Color Correction Academy
Happy Valentine's Day!
I was going to ignore The Mushiest Day of The Year, but Sue B. is more mature than I am. She sent along two vintage scans that seemed appropriate for the occasion. As you can see, a boy and a girl are celebrating some occasion with a butterfly-shaped cake. "You've always been a fan of Lepidoptera, honey!", said the boy. "Oh, Sterling, you say the sweetest things!". Check out that wallpaper,
What the...! Kissing?!? I choose to believe that they are just rubbing noses, the way it's done in certain cultures. Sue pointed out that the danger of cooties is in the red zone, but these two lovebirds don't care. I can't imagine being that age and then being asked to do whatever they are doing, but it's ancient history now.
It's Friday, and I wanted to share something fun, so I thought you might enjoy seeing more examples of slides that were restored from examples that had turned magenta over the years. It's always a fun challenge to try to bring the color back, even if the results were mixed. All of these are undated - but definitely from the 1950s.
So... there's the first one as it looks unaltered. Arg! Still, the subject matter is appealing, a nice view from the parking lot as we approach the ticket booths and turnstiles.
I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the photo to look like this, and I'm still not entirely happy with it - but it is definitely an improvement. Notice the two ladies who appear to be wearing similar (but not identical) outfits; red dresses, white socks, and even souvenir Keppy Kaps (well, maybe only the woman to the right is wearing a Keppy Kap). Why are they going home so early?? To the right of the ladies we can just see a yellow "runabout" behind the ticket booths. The C.K. Holliday is at rest on the platform in front of Main Street Station. There is a banner above the west tunnel, I think I see "...ON" for the last two letters, must have to do with the debut of the Grand Canyon Diorama (which opened on March 31, 1958).
Next is this Town Square view, with an Omnibus and the Bank of America. For whatever reason, there was less color information remaining beneath all of that redness, which made things a bit trickier.
Like the first pic, I am not completely satisfied with this color-correction attempt, but it's OK. It's possible I could work on it longer and get a slightly better result, but I spent enough time! Above that trashcan, there is a man, and behind him we can see a rare Art Corner poster, as well as a 20,000 Leagues poster. Some guests are gathered around the little souvenir booth ("Do ya got any salt and peppers? My sister loves salt and peppers!"). Meanwhile, the Omnibus driver appears to be chatting with a family, because he cares. "Don't keep a grown chimp as a pet, take it from me". "I promise, sir!". Where else but at Disneyland?
21 comments:
Major-
I like how 'Mom' placed the candles on the cardboard round, surrounding the cake itself. Extra points for rolls of 'Five Flavor' Life Savers. Classic mid-century wallpaper, too.
That looks like the Storybook AP sitting next to the Art Corner AP.
Thanks, Sue and The Major.
The Major vs Magenta: the death match.
Two may enter, but only one will leave.
Thanks Major, and Sue for the great pics to ponder today. And thanks for the hard work, keeping us safe from the likes of odd color shifts.
Yes. He looks like a "Sterling". As Nanook noted, there are packs of LifeSavers scattered around the table. They must have been party favors. This photo cries out to be seen in color; both, for the butterfly cake, and that 'wonderful' wallpaper.
Those elongated holes in the girl's dress look kinda strange. They seem to be strategically placed to keep her armpits dry and daisy fresh. You'd have to look long and hard and far to find wallpaper that is busier than this! (It should come with an epilepsy warning.)
Thank you, Sue.
You always come through.
Yes, you do. ;-)
Yay! Before & afters! It's been a while since we've had some of those.
In the magenta images, you can juuuust barely make out a few other colors amongst the sea of pink. I tried my hand at rescuing these. The results were.... pitiful; at least when compared to your efforts! It's amazing how much color variety you managed to squeeze out of these pics. The first one especially; looks "practically perfect in every way". The second one, while nice, isn't quite as 'Mary Poppins perfect'. The cast shadows still look pink, but that's about the only giveaway.
