Slides 9-1-1
It's time for more rescued slides from July, 1961. Thanks to the miracle of Photoshop (invented by Dr. Laszlo Photoshop), I have restored these faded images to something near their former glory.
First up... this view of Fantasyland, with the Pirate Ship, and all that other jazz. I don't need to tell you what's there.
And here it is, after fiddling with a few knobs and pushing a few buttons. Oh, and I pulled a big red lever, too. Anyway, it turns out that the photo shows a lovely twilight view of this area - the last warmth of the sun is rapidly fading, and the cooler evening colors are more apparent lower down. It's great to see the sails fully unfurled on the Pirate Ship!
The lights are on, which looks very pretty. I can almost hear the sound of the waterfalls gushing from Skull Rock, the joyful cries of guests on the nearby Mad Tea Party attraction, and can almost feel the cooling air rushing past our Skyway bucket.
I thought I'd zoom in a little, to spy on those folks dining behind the Pirate Ship. That's where I would eat!
Occasionally, other photos of the Pirate Ship have signs touting the appearance of the "Pirate Trio". I don't know about you, but I imagined three unshaven (and possibly unwashed) men playing, I don't know, maybe a guitar, a lute, and a clarinet, or fife, or whatever.
I certainly did not think that the "pirates" would be three charming ladies! This is definitely more like it. Not only are they adorable, but I'll bet they sounded great too. I love this picture!
22 comments:
Major-
A violin, accordion and bass. It sounds just perfect. And who can argue with those outfits - complete with boots, fancy-cut shorts, pirate earrings and babushka's-?? Oh - and the color re-jiggering is right-nice, too.
Thanks, Major.
Isn't that the Three Cute Lasses performing? All that's missing to complete the scene are the braying donkey and howling dog.
Both pics are pretty awesome today. Thanks, Major.
Good job Major. Just the right amount of haziness to the first two photos to give them that dreamy quality. I'm wondering if that black hair on those Cuties is also part of the special effects.
Also wanted to wish everyone a happy Christmas and to thank the Major for hosting this blog. And to all the very well informed and experienced commenters also. I may have been there in the beginnings of Disneyland, but I've learned so much more of the good stuff visiting this comment section. Buon Natalie.
Why *do* people persist in storing their slides in Tupperware containers full of Pepto-Bismol? It's a lucky thing we have Major P. and his Depinkificator to sort things out.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a picture of the pirate ship lagoon from this angle. It really sorts out in my head what was where in relation to what else.
As for the Pirate Trio, all’s I can say is va-va-va-voom and TRIPLE BABUSHKA FRIDAY!
If there is one thing that Disney parks are sorely lacking, it's musical bands of sultry and salty wenches playing equally sultry and salty sea shanties! :D
Lovely bit of business to kick off the weekend and thanks for the effort..
Oh Major, these are wonderful! Thank you and Dr. Photoshop for the hard work.
The Pirate Band is terrific, I have never seen them before, and I would have remembered them if I had. As @Melissa says "va-va-voom".
As for lunch, I would take the red topped table to the right, although one by the water would be fine too.
JG
Like Ken, I immediately thought of the scene from Pirates of the Caribbean with the donkey and the doggie. The trio also makes me think of the Del Rubio Triplets. I wonder if the group ever sang, "These Boots Are Made For Walking"?
In the zoom-in of the aerial photo, we can see the little stage that the trio performed on behind the Pirate Ship, including the treasure chests and the little mast.
Nanook, admit it, a kazoo (or three!) would have added depth and richness. Yeah, those gals are totes adorbs, no doubt about it.
K. Martinez, they preferred to be called, “The Three Independent Women Who Don’t Need Any Man To Tell Them What To Do”.
DrGoat, it is possible that their hair was actually brown rather than black, but I doubt that it was too different from what you see here; however, restoring slides from magenta examples does sometimes require a bit of guesswork.
DrGoat, Merry Christmas to you too! And everybody else too. Thanks to all of the commenters!
Melissa, I thought they stored them in vats of Hawaiian Punch, but I suppose that preferences are regional. It seems like I’ve posted so many (SO MANY!) photos of the Pirate Ship as seen from the Skyway, but perhaps there has not been another from exactly this same angle.
The Disney Dudebro, I agree completely!
Patric Devlin, you’re welcome.
JG, I think perhaps Daveland had a photo of this same Pirate Trio - or maybe it was Matterhorn1959. But I’m mighty happy to have this picture. I can’t decide if I’d rather sit right in the middle of the action, or tucked away for some peace and quiet.
TokyoMagic!, I always think of the Del Rubios on PeeWee’s Playhouse!
TokyoMagic! 2, yes, it’s as if they will sail off to someplace else when they’re done performing. Not easy to do in a ce-ment pond.
@ TM!-
I hadn't thought about the Del Rubio Triplets [née Boyd Triplets] in a month of Sundays-! I still remember when they made an appearance at Aron's Records sometime in the early 90's, I believe.
Hard to iamgine they appeared on TV in the 1950's, including several Bob Hope specials, but were able to wend their way thru the television timeline to perform alongside Pee Wee Herman on his [infamous] Christmas Special in 1988. Sorry, Bob - but the Pee Wee appearance will always be more-fondly remembered than your parade of TV specials - of dubious note. (Although, at the time... ya gotta love 'em).
@ Major-
Kazoos-! Yes. And who could forget the "wall-of-kazoos" 'break' during that toe-tapping tune from Joanie Sommers - Johnny Get Angry. Popular music has never been the same.
