Around Fantasyland, April 1973
I can't pretend that today's photos are very extraordinary, but I'm still perfectly happy to look at them. Hopefully you will feel the same way.
Sleeping Beauty Castle, distinctly not pink, looks stately and dignified (and frankly, pretty great). Much of the right face is covered in ivy, is that harmful to buildings? Don't tiny rootlets get into cracks, eventually causing damage? Meanwhile: NUN ALERT!
Good old Skull Rock. Is it a natural formation? Or the fossilized remains of a race of giants? I prefer the latter. You'd think that a feature like this would somehow be more scary, but the tropical lagoon with its lush plants and splashing waterfalls was always so beautiful.
Time for some terrific topiaries. Especially the one that sort of looks like an elephant standing on its head, only the head is... well, what is it, anyway? Maybe he got his head stuck in one of Pooh's hunny jars. The giraffe looks like it's still filling in, but the camel looks squishy and adorable.
22 comments:
Major, that elephant's head and truck are there, facing up and to the right. That poor giraffe has mange.
The castle photo would be perfect if it was facing just a few feet over to the right, then we could see if The Dent's there. I have heard that the ivy's little "suction cups" pull the moisture out of the grout, so it crumbles. I'm sure someone else will chime in, who's more knowledgeable.
Thanks, Major.
^ ...that elephant's head and trunk...
I thought I'd correct that now, before some wise guy makes a comment about the elephant owning a truck or something.
First pic: Wow, that's the least pinkish image I've seen of SBC. Could just be the vagueries of the slide film. Or maybe the Castle's paint had faded and was in need of a new coat... a nice deep magenta would look great!
Besides the gaggle of nuns, there are quite a few little packages of swan food (kids) in this photo. Often, it's hard to find even one. Poor swans, what are they going to eat? You can sometimes hear their bellies growling as you walk across the draw bridge. Or maybe it's just the swans themselves that are growling; vicious, nasty things that they are.
Second pic: Skully is looking really good here. A little orthodontistry should clear up all that drooling. I also notice that he is a mouth-breather. Maybe he has a deviated septum... or maybe a cold has plugged up his nasal cavities.
I don't remember seeing that water spilling out on the right side before. Probably just me being inattentive.
Third pic: Sue did an excellent job of pointing out the elephant's head and trunk (or truck) so I'll just say that the head and trunk (truck) look like a squirrel that's sitting some distance behind the elephant. And I guess that's a bird sitting atop that spindly spindle thing on the left. But what kind? Maybe a pelican, but we can't see its long beak and 'pouch' from this angle.
Thanks for the fantastic Fantasyland fotos, Major.
Sue, am I that predictable?
We painted the castle pink why? Let's go to Windsor and do a job on that one too! Very timely for the Queen's celebrations this year! Perhaps if you sell enough Mary Kay Cosmetics they will throw in a pink Cadillac to go with your pink castle! Stranger things have happened! When I had an employee tour of the tree farm in Walt Disney World they wouldn't allow us to take photos of the tree farm and topiaries in progress...not sure what that was about. We were also told that some topiaries on the property were plastic. Disneyland's topiaries are very real, and often needed trimming...that is a labor of love and needs constant care and attention. Those hedges are also very time consuming and need a steady hand and a lot of talent. They are perfect and I am jealous. My boxwoods are like my beard...I start trimming and suddenly everything is to nubs. Guess it all grows back. Skull rock is so cool with all of the waterfalls. Would like that in my backyard...but it might get odd looks. "Nuns on the Run"...one of my favorite movies. Nuns in movies are awesome. I hear Nuns in school: not so much. I didn't go to Catholic school, so I missed the rulers smacking me. I went to catechism and our nun was young and pretty and played a guitar like Maria Von Trapp. I didn't understand the fear of nuns with my Catholic school buddies. I didn't really understand Nuns at Disneyland. Guess they want to have fun too. Among other things, aren't those habits super hot?
the lady in black is going to turn on the drawbridge, pull out a sword and shout…
“NUN SHALL PASS!”
OK, gotta go.
JG
Pleasant pics to look at. That group of nuns is surrounded by a group of very stylishly dressed folks. That might be a brown corduroy jacket that fellow on the right has on and those 2 guys in the center sporting their cardigans and slacks fit right in.
My sister did the catechism thing and went to catholic school a total of 3 weeks. The head nun whacked her on the knuckles (I kid you not) for something and when Mom got wind of it, she went with her to school the next day and gave Sister Mary Birdcage a dressing down. After that, we both went to public schools.
Those habits always looked like they were made of wool. Maybe that's why they some of them are so cranky.
Skull rock looking fantastic as usual.
Sue, all my cars had trunks, so an elephant might have a truck 'cause they already have a trunk.
Sorry, but thanks Major. Great images.
JG, thanks, you bailed me out.
@JG “NUN SHALL PASS!”
I almost choked on my tea. As a kid who grew up at a Catholic school, that made my day. I know, I'm warped.
