Monday, November 10, 2014

Two From August, 1960

All kinds of things happened in August of 1960. I'm sure that for most of you, that date brings to mind the independence of the Upper Volta from France. Man, that was crazy! Also, Joseph Kittenger parachuted from a balloon from over 19 miles above New Mexico. The newly-renamed Beatles begin playing at the Indra club in Hamburg, Germany. Sputnik 5 is launched with 2 dogs, 40 mice, and other critters; they were safely recovered when the spacecraft landed the next day. 

You know what else happened? Some hu-man took today's photos. Let us all have a moment of silence. Here's a nice view of the Horse Drawn Streetcar; I don't have much to say about it, although…. 


… it might be interesting to compare it to a similar photo I posted a few days ago. Town Square has changed in those four years.


Meanwhile, over in Adventureland, we can hear the calls of Jungle birds and the beat of distant drums as we board our colorful naphtha launch for a journey through the unexplored tropical rain forests of the world.


5 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Although the trees have certainly grown up, I think the biggest thing to have changed in the ensuing four years is simply the angle of the shot.

Thanks, Major.

K. Martinez said...

I know one thing that changed for sure. The Horse-Drawn Street Car "Fare $.10" sign changed from white to yellow.

Nice Adventureland image. Thanks, Major.

Chuck said...

Main Street also went through a few other subtle changes in four years. The streetcar's drawbar went from a brighter orange to a more burnt-orangeish-brown, the horse gave up coloring her hair and let it go back to natural black (which I think really works for her), and the lighting shifted from early to late afternoon, most likely a reference to the 1956 publication of Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night."

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I did use the word "similar", not "exact"!

K. Martinez, your comment makes me think of a series of postcards in which the same photo was altered over the years. First you could see the "10 cent" sign. Then it was altered to a plain yellow square (I guess somebody thought the sign was tacky), to an olive-drab square, and then to a black square; then at some point it was retouched to make it look like the sign was never there at all.

Chuck, tell me you had to look up the publication date for "Long Day's Journey…". Or did you really just know it?

Chuck said...

I knew it was mid-50's, but I did have to look it up. And then when I saw the actual publication date, it was just too good to leave out.