I always love your before & afters, Major. Thanks.
I would never be able to tell that the restored pictures looks the way they did originally. I think the restorations are amazing!
The first photos also has the C.K. Holliday without its later-added cab roof hatch stopped at Main Street Station, pulling its original six-car consist. The Kalamazoo handcar is parked at the station, making this image from 1956 or later.
I agree that the restorations are amazing! I pine for a raised curb and chain link fence at the Main Entrance again! Even though it seems so "low brow" it exudes 100 percent more charm than the current snore at 1313 Harbor. It's not horrible, but the color scheme would be so much better in these 1950's jewel tones....and it would be nice if there were a green space rather than a giant expanse of pavers that guests paid to have their names on. I think sod is less expensive than bricks...although it does take some care and love. That being said, Happy Valentines day! What a wonderful park like setting in Town Square, with simple red white and blue decor: just like the little village I live in. Now that the bank is closed, where do the foreigners go for currency exchange? As an FYI: in my day we took ALL (hard) currencies...we called Cash Control for the exchange rate of the day, did the calculations and any change needed was done in US funds. Note that that was in the "cash only" days. Another time in the past I pine for...also a phone-less society. Tech is cool and convenient, but I'm officially an old grump. Speaking of: Yes, Small World is adding the "new" verse added by Richard Sherman, so I can't hate on it too much, I just don't know if the guests will even know, notice, or care. Seems like a lot of effort to re-master, studio time, performers....it goes on....not sure if there is ROI, it's not likely that you will be able to absorb the newness, as people only tend to hum "Ittttsss and Small World affffterrr allllll" not the bits in-between....and yes...let's not jack around with things like Small World please. Thanks Major.
Cute kids, and Grandma Moses (or Grant Wood) wallpaper. I never cared for life savers, I guess I’m a grump.
Happy Valentines, everyone!
Major, You do excellent work, these pics look fine to me, not at all life savery.
I like the glimpse of the hand car, and what might be an electric cart for hauling guests?
The man perfectly aligned with the trash can is an odd feature, but I’ll take it. Maybe the intended focal point was the bus?
Thanks for today’s pics!
JG
Nanook, it’s the little details - like those candles! Gotta love the Life Savers too, I wish they still made the tangerine flavor (just rolls of those). That is definitely a Storybook Land poster, though I believe the poster to the right is a Main Street Station example (nerd alert).
Budblade, I admit that I am wearing my Speedo and a headband, just like The Hulkster. But then again, that’s what I always wear. Glad you liked today’s pix!
JB, imagine naming your child “Sterling”. I’ve had worse party favors than packets of Life Savers (erasers that look like soccer balls. WHY?). I agree that those holes in the dress are odd, maybe they make it easier to scratch. I always do the “monkey scratch”, even in refined company. Restoring photos from pink is a crapshoot, you never know, though I can now usually tell if there is enough color information beneath all that magenta to make it worth trying.
Anonymous (Steve DeGaetano, who else could it be?), with the partial banner for the Grand Canyon Diorama visible, we can date this to 1958!
Bu, hey, it’s Bu! Thanks for the nice words re: the restorations. I love the old low brow entrance, but admit that a lot of it is due to personal nostalgia. For those who lack that, I’m sure it looks very rinky-dink. I’d also like it if they had some green space between Disneyland and DCA, but I guess it’s just not practical, and they don’t want to encourage lounging and loitering on the grass. I just bought my mom a Valentine at the grocery store, it was funny how many men were there at 8:15 in the morning, buying flowers, heart-shaped mylar balloons, and whatever flowers were left. Cell phones are a blessing and a curse, there are many things I like about them, but I am not addicted to my phone the way many are. I don’t need to pull the phone out the second I stop at a red light. I can actually think about stuff, like cartoons and candy. I don’t get the point of the new verse, it seems redundant (to put it mildly), it says nothing that hasn’t already been said. It just feels like busy work for the sake of busy work. What is ROI??
