Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Steve Stuart in Disneyland, April 1962

It's time for some more great Disneyland images from Steve Stuart's family photos! What a wonderful record of what can only have been very happy times for Steve. Here he is with some commentary:

BACK TO 1962 DISNEYLAND:

Here’s Gary [editor's note: you remember Gary! See him at this post] with his dad, sitting next to my mom.  And sitting next to them is a bearded guest, intently thumbing-through what I believe to be a 1960 or 1961 guidebook.  (Let’s just say the back cover is definitely from the guidebook with a 1960 copyright – although the front cover appears to resemble something else).  So maybe it’s not a guidebook at all…  Unfortunately, the center “column” of the Astro-Jets is doing a terrific job of obscuring a nice view of the base of the Moonliner.  Oh well.

Another editor's note - that's me! I think that the bearded gentleman might be looking at a 1962 guide book, though the front cover looks too dark. It's just hard to tell. just to the right of his guidebook we can see one of those squeaky Donald Duck hats in a stroller.


Evidently standing on the Stephens-Adamson Speed Ramp as it moves up to the Tomorrowland Monorail loading platform, is my mom and me, in a rather sweet pose.


Many MANY thanks to Steve for sharing these fun photos!

8 comments:

Scott Lane said...

GREAT shot of you and your mom, Nanook! Looks professional. And poor Gary looks nackered. Thanks again for sharing!

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Steve/Nanook:
The serene lagoon/waterfall in the background and the casual pose are perfect. Ever so slightly crop out Gary's dad back (no offense)and I would say framed 8x10 for the wall (IMHO). Trust me, now that my parents have passed I would see this one as priceless gem and give it place of honor on the wall. Thanks for sharing another great memory.

On a side note (and forgive me if it's been covered and I missed it) most of these shots are very clear and have survived (the years) well. Do you remember what kind of camera was most likely used for the bulk of these?

K. Martinez said...

I like your friend Gary's cap and that's a really nice image of you and your mom on the speed ramp. Moments in time captured that as one gets older makes life seem swift and fleeting.

Thanks for sharing your family photos with us, Nanook. They've become a weekly "look forward to seeing" kind of thing for me.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Thanks, Nanook.

I wonder what the folks in the background of the first shot are in line for. Maybe the Yacht Bar? It does look like the queue leads away from the jets...

Nanook said...

Scott Lane-
Yes, poor Gary. Disneyland can do that to a fella.

Alonzo P Hawk-
My parents have both been gone for so long, I often don’t think about them as much as I should. Seeing these images have brought back a lot of good memories.

And, no, it hasn’t been covered - but I believe the camera used to capture all these images was a Kodak 35 Rangefinder. It had a gear coupled to the front lens element through a cumbersome external linkage, resulting in a camera design that has been described as "one that only a mother could love". Evidently that description hasn’t met these images, as they seem to be generating a ‘lot of love’. And, of course, we have the great Kodachrome process to thank for the non-faded aspect of the imagery.

Ken-
Yes, Gary and his ‘captains’ hat has become infamous in these pages. And I’m so happy to be able to share them with you-all. (Thanks, to you too, Major-!)

Patrick Devlin-
Your guess is as good as mine. I’m still stuck trying to do a positive ID on that “guidebook”…

TokyoMagic! said...

Awwwww, more swell family photos! Thanks, Nanook. I'm really enjoying this series as well! That second one seems to be extra special for so many reasons....a lesser one being, how many people have pics of themselves on a speedramp at Disneyland?

I know we've seen pics of Gary and his hat before, but for some reason I am only just now remembering that they sold those hats at the park well into the eighties, but they had a little Steamboat Willie patch above the brim instead of the one we see in that first pic. And in that same pic, there is a Donald Duck "squeaker" hat in the stroller next to the man that's perusing the guidebook. There is also a striped tote bag of some sort in the back of that stroller that would go really well with Nanook's shirt in the second pic. I really like that shirt, by the way!

Thanks again, Nanook and Major!

walterworld said...

TM! I got one of those same Captain hats in 1980 and it had Steamboat Willie on it just like you said. Thanks for bringing back that memory!