Sleeping Beauty Castle, 1959
Here's a very nice photo taken on the bridge over the moat, as guests head toward Sleeping Beauty Castle, circa 1959. It's especially colorful thanks to those banners, and Miss Red Pants! The sun has temporarily been hidden by clouds, and based on the number of sweaters its safe to say that this was taken during the Winter. Notice that the shield over arch does not have the Disney family crest yet.
You know what would make this photo even better? Lots of pink paint on the castle!
The lady with the babushka stands out! You'll see her in photo #2 at THIS POST. The lady to the right is gazing into the moat with an expression of disapproval. "Why, in my day this would never happen!".
That's right, nothing is less appealing than an infestation of swans. Even pigeons hate them.
14 comments:
Major-
Me thinks that's more of a vermillion color, rather than red. A babushka and sensible shoes-! That woman is livin' large-!
White AND black swans. Those were the days.
Thanks, Major.
The lack of symmetry in that first shot is kind of bugging me for some reason. I keep wanting to pan to the left just a tad. Nice photo nonetheless.
THX Maj.
I see Agapanthus in that last pic! Too bad they got rid of the swans. Didn't they say that they got rid of them because they were aggressive? I know they were rented from an outside vendor, so I bet it was just a matter of management wanting to cut costs.
All ladies wearing a babushka stand out! It's the bold fashion statement of the day. And when you match it to the skirt all eyes will be on you. Look at that laser focused stare from Mr. Fedora.
Church lady leaning over the moat looks like she just hocked one in and is admiring the water rings as they pan out.
Nice crop of photos to gander at today. Thanks
Nanook, vermillion is a form of red, after all… and “Miss Vermillion Pants” doesn’t sound as good! Or maybe it does, if it’s the name of a psychedelic band.
Monkey Cage Kurt, uh oh, sounds like some OCD is kicking in! The asymmetry doesn’t bother me as much as other photos that are off-kilter.
TokyoMagic!, agapanthus is my favorite dinosaur. If they say that they got rid of the swans because they were aggressive, then that probably wasn’t the actual reason! (As you suggest, $$ was the most likely factor).
Alonzo, I can’t see a babushka now without remembering Melissa. The lady with the matching skirt certainly has a “look” - like she’s from “the old country”. Mr. Fedora is in love!
Major, I got that info about the swans being rented from a late 1970's Los Angeles Times article that I am going to post, eventually. It mentions that there was a rental fee, but doesn't say how much that fee was. It does state that if a swan died on Disney's watch, Disney got charged $350. I know the swans lasted at least up until the early nineties because I have video footage of them from 1992. That means they were around well into Eisner's reign.....and maybe even into Pressler's. Why is it that I want to blame them for everything?
Man! I miss our dear Melissa. I still think of her often. She added so much color to these conversations, and even through the computer you could tell she had a gentle disposition.
I didn’t know the swans were gone. what a drag! But if they put some mechanical crocks in there instead, it might make up for it.
My moat had a bad case of swans. I eliminated them using boiling oil.
What happened to Melissa, nothing bad I hope?
JG
TokyoMagic!, From what I understand they rented the swans because as they got older they became more aggressive (EWMN). That way when the younger swans reached a certain age Disney would return them to the agency and get younger ones to replace them thus avoiding the crabbiness of aging swans. Otherwise the younger swans were mellow.
Monkey Cage Kurt, I miss Melissa's commentary too.
Major, Love the coordinated color of the moat banners and the woman's vermillion pants and the other woman's yellow pants. They all work together to give the pic that extra umph. Thanks for another fun post.
Ken, that makes sense. The article did say that they would replace them every six months. The article was about park maintenance, so that is all it really mentioned about the swans. The swans couldn't have been any more aggressive than two Canada Geese that I saw over by the old Motor Boat Cruise dock a couple months ago. (By the way, I was told by a friend that calling them Canadian Geese is incorrect.) Those geese were going after the ducks and chasing them off of a rock that they were sitting on while just minding their own business.
@JG: I don’t think any of us really know what happened to her, the Major would have the best clue. She faded away for a while, then “pop!” one day she came back, sadly only to fade away again. Only this time she never returned. I don’t know how long it’s been, but it has been quite a long time. She always brought such a delightful spirit with her every morning. I hope the best for her.
@MC Kurt, same here. Hope she's ok. There have been several folks like that, daily regulars for years and then only silence. No way ever to know. It's a funny little community, but you're all my friends some way or other.
JG
It is an odd thing indeed, on line relationships. We don’t REALLY know each other at all, do we? We could all be a bunch of creepy people (for all we know). But there is a fondness to getting to know other people who share common interests, humor, and whatnot. I don’t really blog elsewhere; not really my thing, I just happen to really like GDB for some reason. A bit of FB here and there, but for the most part I burned out on that years ago. So our old pal Melissa is the first person I feel like I’ve truly lost. I’m sure she won’t be the last though.
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