A few weeks ago, I was contacted by someone (who prefers to remain anonymous, but his name is actually Bobson Dugnutt - nobody remains anonymous on GDB. NOBODY!) about a series of scans that this person had made years ago. These scans are from Disneyland - Frontierland, to be specific. Hundreds and hundreds of them, dating from as far back as the 1950's (only a few of those), through the 1960's (not a lot of those though), with most being from the 1970's and 1980's. Some were apparently taken in some sort of official capacity, relating to Disney University presentations. There's a little bit of everything, really. While not all of them are usable, there is still plenty to enjoy.
From 1962 we have this photo that is great for a little bit of vintage "people watching". My favorite is the pretty lady with the bouffant (and woven purse), she looks a bit like Suzanne Pleshette. The military man is not happy to have been captured on film. Tom Waits (with his stylish hat) stands in between both of them.
The next two are dated "April 1964", starting with this shot from the Columbia looking toward Rainbow Ridge, complete with Pack Mules and a yellow Mine Train, under a cloudy sky. One lady appears to be putting on her clear plastic babushka to protect her perm!
And here's another Columbia shot (there are a TON of shots of the Columbia in this batch of scans), with the magnificent Cascade Peak, so close you could practically touch it. A tour guide is in the foreground; is that a CM standing on the grating, or is it a French resistance member? Seeing all of those people in hats and coats is making me feel chilly.
Thanks to *Bobson Dugnutt for sharing these (and many other) scans!
*His name isn't really Bobson Dugnutt.
Major-
ReplyDeleteWe seem to have tour guides in both the first and third images. And you ain't kidding about being able to almost touch Cascade Peak-!! (If only...)
Major, please thank "Bobson" for these images, and suggest that perhaps he consider changing his name to something more appealing, such as Lord Brain.
Wow, nobody looks very happy in that first pic, except maybe that Tour Guide, but then she's getting paid to "be happy." When I see pics like the second one, showing all the buildings from Rainbow Ridge and all of the trees behind them....and then knowing what the attraction was that was located behind them, it just makes me sick about it all being bulldozed. Okay, so they saved a few of the buildings, but they could have saved the entire attraction and updated it over the years like they have with the Jungle Cruise. Marc Davis would have been the perfect person for the job.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Major and Mr. "D" for sharing these photos. I'm looking forward to more!
As dark and contrasty as the shadows are in that first picture, about all I can tell you is our servicemember is an enlisted US Army soldier wearing a Khaki shade 1 shirt in the Class B configuration with what is probably a camera (but could be macrobinoculars picked up during his tour in Mos Eisley) around his neck.
ReplyDeleteThe second photo shows Mule Pack Corner in context with the rest of Rainbow Ridge, which ties in to the discussion from last Thursday. I guess we should have looked ahead a week in our syllabus.
Thanks, Mr D and Maj P!
These are really great pictures. Many of these vintage shots usually are sparse in the kid department. I'm assuming these photos were taken on a week day. There was no way a parent would take their child out of school to go to Disneyland back in 1962. I know that mine wouldn't.
ReplyDeleteHey TM!, it has never occurred to me how they could have kept NWRR going: they've kept the Jungle Cruise with updates and refurbishments, they could have done the same. Now I see...
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree with Chuck regarding the little panorama we see in the second shot: It sure gives a nice sense of placement and distance. It has been 40+ years but I've grown foggy regarding how close the Pack Mules were to the Twain and Columbia loading area. It was downright cozy.
Joining in the chorus of appreciation for that second picture! It's especially artistic when viewed through the Columbia rigging like that. Lots of Men In Black activity that day; the Martians must have escaped the confines of Tomorrowland.
ReplyDeleteDig the dame in the leopard skin coat! I bet she's wearing the same cat's-eye sunglasses as the lady at the far right of the first pic.
*His name isn't really Bobson Dugnutt.
Oh, it is now. IT IS NOW.
In the first pic to the right, that lady with the white cat-glasses really seems to like nibbling her fingers. In the lower left of the pic it looks like Ethel traded in old Fred for a younger guy.
