a nickel for a bag of chips to be dispensed by this elaborate vending machine.  Upon inserting your nickel, the Frito Kid figure would come to life, turning his head, licking his upper lip, slowly moving his eyes side to side.  He would call to the unseen miner, Klondike, to send a bag of chips up the mine.  Klondike would respond with an echoey voice sounding like he was deep in the corn chips mine.  A wax-paper bag of chips would slide down the trough.  A number of different audio tracks would play so each customer heard something different from the last.  (Audio samples above).

Frito Kid:  "Someone else knows what’s good.  Another bag of Fritos, Klondike!"

Klondike:  "Okay, comin’ right up. One bag of crisp, salted Fritos."

Klondike even implies that these salted chips are good for you.  He does it to a tune similar to "Jingle Bells":

Frito Kid:  ♫   "Dig those chips, dig that gold, dig those chips of corn."  ♫   

Klondike:  ♫   "They are dark and salted too, Fritos best for you."  ♫   

Other chips were sold in normal, non-animated-vending-machine ways but I can't imagine many kids ever passed up the chance to see and hear the interaction between this miner and cowboy as they deliver chips down a wooden-like mine chute.

Casa de Fritos

Casa de Fritos originally opened the month after the opening of Disneyland in 1955 next to Aunt Jemima's Pancake House in an area called New Orleans Street.  The Frito Kid setup stood just inside the front door.  It was popular but rarely photographed making it one of the most mysterious product-pitching mechanical corporate sponsor mascots of any Disney park, much like the even more mysterious and rarely photographed Florida Orange Bird of the Magic Kingdom.

Casa de Fritos moved northward in July of 1957, deep into Frontierland to a larger location next to Rainbow Caverns Mine Train.  Found in that location now is Rancho del Zocalo Mexican Restaurant. A few architectural remnants still remain.  In the photos above (upper right and lower right) you can see a little of what still exists.  The archway with broken adobe and exposed brick was once the main Casa de Fritos entrance, now an entrance to a dining area.  The adobe/brick oven is still there today but with tables and chairs in front.

When the restaurant moved, the Frito Kid went with it.  As seen in these photos, the Kid was moved from the right of the mining trough to the left.  The mine and mountain were modified significantly, if not completely replaced.  The stand with potato chips and other products did not survive the move.  And who are those guys above the mountain?  Are they in a knife fight?  And why are they there?  I'm dying to know.  Do they have something to do with the bandits from the Frito Kid mini comic books? (Photos further below)

Where is the bag of chips the Frito Kid is supposed to be holding?  Did it fall on the chute?  Is that why there are two bags on the chute?  Did that older kid take it?  How come he sometimes has four fingers and sometimes five?  Was his yellow, curvy hair modeled after a Frito chip??  Is the Frito Kid related to Richie Rich?... or could they be the same person???  So many questions.

"Fritos Served With All Dishes"

A combination plate for a buck?  Ice cream for 15cents?

"Spaghetti and Chili", is that Mexican?

Check out the Frito Kid hamming it up with his Golden Horseshoe Revue friends and "friendly rival", Pecos Bill in this Pepsi-Cola/Fritos promotional piece.

Look!  Fritos can be used for bait to lure unsuspecting bandits out of caves.  Who knew?  And what is that cool thing on the left?  Looks like a toy but at second glance you'll see that this statue is rather large.  I'd like one.  And my wife loves old junk like that too... not.

It's not easy to forget the Fritos mascot who followed the Frito Kid, the Frito Bandito.  The character was voiced by the great Mel Blanc.  Close your eyes and you might think you are listening to Speedy Gonzales- also a Blanc character.  Some call the Fritio Bandito racist.  I call him hilarious.  How can you not like his mild threats made in the name his love for corn chips?

♫   "Aye, yii, yii, yiiii, oh, I am the Frito Bandito. Give me Frito Corn chips and I'll be your friend. The Frito Bandito you must not offend."   ♫

My dad still loves to sing the sond, accent and all.  Sadly the Frito Bandito never made it to Disneyland (that I know of).

In 2007, in celebration of Fritos' 75th anniversary, the Frito-Lay company released limited anniversary edition packaging with old brand and image of the Frito Kid, even though the Frito Kid was not introduced until 20 years after the Frito chips made their debut.  Still fun.

If you have memories of the Frito Kid machine at Disneyland, do tell!  If any of you have video or photos not seen here, please send.  I'd give my right eye for behind the scenes photos of this thing.

Image credits:  Ozarklabrdoodles, Tiki Ranch, Daveland, Miehana, Ladypuppy1939, lplocharsk, Frito-Lay, Jtons7880, and myself.

