Wednesday, October 19, 2016

STEVE STUART PHOTOS, June 1958

Today marks the first of many posts that will feature photos from the personal collection of Steve Stuart, aka "Nanook"! He was kind enough to send me a box of dozens of slides so that I could give them the Gold Star Gorilla treatment™. There are photos of Disneyland, Pacific Ocean Park, Santa's Village, and (as they say on TV) much more!

Steve was also nice enough to take the time to share his recollections, which will be fun. Today's scans are from June, 1958 - Disneyland, of course. Let's hear from Steve:

The first image on the SBC "ramp" shows yours truly, wearing what I would think is some sort of souvenir cap, but I'll be damned if I remember anything about it. I do remember always seeming to get some sort of "personalized" hat when visiting Disneyland in my pre-teen visits there. I'm standing next to childhood friends De De (Diane) and her younger brother, John. The "cool kids", standing to our right, safely separated by pennants, are unknown to me, although each one of them somehow resembles kids I knew back then. And I can spy a ticket book in the pocket of "the nice young man" standing next to me. (I should have stolen it. As if). The bigger question is - just what were we pointing at? One assumes the swans - perhaps seeing a black one. But with those grins on our faces, maybe we were laughing at the the expense of others - such as someone falling into the moat...


In the second image, if I have my bearings right, my mom appears to be sitting out near the corner of the Tinkerbell Toy Shop (under the clocktower), as the entrance to the Arts & Crafts Shop we see in the distance is located between the castle entrance, proper, and the entrance to the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthru. The image manages to "shift the focus" back to the Sleeping Beauty Arts & Crafts Shop, and not quite on my mom's face. Interestingly, the gentleman exiting the Arts & Crafts Shop is carrying a 1957 guide book, but the image should be from 1958. (I'm often doubting the dates linked to certain images seen on these pages, and here I am with the original slides in my hot little hand, and I'm scratching my head, wondering if the image dates from late 1957, but the processing date indicating a delay of a full six months! My mom didn't date the Disneyland portion of the images, only the ones from Santa's Village, as from 1958). But then, I have no idea just when the updated guidebooks are offered for sale.


At Storybook Land, De De is sitting up in the prime spot with the "guide" - and back then - still piloted exclusively by men; although that did eventually change to all women, before the "role" was finally opened to both sexes. I'm sitting along back on the port side, looking intently at the dock -? John is sitting behind me looking at De De. This shot perfectly shows the spur track where the boats go for a bit of R&R - often referred to by the guides as: "Never-never-land as we never, ever, go there!". The lever apparently used to switch the tracks can be seen on the right side, beneath the cactus plant.


Thank you, Steve! I hope everybody enjoyed these (I know you did) - stay tuned for more, coming soon.

17 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Nanook, for the shares and words to go with. Your mother looks so relaxed there. It's a charming picture.

Scott Lane said...

Nice pictures, Nookie! Can't wait to see more. Your mom was quite a looker, wasn't she?

Alonzo P Hawk said...

I agree with Patrick. Back then everyone seemed to enjoy the park at a normal pace. Nowadays it seems the crowds force people to race just to acomplish a handfull of attractions in a day to justify the benji it costs for entry. Thanks for sharing.

Melissa said...

Adorable kids, lovely Mom, gorgeous pictures! I'm in love with De De's red jumper.

Before I realized he was the pilot, I thought the man in the back of the boat was eating an ice cream cone. The man in the gray suit in the first picture looks like the love child of Cary Grant and Buddy Holly.

Medley said...

Wow these pictures are so great. I love pictures of the park back in the day, but equally so I love seeing the park goers.

The details in your stories are my favorite though. Thank you for sharing the line from the attraction you remember.

(And I never realized how much SBC area looks like Agrabah until looking at that slide of your mom! Probably never linked the two in the past due to this being way before Agrabah even made it to the big screen!)

Thanks again for a great post!

Chuck said...

Note that in 1956 there was no "curtain" - either fabric or water - screening our view of the spur backstage. Also note that the empty boat is actually moored inside the cave. While it will keep enemy raiders out of the bay, if it's sunk, it'll render the harbor useless. Something to think about.

Any ideas as to the function of the teapot next to De De? Or is it just decorative? Is this the Alice?

Alonzo, I wasn't aware that you could exchange a dog for entry into the Park. I've always just paid the admission price.

Nanook, these are a fun set of photos. Thanks for sharing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Chuck said...

...nor was there a "curtain" in 1958, when these photos were taken. Not sure how I fat-fingered that one...

DrGoat said...

Nice pics Nanook. You never know, we might have bumped into each other. I was 8 yrs old in '58 and we went to the happiest place as many times as we could convince our parents to take us. Your Mom's looks wonderful, but DE DE looks pensive.

K. Martinez said...

Nanook,

I kept wondering when your images were going to show up. I was definitely anticipating them. I can say without a doubt that they do not disappoint. Wonderful!

I recognized you immediately from seeing your TSI "lying-in-the-grave" pic from an earlier post. My favorite is the image of your mother in the Castle Courtyard area. She's quite beautiful.

Thanks for sharing your personal family photos. I'm looking forward to the rest.

Thank you for hosting them, Major.

Melissa said...

Love the guy near the middle of the boat who got caught with his tongue sticking out.

Nanook said...

Dear All-

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. And, yes, my mom was indeed "quite the looker", which begs the question: what happened to me-? [Insert punch line here...]. Although in this image, it appears she left her eyeballs at home. You'll be seeing more of her in the future.

Sadly I can't remember any specific moments from being at Disneyland 'back then' - which would involve remembrances of attractions/stores/buildings/etc., no longer there. It all just sort of fades into the background. (Although I do have some memories of being inside Mineral Hall on more than one occasion-!) Well, at least I have these images to verify I actually can claim to being at Disneyland back when it was still in its early stage. And speaking of early stage, clearly, it was a different time back then, and Disneyland and the guests there, reflect that mood and attitude.


The backstory as to why it's taken so long for me to find these images goes thusly... First off, it's been several years since I've been back home (although I did visit this last February), so haven't been able to check to see if our family slides were still in boxes in the rear hall closet, as I remember them. Happily they still were there - seemingly untouched. I grabbed all the ones I wanted and when I returned home began sharing them with The Major. He graciously volunteered to allow the slides to experience his 'clean-up treatment' to eek-out the best images possible - although they are all Kodachrome slides. And here we are now.

Thanks again to The Major for sharing these images (and many more in the future), and the work he did to prepare them for Prime Time.

(Now - I want to hear more about this Cary Grant-Buddy Holly love child...)

TokyoMagic! said...

Well, I'm really late for these, but I'm loving all of them. I thought the man in the first pic looked a little Clark Kent-ish. And yes, such a beautiful mom! Now I'm also wondering about that teapot that Chuck pointed out. I don't remember seeing it before. I also don't remember seeing that lever used to switch the tracks.

Thank you so much for sharing these with us, Nanook (and Major!). I can't wait to see and hear more of your family's theme park visits!

TokyoMagic! said...

Ooops, maybe not so late! I was thinking I was looking at yesterday's post and that I had somehow missed it!

Alonzo P Hawk said...

@Melissa, Nanook,

If Cary Grant and Buddy Holly had a love child I think Randolph Scott might have had a bit of a problem with it. I don't know....

Melissa said...

But I bet he'd be a great step dad.

Snow White Archive said...

Nice photos Nanook. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Steve (Nanook) for sharing these pictures. Your stories bring them to life.

One of my treasured childhood pics is sitting in the canal boat with Mom.

Thanks Major for showcasing these moments.

JG