Monday, July 13, 2009

Two From August 28, 1965

Here's a beauty of a photo showing the Moonliner towering above the Flight Circle. I actually kind of like the Douglas paint scheme, with the exception of their own blocky name on the side. Surely a better design solution could have been found. Nothing is going on inside the chain link fence, but there is a helpful sign to tell you when the next show would be.


Anaheim orange groves were transformed into a rather convincing faux desert, somehow my brain manages to edit out the stand of conifers in the background. Those tiny antelope are loitering near the watering hole, which looks more like a tar pit in this photo!

12 comments:

Chiana said...

wow these are super, Maj! Esp. the top one, a treat.

Yeah I guess Douglas really wanted their brand clearly visible, and that it undeniably is, but it makes the rocket seem "smaller" somehow. None the less, that looks like a fun place in that scene and we've enjoyed a richer sense of the fun thanks to CoxPilot. Look, there's the Cox sign and you can almost make out the show times! :D

The Living Desert scene really is like a set piece in a theater, it's done just so, you focus on that scene and can tune out the backdrop. As for the tar pit, that and a little subterranean egress finally explains the incongruous Stroller finds at the LaBrea Tar Pits. ;)

CoxPilot said...

Only one more month to go, and the Flight Circle would be closed forever. That sign for the show times was new for '65, and only used that year. We had a triangle shaped clock out in the center for years. You can also see the display stands with models on them. The nearest one has a 1911 Curtis Pusher.

The Viewliner Limited said...

The Douglas Rocket. What a great picture. It is funny to think that I, no doubt, watched Cox Pilot's demonstrations in the Flight Circle on many, many occasions. And now we are on the internet communicating with each other. I think that is pretty amazing and very cool. Thanks Major, always PRIMO pics.

Katella Gate said...

I agree, the TWA paint job was better. Unfortunately, Douglas Aircraft is paying for the space, and their name is over twice as long as TWA, and obviously they want it to be legible from the hub...

There's also an optical problem... All the letters are basically squares, except for the "L", which is in fact lined up correctly, but appears to be jumping to the left.

Somebody get me a Kern-o-matic.

TiggerNick said...

I just love(d) the old Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. It's so nice to get a slightly different view of the desert. The last E-Ticket magazine has a nice 'from the air' overview of much of this attraction. I can almost smell the warm musty chemicals in the Rainbow Caverns.

CoxPilot said...

Thanks for the recognition from all. It is amazing that after all these years that re-connections can be made through technology. I'm always a bit frustrated by all the interest in the Cox Flight Circle resulting in so few photos or movies of the actual show, and us guys doing it. We were the poor relations of Tomorrowland (we made to much noise and had to much fun), and would only get into photos through second hand background or foreground of the main subject of the photo (rocket, astrojets, skyway, saucers, etc.) I've still yet to see just one close up pick of the show in progress from one of the many people in the audience. Some say it was that very popularity that made people forget about there cameras. Thanks Major; This is another photo to be added to my little museum to myself.

Chiana said...

That has a ring of truth to it CoxPilot, people probably were engaged more as spectators themselves instead of sight seeing to make 'em think of the camera. Add to that, if they still considered the camera, people probably thought "the model planes will be too small and too fast to get a picture of the action" and they just left the camera. That's a bummer for me too, I'd like to see some shots of it at least.

What amazing times we're in. Planes (full and models), rockets, rockets to the moon (!) and instant electronic long distance communication public or private of our type, pics, sound and everything... and here we are sharing a clear full-color photo from someone's photo slide album 44 years back in our own homes hundreds, even thousands of miles apart.

TiggerNick, me too!

Major Pepperidge said...

I am also amazed that there are not more photos of certain attractions or features at Disneyland, and agree with CoxPilot's guess that folks were too busy enjoying the show to stop and take a picture. Consider the millions of people who have been on the Disneyland RR, and yet you see very few pictures taken from a train.

I'm glad that you enjoyed this photo, CP!

Nancy said...

CoxPilot, its really great to have someone who was there to share stories from the inside! i do recall seeing a post a while back where you said you were there in the photo ;D


a lovely picture of the rocket here as well...what a gorgeous day it was!

CoxPilot said...

Yes, Nancy, there is a couple of pics with me in them. They are distance shots from the skyway, and for the most part, are blurred by the motion. I would bet that there are some home movies out there with us in it though. Stills are one thing, but people with movie cameras MUST shoot something that was moving, and that was us.

I wish that Dave, Major, Matterhorn and the others, would have a special place for home movies.

I was rather successful with shooting my 8 mm film with a digital camera by just projecting it on a white screen, and then to iMovie. (A little color correction in iMovie is simple too.) That's how Dave got the "Wally Wins His Wings" film. And that film was a third generation copy.

During the 60's saw a huge sale of movie cameras, and even more in the 70's and 80's. There must be a vast untapped resource of film.

Oh well . . . If wishes were horses . . .

outsidetheberm said...

Well... wishes sometimes come true, CoxPilot. We do have a few slides of the Flight Circle here - but you're right, we have even more images via movie film.

How about you think 'outsidetheberm' tomorrow morning? I know we have at least one shot that's handy. Hope you're one of the two fellas in it!

mr wiggins said...

As a kid and a teen I had impressions of chain link fencing on my fingers from hanging onto that fence! It's hard to explain what it was like to be pressed against the fence, experiencing the raw power of those planes roaring past your face. The closest sense of it I've seen on film is a brief clip in the People and Places: Disneyland U.S.A. DVD, which was shot in 1956.

As much as I loved Tomorrowland '67, I was SO bummed that the Flight Circle went to Yesterland!