A Horse With a Hat, 1950s

At some point, the horses that from the Horse Drawn Streetcars were fitted with hats. I'd like to think that the hats might have provided a teensy bit of relief on hot days, but... I doubt it was very much. In the 1946 film "Make Mine Music", there was a segment titled, "Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet", in which two hats fall in love. After being separated, they are reunited on the heads of two horses. I assume that hat-wearing horses was an actual thing, but perhaps their use was also a callback to that film.

Dang, it looks good! I told Walt that the horses should wear Chuck Taylor high-tops too, but he coughed and pretended that he had to call Fred MacMurray.

 

Snoozles™

Snoozles™! You know the drill. Seeing this first scan (from a slide dated "November, 1961"), it's clear why it's a Snoozle, having been drained of all color except for pink and a trace of yellow. It's not great, Bob.

But I decided, what the heck, why not try to do a little Photoshoppin'? It helped a bit. The photo was taken from the Disneyland RR - I appreciate that the somebody was moved to try to capture the Mark Twain as it churned along the west side of the Rivers of America - but the timing was off. 

From July, 1972 comes this very pink (but not due to fugitive dyes) photo from The Enchanted Tiki Room. It's not terrible, per se, but the angle is odd, and it takes a moment to figure out what's what. I can't help hearing "Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing" in my mind when looking at this picture!

Fun on the Tarmac

As you know, I love VINTAGE AIRPORTS, and I have two for you today. Location unknown. When I was a kid it was very exciting to walk on the ground toward our plane, and head up the stairs, hopefully receiving some "Junior Pilot" wings from a friendly stewardess ("Flight Attendant" was not a term used yet). 

This first pic is from August, 1967, and it shows a group of people posing with an Aeroflot jet behind them. Perhaps it's a Tupolev Tu-114? I'm sure you smarties will let me know! These folks appear to have flown on SAS (Scandinavian Airlines), or else somebody borrowed their stairs. I'm digging their cool Pan-Am totes. Were those given out to all passengers? I wish I knew more about this picture! 

Next is this photo dated "September, 1957". All the passengers have de-planed, and the flight crew are the last off. The plane bears Pan American Grace Airways livery, and might be a DC-8 (?). Pan American-Grace Airways was a cooperative arrangement between Pan American World Airways and W.R. Grace and Company, which dominated transportation to the west coast of South America. Commonly known as "Panagra", it was advertised as the "World's Friendliest Airline". They set the standard for air transportation between the U.S. East Coast and the West Coast of South America throughout its 39 year history.

Two Nice Ones From July, 1972

Happy Friday the 13th! I have two bright, colorful photos from Disneyland from the Summer of 1972. I could have been there, in fact I was probably just off-camera wearing my velvet "Little Lord Fauntleroy" outfit and carrying a big lolly. 

A happy family poses beneath the Tinker Bell Toy Shop sign (which really should be in my collection), I wonder if Tink held a special place in their hearts? What am I saying, of course she did! Just as she holds a special place in your heart. I'll bet there was some great merchandise inside the store and wish I could walk and and look around (with a wallet full of money), maybe I'd buy one of those cool Sutcliffe "Nautilus" toys. 

You know, like this! I had one when I was a kid, but was stupid and actually played with it, thus reducing its collector value. I think I still have the sub itself somewhere (mine is a pale yellow), with a few pieces missing.

For kids (especially boys) of a certain age, there was no cooler thing than driving your own badass sports car. Why should dad have all the fun? Sure, you couldn't exceed 5 mph, and there was that rail in the road, but you still had the sun shining on you and the wind ruffling your hair - because these are all convertibles. I love the colors of these vehicles, they make me think of candy. “Tropical Fruit” flavors.
 

A Pair From April, 1962

Sometimes, a lot of slides might consist of 20 or so individual images. Today's lot only had two slides - but they are pretty nice! From April 1962, like I said in the subject line. 

Two boys are already hungry, and popcorn will be just the thing to satisfy their appetites (for about 20 minutes). Grandma will pay, she has a bunch of "Standing Liberty" quarters in her purse that she has been saving since 1930. Genuine silver! Two "NASA guy" employees (you can see their embroidered patches) are sitting in the shade to the left, maybe they only had five more minutes on their break before they had to high-tail it back to the Autopia (making "whoo-whoo" noises like Curley from The Three Stooges). 

Next, it's dad (holding mom's massive purse, the ultimate humiliation) and the boys beside the Submarine lagoon. The younger boy is stuffing his face again, I think he's eating cigarettes. Dad also clutches a 1961 souvenir guidebook, I guess they were still using up the old stock from last year. I'll bet the family had a great day!

In Town Square, 1950s

Here are two scans from a faded batch that required some red-hot Photoshoppin'. I regret that I didn't make a "before" view so that you could see how washed-out they were, but oh well.

