Two Nice Ones From 1968

I acquired a group of oversized slides from September, 1968 (40mm X 40mm, or "127" sized slides), and some of them are really nice! The larger size, and the fact that the photographer's camera apparently had a good lens, make these bright and crisp and full of detail.

This first one is a beautiful, colorful look at Tomorrowland as seen from the Skyway. Above the jewel-like lagoon we can see the striped awning of the Fantasyland Autopia's station, three Peoplemover trains in different hues, the mammoth "It's a Small World" structure, and even a bit of the Matterhorn bobsleds aqua-colored track. I'm having fun up here, but now I want to be down there!

I love the red, blue, and yellow Peoplemover trains! I need one of each, please. Below the red Peoplemover is a pale yellow Autopia vehicle that appears to be a Mark VI... 1968 was the final year for that style. It must have been a warm day, groups of guest tend to gather in the shade if they can.

As is often the case, the queue for the Matterhorn wraps around the attraction. I love the spots of bright-colored clothing, typical of what you might see in '68. There are two bobsleds visible, which means we'll all have plenty of good luck today.

Next we have this trio of guests standing with the old Frontierland railroad station behind them. I love the blue sign to the right, that doesn't show up in a lot of photos. The two ladies must be feeling the heat, or their feet are starting to throb; grandma (to the right) will not put up with any foolishness! The man to the left looks like he would be at home in an old-timey British pub.

I hope you have enjoyed today's photos!

Disneyland's 30th Cars, plus Tomorrowland 1984

I have a nice bunch of photos for you today, courtesy of Lou Perry and Sue B.! They are from two different lots. 

I've been wanting to share these first three, from Disneyland's 30th Anniversary celebration (taken in March of 1985), where guests had the chance to win a number of different brand-new General Motors automobiles via the "Gift-Giver Extraordinaire". Every 30,000th guest could win a Chevrolet or Pontiac. Pretty sweet!

The cars got better as your odds of winning decreased - this Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera could have been yours if you were guest #300,000 (not sure when they started counting. January 1st? July 17th?). I'd prefer the Buick, thank you very much.

Here was the big deal - you could carry a Cadillac Sedan de Ville home in your pocket if you were the three-millionth guest. Just my luck, I was guest number 299,999,999. Some five year-old kid got to drive this baby home!

These next four are from October 5, 1984, and feature good old Tomorrowland. Some of the original gray Subs bask in the warm sunlight, with their hatches open to allow those little birds inside to clean them. Just like in the real Navy. 

Soon, when the moon is full, these Subs will find their way to a remote sandy beach where they will lay their eggs. David Attenborough told me all about it.

Ah, the Rocket Jets, I miss that ride more than I should, since it was just a spinny thing after all. But the theming was so great, and its placement took you to the third level, which felt surprisingly high up. 

And everybody with a heart loves the plucky Peoplemover. It never stopped! Except when it did. Those lucky passengers know that they will have good luck for the rest of the month because they managed to ride the tomato-red Peoplemover.

 THANKS so much to Lou and Sue!!

Snow White and Sleepy, August 1965

Here's a pair of fun photos featuring Snow White and only one of the Dwarfs... it's ironic that Sleepy made it to work, of the seven. The kids don't seem too interested in Snow, all of that kid energy is directed right at the narcoleptic Dwarf. 

Well howdy! There's my new favorite kid of all time!

Hey look, it's Lana Turner and Johnny Stompanato! "Say, Lana, this Disneyland place is a gas". They're about to step right in front of Snow White and Sleepy, who are clearly posing for a photo. You don't want to rile Sleepy, it's like waking a dozing bear. His eyes open fully, and he bares his yellowed, broken teeth  -- he always goes for the throat first. It's true, I seen it with my own eyebones!

Rescans

It's time for more rescans! One was worth the effort, while the other... perhaps not so much. But hey, it won't kill you to look at it.

First up is this kind-of-dark closeup, an unusual photo of a sign that was next to the Birch Bark Lodge in the old Indian Village. I originally posted this way back in 2006.

There, that's better! The "wig-was-i-ga-mig", remember that for Scrabble. I love the informative and educational sign, with details on how the lodge was built, and even how the windows operated. You could go home and build one yourself! You can see the lodge and the sign in THIS photo (sorry about the crummy and small jpeg, Photobucket is holding my pictures "hostage", and I'm not willing to pay them their new and more expensive subscription rate).

Next is this scan of a slide date-stamped "4-1974", featuring a raft heading to Tom Sawyer Island and a crowded New Orleans Square beyond. The image has a yellow cast, and could be brighter.

Like this! Brighter, crisper, and with better color in general. I'm happy with it, but... it's not a drastic improvement.

Holy Toledo, look at that crowd! I might guess that this was from the first summer that "Pirates of the Caribbean" was open, but this was seven years after that event. Even the Haunted Mansion had been open for five years. I guess it was just one of those super-busy summer days.

Mark Twain, July 1978

It's time for more photos from the Mysterious Benefactor! I'm trying to figure out the best way to present so many Mark Twain photos - there are a lot of them! Not that I'm complaining. It's just... a lot. 

Well, well, well; it's none other than Captain Mike himself! You might remember him from past posts, such as THIS ONE, or maybe THIS ONE. He was a real fixture on the Frontierland rivercraft, and you can tell that he loved his job - and loved to have his photo taken.  

Now that the Mark Twain has come in for a landing, Captain Mike seems to be making some mysterious hand signals, which could only be understood by the men and women who worked the docks. But I know the secret! He's saying, "The angry goose carries many hammers". Captain Mike is wise.

