New Scans From Old Slides
Today I present two slides that (as far as I can tell) have never been posted on GDB before, even though they were found in boxes of old, previously-scanned images.
This first one was probably omitted because it had turned a terrible shade of deep pink; even now, my attempt at color correction is only just passable. But I like the early (August 14th, 1956) look at the entrance to Adventureland. It reminds me of the old two-strip Technicolor films, with the "not quite right" hues. The white wire fencing surrounding that planter seems to have only been used in the first year or so. Two ladies are about to enter beneath the crude archway, followed by a man who I am almost certain is a priest (or parson!). We all know (from decades of "New Yorker" cartoons) that priests who enter the jungle will inevitably wind up in a giant cast iron pot.
This next one is from May, 1958, taken in (or rather, in back of) Main Street Station. Perhaps all of that bunting is present because of Memorial Day? Notice the sign for the Grand Canyon Diorama. My favorite detail is the man with the movie camera as he films two stylish ladies pretending not to notice him!
10 comments:
What is wrong with the parson's arm?
Gee, I guess we won't be able to see the Grand Canyon Diorama (or Primeval World) for a year or more starting in January. I hope they don't have secret plans to bulldoze the both of them. I DON'T TRUST THEM WITH ANYTHING ANYMORE!!!
P.S. Nice pics today, Major. I especially like the one of the Adventureland entrance. The color looks pretty darn good to me!
Most of the time I don't notice the imperfections until you point them out.
What I love about the first image is the juxtaposition of the two distinct styles of the thatched roof Adventureland entrance next to the Frontierland stockade log entrance. Two worlds, steps apart.
I also like the reddish brown and dark green colored poles supporting the marquee and how the color combination is repeated in the bench and railings in Adventureland.
Oops! Looks like a maintenance worker left a ladder out at the Adventureland entrance.
TokyoMagic!, ironically he is suffering from a condition known as “Parson’s Arm”. There is still no cure! I hope they replace those dumb dinosaurs with Anna and Elsa, OMG that would be amazing!
TokyoMagic!, well, they look better than they originally did, anyway! Thanks.
K. Martinez, it’s like special effects I guess… if you don’t notice, than I did an OK job! I have always thought it was strange how close those two entrances were, but it works. Those wooden poles were probably not really those colors - sometimes when restoring a faded slide, you have to make choices - or you just “get what you get”. Hey, I never noticed that ladder!
Major-
I, too, agree with Ken - both in terms of content (the juxtaposition of the two "Lands") and the color. Although a far cry from Kodachrome, is still more than passable. And speaking of color... Today's lesson in Technicolor, goes something like this:
Although a common error, there was no such a thing as "2-Strip" Technicolor. In actuality, there were three, Technicolor, 2-Color systems (#1, #2, & #3) proceeding the glorious, full-color 3-Strip Technicolor (#4), that went on to change the look of motion pictures forever.
The 2-Color processes (both additive & subtractive) employed all sorts of odd configurations to reproduce their color, from cameras employing a beam splitter (also famously used in their 3-Strip camera), the film usually running at about 32fps, double the then-common silent film speed of 16fps, to cemented, matrix film used for actual projection. We can all imagine what fun it must have been attempting to maintain focus through a double-thickness piece of film running through the film gate - especially with, what would have amounted to rather primitive light sources and projection lenses.
System #3 differentiated itself from #2 by incorporating Subtractive, 2-Color Dye Transfer Prints, eliminating the need for cemented projection prints. That printing process would be adapted to full, 3-Color Technicolor once the brilliantly-designed 3-Strip camera was placed into operation.
You get the idea. It just proves once again the incredible lengths we must often go through using the technology at hand to create results never before seen. Just remember that - all you young whippersnappers out there, the next time you grab your smart phone and start "filming" images that easily best the early color images. If given the choice, who in their right-mind would have picked a system to capture full-color movement consisting of three strips of (specialized) B&W film, along with green & magenta filters, a beam splitter, bi-packing the films recording the red and blue records, all simultaneously running through a massive camera, which then required a system of separate printing matrices, that when combined on clear film stock, could reproduce a full-color image-? Wouldn't it have been a whole lot simpler to simply use just a single piece of full-color film, or some new-fangled digital "chip" to capture the image-? Oh, wait - they had yet to be invented.
I was going to comment on that ladder detail I'd never noticed before, too, but after reading Ken's comment I see it's a decidedly aluminum ladder, which doesn't look indigenous to the scene at all. That means it was either left by a maintenance worker when he left for lunch or by a missionary when he became lunch.
TokyoMagic! - are they letting the steam out of the trains during Star Wars Land construction?
Major - Seeing Anna and Elsa in fighting a T Rex would be cool, but I was really hoping for more pirates. Or maybe Gummi Bears.
Wait - how about shoehorning in characters from classic Disney animated films? It'll be a great tribute to WED's groundbreaking work in early audio-animatronics and the hope of peace as seen through the eyes of children from around the world - win-win for everyone!
@ TokyoMagic!
Yes, indeed, just what is up with that older gentleman's arm/hand-? He appears to have a left thumb, the size of which would be more suitable on a neanderthal-! It's very, very creepy.
Chuck, it appears that it will even be worse than that. Disney has announced that starting in January (the 10th, I believe), the DL Railroad, the Mark Twain, the Columbia Sailing Ship, Tom Sawyer Island, and Fantasmic will all close for one year so that the Rivers of America can be shortened in length (by filling in the back end of the river) and the Disneyland Railroad can be rerouted. The whole thing disgusts me.
Wha...???
No, no, NOOOOOOO!!!!
Smile and say "babushka".
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