As you know, I've been rescanning some slides that (for various reasons) had not necessarily turned out so good during my first attempts, sometimes as much as ten years ago. Today I am sharing two rescans that came out surprisingly well!
Let's start with this 1956 view of the Bertha Mae; the slide had turned reddish-orange, and at the time (2010) I just couldn't get the color-correction to a point that was satisfactory, so I just decided to make it black and white.
Look at how good it turned out this time! Even I was surprised. I love this angle looking down on the Keel Boat, with all of the passengers grouped on top! Everyone's bundled up, so it was a chilly day. A canoe passes nearby; another neat detail is the fact that you can get an idea of what the inside of the Keel Boats was like. Pretty spartan, with simple benches and pads, sort of like the seats on the Jungle Cruise.
From the same group is this shot of Fowler's Harbor, again reduce to black and white (and cropped).
The color is back, and looks pretty decent, all things considered. The Bertha Mae has just pulled up to the dock, you can see that it has the same folks that were in the first photo (the Gullywhumper sits unused). Notice the walkway that led to the tunnel where guests could enter the Indian Village.
Major-
ReplyDeleteThese are some really nice images - particularly the first one. These rescans really show their true colors - especially the purple facetones-! (Well, maybe not). I see the Indian War Canoes are also on the waterway.
Thanks, Major, for another episode of Rescan Theatre.
"Sunny" California, huh?
ReplyDeleteThat top shot's great! I never saw the inside of one of the keel boats before. Never had any interest in riding them as a kid. Thanks, Major! Just goes to show that summer repeats can be fun.
These came out great, thanks for giving them a second chance. Captain Cobb would be pleased to see how purdy you made his Bertha Mae look (even in the So. Cal gloom).
ReplyDeleteThe new scanner and your bionic color correction skills are turning the "meh" scans of yesteryear into the golden gems (yeller, yeller gold) of today.
Major, this shows the original seating configuration of the keelboats. Around 1967, the seats were replaced with wooden benches with backs that ran perpendicular to the keel rather than along the sides of the craft, as this 1977 Daveland photo illustrates.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but notice these are square. Out of curiosity, were these scans from 2¼"x2¼" slides or something else?
Oh, and FANTASTIC job with the restoration!
Nice work! It's astonishing the amount of information that can be teased out of slides that look nearly monochromatic.
ReplyDeleteFowler's harbor looks so, well I guess "functional" is the word. It's just a little wharf where some various river traffic has lashed up at the quay.
Beautiful job on the rescan! Keep those photos... I would not be surprised if in a few years your scanning skills will allow you to coax Ultra 4K video out of them.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I see the old grist mill on Tom Sawyer's island, I try to picture where the Fantasmic stage is. Once again... I miss the simplicity.
I'm with Tom, waiting for the 4K video.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant work.
It's funny, this is the seating I remember, not the perpendicular benches, although I must have ridden on both. Only the blue cushions float.
JG
Nanook - we should treat all people with respect, be they white, brown, yellow, or purple.
ReplyDeleteScott Lane, like you I would have never considered riding the Keel Boats - much to my regret.
Alonzo, I don’t know who Captain Cobb is, was he a character in “Davy Crockett and the River Pirates”? Believe it or not I have never seen ANY of the Davy Crockett shows/movies.
Chuck, interesting; I wonder if the seats were replaced, or if the boats are completely new. And yes, these are the 2.25” X 2.25” square slides!
Patrick Devlin, I agree, sometimes it looks like there is nothing left but red, and yet there are enough traces of colors to be able to enhance them, thanks to today’s amazing photo-editing software. And I also agree about Fowler’s Harbor; it was added out of prudence, and wound up adding a lot of “show value”.
Tom, ah, if only that was possible! I can’t tell you how many photos there have been that I wished I had the skill to add some animation to. And oy, that Fantasmic! stage - such an eyesore.
JG, is the “blue cushions” thing a Jungle Cruise joke??
What beautiful color and detail - amazing restoration job! The play of the light on the water is just gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWe had rain all day yesterday, but it just made it hotter and muggier (mungier?) today. A "chilly" California day where it's cool enough to wear a coat but not so cold that you have to go inside the boat sounds lovely right about now!
And I just can't stop smiling at the hand-holding couple sitting right in front of the man in the gray fedora. I hope they got in some quality smoochin' time on the dark rides.
Major, the original movie prop boats were replaced with fiberglass replicas around 1957, but I'm not aware of the boats being replaced again. I think the seating was reconfigured during the same refit cycle that changed the Gullywhumper to a three-window configuration. It may have added seating capacity and was probably faster to load, although I think the primary reason was to improve guest views of the river.
ReplyDeleteAlso - now that Melissa got me people-watching with her comment, note the two Airmen in the front of the Bertha Mae. The guy farthest from us is wearing a long-sleeved variant of the the shade 505 khaki summer uniform (which was authorized year-round in Southern California) and has what appears to be a camera strap around the back of his collar. While we can't see his rank, the sliver piping on his flight cap means he's an officer.
The nearer guy is confusing me a bit. He appears to be a lieutenant colonel, although that silver blob could potentially be first lieutenant or captain's bars or possibly even a colonel's eagle. His coat and trousers are blue, but his shirt appears to be khaki, which as far as I can determine was never an authorized combination. Perhaps the shirt is actually light blue and the color restoration threw it off.
@Major, yes, JC joke, glad you recognized it. :).
ReplyDeleteI did wonder about the servicemen, but didn't even know enough to ask the right questions about them!
ReplyDeleteMelissa - with this community, sometimes a "hey - what's with those guys in the blue soda jerk hats?" is all you need to start the discussion (and as I've amply proven over the past 6+ years, often less than that is enough to set me off).
ReplyDeleteMelissa, it sounds like everyone is getting rain now, even in Arizona. What gives? California winters are mild, but they can still get chilly on certain days. I always think it’s cute when I see a married couple, in their 40’s or 50’s (or older) still holding hands.
ReplyDeleteChuck, I wasn’t sure about the boats, so thanks for the info. I did notice the servicemen, and figured you would probably point them out! Since there are other blue shirts in the photo that look just fine, I don’t think that my color-correction turned that one guy’s shirt from blue to khaki.
JG, I thought so!
Melissa, just point and say, “Huh?”, like I do in foreign countries.
Chuck, “soda jerk hats”, ha ha.
Something about the light and rich muted colors. Pic 2 almost looks like a scale model. Love seeing the train tunnel. I may be the only living person who has ridden in the keel boats in the seats below.
ReplyDeleteI'm late in commenting, but again...great job of re-scanning, Major! I don't think anyone mentioned the lumber on the dock of Tom Sawyer Island. Since these are from 1956, I'm assuming the island was still under construction? And is that a tiki torch stuck in the ground on the tip of the island (to the left of the mill)?
ReplyDeleteThat might be the best image of Fowlers's Harbor I've ever seen.
ReplyDeleteWonderful images.