I have two old snapshots (i.e. "photo prints") for you today, starting with this first example, a nice one taken inside the Penny Arcade. It's a rare view, but we only get the tiniest of glimpses at some of the vintage "games of skill", such as that mysterious thing with Uncle Sam to the left. Maybe you clutched two brass knobs, and Sam would determine whether you were true American? If not, a red lightbulb lit up, and you would be pummeled by passers-by. Through the draped doorway to our right, I think we are looking into the shop next door.
Once again, I tried applying one of Photoshop's mysterious "Neural Filters", and it did sharpen up some details, increase the contrast, and reduce some of the grain.
Here's a lesser photo print, taken from the Skyway. The Junior Autopia is down below, but otherwise it's a whole lotta nothin'! Acres and acres of Wookie-less land. Amazing.
Major-
ReplyDelete"... such as that mysterious thing with Uncle Sam to the left. Maybe you clutched two brass knobs..."
Actually, you grabbed hold of Uncle Sam's right hand, and depending on how effective the grip of your right hand, the round dial positioned on Sam's chest would register your "strength". Pretty swell, huh-?
It's officially an 'Uncle Sam Strength Tester', dating from about 1908. I have one in my living room which I use to impress friends and family.
(Hats-off to the Columbia and Jungle Cruise attraction posters).
Thanks, Major.
Looks like that teen is trying his luck with Uncle Sam's "Test of Patriotism". Will he pass? Or will he get pummeled? looks like someone poked a #2H pencil through the photo (between the tall guy's legs). Just missed some vital organs. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell, it's Wookiee-less for now. But I see two Wookiee exploratory spacecraft in the sky on the right. They appear as white dots in this photo. (Maybe TM! had something to do with it?) It won't be long 'til the place is infested with the tall furry beings. Well, fifty or sixty years anyway.
Nanook, wow, how cool that you have one of those in your living room!
Black & white snapshots always look soooo oooold! Even when they're not. Thanks for the pics, Major.
Nanook beat me to it about the Uncle Sam "Strength Tester." I looked through my pics of the current "Penny Arcade"....if you can even call it that anymore, but couldn't find a pic of it. I felt like I had seen it recently, but it might have been in Tokyo Disneyland's Penny Arcade. And those pics are on an external hard drive, so to make things easier (on me), here is a pic from the internet:
ReplyDeleteUncle Sam Strength Tester Machine
That shop that we can see through the doorway, is the Candy Palace.
Thanks, Major!
Good to see a view of the Penny Arcade back when a penny was worth something, and before J.C. came out of nowhere to turn it into a department store. I do in fact remember the Uncle Sam Strength Tester, if you passed, you could get an officer’s commission, but if you failed you were drafted into the infantry.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I do recall the game you are thinking of with the knob handles that shocked you with electricity. I could hold that one all the way to the end. In today’s world, having that game out would be equivalent to attempted murder, but in the 70’s, it was just good fun.
Photo 2 looks out on a bleak Wookie-free agricultural landscape. In a short time it will be covered with theme park and commercial development congenial to those hairy interlopers. Sasquatch are just Wookie Advance Scouts studying our defenses before they invade.
Thanks for these snaps, Major!
JG
Nanook, those old penny arcade games were weird! A lot of “strength testing”. Be sure you don’t suffer from consumption. I can’t tell if you are kidding about having an Uncle Sam Strength Tester in your living room, but if so, that’s pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteJB, you can tell that you are failing Uncle Sam’s test when his eyes start to glow red. Soon the demonic laughter starts, and his hand starts to crush yours. “Please stop, Uncle Sam!”. But he will never stop. Have I ever seen a Wookie in Galaxy’s Edge? I don’t think so! I’ve seen Ray, and storm troopers, and maybe even Kylo Ren. But never a Wookie.
TokyoMagic!, it makes me sad that Disneyland got rid of so many of those wonderful antique machines that used to fascinate me so much as a kid. We spent lots of nickels! Did people lose interest, or was it decided that the space could be used more profitably selling plush animals (or whatever they do in there)? The Candy Palace… I’ve still never been in there!
JG, in my grandparent’s day, you could buy a car for a penny, and have change leftover for a goat. (Remember McDonald’s commercials where a guy pays for his meal with a dollar bill and is amazed to get change?). Sounds like the Uncle Sam Strength Tester was sort of like the “Starfighter” game in “The Last Starfighter”, secretly a way to find skilled pilots for battle! They should have had a penny arcade game where you had to grab handles that were so filthy and sticky that just thinking about pathogens would make you let go. The best thing about photo#2 is that it’s so barren and undeveloped!
Major-
ReplyDeleteSorry to disappoint, but I only shanghaied the reference to the Uncle Sam Strength Tester to 'gin up' my copy. Frankly, I'd prefer a Seeburg VL200 or a KD200 jukebox if I was going to jazz-up my living room.
Quite a find of 'old' pictures which look like they are from the 30s not the 50s. If these are old than so am I. With the Columbia poster, I'm going to date these as no earlier than 1958. I miss those great times at the Arcade. So much fun for only a penny. I'm certain I tried my grip with Uncle Sam. I remember around 1960, I'd get two Pixie Sticks for a penny. Yum...all the flavored sugar kept me, and my dentist, going! My friend and I would collect and redeem empty glass soda bottles for 2 cents each. So I usually had the money. KS
ReplyDeleteWe got 3 cents a bottle, that's why I'm rich today and have an Uncle Sam Strength Tester in every room!
ReplyDeleteMr. Glasses is pretty confident sartorially. And is she carrying a DL bag?
Thanks, Major
Zach
I have never seen that AUTOPIA blade sign! That’s great!!
ReplyDeleteLike the germs from the Penny Arcade …. I saw a documentary about obsolete things and it had a whole section about telephone booths and how people use to get sick from using them … the germs would incubate inside the glass boxes heated by the sun. GROSS!! Long before the pandemic a friend of mine always brought little bottles of hand sanitizer to Disneyland with her … and after always getting a sticky steering wheel on AUTOPIA … the little bottles were a relief!!
As a kid the weeks before going to Disneyland we always a jar or tray for change to collect to use for the Penny Arcade. I remember one time in a Disneyland trip with my grandparents we about 2 miles from the house enroute to the freeway … And my grandpa realized he forgot all the penny Arcade change and we turned around to go back to the house and get it!! At tge time the Penny Arcade was part of the Disneyland experience.