Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Steve Stuart in Disneyland, 1961

It's time for some more vintage Disneyland fun from Steve Stuart! Steve says:

Return with us now to March (or maybe earlier) of 1961.  The last time this motley group was seen in these pages, I indicated the date was possibly closer to, or in the month of June, 1961, but a more-careful perusal of the slide box revealed a Kodak-stamped date from March 16th of 1961 – so apologies about the ‘doubtful date’ from the previous grouping of similar slides.  These two views appear to be later that same day (judging from the removed outerwear and those ‘feathered hats’), and we seem to be raft-bound on our way to – or returning from – Tom Sawyer Island.  Unfortunately, Kodak decided not to number each processed slide, so I can’t figure out the proper order for these two views.


In this second view, I see I abandoned my TSI map.  You don’t suppose I tossed it overboard-?  Heavens, no-!  As to the serviceman standing behind us - I believe Chuck can help us out here with proper branch of service, uniform, etc., although I certainly had [and still do have], a nice short-sleeve khaki shirt from some branch of the service.  Although I never found photo documentation, I wonder if we visited the graveyard on the Island, and once again, chose to lay down in one of those gravesites-?  


Many thanks as always to Steve for sharing these personal photos!

8 comments:

walterworld said...

Always loved a nice trip to Tom's Island...

Steve, thanks for sharing again.

P.S. The betting line has it 7 to 1 that you did re-live that grave ceremony whilst on TSI... :D

K. Martinez said...

What nice pics today. In the second image, is the Columbia docked in Fowler's Harbor? If so, then there's no Haunted Mansion building yet and that's kind of cool to see. The Keelboat and Old Mill in the backdrop is a nice touch to the first image. Thanks for sharing your photos, Nanook! They're always a treat.

TokyoMagic! said...

LITTERBUG! Hey Steve, maybe you just shoved the map in a back pocket? Is your friend on the far left wearing a Cub Scout shirt and belt buckle? Thanks for sharing more of your personal pics!

Chuck said...

Nice to see TSI maps in their original habitat. They eventually went extinct in the wild and now only survive in carefully-managed private collections. Despite intensive conservation efforts, it appears that they do not reproduce well in captivity.

Steve, that's a US Army Specialist 4 standing behind you. At the time this photo was taken, the Army enlisted structure had two different sets of ranks, the traditional sergeant ranks for non-commissioned officers in leadership positions and the specialist grades for other positions.

The idea was to recognize increased technical skill with higher pay and rank but without conferring additional authority, but in reality it ended up being a rather confused mess. Different career fields had different rank-level career transition points to convert from the specialist grades to the NCO positions, and any NCO, regardless of their grade, outranked any specialist, so you could have a sergeant in the grade of E-5 who would outrank a specialist 7 in the grade of E-7.

The specialist grades were gradually abolished between 1968 and 1985 with the exception of specialist 4, which was renamed "specialist." Today's specialist rank is a transitory position between the lower ranks and the NCO grades of higher responsibility and authority. An average Soldier who only serves a four-year enlistment and doesn't get into trouble will usually separate from the Army as a specialist.

TM!, although I don't recognize the shirt, that is definitely a Cub Scout belt. That particular pattern survived until a belt redesign in the 2008-10 period.

Again, many thanks, Steve!

DrGoat said...

Great pics Steve. Lucky guy with his crew.

Unknown said...

Lovely bits there, Steve. I think you can see the Bertha Mae lashed to the dock at what I believe is is Huck's Landing. I think it is, if only we had a TSI map handy. Steve?

And just beyond the file of people coming and going to and fro the Indian Village are the SF&DRR tracks. They're RIGHT there, too, because they haven't been moved back for NOS construction, station relocation and HM building.

Lovely work all...

Anonymous said...

Come for the photos, stay for the comments.

Thanks everyone, especially Steve and the Major.

JG

Nanook said...

@ Walterworld-
My first association with a betting line-!

@ Ken-
It certainly does look like Fowler's Harbor, doesn't it-?

@ TokyoMagic!-
I would hope with 'a Mom' on the premises, I would have handed the map over to her for safe-keeping, but the back pocket does sound like the logical repository. (If the truth be told, I sent the map out to be Perma-Plaqued-!)

@ Chuck-
So, let's see... that would make me an Army Specialist 3.2-4a, correct-? All kidding aside, it's always a joy as to how often new things are talked-about in this blog. Some day I'll be an expert. As you say, that certainly is a Cub Scout belt.

@ DrGoat-
The images are pretty swell, ain't they-?

@ Patrick Devlin-
I would'a sworn by now our family photos would've crossed paths, but so far evidently not.

@ JG-
You're welcome, of course.