Monday, April 08, 2013

Two from 1958

From a group of magenta slides comes this fun view of the entrance to Disneyland. Mr. Skinny is still in fighting shape even though he left the Marines years ago (nice floods, Skinny!). His mom (Wife? Aunt Hattie?) proudly displays her Northwest Airlines (?) bag. Meanwhile - - - posters!


This is not a very exciting image of the Columbia, but I like seeing the cast member's costume, circa 1958.


8 comments:

Chuck said...

No wonder Skinny's kept in fighting shape - the Marine Corps appears to be shadowing his every move (see background left).

K. Martinez said...

Extra nice set of images today. Love the color tones. That's a cool pic of the Columbia with the cast member costume and the lamppost in the foreground. Very nice.

Melissa said...

Thank you, Chuck! I couldn't tell if that guy in the background was a serviceman on leave or some sort of Disney security guard.

LOVE Mama Skinny's dress and bag. She'd be right in style today.

Nanook said...

Major-

I can't say with absolute certainty if the pants being sported by our 'tall drink of water' have actually passed into the dreaded land of "flood controls"; but suffice it to say he's skirting dangerously close...

Love the nice shot of The Disneyland News Stand - west. (There was a smaller one at the east tunnel entrance to the park). It's the perfect place to grab those last minute souvenir post cards, guide books, hats, and another roll of Kodak film.

Thanks, Major.

Chuck said...

Melissa - The khaki uniform is what clued me into him being a Servicemember. I think Disney security hosts have always worn some variation of blue trousers, light blue shirts, and wheel caps, although I'd love some confirmation from a long-time Disneylander like JG or Bill in Denver.

I can remember slate-blue trousers, light blue shirts and white hats from the 70's through the 90's. I have a slide of me in my Air Force uniform (blue trousers, light blue shirt, and dark blue wheel cap) in front of the castle on July 17th, 1995, and a security host in the combo described above just happened to be walking by in the background. As you can imagine, I was mistaken for a security host all day.

All of the Services wore khaki summer uniforms in 1958, so you have to go to other visual cues to tell he's a Marine. With this photo, that was a lot harder than normal.

With his back to us, you can't see a cap device or a tie, which would make for instant identification. The shadow on his right sleeve makes it hard to tell if he's wearing stripes (which would also be a dead giveaway) or not. No stripes would mean he's an officer or Navy chief petty officer, and the khaki belt and hat would mean he's either a Marine or Sailor. The deep shadow around the hatband makes it impossible to tell if it's khaki (Marine) or black (Navy).

The clue that finally made me assess that this is a Marine is the faintly-visible, embroidered "quatrefoil" design on the top of the hat.

I shoulda gone into Intel as a photo interpreter...

PsySocDisney said...

Posters! Posters! Posters!

That is all.

Major Pepperidge said...

Chuck, I hope Skinny doesn't have an eating disorder. If that Marine is shadowing him, he isn't doing a very good job of remaining inconspicuous!

K. Martinez, the color tones are unintentional, but I guess they do look kind of nostalgic. Kind of like those Instagram filters.

Melissa, I guess that Northwest Airlines bag is sort of like the PanAm bags that were so popular a year or two ago?

Nanook, I am famous for my up-to-the-minute fashion sense, and that guy is definitely wearing floods. Thanks for pointing out the news stand, I forgot to!

Chuck, the fact that you can make out the design on top of the guy's hat is somewhat incredible. If you didn't say something, I would just assume that it was digital artifacts.

PsySocDisney, you know I love the posters!

JG said...

@Chuck, I am in awe of your command of the various service uniform details.

About as far as I can go is that he is either Navy or Marines because for some reason, he just doesn't look "Army".

I know very little about the CM Security uniforms. I guess I should have paid more attention. I do remember when the monorail crew wore military-style uniforms, complete with gold braid epaulets and white hats.

I'm sure this fellow is dutifully escorting his aunt around Disneyland for the day. I bet the picture was taken by his Mother.

Thank you, Major. As always the details in the background are as interesting as the subject.

JG