The holidays have passed and we're back to the usual snoozers on Sundays. Shouldn't you be watching TV or going to church, or something like that? ;-)
So here's an odd view. Not a good view, but an odd one. I guess the photographer was mighty enraptured by those elliptical (and almost certainly ATOMIC) shade thingies, which protected guests from the harsh rays of nearby exploding stars. I've seen distant shots of the walls in Tomorrowland, and I always thought that the round decorations applied to them were half spheres, basically stuck right on the wall. Now I see that they were mounted on poles, and were more like slightly squashed spheres. The angled shadows provided some interest to what would otherwise be a big flat nothing.
Poster alert... an "Alice in Wonderland" - the rare version with "Fantasyland" at the bottom.
I would feel bad about posting this particular image, except that I am a sociopath and lack the ability to feel empathy for anyone about anything. It really simplifies life! Someone needs to call Huck Finn and ask him to please stop parking his raft next to the mill. That guy has no respect for the rules!
Major-
ReplyDeleteLet's just say these are images that only Disneyland fanatics could love - and I guess that includes me. They may not be 'show stoppers', but they all contribute pieces to the puzzle that help provide the whole story about The Happiest Place On Earth.
And as a former co-worker [who was just a little wacky] would start saying right about now: Happy old year. (See, I told you he was wacky-!)
Thanks, Major.
That is so weird: I too have always thought those Tomorrowland wall - mural orbs were half circles ( and I assumed they were back lit at night!!) but they are indeed full spheres on poles!!! I had to wait till 2018 to learn that!
ReplyDeleteI worked on a project once where we built models of those Tomorrowland buildings - the scale was so small the wall orbs were left off so no drawings were pulled of them - but even then I think we thought they were just domes.....
These are an absolute joy! I hadn't seen an out-of-focus photo of blond hair roots in forever and was starting to go into withdrawal. Thanks, Major! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI had honestly never thought about (or even consciously-noticed) those wall balls before. Now I have the uncontrollable urge to spend the next three hours scouring the Interwebs researching them. I'll be back later with a full report.
That's some cool "balls to the wall" architecture. Was there some sort of aviation exhibit inside?
ReplyDeleteAs to why we love these particular pics, Nanook said it perfectly. Thanks, Major.
The shot of the benches may seem mundane, but it really does show off the unique googie architecture. I'm guessing this is Tomorrowland in the 60s or 70s, by the looks of it. Seems to be the only place in the park where you can see googie.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine once showed be a Disneyland employee property controll sale listing from the mid 60's ( I'm assuming the tomorrowland 1967 was under contradiction )the listing included several dozen "Tomorrowland benches" .....imagine some of the homes in surrounding Disneyland communities like Fullerton, Santa Ana, Orange , Garden Grove that once or may still have these original Tomorrowland benches in their yards, patios, and pool areas.....
ReplyDeleteContradiction should be construction
DeleteNanook, I think we can at least be grateful that these are not shot on GAF film, which automatically makes them better than the very worst stuff.
ReplyDeleteMike Cozart, hooray! It’s always fun to discover some little detail that has escaped detection before. I’d love to know more about the project you mentioned (in which you built the models), but you might be sworn to secrecy, I suppose.
Chuck, I am more about the big blurry finger blocking 1/3 of the photo, but hey, I don’t judge! I’m sure there are other photos that probably make it clear that those wall decorations are not stuck directly onto the walls, but as most of you should know, I am not the most observant person on the planet.
K. Martinez, there have been all kinds of firsts on GDB. Yesterday I believe Nanook was the first to use the phrase “wet dream” in a comment, and now we have “balls to the wall”. My little blog is growing up! ;-)
The Disney Dudebro, with the “Alice” poster as a clue, this has to be at least from 1958; and those benches were gone by 1967. Based on the slide itself, I’d say that ’58 is probably a likely date. I do think that the awnings would qualify as “Googie”!
Mike Cozart, I’d love to think that some of those benches have survived the past 50+ years, although exposure to the elements might have wreaked havoc on the wood. Still… it could happen, if the owner was good about maintaining paint!
Once again - Daveland to the rescue. There are a number of images in the Tomorrowland section which clearly show the "round decorations" as mounted on little poles. Check out image THIS IMAGE. And just for fun - a NIGHTTIME VIEW-!
ReplyDeleteWhew! Thanks for taking the pressure off, Nanook. I'm afraid I took the Major's advice to heart and went to church and watched TV rather than doing any research. I also lost some time to this weird idea my wife has that Christmas decorations need to come down before February. I'll never understand women.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to GDB after dark.
ReplyDeleteWe're in a crowd of people in Tomorrowland watching the talented Yachtsman...playing and singing their music on what must be Disneyland's smallest stage. I've got to be careful as I have a cup of hot coffee in my hand that I got from the Yacht Bar. Oh no, it's "sing-a-long time! I hate sing-a-longs, but it seems Disneyland is working it's magic and I find myself belting out my favorite folk tunes with everyone else.
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These photos are great. I wish I had a garage workshop and knew how to build stuff. I would put one of those "dome umbrellas" on my back porch.
The round things look like some stomach polyps I saw once. Not in a bad way, though.
ReplyDeleteCheck the ladies in the matching bucket hats! Are those a style of souvenir hat I haven't seen, or do they just have the same taste in chapeaux? 4 the first Disney trip my sister and I took as adults, we wore bucket hats of the same style but different fabrics.
@Chuck, Mike Cozart and Nanook, I'm with you, I had always thought the little globes were stuck directly to the wall. Today's post and your follow up research is most welcome, it turns out we were all partly right. Half globes, on posts, but with light fixtures too. I think it's a nice touch that the globes and the wall are the same color, reinforces the notion that they are stuck on integrally.
ReplyDeleteMajor, you're right, the umbrellas are positively nuclear. There is a distant sense of humming power about them, like they are about to leap right off the ground into space.
I'm pretty sure that after hours, they were used to charge up the engine in the shanty on Huck's raft.
JG
The model was the 1/16 scale 1955 layout done for Disneyland's 50th - it's still on exhibit . Upon reflection we may have left the "orbs" of the structures because they were added after opening year and maybe not because they were too small to appear.
ReplyDeleteBeing that accurate kinda went out the door as when the model was painted several of the structures - like on Main Street were done in current paint schemes and not the correct 1955 colors.