JB AND DrGoat, :oD
So, an elephant can have a trunk AND a truck, but a truck can't have a trunk, or it wouldn't be a truck.
I'm now also wondering what that topiary on the right is supposed to be...a tap-dancing hippo?
Yes, Chuck, you are that predictable. But so are our other Jr. Gorillas - which is why we all keep coming back. And for the pictures, too.
Bu, I haven't seen a pink Mary Kay Cadillac for a looong time, now that you mention it. Didn't Mary Kay change to giving out other types of [pink] cars?
[I just took a second now to Google.] MK also gives out black Mini Coopers with pink accents. That sounds rather interesting, to say the least. I also do see some other pink vehicles. Interesting. A pink anything would really stand out now, as all we have on the roads are black, white and silver/gray vehicles - with an occasional deep red/maroon. I miss the good old colorful days (60s and 70s).
Thanks, Major.
Lou and Sue, OH YEAH! I guess I should actually look closely at the photos before writing my text. But, you know, sometimes I’m in a hurry. Or I should say usually I’m in a hurry. I don’t know anything about little “suction cups” on ivy, but having a vine grow on any structure seems like a generally bad idea.
Lou and Sue, now what are the weisenheimers going to do??
JB, yes, I would think that by 1973 the castle would have been at least a tiny bit rosy, but it doesn’t appear to be at all. I agree that a deep magenta would look great, especially with sparkles and gold highlights. With so many kids at the park in April, I wonder if this was Spring Break? Or just a weekend, I suppose. I’ve always liked how the skull on Skull Rock was just a little misshapen, making it a bit more monstrous. I can’t help trying to imagine it with muscles and skin on it! It looked just like Buddy Hackett. Yes, that is a bird of some kind, I’d say it is a blue-footed booby, based on my extensive knowledge of birds. Plus I wanted to say “booby” without getting in trouble.
Chuck, I admit that I thought of you first when Sue made her “correction” comment!
Bu, somebody (supposedly John Hench, though I find it hard to believe) thought that the castle needed to be pink. Wasn’t HE the person who came up with the original color scheme? You can find examples of his theorizing about color based on the effects of the atmosphere and so on. But the pink castle seems kind of cheesy to me. I have a photo or two of the Disneyland topiaries being grown years before IASW opened, it’s kind of neat, I think they were just visible from the DLRR. I’d LOVE to have a neat pool that looked like a lagoon, with a Skull Rock and waterfalls as decoration! I’m sure there were exceptions to the “mean nun” rule, but all those stories can’t be made up, can they?
JG, OUCH.
DrGoat, I can’t tell if that brown corduroy jacket has leather patches on the elbows, but it should. Does the man right in the center of the arch have burgundy pants? Now that’s a look. Good for your mom for giving that abusive nun a piece of her mind! I don’t know why any teacher thinks it is a good idea to hit students. Now I’m picturing an elephant driving a truck, a first for me.
DrGoat, don’t tell me you thought of that too!
MRaymond, when I was young, my family went to Episcopalian churches, fairly easy-going as churches go. Thank goodness. Much of my family went to Lutheran churches, and I was always kind of shocked as to how hard-core they could be!
Lou and Sue, when I look at that topiary to the right, I think I see (or imagine) a big nose like a dog would have. I’m sure I’m not getting it right! I never understood the point of the pink Mary Kay cars; then again, I don’t know much about their business model. Did they sell door to door? Was the car a loaner, or did the salesperson own it? Meanwhile, I saw L.A. celebrity (famous for being famous) Angelyne’s pink Corvette on the highway a few years ago, I fumbled with my phone to get a photo, but it didn’t turn out very good. I also briefly met Angelyne at an art show, that was an odd encounter.
Major, Mary Kay sellers usually did home shows with groups of women, sort of like Tupperware parties [without the burping], and you got to try samples of the make up. They were always boring, but they did (and still do) sell a good product. I never knew anyone who personally drove one of the pink cars, but I thought you owned it once you hit a certain level in sales.
I didn't know who Angelyne was and just Googled her. She looks like the early version of a Kardashian. Interesting. Please share more about your odd encounter with her. Please.
Dr. Goat, MRaymond, Major P, glad you enjoyed that. Just popped into my head.
I have a good friend who went to Catholic school, his tales of terror are hard to believe. I can't imagine enduring it.
Sue and Major, yes, ivy and similar vines do damage to plaster and masonry and should not be permitted to grow like that. But it is so picturesque that people hate to cut it down. I remember a big building back east where I went to school for a while was literally covered with ivy, and after a costly renovation, they took all the ivy down. I visited a couple of years ago and could barely recognize the building, there was so much beautiful detail uncovered where in my memory there was just a green fuzzy box.
JG
Nun shall pass
What?
NUN SHALL PASS
We have no quarrel with you good sword-wielding madam but we MUST cross this bridge!
Then you shall die
As nuns we COMMAND you to stand aside!!
