Three From April 1974
For those of you who weren't there, 1974 was basically a year in heaven. Nothing bad happened for 12 whole months, and everybody was given a free ride on Skylab. It was great!
It was also a great time to go to Disneyland. Hey, what's that warm, inviting glow? Let's follow those moths and take a look. Why, it's a souvenir stand, conveniently placed near an exit. Looks like plush critters have already started to take over, smothering the world with their adorable fuzziness. At least you can buy a postcard or two, and some Pana-Vue slides. Or some GAF film (ugh, that grainy stuff?). 
That's some crowd aboard the Mark Twain. And one of them is a cold-blooded killer! Thankfully, he eventually bought a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt, and became a warm, cozy killer. I love a happy ending.
See the climbers scaling the Matterhorn? Two words: lederhosen rashes.
16 comments:
I had a Skylab "crash target" T-shirt in the '70's....made of macrame.
Love that third pic. I attempted to take that same shot from the top of the treehouse on Tom Sawyer Island in the '80's, but it didn't come out as nice with my crappy 110 Instamatic camera.
A happy time at Disneyland. While tastes were gradually shifting (note, do not wear a Cowboy hat, a beige jacket and orange juice orange cords together, like that guy in the stand pic is doing), the park looks super. Really like the Matterhorn pic: nice view, climbers, a hilarious quip from the Maj and beautiful blue skies, what's not to like.
Yet. As this post and TM's reply hints, the shutterbugs taking the 35mm slides and potentially very sharp B&W film we so enjoy here were becoming more scarce while the 110s proliferated. Even movies were on a similar course: most '70s films look kinda tacky IMH and one factor (or consequence) was the abandonment of Technicolor (the real thing, for movies) by Technicolor itself. They wanted to cut short term costs; the once zealously valued lab gear was shipped off to China and the US lab converted to making the same fade-prone color film everyone else was making. Last film printed in the old tech was The Godfather PtII, new the year of these pics, 1974. A film geeky trivia perhaps but a hint of the changes going on at this time when Disneyland seemed to be basking in a long sweet summer.
@ TokyoMagic! - okay maybe a brain cloud... what is macrame?
Chiana, macrame was a way of braiding jute into plant hangers, belts, wall hangings, etc. It was ever so popular in the '70's. I was just attempting to revive a bad joke that I had made on Major's "World's Fair" post from Sunday.
TokyoMagic!, if everybody loved macrame the way you do, there would be no wars. For some reason I always think of plant hangers made of the stuff (as you mentioned)!
Chiana, you have hit upon something that definitely drives me nuts as a slide collector. How many "should be amazing" images are just so-so due to cheap cameras with cheap lenses? Seems like nothing beat the Kodachrome of the late 50's for beautiful color, but even Kodak had Ektachrome; if you love magenta, you'll love Ektachrome today.
The Godfather part two was really the last film to use old-style Technicolor??
@ TokyoMagic: oh that's why it seemed familiar! You're right, that was around a lot then. Thanks. :)
@ Major: yup, in the US. A lab in the UK used it until 1978. Old-style (IB dye-transfer) Technicolor has proven handy in many a restoration even if a print wasn't around or needed because to make a print "B&W separations" were made; if kept and if in good shape those can be used to make a decent new color negative if the original color negative is lost, too far faded, damaged or unusable. Some bits of those "seps" had to be used with other sources to help restore the negs of The Godfather Pts I & II. Walt was a big supporter of the process and I'd imagine he would've been bugged when they gave it up to do the same 'ol. Hope that's of interest anyway. :)
In the 60's up until 1971 when he passed away my Dad took nothing but Kodachrome slides on their vacations - tons of them. All outdoor scenes (none of amusement parks unfortunately)and they have stood up to time and the color is magnificent!
Yes, 1974 was a VERY good year and I still have my Disneyland Grad Nite to prove it!
The last picture of the guys on the Matterhorn is a glass half empty/half full proposition.
Either it demonstrates how convincing the forced perspective scaling of the castle and mountain are, or the entire shot is ruined cause those guys in red are a dead giveaway that Disneyland is just an overgrown miniature golf park.
Katella Gate, once in a while I'll see lots of crows on the Matterhorn, which is another way the forced perspective is ruined!
Anybody remember the giant "Happy 40th Disneyland" banner lashed to the side of the Matterhorn on July 17th, 1995? Nothing will ruin forced perspective like a mountain wrapped in fabric.
I have an Ektachrome slide of it at home(I promise - for once, I'm not making something up for comic effect); unfortunately, I'm not at home.
Chuck, no I don't remember that banner. Sounds tacky! I think that was during the dark Pressler years.
well it may mess with the perspective but even in that pic I can see that's one gigantic structure and I wouldn't dare go up that high and stand on its surface like that!
That souvenir stand shot is a gem. So nice to see someone point their camera at some of the rarely photographed details of the park. As I remember there was one more stand outside the gate just in case you had second thoughts about leaving without some kind of memento. This is also sort of a melancholy location. At this point you know you are about to leave the park. Just a few more steps under the berm and that's it for a long while
Summer 1974 was the perfect time to be a 6 year old at Disneyland!
It was the first year that I can really remember the time I had and what we did (at least some of it).
And probably when I 'got hooked' on the Park!
I remember that year well, i enjoyed my trip to Skylab and I still have my macrame belt.
LOL. thanks for that, made my day.
See the climbers are a bad idea, as i noted before, they just look wrong.
thanks Major, I really appreciate these.
JG
I'm glad you liked these, JG!
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