Old Snapshots, 1965-ish
A while ago, somebody put a group of old snapshots/photo prints on eBay. They weren't particularly remarkable - except for one. This first one! It's the only shot I've ever seen taken inside the short-lived "Fashion and Fabrics Through the Ages" exhibit in Tomorrowland (1965-66). This exhibit was an odd fit for Tomorrowland, but that's how it went sometimes. The dress on the mannequin to our left was worn by the wife (Lucretia!) of President James A. Garfield (the 20th President of the USA) at his inauguration, while I believe that the dress seen to the right was one worn by the wife (presumably Julia Gardiner Tyler, wife #2) of John Tyler, the 10th President.
Back in 2018, I shared scans of the souvenir flyer/brochure thingy, check it out HERE.
As I said, the rest of the photos are not that inspiring, but I scanned them, so you are stuck with them! I should add that I originally thought that all of them were from 1965, but realized that the lot contained photos from a number of visits, so it's hard to say for sure when any particular image was taken.
Here's a fella posing with the good old Monsanto House of the Future, it almost looks to be hovering above the green shrubbery. Shrubbery!
Next, a somewhat interesting view taken from the Swiss Family Treehouse, looking down upon the Rivers of the World and a single jungle launch as it passed a ruined temple guarded by chocodiles. Note the red leaves of the tree in the foreground - red from BLOOD.
Stay tuned for more scans from this batch of snapshots.
6 comments:
Major-
"Fashions and Fabrics Through the Ages" - Tomorrowland really was screaming for a 'refresh' back then - and unlike today's poor excuses for "refreshes" - in 1967 it got one hellava 'refresh'-!
Reviewing my comment from 2018, I was about to 86 my entire wardrobe that wasn't 'as new as tomorrow'. I can see by opening my closet door no such purging took place, and as such can still be seen walking the streets dressed as a dandy. Or maybe it's closer to a hobo-?
Thanks, Major.
The Monsanto fashions exhibit really was showcasing Monsanto’s ( NEW) wear dated fabrics. And in the exit of Adventure Thru Inner Space MOST of the “Miracles From Molecules” exhibit was also focused on clothing fabrics . In fact the ATOMOBILES had guests exit after a spin around the MONSANTO FASHION FOUNTAIN!! Despite people’s political feelings on Monsanto … they’d be at a real loss without Monsanto’s research in synthetic fabrics …and don’t get me started about CLEAR PLASTIC MEAT TRAYS!!!
I forgot to mention : the clothing exhibited in Fashion Thru The Ages was actually detailed replicas and NOT the actual clothing artifacts but with artful wording it gave guests the impression they were viewing the original vintage clothing.
Monsanto did a lot of good things, despite an occasional foray into sad missteps..!
Thank Ye Major...
Funny how the back of Mrs. Garfield's dress is a different color than the front. That must've been a thing back then. Hey, we have a street in our town named after President Garfield. What are the odds? ;-) And Tyler too! (You have to say that using Glinda the Good Witch's voice.)
"Shrubbery!" And look, there's a path in the middle giving it a two-layer effect! The size of the man makes the HotF look smaller than usual.
Kind of a neat shot, looking at the Jungle Cruise through the Treehouse leaves. So, how did the leaves get bloody? Maybe the crocs are really messy when they're 'death rolling' their 'food', and the leaves get spattered with blood.
Not as clear as 35mm slides, but nice just the same. Thanks, Major.
Major, congratulations on your rare photo find! I still think it's an odd fit for Tomorrowland.....the historic fashions part, not any part dealing with new or future fabrics. Like I said back in 2018, if they did this exhibit today, they could use animatronic figures. They could crank out a bunch of RoboWalts (maybe without the mustaches) and have them model the costumes.
Thanks, Major!
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