The 44th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1970) | The 45th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1971) | The 46th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1972) |
The 45th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on November 25th, 1971 in New York City, and shown to viewers live on NBC that same day from 9 a.m. to noon EST. It was hosted by Lorne Greene and Betty White. Participating celebrities included the likes of The Temptations, Tommy Tune, Lynn Anderson, Bobby Vinton, Sonny James, and Paul Lavalle.
Parade Lineup[]
Listed below are the Parade elements that appeared in the 1971 line of march. Each element is listed in their respective categories/sub-categories, with sponsors in bold.
Bold indicates a new Parade element, an underline indicates an element that was brought back after an absence, strikethrough indicates an element that was removed from the line of march, and * indicates an element that was retired following the 1971 procession.
Balloons[]
Smile(Macy's) - 1st timeBullwinkle Moose(Macy's) - 11th timeSmokey Bear(The Cooperative Forest Fire Prevention Program) - 6th timeLinus the Lionhearted(Macy's) - 8th timeHappy Dragon(Macy's) - 11th timeSnoopy the Astronaut(United Media) - 4th timeDino the Dinosaur(Sinclair Oil Corporation) - 9th timeDonald Duck(Walt Disney Productions) - 10th timeMickey Mouse(Walt Disney Productions) - 1st timeUnderdog(Macy's) - 7th time
Floats[]
- Doodlebug (Macy's) - 2nd time
- Showboat (Macy's) - 3rd time
- The Animal House* (Budweiser) - 2nd time
- Story Book Train (Western Publishing) - 1st time
- Woman in the Shoe (Macy's) - 3rd time
- The Boy Friend* (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) - 1st time
- Cinderella's Carriage (Macy's) - 4th time
- Peter Rabbit & Friends* (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) - 1st time
- The Three Little Pigs* (Walt Disney Productions) - 3rd time
- Captain Hook's Ship (Walt Disney Productions) - 3rd time
- The Disney World Castle (Walt Disney Productions) - 1st time
- Plush Jungle* (Collins & Aikman) - 2nd time
- Santa's Toy Factory* (Macy's) - 2nd time
Specialty Units[]
- NYPD Mounted Unit - 45th time
- "Holiday Treat for Children Everywhere" Banner - 8th time
- Alli the Alligator (Macy's) - 3rd time
- "If You Haven't Seen Macy's, You Haven't Seen New York" Banner - 8th time
- Buckboard* (Macy's) - 4th time
- Disney Wagon (Walt Disney Productions) - 7th time
Push Floats[]
- The Tortoise and the Hare (Macy's) - 4th time
- Airplane (Macy's) - 5th time
- Clown Shack (Macy's) - 4th time
- Bear Bee (Macy's) - 3th time
- Snail (Macy's) - 4th time
- Rocking Giraffe (Macy's) - 2nd time
- Rocking Horse (Macy's) - 14th time
Marching Bands[]
- Bergenfield High School Marching Band (Bergenfield, NJ)
- Archbishop Wood High School Viking Marching Unit (Warminster, PA)
- Wagner College Seahawk Marching Band (Staten Island, NY)
- Le Chatelaine All-Girl Drum & Bugle Corps (Montreal, Canada)
- La Compagnie Franche de la Marine and Fraser Highlanders (Montreal, Canada)
- McDonald's All-American High School Band (Nationwide)
- Joseph A. Ferko String Band (Philadelphia, PA)
- Cisco Jr. College Band and Wrangler Belles (Cisco, TX), performing "Deep in the Heart of Texas"
- CMCC Warriors Drum & Bugle Corps (New York, NY)
- Centennial Apache Marching Band (Compton, CA)
- Syracuse University Marching Band (Syracuse, NY)
- Colonial High School Grenadier Guard Marching Band (Orlando, FL)
- Liberty High School Grenadier Band (Bethlehem, PA)
- Monroe Girls Corps (Monroe, GA)
- Washington Warhawk Band (Germantown, WI)
- Miller's Blackhawks (Dayton, OH)
- N.Y.C. Police Department Emerald Society Pipe Band (New York, NY)
Guest Stars[]
- Robert Merrill
- Tanja Solnik (Doodlebug)
- The Temptations, sang "Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)" (Showboat)
- Todd Trombetta, sang "Golden Moments" (Story Book Train)
- Mr. Chuck the Parade Clown (Alli the Alligator)
- Sammi Smith (The Woman in the Shoe)
- Tommy Tune, sang "Won't You Charleston With Me" (The Boy Friend)
- Bobby Vinton, sang "Every Day of My Life" (Cinderella's Carriage)
- America's Junior Miss Arlene Stens (Cinderella's Carriage)
- Sonny James (Buckboard)
- Lynn Anderson (Plush Jungle)
- Santa Claus (Santa's Toy Factory)
Costumed Characters[]
- Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto (Disney Wagon)
- The Three Little Pigs (Three Little Pigs)
- Peter Pan and Wendy Darling (Captain Hook's Ship)
- Mickey Mouse and Pinocchio (Disney World Castle)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Performance Groups[]
- New Amsterdam Singers (New York City, NY)
- Artistic Skating Union of the U.S.
- Miller's Blackhawks Drum & Baton Corps (Dayton, OH)
- The Radio City Rockettes
Pre-Parade Acts[]
- Doc Severinsen
- West Point Cadet Glee Club (West Point, NY)
- American Ballet Theatre (New York City, NY)
Clowns[]
- Skating Clowns - 4th time
Trivia[]
- During the Balloon Inflation, the night before the the parade, in blustery weather and high winds, the crew from The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company attempted to inflate the balloons. Tarps were laid out end to end, dotted with hundreds of sandbags and the deflated balloons were carefully laid out in their scheduled order of appearance. 3 of the 10 balloons (Snoopy, Smokey Bear, and Happy Dragon) managed to be inflated, but then came trouble. During inflation, Happy Dragon's head was severely damaged. Out of the three, Smokey Bear suffered the least damage. Despite surviving the night, his hat was damaged so badly that it required partial replacement and extensive repair. The worst damage of all came to Snoopy, who was mostly inflated at the time of the incident. The winds were so fierce that they wrapped him around the cab of the helium truck. Goodyear and officials from Macy's made the decision to cease inflation, removed all of the balloons for safety reasons, and declared that the 45th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade would go on without them, Despite all of the balloons not being able to fly, videotapes from the 1970 Parade were used except for Mickey Mouse and Smile, where they had to show their test flight footage.
- 1971 marked the second parade to be shown to have a tropical storm/extreme weather that affected the parade, (the first being 1956, and some past years).
Incidents[]
- Happy Dragon's head was severely damaged during inflation.
- Smokey Bear's hat was damaged after inflation, and it was so badly damaged that it required parcel replacement.
- Snoopy was wrapped around the cab of a helium truck due to the high winds.