Two Instamatics
Oh man, the supply of these awesome vintage Kodak Instamatic photos is getting low! After over 200 images, we are down to the last 20 or so.
Here's a lovely shot of the happiest clock in the world, caught by "Mr. X" as the parade of mechanical children from all over the globe march past the familiar tick-tock face. This one was previously a reject due to many small abrasions, but the new scanner did a nice job of cleaning it up!
Meanwhile, on a somewhat gloomy winter day, we spy a Horse-drawn Streetcar passing through Town Square, clippety-clop. I can't think of much to say about this one, except that I like it.
9 comments:
The photo of Small World reminds me that there was a "California Retrospective" article in the L.A. Times yesterday about the Tower of the Four Winds. There was also a photo showing it completely assembled and sitting at "Zeon Corporation" here in California. It was waiting to be taken apart and trucked to the Fair in New York. It's construction supposedly cost $200,000. I still think it could have fit in nicely with the new facade they built for it at Disneyland. Oh well!
The Rolly Crump Small World clock tower and mechanical doll parade are two of my favorite features of "it's a small world". It's one of the times I don't mind waiting in the queue to see it go off.
TokyoMagic!, Forced perspective makes the Matterhorn look taller than it is and it's only 147 feet tall. At 120 feet tall I think the "Tower of the Four Winds" would've altered the forced perspective of the nearby Matterhorn visually shrinking it. Even the towering Rocket Jets were only 85 feet tall. I don't think the Tower of the Four Winds" would’ve fit the intimate scale of Disneyland. Maybe a scaled down tower would've worked. JMO. I also read somewhere that Rolly Crump didn’t want the tower back at Disneyland because it would’ve been overkill and taken away from the beautiful clock tower he designed for the Small World façade.
I know everyone else has said it, but thanks to Mr. X. for sharing all his hard work.
I don't want to pierce his veil of anonymity, but his last name isn't "Atencio," perchance?
I always had the hardest time "reading" the look of the face on the oscillating disk. It always seemed to me that the face consisted of the triangular hat, the eyes and those round bags under its eyes were the cheeks and mouth. And that was the face I saw, sort of skewered on the top of a stick (which was its actual nose.) The real mouth was too low in contrast for me to see it well. Over the years I've learned to see the face much better, but I did struggle for decades. (Decades?!)
Ken, oh my....I never even considered that! You are right, it would not have worked in DL. Thanks for pointing that out. Now I'm wondering how it would have looked from inside the park, if it had been placed out on the furthest edge of the parking lot.....maybe next to the Katella Entrance Gate? Or over at the DL Hotel somewhere? Just a thought. But I will stop agonizing over the fact that they didn't put it in the Small World Meadow next to the attraction. :-)
TokyoMagic!, it’s weird that the Times would put the Tower of the Four Winds in a “California Retrospective” article, since only a few saw it here while millions saw it in New York. I love the Tower, but combined with the Disneyland façade it might be a bit much. Hard to say.
K. Martinez, I didn’t even think about the scale, but you might be right. However, the tower is so light and airy… who knows! I do agree that the Matterhorn should be the tallest thing!
Mark H. Besotted, if it was X. Atencio, I would be bragging about it!
Patrick Devlin, ha ha, it DOES look like it has bags under its eyes. I never thought of that before. Poor clocky needs more sleep, ironically.
TokyoMagic!, if only they built a 1/3 scale Tower! It would still work. In fact, when I win the lottery I will have one made for my 25,000 acre estate.
I recall hearing that the clock was not a Mary Blair, but I never knew it was Rolly Crump who designed it. So, what about the figures, who designed those?
The clock tower figures are my most favorite design feature of Small World. I’ve been keeping an eye out for photo portraits of them for years, but to no avail so far. If I still lived in OC I would take them myself. Does anyone know a site that may have some nice portraits, concept art or anything?
Tokyo & Major, I always thought a full scale replica of the "Tower of the Four Winds" would be cool next to Walt Disney World's "it's a small world" because it was on the East Coast to begin and might work better in the grander scale of the Magic Kingdom. JMO.
I never knew... or forgot... that the Small World's men's costume had a sash with it. That blond Cast Member in crisp white shirt, Marine blue trousers, slicked blond hair and Ray Ban sunglasses looks like he just walked off the "Endless Summer" movie to go to work.
As to the Street Car... always a favorite to see it. Interesting to see the driver where all three pieces of his costume; however, his co-worker is just in his vest. We had to keep all three pieces on unless it reached 90 degrees (code 90). And of course... no railings around the planters... just the way Walt wanted it.
Always your pal,
Amazon Belle
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