JG, seeing kids kissing at that age is weird to me, but maybe I am one of those cases of “arrested development”. I liked girls when I was that age, but there was no way I was going to let anyone know it! Yes, the electric cart, I called it a “runabout”, but that might not be entirely accurate. It must be tiring to always align with a trashcan, but I’ll never know.
Oops, not "whatever flowers are left", but "whatever cards are left".
Major, ROI was Walt’s brother.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!. One of the cool things about having an active bank on site was the ability to open a checking account, and have that branch listed on the checks. This was available for employees. And then came along the Disney Credit Union of which we began to migrate to. KS
@ Chuck-
Naturally-!
Major-
Let's try Return On Investment.
Calling the new verse "redundant" is rather charitable, I'd say. The genius of the original roundelay is in its simplicity and sophistication, simultaneously.
These added lyrics appear to be part of the process of creating the original work, and for obvious reasons, were discarded at the time as being unnecessary - at least for use in this song. Many popular composers often discard music and lyrics from song 'X', only to appear for later use in song 'Y'. And as the current crop of folks, bound and determined as they are of running the Disney name into the ground are completely bereft of any talent [that matters], there should be no surprise these days this sort of "plussing" is being force-fed down the ears of everyone. (I apologize for the mixed metaphor, but you get the idea).
Chuck, Walt’s brother was a French king??
KS, I admit that it would be cool to have the Disneyland B of A as your bank!
Nanook, ah. Return on Investment. It all seems so obvious now. I agree with you about those lyrics, even if they are from the Shermans, they are unnecessary. How about yet another verse about friendship and brotherhood? I was just listening to a podcast about the music from the Wizard of Oz, and the many rejected songs and verses and versions, and in every case, omitting those versions was the right choice.
I think those color corrections came out pretty well. I would never have guessed they were so magenta to start.
I'm really enjoying that wallpaper in the pictures of the kids. It looks like the end papers of some books I had as a child.
Major-
"... and in every case, omitting those versions was the right choice".
Although not a guarantee of success... "Less is more" is often the correct choice; but the farther one is removed from 'genius', "every" idea seems great to them. That's simply not so.
Major : nice restoration work!
Sue: nice selection for today.
Bu: in my time of the late 90’s early 2000’s — with the cashier booth in the Penny Arcade removed , the STARCADE cashier booth there but unused and the Bank of Main Street vacated , merchandise leads could exchange foreign currency for guests right in the shop. It was rare … but it happened . We would call cash control … they would check the current exchange rate ..and then calculate what they received back in American currency. Oh!! I just remembered: this was only good for paper foreign currency- no coins!! However the guests would get American coins BACK in the exchange. The foreign money was kept in a special envelope till a cash pick up was performed and taken to the safe room ( the office with the safe) later it was collected with the rest of the deposits and sent to cash control with the special exchange number issued by cash control when they calculated the exchange rate . Honestly I think the only times I ever had to perform this service was for Disney employees who had recently returned from abroad . For a short time at the Disneyland hotel there was a currency exchange office which eventually moved to Down Town Disney but then became a Disney Travel office .
Another distant memory that just came back to me: castmembers who mistakenly accepted foreign coins - accepting them as American coins - would get reprimanded…. And after 3 times they would be removed from cash register assignments. In some larger locations employees register tills were assigned to them Thru their shift … when a cast member covered them for a break - the till would be removed and replaced with a fresh till … so when the CM cashed out … they could monitor any discrepancies. And a OVERAGE was worse than a SHORTAGE …
During extreme busy periods or crowded holidays , merchandise leads would be sent to help out in the crowded locations … sometimes they would have us change costumes … but more often it was so urgent… so on a crowded Christmas week .. operations would announce they were keeping the Emporium opened till 2:00 am so suddenly you’d see cashiers in The Emporium wearing Character Shop costumes from Tomorrowland , or Adventureland Bazzar , etc … the Disney Gallery costumes were not as offensive. When it came time to collect guests money : Disney doesn’t give a rats-ass about “THEMING” !!! Lol.
