Here are two swell slide scans from September, 1962! Let's begin with this great view of the Bertha Mae Keelboat gliding along the River with a full compliment of passengers. I wonder, if they brought back Keelboats (It'll never happen of course), would they be popular with guests today? The ride looks like a pleasant way to spend 10 minutes (or so).
Over on Tom Sawyer Island, we're up on the upper walkway in Fort Wilderness, the "civilized" outpost of the Frontier. Folks are milling around the Regimental Hdqrs., where Andy Jackson chatted with Davy Crockett and Georgie Russell. A girl in a pale pink dress waves "hello"!
Major-
ReplyDeleteBoth of these images present splendid examples of Kodachrome with the additional boost from being shot with a camera having superior optics from the usual run-of-the-mill 'coke bottle-lensed' cameras we so often see.
(I wonder why there is a pair of Electro-Voice CDP loudspeakers, mounted on a tripod, sitting in the flowerbeds, hiding behind the lamppost seen just beyond the bow of the Bertha Mae...)
Thanks, Major.
I love how the MH is spying on us.
ReplyDeleteI can’t wait to hear Melissa’s comments about the 2nd image.
That gentleman in the blue striped shirt and sunglasses keeps following us!
Wow, this is the clearest and most colorful picture of the Bertha Mae I've seen! And glassy water, always a plus. I guess that's a popcorn vendor with his back to us, over on the right, at least, the red wagon looks like a popcorn wagon? The tip of the Columbia is photo bombing the shot. And the tippy-top of the Matterhorn looks like a rather large snowy owl sitting in the trees.
ReplyDeleteOK, there are some things going on in this photo! The little girl who, as you said, is waving at us has what appears to be a band-aid on her shin. Wonder what that's about? And just to the right, the little sailor boy's jeans, and maybe everything else, are wet and muddy! Did he fall into the ROA? The lady on the left in blue and white stripes looks like she's wearing a toddler's onesie. But, and I think Melissa would agree, the lady in the purple and aqua outfit wins today's Vintage Fashion Award! Quite chic actually. Poor dear's arm is in a cast though.
Nice photos AGAIN! (Yer spoilin' us, Major.) Thanks.
So what's with the practice of throwing random antlers on the roof?
ReplyDeleteMiss the Keelboats. I'd surely welcome them back!
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I'd always manage to whack the top of my head on the "Mind They Head" doorway in Fort Wilderness. EVERY TIME regardless of trying to remember.
Thanks, Major.
Gorgeous photos. I'm impressed with buckskin seat-backs for those log benches. Keelboats are the only attraction I never rode...with so many options to sail upon the rivers of America, it just never happened; Great look at it here today Major, thanks.
ReplyDeleteMS
A detail of the keelboats I had forgotten is the octagonal speaker attached to the mast. Not sure why 8 sides was the number, but here it is. I notice the cargo crane on the roof of the saloon and the big red box containing the nuclear reactor powering the popcorn wagon. The Gun Shop sign might help date the photo.
ReplyDeleteI was so dumb, I didn’t know who Andrew Jackson was, but ignorance did not affect my enjoyment of the old Fort. Here the trash cans are barrels with hinged lids. My guess is the little boy got wet on the pontoon bridge, or maybe in the stream arising from Tom’s Treehouse roots. Ken, I hit my head on that same doorway every time.
Thanks Major!
JG
Nice pictures! Someone had a good camera and skills. What JB called Chic I'm calling fashion faux pas. Maybe the cast is from defending her fashion choices.
ReplyDeleteI rode the Keelboat every chance I got until I ran out of 'B' tickets.
Thanks Major
Zach
Nanook, it’s true, a good camera with good lenses makes all the difference! I sure didn’t notice those speakers - maybe they had something to do with “Dixieland at Disneyland” or a similar event?
ReplyDeleteLou and Sue, ha, let’s see if Melissa comments on the second image! Good eye on the guy with the blue shirt, I guess he was the person the photographer was aiming at both times?
JB, yep, definitely a popcorn vendor. Now that I’m thinking about it, where was our photographer for photo #1? They were very low in the water, but not “canoe low” - and if they were on the Mark Twain, they’d be looking behind them. Maybe this was taken from the Gullywhumper? It does look like the boy in photo #2 might have slipped and muddied his pants, the poor kid. It doesn’t look like it’d been raining, so yeah, how did he find so much mud?
Steve deGaetano, I thought YOU would know!
K. Martinez, ha, even the memory of whacking the top of your head sounds kind of nice all these years later.
MS, I was wondering about those hides nailed to the logs, were they there for folks who wanted to lean back?? Seems odd. I never rode the Keelboats either, and it sure looks wonderful here.
JG, I can only assume that the speaker was octagonal because straight sides are easier than rounded, curved sides. As for 8 sides… it was “round enough”. Maybe. I think that gun shop was there longer than we imagine - possibly into the 1980s. We know these slides are from 1962, however! Ah, good thought about the Pontoon Bridge being the source of the boy’s wet trousers, seems as likely as anything. I hit my head on the caves, and man those things were rough and hurt!
zach, I sort of like “cast lady’s” bold colors and patterns, though I admit it would not be for everybody. Her pants have a “self made” look to them. You were smart to ride the Keelboat when you could!
Hey, striped shirt guy on the Bertha Mae, quit biting your fingernails! You want Ginger Rogers to smack your hands?
ReplyDeleteThe lady with the cast outside Regimental Headquarters hurt her wrist hemming her pants, but it was worth it. WORTH IT. I like how the little girl's Keds are coordinated with her butterfly applique. Oh, and hello, little sailor!
Melissa, as a former nail biter, I have nothing but sympathy for striped shirt guy! Why would Ginger Rogers smack his hands? Once I saw purple-pants lady's odd cuffs, I knew that she'd made that garment herself!
ReplyDeleteI never rode a keelboat, either. Like a chump, I just assumed they'd always be there when I got around to it. At least I made hay while the sun shone and got my steamboat rides in.
ReplyDeleteSteve - I asked the same question about the antlers a few years ago. If I remember correctly, I think someone explained that it was good luck, like a horseshoe nailed on a door.
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