Like the title of this post says... today I have two "random snapshots" for you. I'll start with the last photo from a batch dated "October 1971"; even with the buffer of viewing a "just OK" image glowing on a computer screen, I still get a sense of the excitement that I used to feel walking into Tomorrowland. Little visual clues still make me smile, like the logos for Bell Telephone, General Electric, and Monsanto (harder to see). And there's the classic Peoplemover, Rocket Jets, and those silver "portals" that feel so futuristic.
This next one is an orphan, featuring a fun picture of two ladies meeting the Tomorrowland Spaceman and Spacegirl. The date "1958" is written on the back. It's a fun photo, but I was not crazy about the fact that the color had devolved into a weird pinkish-brown. Yarg!
Through the magic of Photoshop, I was able to restore the color to a degree.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThat image from October, 1971 really is a Tomorrowland 'at its finest'.
And the image from 1958, is clearly from that era: the dude wearing the long (but 'skinny') shorts, the "gals" - well, let's just say they'd be right at home on a MikWright retro greeting card - and their decidedly 1950's outfits, purses and "expressions". Whoa Nellie-!
Thanks, Major, for the swell color-correction.
I noticed the guy with the long shorts in that second pic is also wearing flip flops. I didn't think people were that casual at Disneyland back in the 50's. Also in the same pic...what are those pine trees doing in Tomorrowland? They belong in Frontierland! I wonder if they were chopped down or boxed up and moved to make way for Tomorrowland '67. Of course if they were moved to Frontierland, they were probably chopped down last week. :-/
ReplyDeleteI miss the palm trees and sunny flowerbeds of Tomorrowland's entrance. This "land" was warm and inviting at one time. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteMister Observant here is marveling that there's a flagpole at the entrance to Tomorrowland '67 that he never consciously noticed before.
ReplyDeleteAs I'm going back through GDB posts labeled "Tomorrowland," I'm somewhat consoled by the fact that I had to go through almost a page and a half of search-filtered posts before I found a picture that contains that flagpole with a flag on it. Most pictures seem to be taken after the entrance, or at an angle such that the flagpole isn't visible, or at a time of day that the flag's already down. In those with the flagpole, there's so much else going on (like those metallic panels you mentioned - did you know those were made entirely of molded and painted cheese?) that you don't notice it.
Some additional digging shows the flagpole still in place in the mid-'80s (http://www.matterhorn1959.com/blog2/2013mid90s9.jpg) but gone by the mid-'90s (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/bananaphone5000/media/GoGoGorilla5/7-1-96-Tomorrowland2_zpsa6ae1472.jpg.html), which explains why I don't have any personal memories of seeing it.
I am constantly amazed and pleased at your restorations. Is there anything that can't be done with Photoshoppe?
I'll take a soft focus image of 1971 tomorrowland over an HD in person look at today's ugly mess of tomorrowbland!
ReplyDeleteThis photo has it all.
Another phenom. salvage job from the Major Pepperidge Restoration Society. Thank you for your ongoing non-profit efforts. Surely they will repay you in Disney Dollars in the afterlife.
Sorry, didn't mear to call you Shirley.
ooops "mean"
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on that photo restoration! Amazing what you can coax out of a murky brown image.
ReplyDeleteI love that view of Tomorrowland. It's so inviting - makes me wonder what's beyond the buildings and around the corners. And I love those logos up high; those always impressed me as a kid. The future was so shiny.
Nanook, I don’t know what a MikWright greeting card looks like, but I will take your word for it! Not surprisingly, any Tomorrowland shot is a winner with me.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I noticed that too; of course he IS a punk kid with no respect for his elders, so what else can we expect?! ;-) If you look at other old Tomorrowland photos you’ll see pine trees, often in planters surrounded by circular benches. They’re the Trees of Tomorrow!
K. Martinez, I agree, they really made an attempt (successful!) to make Tomorrowland a place you want to be, unlike now.
Chuck, I guess it was decided that there is no place for flags in the future. Or maybe by the futuristic year of 1980 they will have developed flagpole-less flags? As for the cheese panels, harder cheeses such as parmesan are surprisingly durable and offer great insulation. The powerful fiberglass consortium has conspired to keep this knowledge from the general public. The Photoshop (pe) restoration came out OK considering it is from an old print, but I am never happy unless it looks like a frame of Technicolor from an old MGM musical.
Aloonzo, ha ha, Tomorrowbland, that is too apt. I’ve heard people suggest that they should just do something else with it and do away with the “world of tomorrow” concept, and considering how they seem to be unable to do anything inspired, I am starting to agree with the idea. Disney Dollars, a genius idea thought up by the recently-deceased Jack Lindquist (RIP).
Tom, thanks; it is fun to try to take something that appears beyond hope and bring it back to something resembling “normal”. If you like that view of Tomorrowland, I just scanned one (from “Mr. X”) that is sort of the same, only big and colorful and spectacular!