Another thing that would happen on these busy operating extensions was that Main Street shops and exterior lighting is on timers … they usually dim or go to a smaller percentage after about 2 hours after scheduled closing … so sometimes they would extend the shop hours and operations would forget to adjust the lighting timers and all of the sudden, the lights would dim to the surprise of the guest shopping .
Dean Finder, I guess I get so picky that all I see is the imperfections, but I am glad that the restorations came out “good enough”! I agree, the wallpaper looks very familiar, I think I used to eat a restaurant when I was a kid with similar paper.
Nanook, “Less is more”, something Disney has never heard!
Mike Cozart, I’m kind of surprised that foreign currency was accepted. How is an employee supposed to do the conversion? “Please exchange your money at the Bank of America on Main Street”, seems to be a nice way to go. “I have a pocket full of Lira! Let me in!”. I’m always fascinated by the light on top of some of the booths, supposedly to alert security in case of a robbery (or something). I think I read that it happened at least once? Just imagine going to Disneyland to rob it! But if there’s a place with lots of money, there will be people who want to get some of it. I really would know what the official response to the offer of foreign money should be. There must have been a protocol?
Mike Cozart, I suppose that if the crowds warranted an extra-late hour, and sales were red hot, they might as well keep the cash registers ringing. I don’t think most guests would notice the costume inconsistencies, but it would be amusing to observe for those who know.
We would call the extended close a "slow close"....and it wasn't because the place was packed...it was because it was low attendance and by extending the hours you got every penny you could. The attractions were at regular close, and there was nothing else to do but pour onto Main St. and spend spend spend. This didn't help places like City Hall: as we had to go longer, as all of Guest Relations did. But since closing shifts were usually 2 hours beyond the close, generally we had someone to cover anyway. When you heard "slow close" over the radio I think there was a communal "ugh" sound throughout the park, as it just meant that everyone was going to have a longer day, and you might miss "Dallas" or "Dynasty" as a result. My commute was long so I always missed it all....and yes: being over was much worse, and yes: taking foreign coins by mistake was real...and worthy of reprimand....also, changing out foreign coins with coins from your own pocket was also a terminal offense....or balancing totals by adding a nickel or two...also terminal offense. If you were over by a larger amount: perhaps a guest walked off without change, etc....pretty normal actually....that was bad...the amount had to be documented, then if a guest got home and thought "Wow...I thought I gave that guy a $50....but I only have change for a $20....so they would go into over/short records, find out who was there....see if there was patterns....or not....and then if the location WAS over...they would send the guest a check. If there was an employee pattern of "overage", and NO overage was ever found...that would be very very bad and involve security. This is why during cash handling school there was a place to always have the payment in full view of the customer during the entire exchange under a clip, so if the customer disputed (which they did sometimes) you could say..."no...you gave me a $20....and it's still here under the clip. Short change artists are real, and once you experience it, you never forget...and that's another story for another time. Anything can happen in Disneyland!
I think Roy’s name was more than appropriate, considering he was constantly having to justify the ROI of his brother’s ideas to generally risk-averse investors.
Mike & Bu, were Canadian coins treated any differently than other foreign currency? Since their size, color and shape (if not their weight) are identical to their American equivalents, at least in the border states it’s fairly common to see them used interchangeably in circulation with US coinage.
I once got a UK penny in change in Windsor, Ontario. That was unexpected as British pennies are slightly larger than their North American cousins…and the UK doesn’t share a border with either the United States or Canada.
Chuck : the Canadian coins were the most common mistakenly collected coins - but they were not legal tender and were counted as a till shortage and employees would receive a “ding” against them.
I can remember having to do safe recounts or verify a recount trying to detect a $3.35 discrepancy before a deposit of hundreds of thousands of dollars were sent to cash control that night ( really very early the next morning) before bf well aware that part of the discrepancy was Canadian coins.
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