Monday, November 30, 2015

Classic GDB - Main Street Station

Today I am re-sharing two lovely photos of Main Street Station - both from 1957, and both featuring a nice look at the amazing attraction posters that line the fence near the Mickey floral portrait. 

This first one was originally posted in March, 2009 and was hand-dated "January 5, 1957".  There's the E.P. Ripley,  under a beautiful sky with the yellow passenger cars (or at least the Combine); those things might have been slow to load and unload, and they didn't provide the best seating for optimal vistas, but they are still my favorites just to look at. 

Posters, posters! "Space Station X-1", "Rocket to the Moon", "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", the rare "Tri-level" Frontierland poster... wowee. 


This next one was posted in August of 2009, and once again we see the E.P. Ripley, this time accompanied by his li'l buddy, the Kalamazoo hand car! The color in this one is especially fantastic. Everything looks so crisp and neat. And there's an über rare "Art Corner" poster (I've only seen one with my own eyes), a "Main Street Station" with its unusual lilac background color, "Storybook Land" (one of the most iconic posters, imho), and the "Astro Jets". So awesome!


15 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Poster-o-rama, fer sure. For as many times as I assuredly walked past them in my many visits to the park - back in the day - I can't say I remember them at the time. Thankfully they've come to be appreciated as great examples of silk screen advertising art and are more popular than ever.

I don't mean to 'slight' the E.P. Ripley, which is a sight to behold, itself.

Thanks, Major for sharing these.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Major, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this in the past or not, but you must’ve loved that scene in Saving Mr. Banks when the Disneyland gates open to reveal Walt standing in front of all those posters. I immediately thought of you when I first saw it.

Chuck said...

I had the same reaction, MCK!

I have always had a thing for the attraction posters and was bummed when I couldn't find any to take home as a kid. While I don't own any originals, I am happy to have several reproductions in various sizes in my collection. Now I just need to find a wall to put them on...

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

And a Walt to put in front of them.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Those posters were somehow just as magical as the park itself. Seeing them as you entered, foreshadows of a great day ahead. And then on the way out as reminders of the fantastic day you just had.

Beautiful artistic graphic designs as well.

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I also don’t really recall seeing those posters in front, though of course there were (and are) posters in the tunnels under the train tracks into Town Square. Did you see that a Rocket to the Moon just sold for $26,000 in the recent Van Eaton auction?

Monkey Cage Kurt, I still have not seen “Saving Mr. Banks”. I don’t know why, I’ve been reluctant. Did you like it? I have seen photos of the posters taken by park guests who happened to be there on the day of filming, it was awesome!

Chuck, some of the repros look pretty nice. A friend of mine has some framed on his wall, and one or two of them are virtually indistinguishable from the real things.

Monkey Cage Kurt, if only!

Monkey Cage Kurt III (!), years ago (maybe 20 years) I went to Howard Lowery’s gallery in Burbank and he had some posters for sale… it was the first time I had ever thought that I could actually own one (or more)!! Lucky for me I got in on collecting the silkscreens before they became priced way out of my range.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Saving Mr. Banks was a very worthwhile film! It took a bit of liberty with some of the history but it was still a very sweet film. I believe I teared up here and there. Tom Hanks did a very good rendition of Walt, and Emma Thompson was awesome as always! Of course Disneyland makes a personal appearance, howbeit, a post 1980s rebooted Fantasyland, but it worked nonetheless.

I’m jealous of your poster collection. I hope you have them displayed. Have you had any of them appraised lately? I’ll bet they ended up being quite a good investment in the long run.

The one I always wanted was the Pirates attraction poster. It always jumped out at me when I was a kid. Did I hear wrong or did Marc Davis render that one?

BTW: My personal memories of them are also from the tunnels and not the iron railing out front.

Nanook said...

Major-

I haven't looked at the prices realized list for the auction, but why am I not surprised at that price-? One of the many reasons is undoubtedly the number of folks these days with über amounts of money who think nothing of plopping-down $26,000 for an original AP, artificially driving-up the price. (After all, it's a whole lot cheaper than spending a million [or several] dollars on fine art). Kinda like "paintings by the yard" for the annoyingly-wealthy - "Cover up all those blank spaces on your walls with ease-!!"

@ Chuck-
I have several (maybe 14-?) mini AP's purchased at the Disney Gallery, in NOS. They're all framed and mounted along the stairwell going to the second floor. And I just picked up a mini AP for Tom Sawyer Island which I will frame and mount. A real surprise happened about a month ago when looking thru some stored paper items, I found a mini AP for the Art Corner - now framed and mounted. As the Major stated, a rarity in the full-size version.