It's entirely possible I've seen similar lagoon shots a million times and just don't remember. My brains have more holes than my socks.
Nanook, and let us not forget their appearance on "The Golden Girls" as "The Donatello Triplets." I forgot all about Aaron's Records! Are they still in business? I haven't been to that part of Melrose Ave. in years.
@ TM!-
Yes - their appearance on The Golden Girls, too.
Unfortunately Aron's Records pulled the plug back in early 2006.
My favorite Aron's story involves their motley crew of employees - all with that great sense of humor and also highly-skilled in both literal and figurative eye-rolling. Back when the store was still on Melrose, one of the crew had recorded a low-budget TV commercial for a compilation record album of soul tunes - with Black actors to add "authenticity" to the album. The spot was typical for that sort of thing, not only back then (late-1980's) but also today - where one person informed his friend [to great surprise] of that "great album-!" After hearing some of the tracks, the friend was beside himself with excitement and was begging to borrow the album. However, the owner of the record had other ideas when he answered in what can only be described as the 'Whitest line reading by any African American' - and worthy of the best spoof on SNL or In Living Color, going something like this: I am sorry, my Brother... You will have to get your own-! The [evidently unintended] campiness of the spot was hardly lost on their staff, as they kept re-winding the VHS tape back to the portion with the insane line reading.
Good times - and yet another moment of human interaction lost to the new world of on-line retailing.
@ TM!-
I should have read your comment more-carefully. "... that part of Melrose". They moved from their original Melrose location back in 1989, and ended-up on Highland Avenue, north of Santa Monica - in a much-larger (9,000 sq. ft.) building. But some of the charm was lost in their larger layout, and they eventually succumbed to music downloading, file trading, etc., and their [relative] proximity to the gargantuan Amoeba Records, at Sunset & Vine, when they opened in 2001.
Nanook, I think I was first aware of the Del Rubios when their version of “Whip It” came out. Seemed to be quite the novelty hit. Then they’d pop up here and there… real troupers. Bob Hope, whoo-eee… Mamie Van Doren recently ripped him apart on Facebook, talking about what a cad he was (to put it mildly). It was pretty entertaining, to be honest.
Melissa, I know just how you feel!!
TokyoMagic!, Aron’s has been gone for years; I still remember going there and being dismayed at the “Going Out of Business” sign. Of course by this time they had left the Melrose location and were on Highland. There were other great record stores in the area… the Melrose location for “Bleeker Bob’s”, “Vinyl Fetish”, “Rene’s All Ears”, and other oddball little shops.
Nanook, sometimes I feel like I am the only person who didn’t watch The Golden Girls. I like your Aron’s story! My clearest memory of Aron’s is when I parked in their crappy little parking lot, walked into the store, and some girl pointed at me and yelled to the whole store, “He just hit that car in the parking lot!”. I hadn’t hit ANY car in the parking lot. So I said just that, and her response was a very quiet, “Oh, I’m sorry”. To this day I have no idea what that was about. I walked around the store feeling like a criminal, though!
Nanook again, weirdly the now-gone Virgin Megastores (such as the one on Sunset) might have also contributed to the demise of Aron’s.
Nanook, was the compilation album available from K-tel? That's a shame about Aaron's records. I had no idea that they had moved. I think Amoeba themselves moved at one point, didn't they? Now they might have to move again, as I believe that they owned the building that they are currently in, but recently sold it to a developer.
Major, your story about the clerk in the store made me laugh pretty hard out loud, although I can imagine how it would not have been funny for you. Maybe that was just "her thing" and she did that to every 100th person who walked through the door. I also forgot about Vinyl Fetish. For a while, I was getting all of my used Disney movie soundtracks at The Record Connection, located at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd. and La Cienega Blvd. (across from the United Colors of Benetton Store). After I rented the movies on VHS, if I liked the soundtracks enough, I would go there and buy them on vinyl. They had an incredible selection. That is where I bought my soundtrack to "The Parent Trap" and also, wait for it......"The Happiest Millionaire"!!!!!
@ Major-
I'm afraid Bob Hope's "bedroom escapades" belied his popular, stand-up comedian exterior. Along with Rock Hudson's sexual preference, I'm afraid Bob had a difficult time living-down his womanizing, wife-cheating reputation.
Your story about the 'parking lot escapade' reminds me of the Tower Records store on the Sunset Strip. Those who shopped there are more than aware of how tight their parking situation was; although they did have a parking lot that may have accommodated about 30-40 vehicles. As parking in the area could be difficult to find (and free parking, at that) rarely was it an easy task to simply find ample parking. As such, Tower hired a couple of dudes, whose sole responsibility was to monitor the vehicles and the drivers of each to verify they were actually shopping at Tower, and not freeloading while they shopped or dined nearby (including the original location of Spago). Many an evening of record/CD browsing was interrupted when the usual blare of 'background' music in the store would abruptly fade-down, followed by one of the dude's announcing in his best stage whisper, something like this: "White Mustang. Parked in the handicap spot. Move it. Or it will be moved for you-!!" Yeah - don't mess-around with Russ Solomon.
@ TM!-
That commercial probably was a K-TEL spot. And if it wasn't; it certainly should've been.
Wonderful re-stored pictures tonight Major.
The commentary was great as always; it was nice to end up at Tower Records on Sunset...
Thanks!
All this talk of record stores is making me nostalgic for Sam's in Toronto. Yonge St. isn't Yonge St. without that bug neon sign.
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