Monday, April 22, 2013

More Personal Viewmasters

Here are two personal Viewmaster pictures taken by a friend of mine in July, 1965. They both feature the mermaids in the sub lagoon! In this first image, "Cerise" appears to be strumming the heck out of her lyre (probably playing "Wild Thing" by The Troggs - it was a hit in '65); I can't quite tell what "Goldie" is doing. Zooming in didn't help because it is too fuzzy. A third mermaid wades in the shallows. To the extreme right is a woman in yellow... is that a cast member? I don't remember seeing Submarine worker's uniforms that looked anything like that.


So close, and yet so far! The merms are waving enthusiastically. Note the large speaker sticking out of the water... presumably Triton's daughters could actually talk to guests? Or maybe not. Either way, that speaker wasn't there very long.


8 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

I dunno - doesn't seem likely Disney would allow their female cast members to be clad in a sleeveless outfit.

And you gotta love the "subtle" use of the loudspeaker (possibly an Electro-Voice CDP-series outdoor speaker). It's not exactly hidden from view.

K. Martinez said...

Nice shot of the mermaids as their father Triton passes on by and the Monorail Yellow is about to enter the scene. The visible Autopia bridges crossing over the Motor Boat Cruise waters is cool as well.

Snow White Archive said...

Very strange to see that speaker there.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I remember the mermaids from youth, I knew they were not a legend.

Years ago, I worked for a guy who worked at Imagineering in his youth. He said that every guy in the department wanted to get a date with the mermaids. I guess he never did.

The speaker stayed for a long time, it is visible in a lot of the old pics from this vantage point. I noticed on my last trip (2011) there are still conduits and back-boxes sticking out of the rocks in this area. I do not recall what sound effects were piped through, but I think that was the purpose, background sounds for the lagoon, bird calls, etc.

Of course, now, this location is occupied more or less by the buoy and animatronic seagulls from the "Nemo" overlay barking "Mine, Mine, Mine", but the conduits were still visible.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I am glad that Disney relaxed their rules for the mermaids!

K. Martinez, their father is a submarine? ;-)

Snow White Archive, I agree, it looks kind of junky.

JG, are you sure the speaker was there for a long time? I seem to only recall seeing it in a few photos, but maybe my memory is playing tricks on me. It would be cool if there are still traces of them, but with the major rehab that the subs underwent to become the Nemo ride, it seems hard to believe that everything wasn't completely redone.

SundayNight said...

It’s always funny to see that non-themed speaker out on that rock. It’s actually odd that someone got away with that considering DL tried so hard to hide and theme everything. DL should bring back the mermaids for just one summer, maybe a salute to the 60s month or something. I’d go!

Anonymous said...

Major, my memory is playing tricks on me.

I went back yesterday to Daveland collection of submarine pics (he has some great ones) and that speaker is not visible in a single one, going back to the very beginning of the ride in 1959.

I know I have seen it in other pictures, but can't say which or where, or when taken.

I also studied his archive of the Nemo era, I can't locate the conduit stubs that I seem to recall either. Maybe what I saw was in the rocks at waters edge and my mind conflated them with the memory of the speaker.

Its sad to get old and lose your mind. But the parts that remain are still a happy place.

JG

Anonymous said...

Wild Thing wasn't released till 1966.