Standing in Town Square, our photographer noticed the C.K. Holliday overhead (I was going to say "passing by", but it was likely stopped). The engineer ("pilot"? "driver dude"?) is looking right at us! It's like when Sammy Hagar made eye contact with me when he was onstage. I'll never wash my eyes again! You can see the black ears of those weird Mickey balloons, and even a tiny bit of one of the freight cars being pulled by the locomotive.

This next one restored nicely, it's a great shot of a Surrey (or whatever the vehicle actually is), pulled by two cream-white horsies. I wish I had a carrot for each of them, but I only have two plugs of chewing tobacco. I'm sure they'll enjoy a chaw, just like Stu29573 does. Mmmm, tobacco-y. 

Frontierland Shore, August 1970

Here are two "OK" views of the Rivers of America, from August, 1970. I might have been in that crowd! First up, we are looking south-eastward, as our photographer (presumably) stood onshore; at first I thought this might have been taken from the top level of one of the short-lived double-decker canoes, but now I don't believe so. The dark water reflects the blue of the sky. Frontierland and a bit of New Orleans Square gleam in the brilliant sun, and a magnolia tree to the right is in bloom (my grandma loved magnolia trees, and they always make me think of her).

Next, I'm guessing that this was taken from the Mark Twain's loading dock, looking past the southern end of Tom Sawyer Island - maybe the photographer was interested in capturing a view of the Haunted Mansion looming over the trees? It had opened the year before, to much acclaim. It's interesting how different the sky and water look from this angle.

Two From November 1961

I almost relegated today's scans to the dreaded "Snoozle™" category, but when they looked at me with their big puppy eyes, I couldn't do it. So here they are, on a Monday instead. 

Casey Jr. passes along the crest of that berm, pulling elaborately-carved circus cars full of wild animals and such. There's been rumors (for years) that Storybook Land could be removed someday, but the last few times I've been to the park, the line for Casey has been so long that I ultimately skipped it (I did manage to get on the Canal Boats once). So people clearly like  this attraction a lot! 

Meanwhile, over on West Center Street, the Carnation Truck sits next to the Flower Market. Carnation? Flowers? Ah, what's the use! I always kind of wondered if the crank in front could actually start the truck, but learned recently that it's just for looks. Big brother is behind the wheel, and little bro waits for his turn, but big brother might just settle in for a long time. "It sure is great sitting here at the wheel!", he'd say aloud to no one in particular. "Aw, gee whiz!" whines little bro. 

Crocodiles, May 1960

I have two OK-zles for you today. There's nothing really wrong with these scans, except that they are a little bit boring. As is often the case with photos from the Jungle Cruise, as much as I love it. I know how much all of you like semiaquatic reptiles, so I'm featuring some crocodiles. By popular demand? 

First up is this familiar look at a trio of crocs, which (I believe) were visible by people not on the ride - I think this is where the Rivers of the World merge into the Rivers of America. There are no ducks on the crocodiles, which is very disappointing. What better thing could a duck have going on? The eternal question. 

Elsewhere, another triad of crocodiles; these grumpy fellows a guarding the crumbling ruins of a small temple that contained a golden idol. Watch out for the giant spiderweb (complete with spider), too! The spider won't hurt you, but it's pretty gross to walk through a spiderweb, you must admit. 

Vintage Amusements

It's time for more scans from the general category of "Vintage Amusements"! Not amusement parks, necessarily, you see. this first scan is from 1955, with the added note, "Favorite ride". I wish they'd included the location, but what can you do? I thought this might be the LA County Fair in Pomona, CA, but that's just a guess - it could be anywhere. That looks like a eucalyptus tree in the distance! We see three classic "spin around" rides, with the thrilling motorboats in the foreground (each with three wooden ship's wheels), a "flying fish" (?) ride, and a merry-go-round.

This next one is an undated 1950s photo of an unusual and very cool little train ride - I've never seen a train like that before! It's pretty distinct, maybe it dates  back to the 1930s? I could almost imagine the same train running at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, though that's just my imagination going strong. Perhaps one of you recognizes it and can add more to the conversation. I was dying to know where this could be; notice the fezzes on some of the youngsters. Could this be the Indio Date Festival? If you look in the upper left, you can see some Moorish (?) arches that seem to confirm my theory.

Here's what is known as "The Magic Carpet Stage" from the Date Festival, as seen in a modern photo. Since 1947 the annual festival has been held to celebrate the Date Palm harvest in the Coachella Valley. The event is held in February on the Riverside County Fairgrounds. The fair is located in Indio, California, a city in the Colorado Desert, approximately 130 miles (210 km) east of Los Angeles.

I hope you have enjoyed these VINTAGE AMUSEMENTS!