It's time for some more oddball (and lame?) images from that legendary lot of slides from August, 1961. With all of the buildup, they had better be damn good! (They're good, but not amazing, to be perfectly honest). Anyway, even though today's fall into the "meh" category, they are not complete wastes of time.
Can you guess where our photographer was standing when he/she took this picture? Hmmm, where would you have that expanse of lawn, with a train passing close by? I'll give you a hint: it's not the moon.
Somebody was getting artsy. "The juxtaposition of this old-fashioned lamp post next to the distant sails of the Columbia evokes man's subjugation of nature and his subsequent sense of alienation and paranoia". I give you permission to use that in your doctoral thesis, you will get an A++ and a smiley face.
If you look carefully, Slumpy McGee (the dead settler) can just be seen through the foliage. He left the iron on and then ran to the outhouse with an arrow in his hand. Then he tripped, and that was the end of Slumpy.
If Disneyland used my story, they could have kept the burning cabin and the settler - everything would be PC (it was just a freak accident!), and it would teach children to not run around with arrows while ironing.
"Seinfeld" was a "show about nothing", and this slide is a photo of nothing. Sure, there are trees and umbrellas and people; but it almost feels as if the photographer pushed the button by accident. I a bit discombobulated… would the Coke Corner be to our left, and the castle to our right?
With the water tower legs in the background, Pic #1 appears to be Frontierland station, before Magnolia Park was constructed.
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteI'd have to say the location of the first image is (depending on which of the signage you prefer) either the Frontierland Railroad Station in New Orleans Square -or- the New Orleans Square Station.
And as for the last image, I believe you are correct. There was a small, triangular piece of lawn just east of Carefree Corner, of which we can just make out the 'ropes & stanchions' peeking-up at the very bottom of the image. Plaza Pavilion (or with two 'l's', if you prefer) would be be off to the left, with the entrance to Frontierland near the middle of the image. Me thinks, at least. (Or should that be "meh"-??). Okay - not funny.
Thanks, Major.
Whoops - make that "north" of Carefree Corner - closer to Sleeping Beauty Castle. I think my head is messed-up.
ReplyDeleteThe sad part is, he was ironing his arrow-proof vest. And that very morning, the deed poll had arrived in the mail officially changing his name to "Slumpy McGee" from the name he was born with in the old country, "Corpsius von Deadmann."
ReplyDeleteMajor, I'm loving the Slumpy McGee story line. I can imagine my Dad (as he's pointing at Slumpy) saying "If you fail to plan you plan to fail!".
ReplyDeleteA random thought...do you have enough Burning Cabin images from different years to show us a progression from early Indian attack to eventual happy pioneer homestead?
Bill in Denver
No photo of the DLRR is a waste of time.
ReplyDeleteThat arrowproof vest proved quite handy. Not only did it have life saving abilities but the spent arrows were good for roasting marshmallows on the fully engulfed cabin.
One man's Meh is another man's treasure. I love Disneyland lawn pix. Do they even do lawns at Disneyland anymore?
ReplyDeleteKind of hard to see Slumpy McGee there. He must already be in a state of decomposition.
Graffer, I think you are right, the photo was probably taken from just outside the Haunted Mansion's gates.
ReplyDeleteNanook, you and Graffer seem to agree on pic #1! Thanks for the confirmation on photo #2, it's surprising how "generic" it looks considering how jam-packed Disneyland is. You'd think there would be *something* obvious in the photo, but you kind of have to know the park well.
Melissa, why would anybody change their name from "Slumpy McGee"?? It's the best name ever!
Bill in Denver, I sure have a lot of burning cabin photos, though not many from the later years (like the "exploding still" storyline with the endangered eagle's nest). And I definitely don't have any of the way it looks now, which is just boring…!
Alonzo, that is the kind of "pioneer spirit" that made this country great!
K. Martinez, I don't think there is much grass at the park anymore. A little bit here and there. I suppose it is hard to justify when the place is so darn crowded all the time.
Major, he was changing his name TO Slumpy McGee!
ReplyDeleteMEH = Mansion Entrance Hell
ReplyDeleteGraffer beat me to it, but we're not just outside the HM gates, we're a number of yards away. What has probably happened is, the photog has just gotten into the HM line, which was horrendous and snaked all over the place during those HM opening weeks. Had to do something over the course of the next couple of hours, so click click at anything that moves, I imagine.
The second photo is later, after he's gotten inside the gates. That's one of the HM light posts. If you want to know which one, check out your March 13, 2010 post. Apparently one of the globe pieces broke during the final days or weeks before opening (hence the naked light bulb), and evidently it had not yet been replaced before the HM opened.
In the third picture, I believe your identification is arroneous.
As for what the photog was looking at in the fourth picture, she's right smack dab in the dead center of the shot. No zoom, apparently. Pity that. (Okay, it's a theory, anyway).
And today's Jessica Fletcher Award Winner is most-assuredly HBG2-! Sleuthing above and beyond the call of duty.
ReplyDeleteGood show-!
Dead center, hehe.
ReplyDeleteGreat detective work, HBG2!
ReplyDeleteOh common everybody...Slumpy is wearing his best Arrow shirt in this shot!
ReplyDeleteMajor, that large grassy planter in the first picture was dissected into four smaller planters by crisscrossing walkways (in the eighties, I think) and a fountain was placed in the middle. Unfortunately, as the crowds have grown at Disneyland, the green spaces have shrunk. About ten years ago, they enlarged the walkway in front of the Plaza Inn by making that planter in your last photo smaller. :-(
ReplyDeleteI think Slumpy bought that Arrow shirt at Target...
ReplyDeleteBill in Denver
Melissa, that makes much more sense!
ReplyDeleteHBG2, I didn't mean literally *right* outside the gates! Just nearby. ALTHOUGH…. I have another photo that might have been taken at roughly the same time which we will see soon. It might be a little bit more interesting to you. Yes, the second one is from inside the gates, with the wrought iron fence. As for picture #4, your theory is as good as any!
Nanook, can't it be the Matlock award?
Melissa, ouch.
K. Martinez, it's no fair, he already knows all the answers.
Anon, zoiks.
TokyoMagic!, one of the interesting things about vintage photos is seeing odd grassy areas here and there. Like the ones that used to be along the river in Frontierland - they've been gone for a LONG time.
Bill in Denver, d'oh!
I always wear a bow tie with an Arrow shirt.
ReplyDeleteThe twang mark as seen from the Mark Twain.
ReplyDelete