The 37th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1963) | The 38th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1964) | The 39th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1965) |
The 38th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on November 26, 1964, in New York City starting at 9 a.m. and shown to viewers live on NBC that same day from 10 to 11:30 a.m. EST. It was hosted by Lorne Greene and Betty White. The lineup featured six giant helium balloons, 20 floats, 12 marching bands, and the one-and-only Santa Claus.
Parade Lineup[]
Listed below are the parade elements that appeared in the 1964 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. They are categorized by unit type, with their respective sponsors in bold. Home locations of talent ensembles are featured in brackets, and guest star’s float appearances are indicated in bold.
Bold denotes a new parade element, an underline indicates a unit that was brought back after an absence, and an asterisk (*) signifies an element that was retired after the 1964 Parade.
Balloons[]
- Dino the Dinosaur (Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 2nd time
- Elsie the Cow (Borden) - 2nd time
- Bullwinkle Moose (The Kalmus Company) - 4th time
- Linus the Lionhearted (Post Cereals) - 1st time
- Donald Duck (Walt Disney Productions) - 3rd time
Popeye(King Features) - 8th time- Happy Dragon* (Macy's) - 5th time
Floats[]
- Salute to Broadway* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Daniel Boone* (NBC) - 1st time
- Showplace* (Radio City Music Hall) - 2nd time
- Circus* (Macy's) - 3rd time
- The Sound of Music (20th Century Fox) - 1st time
- Tropical Island (Pan-Am) - 1st time
- First Men IN the Moon* (Columbia Pictures) - 1st time
- Metropolitan Opera Float* (Metropolitan Opera) - 2nd time
- Toyland* (Macy's) - 3rd time
- Christmas (Macy's) - 1st time
Specialty Units[]
- "Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere" Banner (Macy's) - 1st time
- NYPD Mounted Unit - 38th time
"If You Haven't Seen Macy's..." Banner(Macy's) - 1st time- Circus Wagon* (Macy's) - 4th time
- Munster Koach* (CBS) - 1st time
- World's Fair Train* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Comedy Ford* (Macy's) - 6th time
Push Floats[]
- Rocking Giraffe (Macy's) - 3rd time
- Humpty Dumpty* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Jack and the Beanstalk (Macy's) - 2nd time
- The Owl and the Pussy-Cat (Macy's) - 5th time
- Sing a Song of Sixpence* (Macy's) - 3rd time
- Rocking Horse (Macy's) - 7th time
- Igloo* (Macy's) - 1st time
Marching Bands[]
- Hanover Park High School Golden Hornet Band (East Hanover, NJ)
- Prince George High School Royal Band (Prince George, VA)
- Istrouma High School Nawaganti Indians (Baton Rouge, LA)
- Hawthorne Caballeros Drum and Bugle Corps (Hawthorne, NJ), performed "Johnny One Note"
- Radford College Highlanders (Radford, VA)
- St. Camillus Fife, Drum & Bugle Corps (Rockaway, NY)
- Isaac Litton High School Band (Nashville, TN)
- Greater Kensington String Band (Philadelphia, PA), performed "From Paris To You"
- Garfield Cadets Drum and Bugle Corps (Allentown, PA)
- Mainland High School Marching Buccaneer Band (Daytona Beach, FL)
Guest Stars[]
- Macy's Official: Dennis Mulhearn
- Victor Borge (Salute to Broadway)
- Fess Parker, Veronica Cartwright, and Darby Hinton (Daniel Boone)
- Joey Faye and Mickey Deems (Circus Wagon)
- Dave Garroway (Circus)
- The Streetlites and the Winner of the 1964 Battle of the Dance Bands Contest (Circus)
- Bil and Cora Baird (The Sound of Music)
- Al Lewis and Fred Gwynne (Munster Koach)
- Della Reese (1964 Chevrolet Impala)
- Paul Lavalle and the Cites Service New York World's Fair Band (World's Fair Train)
- Soupy Sales (Limousine)
- Steve Lawrence (Toyland)
- Santa Claus (Christmas)
Special Characters[]
Performance Groups[]
- Radio City Music Hall Corp de Ballet and Rockettes
- Jet North Stars Steel Band (Tropical Island)
- Screaming Eagles Drill Team (Utica, NY)
Incidents[]
- Dino the Dinosaur's neck was punctured by a lamppost at Central Park West, causing the balloon to spring a leak and be flown at a lower altitude. Despite of the accident, the balloon was able to complete its flight to 34th Street.
- Goodyear workers forgot to reseal the rip panels on the Popeye balloon. Because of this, he was deflated and removed from the Parade and was replaced by Happy Dragon.
Defects[]
- Donald Duck's right arm was bent after a wind match along Central Park West.