Here are some fun photos, circa 1967, and featuring a nice lady I like to think of as "Fun Mom" (inspired by a comment from Melissa)! I have well over 100 slides from Fun Mom's family trips to Disneyland (we've seen some already, of course), and some of them are quite nice.
I'm posting this one first, but it was clearly taken very late in the afternoon, with long shadows stretching across the pavement as the sun sinks in the west. There's just something about that old entrance that makes me happy; the large letters spelling out D-I-S-N-E-Y-L-A-N-D, the pennants, the turn styles, the attraction posters... I love it all. Fun Mom has a large psychedelic shopping bag, I wonder what she bought??
Security guards (wearing spats?!) and Agent Smith make sure that all Disneyland guests are safe.
Fun mom doesn't care if that bucket hat is silly, she's going to wear it proudly. I salute her. The corsages on her wrist sure look Tiki-roomish, though I've never heard of anything like them being sold or given out in Adventureland. I'm starting to think that the shopping bag holds a t-shirt. Just a guess!
Now our favorite mom sits aboard one of the Main Street vehicles. It has fringe on top, but it's not a surrey - it's the red Horseless Carriage.
Major-
ReplyDelete'Fun Mom', indeed. (Leave it to Melissa). You're not the only one who has 'pangs of joy' upon seeing that infamous entrance - complete with Electro-Voice "sound paging projector" loudspeaker, cozy-ing up next to the big 'N'.
Perhaps Fun Mom is awaiting the arrival of Gordon MacRae [or maybe Alfred Drake] to join her in that non-surrey, non-isinglass curtained, fringe-on-top vehicle... Well, you never know.
Thanks, Major.
As Tahitian Terrace customers were often presented with plastic leis or kupees from performers, I’d imagine that’s where our gal received hers. Thanks for posting these fun photos!
ReplyDeleteBummed I can only see the last photo this morning (thanks, Network Police!). Something to look forward to when I get home tonight.
ReplyDeleteI'm struck by how sharp the focus is on the guy in the extreme left of the photo with the movie camera under his arm. Also note the Marine (or possibly Sailor) behind him in khaki.
I never tire of Disneyland Transportation photos. Past and future, doesn't matter, they are all great. Where else can you ride a horse drawn street car and a really cool monorail all in the same day? I can still feel the excitement as we passed through the turnstiles for a day at Disneyland!. Thanks Major for the very cool scans.
ReplyDeleteNot to mention the idea, given the slide's date, that a great, big, beautiful Tomorrowland lies in wait at the end of Main Street. Mmm, boy that would have been a good day to visit...
ReplyDeleteGreat pics Major. I think that's Totie Fields sitting in that trolley, smoking a cig.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I’m not sure I would describe the old entrance as “infamous”! Makes it seem like it did something bad. I am impressed that you recognize an Electro-Voice Sound Paging Projector Loudspeaker. How many other people would even know? As for Gordon MacRae, I literally watched “Oklahoma!” about 10 days ago.
ReplyDeleteAnon, I knew about the plastic leis, but did not know about kupees. I learned something today!
Chuck, so strange, you have had these issues with the photos before. Have you considered giving your modem a stern talking-to? Our photographer borrowed Gregg Toland’s “deep focus” technique from “Citizen Kane”.
Jonathan, it’s a shame that Main Street often gets so crowded that the vehicles have to be put away (with the exception of the Horse Drawn Streetcars). I’m glad you liked today’s pix!
Patrick Devlin, you are so right - a brand new “New Tomorrowland” - just imagine.
DrGoat, Totie Fields, ha ha; She was one of those mysterious people that I knew from talk shows like “Merv” and “Dinah”, and from various game shows, but I didn’t really know why she was famous.
I don’t often post, but this woman and her sheer uninhibited joy requires a comment of appreciation for your share.
ReplyDeleteDid you happen to notice she had a lit cigarette in one pic? Smoking on an attraction!
The main entrance provided everything the contemporary esplanade could not. Rather than a subway station at rush hour, you get a subtley themed, warm soft toned, vaguely old timey welcome to the one and only Magic Kingdom. The underlying music, recorded ticket announcements, the train pulling into Main Street Station with bell ringing, and the vague loading announcement wafting across the entryway. Man, it was great.
Thanks for continuing this walk down memory lane.
Chicks and ducks and geese better scurry,
ReplyDeletePigs and dogs and sheep oughta worry,
Even though we're not in my surrey with a fringe on top.
Don't run out in the road in a bevy;
This thing steers like a two-ton Chevy.
I slam on the brakes, but it's too darn heavy and it just won't stop +
It's my little non-surrey with the fringe on the top!
(goes to look up "kupee")
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm back.
@Jonathan, I read an architecture magazine article a long time back describing Disneyland (snidely) as "transportation porn". Apologies for the crude term in a family blog, but, the writer was pointing out that most of the Park attractions involved vehicles and transport modes that most people never see or experience and can only imagine.
Of course, there's far more to the park experience than just riding around, but there's nothing wrong with that.
The traditional "academic" architecture community has always been dismissive of Disneyland, I think partly because it was popular and partly because the popularity proved that a lot of modern architecture was distasteful to the public. Obviously, I think the academics are wrong, Disneyland is a highly sophisticated form of architecture that does more than just make the architect happy.
Major, these are fun pics of this lady's fun day. Thanks for sharing them.
JG
@ Melissa-
ReplyDeleteOscar Hammerstein II would be proud-! (Or, is this merely the "lost" verse-??) No way.
I never tire of Disneyland Transportation photos.
ReplyDeleteMe, neither! Disneyland is all about going places. Hop on, see where this goes! Hop off, here we are! Where's this going? Jump on and find out!
fromnabulax, I did not notice that she had a cigarette! Back in those days, smoking was so common everywhere, though. I still remember being stuck on airplanes and in restaurants while people around us smoked. Yuck. I agree with you about the greatness (notice I avoided the word “magic”!) of the old entrance. I know that today’s visitors love it just the way it is, but they don’t know what they missed.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, I can’t help picturing Gordon MacRae holding Shirley Jones in his arms and singing those very words to her. So romantic.
JG, now you need to use the word “kupee” in sentences at least 10 times today - then it will be yours forever. You can use the word “porn” here, I give you permission (!); after all, I am guessing that there are not many children stopping by. And if there are any, go do your homework! I wonder why the magazine article looked down on the experience of riding in unusual vehicles? Chances are, many of the staff got similar thrills from seeing a daring piece of architecture, old or new.
Nanook, Oscar Mayer is proud too, but that’s another story.
Melissa, that is way too much hopping and jumping!
Oklahoma! is my Mom's favorite musical. She used to sing us to sleep with "Pore Jud is Daid" and wake us up with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning."
ReplyDelete@Mellissa, Love the lyrics, I guess I'm just a guy who cain't say no.
ReplyDelete@Major, I've spent most of my career trying to figure why architects act the way they do, and so far, there's no solution in sight. The closest I can come to an answer is that Hitler once wanted to be an architect.
ReplyDeleteOne thing fairly clear so far, the Disney team didn't act like most architects.
JG