Monorail & Construction, 1966
Today I have three vintage Tomorrowland views for you, circa 1966. This first shot of the Monorail as it passes near the edge of the Submarine lagoon would not ordinarily seem very remarkable. However, there is LOTS of crazy construction going on! 
Let's zoom in a bit, and try to the ignore the cast member who is doing the "YMCA" dance. Check out all of that plywood and scaffolding, all for the addition of the Peoplemover. I wonder if the complex track was partly designed as a way to show what that baby could do if a city would ever consider building their own Peoplemover? It can go uphill, it can go downhill, it can even do a loop! At least I think so. I can almost feel that slightly bumpy ride when I close my eyes.
And finally, here's a shot of a dad and his kids enjoying the thrilling Motor Boat Cruise. Junior is a chip of the old block with his bright red hair. You might remember him from the famous Knott's Berry Farm controversy, and he and his dad were also seen at Alameda's "South Shore Center" (thanks again, Progressland!) a few months back. Not to mention the photo of the kid with his Huckleberry Hound shirt.
5 comments:
Great construction shot, I still dig the People Mover track layout, I sure hope they do something nice with it. The little Ronny Howard look-a-like is back, dad looks familiar, was he in your other photo’s? Thanks for the fun post!
I feel a "pull my finger" joke coming on.
Great shots Major. Construction shots always fascinate me, when they are building and everything around it still keeps moving. I know the guy in the boat, we called him RED.
WARNING: Nerdy Graphics Question of Limited Interest to Disney Types:
What is going on with Daddy in that last picture?? He almost looks like a clumsy video grab that was dropped into the picture with Photoshop. It looks like he has an interface boundary around his head and the grain and tone of his skin look unnatural compared to the rest of the pic.
Is this some kind of 50's "Red Head Effect" that Eisenhower-era carrot tops had on film of the period?
Blowing the pic up 1600% and applying a number of specialized Photoshop filters and sharpening techniques, it's obvious they're Space Aliens. Not the girl. Not yet. But she's about to be absorbed. The transformation will take place in the Tulgy Wood room in the Alice ride.
Seriously, though, I think the effect is a result of the saturated colors (the reds are vibrating slightly against the cool cast from the sky bounce -- note the cyan cast on the dad's right pants leg, in the shadow of the dad's right arm on the white stern of the boat, and the edge of the boy's shadow on the boat seat); a bit of chromatic aberration on the lens (noticeable on the edges of the boat's step-strip, on the upper edge of boy's right arm, and in the shadows on the boy's and girl's faces); and especially that the dad's head was turning during the exposure (his blur jumps out because everything else in the shot is relatively sharp). I'm guessing he was snapped in the act of turning to look at photog-Mom as he was telling the kids to smile.
Personally, though, I prefer the Space Aliens theory. The boy later grew up to produce numerous episodes of the X-Files, and currently is digesting the entire town of Manx, North Dakota.
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