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!
10 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.
How about this? In the lower corners of the passenger cars' red window frames, we can see the chromed school-bus style latches!
I wonder if Steve is in Main Street Magic.
Thanks, major! The colors are magical this morning.
Zach
TokyoMagic!, poor Bert, he was probably a popular star back in his day - forgotten now.
JB, I admit that I can’t really get tired of seeing the train at the station, and even parts of the attraction posters is better than nothing. The Flying Saucers poster is one that eluded me during my years of collecting, I’ve always loved the design of that one. As for the horses trampling guests… I feel like it must be very frustrating to drive any of the Main Street vehicles these days, everybody walks in the street, and they are clueless about the vehicles coming up behind them, no matter how much they honk or ring their bells. I definitely think that the rules about the buttoned or unbuttoned vests must have been different in the pre-Bu days!
Steve DeGaetano, I would have never noticed the latches, but you can clearly see them!
Zach, interesting thought… I am not sure when Mr. Martin moved on to Knott’s Berry Farm, but he very well could have been in the Magic Shop!
Back when the rail cars had names. Some airlines still give names to their planes, but not all. Are these cars still used on DLRR? I don’t recall the closed cars, only the open excursion types?
Photo 2 is a nice view of Main Street, only one trash can. It’s a difficult angle. Imagine the uproar today from showing a film featuring cigarettes? I see the Yale Lock Shop, which I don’t remember at all. Were there other door hardware makers named after Ivy League colleges? There’s a butcher shop advertised, but again, no memory of that.
Good stuff Major, thank you!
JG
JG, the only car remaining at Disneyland from this trainset is the Lilly Belle. One car--the "Combine"-- is on display at Walt's Barn in Griffith Park, and the remaining four coaches are used on a private railroad near San Luis Obispo, called the Pacific Coast Railroad.
@ Steve DeGaetano-
"In the lower corners of the passenger cars' red window frames, we can see the chromed school-bus style latches!"
Funny you should mention the latches, as I was watching Disneyland, U.S.A. just last night and noticed them displayed quite prominently in a couple of shots as the train was passing the RoA with the Mark Twain and with the Painted Desert from the [then] Rainbow Cavern's Mine Train as backdrop.
JG, I just scanned a photo of an old Douglas Constellation, and noticed that it had a name on it, I think it was something like “Star of Algiers”. Or something close enough. Looking ahead, I see that Steve D. answered your question about the old passenger cars! I gotta say, I don’t miss people smoking at Disneyland. I prefer to inhale (relatively) clean air! All stores should be named after Ivy Leaguers, since they are better than we mere mortals. The butcher shop had some Swift-branded souvenirs, but was not really a meat shop.
Steve DeGaetano, I got to see the Combine at Walt’s Barn a few years back. They had a TV monitor in the doorway with a slideshow of images of the Combine through the years - and I saw some of my own photos!
Nanook, that “Disneyland USA” film is superb, such beautiful color footage of the park from those early days!
@Steve, thank you!
JG
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