Scans of shame
Holy Toledo, today's scans are pretty grim. I wasn't sure how terrible they would be until I actually went through the effort of running through the old "Scan-o-matic 5000". My heart was full of joy, and I was whistling a merry tune - until I saw these results. BUT... they are perfect for a Sunday - the day when so many people have something better to do.
OK, this first one is bad, but not horrible - I can't be too upset at those nice black horses (pulling a Surrey, I presume), with the Emporium in the background. A Disneyland CM is crossing the street, but what is his job? Does he drive a Horseless Carriage? Take tickets on the Horse Drawn Streetcar?
What. The. Heck. This is a terrible photo. Or is it great art? I can't tell the difference.
This next one is neither the best nor the worst picture of the Friendly Indian Village, but it is so "meh" in its color and composition. MEH, I say! Don't make me say it again.
12 comments:
Major-
I think the first image gets my vote. I love how only Pat & Mike (or whoever) are essentially the only objects in sharp focus. Now, I'm off to do something better - and homemade cookies will be a part of it... Yum yum.
Thanks, Major.
Seeing the back end of the Horse Drawn Streetcar in that first pic, makes me wonder how often guests tried to jump on it while it was in motion. Today, I believe a cast member stands in the very back of the vehicle. Or am I just confusing them with the parking trams?
Love the scene of the river traffic on pic#2... it coveys a sense of being away from suburbia..something rarely seen in Frontierland today. KS
I really like the third photo. The village is always a winner in my book. The Keel Boat is always cool, just a little too much sky in this one. The CM in the first pic is headed to a bathroom break, perhaps to change his socks to a darker shade. The horses are great, and doing a splendid job pulling whatever it is. Nice shots today Major, thanks.
Those horses in the first photo are being towed back to the Town Square parade gate after a breakdown. This was actually fairly common until the Mark V horses (designed by the legendary Bob Gurr) debuted in 1959.
Note the road through the trees to the right in the second photo. Are those left over from the stagecoaches & Conestoga wagons?
The CM is crossing Main St to tell the other CM that leaning against the window is bad show.
'If you have time to lean, you have time to clean'.
Oscar Hammerstein spent a whole week trying to come up with rhymes for "Emporium in the background" before he called up Richard Rodgers and said, "Maybe we should set this musical someplace besides Missouri. OK?"
if I ever get to open a Western theme park, the centerpiece is going to be the Apathetic Indian Village. It'll be a lot more fun to watch than the Extremely Clumsy Saloon Girl Revue.
Nanook, HOMEMADE COOKIES?!?! Snickerdoodles? Chocolate Chip?
TokyoMagic!, I’m sure it happened… in movies and commercials people were always jumping on to San Francisco’s cable cars and singing about deodorant or some such thing. Why not do it on a horse drawn streetcar?
KS, I just wish that photo wasn’t 1/2 empty sky!
Jonathan, I do like the Indian Village, but mama mia, do I ever have a lot of photos of it. And now that you mentioned that CM’s socks, I wonder if they were part of the costume, or if those are just his street socks?
Chuck, the saying went that “if it moves on wheels at Disneyland, Bob Gurr probably designed it”. The horses moved next to wheels, and that’s good enough for me. And being 1959, that dirt path could very well be a former Stagecoach/Conestoga Wagon trail!
Graffer, you can’t argue with a man who speaks in rhymes.
Melissa, sometimes I have a dream in which there is a Rogers and Hammerstein musical called “Oxnard!”. Then I wake up and realize that my dream will never come true. And I must beg to differ, the Extremely Clumsy Saloon Girl Revue sounds pretty entertaining!
"If you have time for the wrong color soks, you have time to have your pay docked."
Major-
Chocolate Chip [well, actually Toll House] cookies were last week; this week it's Chocolate Crinkle cookies.
I thought the CM in the first picture was walking away to get out of such a mediocre photo.
Pic One: I think they are part of a CM Tag Team, the second guy is going to come roaring in and wrestle the horses to the ground.
Is this taken around the 4th of July, bunting on the back of the streetcar says might be?
Pic Two: Chuck, I noticed the road, but cannot place the location. Could this be a service road leading to the back of the Indian Dance circle? What is the vantage point from which the photo was made? We may never know.
Pic Three: Shiny Boy and Bosco the Wonder Dog are on point. After seeing the "behind the scenes" close-ups, pics of the Friendly Village are much more interesting. In this one, there is a skull on a ritual pole behind the canoe makers, which I do not recall seeing in other shots. There is a second, much taller, one visible behind the teepees.After looking at Daveland, this element appears to come and go, and move around somewhat. Daveland's archive of the 1950's views seem to show the figures moved around a bit and the tableaux rearranged. Even Shiny Boy and Bosco come and go.
Such fun. Thanks Major.
JG
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