I MOVE FOR NO NUN
So be it!!!
--The nuns draw their swords and square off for battle. Fortunately Disneyland security arrives, disarms everyone and throws them all in the moat, much to the delight and entertainment of everyone else on the bridge--
Now back to our regularly scheduled program. :)
JG, I was gonna say "ouch", but "'Tis only a flesh wound."
Sue, that topiary on the right looks like a poodle-on-a-stick. Very popular at county fairs. (And delicious!)
Major, I think if you put muscles and skin on Skully he would look like Quasimodo, as played by Charles Laughton in the 1939 version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame... but Buddy Hackett works, too.
And you're right, the lack of symmetry is what give it that extra monstrousness.
Major, saying "booby" just for the sake of saying "booby" is immature, and only a "booby" would say "booby" just 'cuz he can. Such a person should win the "booby" prize for saying "booby".
Grant, an excellent adaptation of the movie!
Catholic schools get a bad rap, but I’m not sure public schools were any safer back in the day. I watched Mrs Houser fling erasers at other third graders and break a ruler over another kid’s head in 1978. I was paddled (with a paddle) by the vice principal in 1984 for a, um, poor choice of words on the playing field at gym. And to this day, I’m still not sure why my second grade principal spanked me along with a bunch of third grade habitual troublemakers. We were all told “you know what you did,” but I still don’t.
Grant, this would make a fine sequel. We need the French soldiers taunting King Arthur from the castle battlements and hurling a giant wooden dumbo over the walls.
JB, I can hear the knight saying now "what are you going to do? Bleed on me?"
Little known fact, Peter Lorre modeled for Skull Rock while filming 20K Leagues. Also, "booby".
Chuck, I had similar events in my public grammar school career. I spent some time in the principal's office and encountered a paddle. And look how I turned out.
JG
I didn't really understand Nuns at Disneyland. Guess they want to have fun too.
Bu, yes they do! Cyndi Lauper even sang about it in her smash hit from 1983, "Nuns Just Wanna Have Fun."
Lou and Sue, I am often mystified by the cosmetics industry; Merle Norman cosmetics is apparently successful enough that the family that owns it has a world-class museum full of incredible rare automobiles. And yet… Merle Norman? Thanks for the info about the pink cars! Perhaps I’ll tell you about my Angelyne encounter privately, I don’t want to say anything too mean and put it out there. It was mostly just strange, not awful or anything.
JG, yes, I think we’ve all known kids who grew up being terrorized by abusive nuns. As for ivy, I would assume that little “rootlets” would want to get into every tiny crack and crevice, eventually tearing brick, stone, and mortar apart over decades or centuries. I admit that the castle does look nice with an ivy coat!
Grant, you wrote a whole movie sequence, right here before our eyes! Hopefully we can get Weta Workshop to do our VFX!
JB, poodle on a stick, everyone’s favorite mall snack. I love the Charles Laughton version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”! One of my favorites. Laughton is amazing, and young Maureen O’Hara is so beautiful. As much as I like Lon Chaney’s silent version of “Hunchback”, the Laughton version is the one I would want to watch right now if I could. PS, “booby”.
Chuck, I moved a lot as a kid (Navy family), and most teachers were OK, some were mean, and only a few were truly awful. I still remember kids getting paddled, something that boggles my mind. And I got paddled too! Another kid kept talking to me during a school event, and my English teacher somehow thought that I was the one being “disruptive”, so I got paddled. It hurt like hell, but the worst thing was the feeling of injustice (and embarrassment)! I never forgave that teacher, not that he cared.
JG, I can see the resemblance to Peter Lorre (sorry Peter!). I don’t know if this happened at your schools, but kids in the wood shop would compete to see who could make the most horrible paddle in the hopes that some teacher might use it in the future (drilling holes to reduce air resistance, etc)!
TokyoMagic! that was during the big nun craze, when so many girls went to church instead of the mall. "Church is so fun!"
Speaking of "Booby"....my best friend lived in the same building as Angelyne in LA. They lived above Sunset Plaza. Quite the tony neighborhood now. She is a whole lotta woman. There is some TV movie, or documentary that was being made about her..and I think financed by her...so totally odd, and so completely LA. I saw her very frequently driving down Hollywood Blvd when I lived there. She was an oddity among oddities and STILL is around. And she STILL has billboards. She was ancient when I was much younger. I aged. She is preserved. Like those dead Popes in the Vatican that never decompose. Thinking about it now, she was very much ahead of her time. There was no internet, social media, widespread cell phone use...but she worked her billboards. The idea is not original, and was the subject of a movie made in the 40's called "it should happen to you". Judy Holliday makes a name for herself by renting billboards all over NYC to put her name on them. As I learned in logic class: there are no original ideas.
My eyes are a bit blurry tonight, and I thought the first paragraph said “HUN ALERT!” I was zooming in expecting to find German tourists in lederhosen and dirndls.
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