Sunday, September 27, 2015

The Jungle Cruise, August 1970

Hoo boy, I seem to have stumbled upon quite a lot of Jungle Cruise images recently. And while I am trying to parcel out my remaining slides in small doses to make them last, today's examples were just too "meh" to bother.

When I was a kid, this scene of the baby elephant squirting the crocodile was one of my favorites. It is pure Marc Davis.


Real rhinos are pretty cool (and hey, their ground-up horns make a great aphrodisiac! Tell your friends!), but this photo is very far from cool. It is like Ralph Malph compared to The Fonz.


This is a coma-inducing photo of the African Veldt section...


... followed by a second view. Those lions look like they are singing in three-part harmony.


And finally (for this batch) I proudly present this murky and poorly-composed image of some natives just visible through the jungle's verdant growth.


Sorry about these!

10 comments:

Nanook said...

Geez Major-

These images aren't as bad as all that. If nothing else, on what other Disney fan site will you read the words: "...is like Ralph Malph compared to The Fonz", I ask you-??!! Actually, I think the names of the 'lion chorus' members are Ralph, Malph & The Fonz.

Thanks, Major.

MRaymond said...

I have a short clip of video from 1993 with the elephant and the croc. The elephant squirts the croc, water comes out the crocs ears. You're right, pure Davis. Great photos, as usual.

K. Martinez said...

Glad to hear you have lots of Jungle Cruise images since it's my favorite Disneyland attraction. It's cool to see the African Veldt and other tableaus before they imported the scene elements and enhancements from WDW's Jungle Cruise in 1976. Hopefully you have the original gorilla scene near the end of the Jungle Cruise in that batch of images. I'd love to see that. Not bad at all. Thanks, Major.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I guess I just get jaded after seeing countless Jungle Cruise images that all seem to be the same. But I'm glad you liked these!

MRaymond, wow, I didn't recall the part about the water squirting out of the crocodile's ears!

K. Martinez, you have probably said it before, but I didn't know that the Jungle Cruise was your favorite. I love going on it, but, because the ride ran on a track, the photos all seem to be the same. As far as I can remember, none of the other images include the gorilla, unfortunately.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

No need for apologies Major, I don’t seem to recall a lot of Jungle Cruse here at GDB, so these feel a bit novel to me. Besides, like Nanook said a big part of the reason we are all here is because of the fun comments you make “Ralph Malph compared to the Fonz” PURE BRILLIANTS!!!

Coincidentally I was over at Daveland just last week spending a bunch of time on his Jungle Cruse pages. I was looking for some particular Marc Davis artwork and just wound up there (Dave has a lot of good Marc Davis stuff). I remember thinking to myself “these are some great photos, but the guy’s just not funny at all” (true story). While there I couldn’t help but to feel like I was cheating on the wife I loved with some flashy shallow super model. Can you forgive me?

I LOVE Marc Davis! Next to Walt himself, he’s probably my favorite historical Disney person. The park would not have had half its charm without his amazing contributions.

Major Pepperidge said...

Monkey Cage Kurt, awwww! Thanks for the nice words. I do love Marc Davis, and had the honor to talk to him briefly (though I was too star-struck to say anything intelligent), but Ward Kimball might be my favorite Disney person. He flew planes, collected amazing toys, had a full-sized train on his property (which he personally restored), directed the "Man in Space" TV show, was responsible for Jiminy Cricket (my favorite)... and on and on. An amazing guy.

Matthew said...

Probably one of the best sight gags by Marc that never found its way into the Jungle Cruise was an elephant standing on three legs with its' front leg lifted like a dog pointing and its' trunk bent and pointing directly into a bush with a hunter (think lost safari) perched in a basket on its' back pointing a rifle directly into the bush... the set up.

the gag was that you would happen upon this scene and then round a corner (hear a shotgun blast) and then find a tiger standing on the other side of the bush looking over its shoulder with its' bum gunpowder black and tail singed except the top where there was only a small amount of hair left.

The "original" Disney Gallery at one time was selling Marc Davis originals and it inadvertently broke up this set and sold them as two separate pieces of art work (or maybe they saw double the profit by breaking it up). To illustrate they didn't understand what they were selling they placed the art in two different rooms in the gallery. Regardless it was a wonderful gag and either one, or two, different people own it now.

Finally, I love that last photograph. As we used to say, "The natives appear to be celebrating the kill of that lion (under the thatched roof), probably caught making raids on the village. You know that lion is dead... they usually don't stand that way."

Always your pal,
Amazon Belle

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Ward Kimball was awesome! He is definitely a good choice too, there are no two ways about it. From what I understand Kimball and Walt had a mutual love of model railroading, and that was a direct influence on Walt’s decision to create the park in the first place. You really can’t get more awesome than that. I like the contributions Harper Goff made also.

There were many amazing artist at the studio, it is arguable that Walt’s greatest strength of all was spotting amazing talent and knowing how to implement that talent. But having a personal history in character design I always seem to gravitate toward that particular aspect of Disney history. And when it comes right down to it the work Davis brought to the table was unsurpassed.

I can’t believe you met Marc Davis, what an extraordinary blessing that must have been! Although not a Disney artist, another of my all time favorite talents was Ray Harryhausen, as you may have guessed from my profile pic. Although I blew my opportunity to meet him on the day he got his star on the Walk of Fame. I could just kick myself for passing it up.

BTW: Thanks for getting back to that comment.

Major Pepperidge said...

Monkey Cage Kurt, I am a huge fan of Ray Harryhausen! My brother used to live in San Jose, and he went to some Sci-fi convention (I am still unclear as to what it was, exactly). He got in an elevator and who was in there with him? RAY FREAKING HARRYHAUSEN! My brother freaked. He had a magazine with him, and got the courage to ask Ray for his autograph. And for some reason, my brother then gave the magazine to ME. I have no idea why. In fact I feel guilty owning it, since it really should belong to him. Maybe I should ask him if he wants it back.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

YOU’RE KILLIN ME!!! That’s a great story! But I don’t think you should give the autograph back to your brother, I can’t imagine anyone is going to appreciate it and care for it as well as you will. You should do a little Ray tribute blog one day. Include that story and a pic or scan of the magazine. I think you’d get a good response out of it.

I so loved the guy, it’s hard to believe I just walked right by him within ten feet and he only had three or four people surrounding him at the time. My partner in Knott’s crime (Mark) met him on at least two different occasions. He said he was a great guy. Mark’s first reaction was to yell out “Oh my gosh! It’s Ray Harryhausen!”. To which Ray replied ““Oh my gosh! It’s Ray Harryhausen!...I get that a lot”. Believe it or not, Mark actually went to see the Peter Jackson King Kong with a group of people, Ray being one of them. He was a friend of a friend.

BTW, as far as the pure charm of his characters Marc D is my favorite, but I think if I had the opportunity to (spend an entire day with), Ward Kimball HANDS DOWN! He definitely would have been WAY more fun to hang out with. Not to mention all the toy trains.