Main Street Stuff, August 1962
Here are two familiar views from 1962; I'm sure you can understand my dilemma: "What do I say about these photos that might enhance their effect?". In this first example, I'm a bit stumped on that score. We've got the solid and stately (but not too stately) Main Street Station, and the original yellow passenger cars; watching some of those early black and white "Disneyland" (the TV show) episodes, it's pretty neat to see the cars being built on soundstages at the studio. I've always wondered how much say Santa Fe had in naming each car; the one in the center is "Colorado Rockies". Other names were "Navajo Chief", "Painted Desert", "Land of the Pueblos", and other names that evoke the romance of travel.
This next one would be pretty nice, except that it suffers from shadows that went way too dark. But we can still appreciate the beauty of the buildings along Main Street as the shadows crept across the street. Notice the movie on the marquee of the Main Street Cinema: Cupid Vs Cigarettes. That's some title! As we can see, it was "a riotous comedy". Looking it up, it is a 1912 short film starring Bert Caldwell and Edith Gardner. My favorites!
2 comments:
Ha, ha.....after reading the name "Bert Caldwell," but before finishing the rest of that last line, I was already thinking to myself, "OH! He's my favorite!" Great minds......or something like that.
Thanks for the vintage Main St. pics, Major!
Yeah, it gets kind of hard to say something new about scenes we've seen dozens... hundreds of times. But this photo is really special! Look at that perfect color! Look at that crisp focus! Look at the tops of all those attraction posters! (Even one for the Flying Saucers.) Unfortunately, all we see of Floral Mickey is the left ear; but the ear looks great!!! ;-)
I suppose the shadows are a wee bit dark, but it adds dramatic excitement to the picture. Plus the shadows make the well-lit parts look even better. That horse is heading right for us! I don't think the photographer survived. Trampled under massive horse hooves and then trundled over by the Streetcar. But at least he got the shot! And now we're looking at it all these years later. We have one unbuttoned vest and one that's buttoned. Someone will be pleased... or at least half-pleased. It's a good thing that that silhouetted tree is in the upper left corner, otherwise this photo wouldn't have been half as good.
Even though we've seen similar images many times, these are still nice photos! Thanks, Major.
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