@ Monkey Cage Kurt-
It was actually Colin Campbell who designed the Pirates AP, one of my fav's, too, but don't own. I do own four, original AP's - all framed and mounted. Three of them were also purchased at the Disney Gallery, thankfully with the rather substantial Disney employee discount. The fourth poster - well, that's a different story. It was acquired as payment of work performed. No, no, no... not that kind of work. Nothing Illicit or immoral - just good 'ol fashioned work, probably worth a couple of hundred dollars. The thinking at the time was the poster was certainly not among the 'more common' ones, but also not having the status of the über-rare poster it would soon attain. That poster, you ask-? the "Tri-level" Frontierland poster.

Thanks to following GDB, I've made it a habit to actually stop and look at that one, and my other posters too, rather than having them essentially retreat into the walls to become nothing more than a light switch or that annoying stain which has yet to be removed. It's amazing how blasé we become to our everyday surroundings.

K. Martinez said...

The original attraction posters are out of my range, but I do have about nine of the mini APs from the original Disney Gallery (above POTC) which are framed and hung on my walls. I still enjoy looking at them.

Major, Why are you reluctant to watch "Saving Mr. Banks"? Is it because of the liberties they took with some of the history? Even though I was aware of certain discrepancies I still thoroughly enjoyed it and agree with MCK's assessment that it's a worthwhile film.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Ken, I think he has a scar over his heart! I say we boycott GDB until the Major agrees to watch Saving Mr. Banks.

Ken & Nanook, sounds like you guys have some really nice poster collections. Now I’m jealous of you guys too.

Nanook, so you are saying you have an original silk-screened Tri-level Frontierland poster? WOW, NICE! That’s got to be worth a BUNCH!

I don’t have any of the posters, not even the minis. If I had one it’d be Pirates for sure. It doesn’t have the same beautiful silk-screened graphic feel like its contemporaries, but it is an extremely nice bit of art, and mostly I like it because of its POTC connection.

Major Pepperidge said...

Monkey Cage Kurt, I think the trailers kind of turned me off, and then the reviews were on the “meh” side. I actually have the movie! But it’s so much easier to sit down and watch a 50 minute episode of “Jessica Jones” (or some other good TV show). I have not had my collection appraised, though I am sure it has gone up in value considerably. Hooray!

Nanook, I do wonder who was able to drop that much cash on a poster. It IS a spectacular one, though… the one that I always wished I could afford. I buy my “paintings by the yard” at the local gas station. The velvet “Crying Elvis” should be at the Guggenheim!

K. Martinez, I think that the mini posters are a great way to have those wonderful designs on your wall without breaking the bank. As for “Mr. Banks”, I don’t watch a lot of stuff, and when I finally decide to settle down and turn on the TV, there are so many options. I am way behind on “Fargo”, “Doctor Who”, “Homeland”, etc. I kind of worried that “Banks” would be overly cutesy, and yes, the liberties taken with the story concerned me as well. Right after I watch “Tomorrowland” I’ll watch “Saving Mr. Banks”!!

Monkey Cage Kurt, I had my heart removed for one of those cool mechanical tickers. It is badass! Nanook told me about his tri-level Frontierland poster… that’s another one I’ve never had. My friend “Mr. X” had one, and I always coveted it.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Just watch it Major, then we will respect you again.

Oh and Chuck, I left you out in my rant about being jealous of your guyses posters, sorry! I’m Jealous of you too! (guyses???).

Nanook, thanks for the heads-up on the Colin Campbell thing. I never heard of him before, but I looked him up and saw that he made a lot of contributions to the park and whatnot. Quite an amazing artist, and he is still working on Disney stuff. I’m kind of embarrassed that I didn’t know who he was.

Nanook said...

@ Monkey Cage Kurt-

Yes, guilty as charged-! Its acquisition was a happy, and fortuitous moment - although I didn't quite realize it at the time. I was just thrilled to own another great attraction poster which just looked so damn great. And I've loved owning and displaying it, lo these past 26 years.

@ Major-

The velvet "Crying Elvis" - it's bringing a tear to my eye right now-!

Nanook said...

@ Monkey Cage Kurt-

There's always the book: Poster Art of the Disney Parks, which can be had new, for a 'mere' $29.00. It provides images of all the Disneyland posters, along with other info.

Monkey Cage Kurt said...

Nanook, one of the Colin Campbell sites I looked at was a spotlight of that book. Looks great!