Every day Captain Mike has to tell passengers to walk to the lower exit, and NOT to jump from the upper decks as a shortcut. But what if you know how to tuck and roll? These safety regulations take all the fun out of everything.

After being penned up for an additional two hours (they were being tested for dandruff), the passengers are finally released back into the wild. Captain Mike has everyone's personal records (going back to grade school) on his clipboard, and if anybody misbehaves while disembarking, he will make them get right back on board. One of Frontierland's "hard facts".

THANK YOU, Mysterious Benefactor!

Too Dark!

It's too dark! Well, mostly because I am writing this at 3:30 in the morning. But in the case of today's photos, something went terribly wrong in the taking. But what?

You know that this first photo (of the Bertha Mae in July of 1964) must have been filled with light and color in reality, and yet we somehow wound up with this picture. The Keelboat would almost disappear against the dark trees if it wasn't for the passengers on top. It's a shame, I always like seeing the li'l Keelboats.

This next picture is from August of 1966; it's a late-afternoon portrait of a man silhouetted against the last minutes of sunlit Main Street. You'd hardly know that he was wearing a very loud shirt! I sort of like the way groups of guests have gathered near the base of the steps up to Main Street Station, including what I assume is a large family to the right of the steps.

Vintage People

Everybody loves Vintage People! They come in all shapes and sizes, there's something for everyone.

First up, from "sometime in the 1950s" comes this photo of two boys living out their gridiron dreams for Dad's camera. "If there was such a thing as the Superbowl, I would be kicking the winning point!". The boy looks like he is holding the door open for a lady carrying lots of packages. His dog Stinky got out of the way just in time to avoid being clobbered by that football; meanwhile, Gramps is enjoying the show.

This next one is from May, 1960. This happy lady sure is enjoying her glass of apple juice! Why, I've never seen anybody enjoy apple juice so much. At first I thought maybe she was relaxing in her semi-finished basement, but now I am thinking she might be in a motel room.

And finally, from August 1968 is this photo of a young boy, squinting in the afternoon sun as Grandma looks on. She loves him, and he loves her! That car sure is swell... I wish I could see the license plate better so we would at least know where these folks lived. Maybe New Jersey? American Samoa? Kuala Lumpur? We'll never know.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Vintage People!

Two Beauties From July 1964

Happy Friday! I have two nice scans for you today, to get your weekend off to a good start.

First up is this very unusual look at the "Guided Tours Garden", which was right near the entrance (makes sense); you can see the former Police Station to our right. I wonder if guided tours were a hot ticket? Judging from the number of guides hanging around (I see six for sure), they must have been expecting a lot of business. It was July, after all.

Just hang a left when you walk through the tunnels!

It looks like they have a couple of guests just waiting their turn. "We want to see where Walt Disney draws all the cartoons!". "I'd like to see if the Mouseketeers are interested in life insurance". "Can we go to Knott's Berry Farm instead?".

I want to walk into a fancy restaurant with six Disneyland Guides accompanying me!

Meanwhile, over near the Midget Autopia, the Big Bad Wolf is hanging out with at least two of the Three Little Pigs. I like his lolling tongue and the way his pants are held up with one suspender (that's how they do it in Paris). The two little boys are dressed almost exactly alike, with even the same green hats (maybe those made them easier to spot in a crowd if they got lost?), but they aren't twins. 

Hey, Minnie!

Not long ago, I bought this vintage photo print on eBay. In spite of the fact that it had faded to a brownish-pink, you could see that the image itself was something unusual.

We've seen various "fun photo" setups in the Plaza before, usually over near the Red Wagon Inn (more or less). People could poke their faces through holes and become Dopey, or Davy Crockett, or Captain Nemo, among other characters. This example shows a fishing boat, with Minnie, Mickey, and a lunker of a catfish. Not a common scene at all!

I tried to color-correct the image, and the results aren't great, but better than I expected to be honest. It's strange that the cutout for Mickey's face doesn't have... well, his face. Rather they left it an empty, crudely-painted circle, which sure looks odd when there isn't a third person to pose. To be honest, the whole painting is pretty crude by Disney standards, but for me, that adds to the appeal.

One interesting detail is that there is a stamp on the back of the photo informing us that it was printed on the "week ending Aug. 27, 1955". At that point, Disneyland had only been open to to the general public for 40-ish days, so that's pretty cool!

I couldn't help being reminded of an early (1961) painting by Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein entitled, "Look, Mickey". It is based on an illustration in a Little Golden Book, "Donald Duck Lost and Found". This painting now hangs in the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Bear Country and More, 1960s

Here are two nice photos from sometime in the 1960s (from different lots). First up is this familiar view from a Nature's Wonderland train as it crossed the rickety trestle over Bear Country. It seems like I used to find pictures of this scene fairly regularly, but now it feels like it's been years since I've posted one. Thank goodness the water is so turbid, I have it on good authority that those bears aren't wearing swim trunks. "Nature's Wonderland" indeed!

This next one was shot on a gray winter (?) day, long sleeves on everybody in the canoe, so the temperatures must have dropped to a bone-chilling 62 degrees or so. We can see the skeleton of the Mark Twain through the trees, and the waterfalls on Cascade Peak have been turned off. Notice the mysterious little doorway behind where the big fall would be! Walt’s other apartment? I wonder if it was time to repaint Cascade Peak? Some parts of it look as if the color has been removed (sandblasted), or as if it has been re-primed.