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UPDATE:

Hoot Gibson posted a comment below that raised my eyebrow.  Does the mountain behind the Frito Kid not look like Splash Mountain???... and the original location is oh so close to that of Splash Mountain....  Hmmmmmm.  What do you think?  (The Splash Mountain model photo is one I recently took at the Opera House and it happens to be the same angle and sort of similar scale).

Related post:

Frito Kid Mysteries Continue

The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland [ PART 1 ]

[ PART 2 Now available ]

A trip earlier this year to Yellowstone National Park inspired me to post about one of Disneyland's greatest retired pieces, Nature's Wonderland. Beware. You may just love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a little less after enjoying the following.

Listen to this fantastic narration. But watch out! It may get a little sexist along the way:

"We have ‘stocked’ our preserve with over 200 amazingly realistic animated animals and birds - including almost every specie still roaming the North American continent."

Timeline 1955-PRESENT

1956 Rendering of Rainbow Caverns Mine, Rainbow Ridge Mule Pack, and Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches
Story

"Here, in a primitive setting that duplicates the remote wilderness country, you may watch beavers, busy as always, on home-building and tree-cutting chores; coyotes and mountain lions; clown-like bears, romping without a care in the world; Olympic Elk engaged in battle for survival, just as it is enacted daily in the natural wilderness."

Rendering by Marc Davis
Photo courtesy of Pete

Rendering by unknown artist

Layout

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland overlaid on today's Big Thunder site.

Detail of 1962 souvenir mapFull-size map here.

Then and Now

Cascade Peak was removed in 1998 due to structural damage. The broken down Mine Train was removed in a recent Rivers of America rehab.

Photo (left) courtesy of Pete

The front of the rock tunnel is easily visible today as you walk on the trail that connects to Fantasyland just west of Big Thunder Mountain. The back opening of the same tunnel is visible along the east side of Rivers of America. If you pay attention you may see a jumping fish on the north side of this pond, thought sadly it's not often operational these days.

The "Assay Office" building (right) can be seen on the far left of the left photo.

The "Panhandle Hotel" and "Big Thunder Epitaph" buildings (right) can be seen behind the center tree in the left photo.

Live, wild cats hanging at the abandoned tracks! (Several, if not dozens, of wild cats live in Disneyland bushes.) They can occasionally be spotted during the day but more often they come out after hours). I took this photo from the Mark Twain in 2004 and thought to myself, 'if I were to be a mangy wild cat, I'd like to live on the site of an extinct Disneyland attraction too". Static mountain lion figures now sit between the old tracks facing Rivers of America.

The Must-see "Frontierland in Color"... though not all of this video is "in color"

Continue with [ PART 2 ]

Photos, scans, and graphics by Fritz. Additional photos submitted by friend and fan of the blog, Pete. Other photos provided by Daveland, Calisphere, and Tim's Disney News Archive. Videos originally posted on YouTube by our friend, Rustin.

The Future Was Fantastic in '57

A Look at Disneyland's Monsanto House of the Future

"Is everything of plastic?  Almost.  Dishes, cups, countertops, walls, floors, ceiling, tabletops, shelves, and cabinets.  Plastics in all their colorful, functional, and beautiful versatility have transformed a work area, have stepped it years ahead." 

It stood for a decade.  Ten thousand guests reportedly toured the home daily.  Monsanto presented it as what home living would be in the mid 1980s.  Many hoped to see this innovative home pop up in their own neighborhoods.  Sadly, this never became a common reality.  Nonetheless, we look back fondly at what it was:  An optimistic view of the future of everyday living.

Where was did it stand?  In the space between Matterhorn ('59), Sleeping Beauty Castle's entrance, and Tomorrowland's entrance.  (...where Pixie Hollow now stands and before that, Ariel's Grotto.... don't ask me why either were ever even considered for that spot.) 

"A feeling of space, of smooth, restful areas for living and resting. With your favorite stereophonic recordings on built-in high fidelity equipment."

"Even the scent of roses or salty sea air can be directed individually into every room."

As if David Hart's blog, The Invisible Agent wasn't cool enough, he has recently posted a bunch of great Monsanto House of the Future photos and artwork.

Critics of the house say the living space is too small.  I find the rendering below to be fascinating because it shows how you might expand your house.  "Futuristic models sprout wings where you need them."  2,560 square feet of house (on 512 square feet of foundation)  in the "Mansion" model with carport ain't too shabby.

The great Yesterland.com has gotten their hands on a great printed piece from Monsanto, "The Future Won't Wait" about The House of the Future.  They have shared it's contents in this must-read post.

I remember as a boy, my father telling me about learning of newfangled 'microwave ovens' in the house and just how incredible that was.  If given the chance, would I choose to live in a Monsanto House of the Future?  Yep.  If a mid-century ranch style house in the outer rings of the city of Epcot is not an option, I would.  I think motorized cupboards, a monitor in my bathroom showing who's at my front door, and the overall fun shape would be a real fly way to dwell.