Randos!
I am a humble blogger, and my needs are simple. Sure, rare views of Disneyland are great, and I enjoy getting bags of money in the mail from my Hollywood friends, but I can appreciate the charms of more modest things too. Like today's RANDOS.
First up is this scan from July, 1967, showing a bustling Fantasyland. Dumbo is Dumboing, the Skyway is Skywaying, and all is right in the world. I like the splashes of color from bright clothing, and think that the lady in chartreuse is pretty daring with her bare midriff - seems pretty saucy for '67.
It's funny, this next picture is from only 8 months earlier (the slide is dated "November, 1966"), and yet it somehow feels a lot older. Maybe it's partly due to the cooler weather, leading to more subdued long-sleeves, sweaters, and coats. The park still looks lovely though, with blue skies, and bright flowers around the flagpole. The trees have either been recently trimmed, or they were replaced completely.
Three kids pose near the sugarless drinking fountain, and the park looks pleasantly busy (but not too busy). A Cast Member hurries in from the left, maybe he drove a Horse Drawn Streetcar or an Omnibus. If he's late one more time, he'll be in big trouble.
10 comments:
The Dumbo/Skyway pic is wonderful. Always loved the candy-striped support arms of the original Dumbo ride. Very festive.
There's Timothy with his whip. Maybe if he used the "magic feather" method instead of the whip.
The red shirt adds a nice touch to the image. Thanks, Major.
1967 must have been "In for a penny, in for a pound" year: Women dressed in all blue, all yellow, and all chartreuse; it looks like an Easter basket! And like Ken M. says, the support arms for the Dumbi look like sticks of Fruit Stripe gum. We can see just a smidge of the Skyway Chalet next to one of the Dumbos Dumboing.
In the second photo (and close-up), the posing kid on the right looks like he's just finishing up a Sunkist orange popsicle. I think his free hand is all sticky. I can see a couple of other kids licking (maybe) the same type of popsicle. Looks like the running(?) CM is holding a blue folder of some sort. Probably the daily launch codes for the ICBMs located inside the Subs. Looks like three trashcans in this pic.
Nice Randos, Major. Thanks.
The trees are the Brazilian peppers I have written about before: they trimmed/pruned these trees very specifically so that the branches would change direction and become very lacey with their leaf and branch structure. That these are gone is sad, but typically they would only last in the neighborhood of 30 years anyway. I'm glad I got to see them in their prime. The "Walt planted" Japanese elms that line the street are another thing completely: they can last hundreds of years and grow up to 50ft. It looks like they need a trimmy trim here. It looks like we haven't put up fencing around the grass yet. Which I do enjoy seeing and makes Town Square feel "free-er". Having vinca (the white flowers) seems like a good, yet humble choice. They are the alternative to the shade loving impatiens and are frequently mistaken for that variety. Vinca: like the marigolds (perhaps) next to them love the sunshine. They can fill up a bed quickly, and are pretty much low/no maintenance. The Main St. vehicle guy with short vest unbuttoned....this is a common thing with these guys...for decades. Button up your vest: that is why it has buttons. Clearly, this department has always run amok since opening day. "Madness". The Emporium sign seems to have a fresh coat of very red paint. I'm not sure I ever noticed how red the red is. I don't mind it...just pointing it out. Dumbi and midriffs. It's what Fantasyland is all about. That sounded naughty: sorry. The colors are great. If you check the photos from yesterday, only a few years earlier: the landscape of fashion changes pretty dramatically. And I don't see any sideburns here in '67. Thanks Major!
I like in the first photo (which is all great, anyway) the sight of the blue skyway car apparently swinging after just leaving the station. If this is correct, it means I finally know in which direction the cars travel... clockwise! (and, anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere)
thanks, Major
That Fantasyland photo really is awash with colour! As someone born in the summer of '67, photos from any previous era always strike me as being from a far more drab and distant time. Having said that, the denizens of the second photo are sporting a fair amount of bright clothing too. Thanks, for the excellent pics as always, Major.
Wow, so much going on…
Fruit Stripe Gum, I had forgotten that till just now. Thanks JB.
Photo 2 is more what I expect from Main Street pics, no less than 5 trash cans making their partial appearances, AND the famous drinking fountain too. Great stuff, just wonderful. Thank you Major!
Seems like plenty of wild colors in both photos, especially the ladies clothing.
@LTL, yes the Skyway travelled clockwise in plan view, buckets outbound from fantasyland would be on the southerly side of the cables. Nanook is the real skyway expert though.
JG
K. Martinez, I like the color and the energy of that first photo, even if it doesn’t show anything super rare! Timothy is a cruel master. I feel bad that he’s one of my favorite Disney characters.
JB, I do like the colors that were popular that year, especially when you see a combo of lime green, turquoise, and perhaps a darker blue. I think I had a shirt like that! I’m sure you’re right about the Sunkist popsicle, it’s not even 10 o’clock in the morning and I wish I had one of those right now.
Bu, I always think of Brazilian pepper trees as the messiest darn trees. They look good from a distance, but they drop tons of stuff, and they also sprout from the trunks, needing constant attention. Seems like there must be a better option. I’ve never heard of Vincas, and I have a mom and grandmother who were “flower crazy”, they knew all of them. They probably knew Vincas too, but I never paid attention. It does seem like the unbuttoned vest would be a real no-no for cast members. Unless he was officially off duty? Though he was also still “on stage”.
LTL, YES, remembering that the Skyway cars travel clockwise makes it easy.
Pegleg Pete, I kind of wish that first one wasn’t an “Instamatic” photo, and was a regular 35mm pic, but we must make do. One of the things I like about the clothing from the ’67 era is that it is colorful, but doesn’t look like tie-dye or some other ugly (sorry!) style.
JG, I think I read that Fruit Stripe Gum was recently discontinued. I haven’t had it in decades, but boy did I like it when I was a kid. I confess to swallowing more than a few sticks, it tasted so good. I love the idea of a famous drinking fountain. I hope fame doesn’t go to its head. Nanook is the expert on many things!
@ LTL & JG-
JG- That is correct: "...the Skyway travelled clockwise in plan view...", but you flipped the description for the outbound side in Fantasyland... make that the northerly side.
The other giveaway is the outbound cable is at a lower elevation than the inbound, as the large cable drum is canted, placing the outbound cable lower and in-line with the pair of guide rails supporting the untethered buckets prior to their 're-launch' and re-clamping back on the cable. The guide rails also are angled slightly downhill to allow easier movement of the [fully-loaded] buckets through the loading station, which as you should all remember, are 'muscled-around' the rails by beefy CM's-! THIS VIEW clearly shows the offset elevation of the cable height (and the same is true for the Tomorrowland station) LOOK HERE.
HERE's a great view of a 'swinging bucket' as it has just been clamped back on the running cable.
Let's add a correction...
The buckets aren't fully-loaded as the CM's push the [now empty] buckets around the unloading/loading platform toward the load area. But, once loaded, the buckets are CM-pushed into a pre-launch area up against a mechanical stop, where when ready, a solenoid releases a loaded bucket downhill, riding upon the gently sloping rails until the bucket travels far enough where it can engage the traveling cable. At that point the arm of cable grip is released - previously forced to one side - allowing the grip to close around the traveling cable, the bucket now 'locked in-place' on the traveling cable until it reaches the opposite station.
Nanook, thanks for these two awesome posts with details, and the three photos!
Photo One is great... I can still remember as a pre-schooler waiting with my uncle to go up that hill to The Chalet -- all while remembering it from the year before. Now *that's* an impact!
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