ReplyDeleteI like the last pic showing a portion of the N.W.R.R. track that eventually heads towards the trestle over Disneyland's original first "Bear Country". Also, the lantern at the very top of the image is cool. Thanks, Major.
I immediately zeroed-in on the ticket booth in the second picture thinking of the days we'd always walk over to the girl inside and share a few jokes...especially during those (once upon a time) slow evenings. A former co-worker married one. She's supervising main gate admissions and shooting for 50 years of service next year! KS
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are straight-up wonderful. It's great to see the detail in the crowds.
ReplyDeleteThanks Major and Bobson. Bring on the rest of the batch!
JG
Thank you Major for sharing... I wonder if I;m in any of those photos from the 80's? Thank you Bobson for sharing too. This collection is going to be a hoot. When I was working at the Disney University they used to have a multi media slide presentation (Using 6 slide projectors (2 columns & 3 rows) or was it 9? Tom "Mez" would know). I wonder if any of these slides come from those presentations. I will keep an eye out for them.
ReplyDeleteThe gentleman standing on the grate could be a Columbia Cast Member. We wore a wool stocking cap, striped white shirt, Pea Coat, black sash, and blue Vans shoes. The one piece that doesn't make sense is the black pants. They were usually white. So, I'm not sure. I don't see a name tag on the outer garment either.
Finally, that last photo does show how close the unload area from the Pack Mules was to the rivers edge. That is some tight quarters indeed. A modern day churro wagon would have absorbed all that space. It seems to be now that is about where that boat house is constructed. What I love most... and I said it many times before, is that Frontierland came to an end. That is you could not walk all the way around it. This photo shows the furthest end of Frontierland that one could walk to. The only way to see the "wilderness" was to do what our forefathers did... take a different mode of transportation. Pack Mule, Mine Train, Riverboat, Canoe, Keel Boat, Train. Love it! This is why the Jungle Cruise continues to work so well. You cannot walk around it... you must explore it.
Always your pal,
Amazon Belle
I see what you did there.
ReplyDeleteHis name is really Dobson Bugnutt.
Patrick, that's right...the Jungle Cruise was updated a couple times in the early sixties and then had another major renovation less than one year before Nature's Wonderland was ripped out. Mark Davis had a hand in those new scenes. They could have even built Big Thunder behind Nature's Wonderland and fond a way to squeeze in a pathway to get to it, like they did with Indiana Jones in Adventureland. The two attractions could have coexisted.
ReplyDeleteKen, that does look like Ethel's hairdo!
I'm just happy to read the phrase "hundreds and hundreds." That means GDB will hopefully be around a while longer!
ReplyDeleteNanook, I am always happy to see tour guides in photos - and jealous that I was never able to enjoy a personal tour from a plaid-clad multilingual young lady. (Is “Lord Brain” a reference to something? I’m so out of touch…)
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, having fun is serious business. If you are smiling, you’re doing it wrong. In fact, tears of frustration should be evident! I agree, the very thought of Rainbow Ridge (not to mention the rest of “Nature’s Wonderland”) being smashed by bulldozers is just awful. I’ve always wondered if the attraction would have found a new popularity (sort of like the Tiki Room) if it had been allowed to grow and change. Marc Davis was definitely up to the task.
Chuck, a lot of these scans are very dark, with inky black shadows. I wish I could have scanned the slides, but I am grateful that I got the scans at all! I love the view of Rainbow Ridge from the Columbia, with the little ticket booth, and the way we can see how the area was laid out.
Melissa, don’t fool yourself, the Men in Black are ALWAYS lurking. I seen ‘em with my own eyes! I hope that leopard skin coat is a fake… but it’s probably the real deal.
K. Martinez, why would Ethel EVER get rid of Fred? I mean, he was good looking, charming, 30 years older than her … every woman’s dream. Since I never rode the Pack Mules, I always envy the people that we see in vintage photos… how fun that would have been.
KS, oh you smoothie, chatting up the ticket girl! I’m sure she appreciated the distraction. I wonder how many marriages resulted from two people working at Disneyland??
JG, I hope you are ready, because there are lots and lots (and lots) of Frontierland photos from this batch!
Amazon Belle, the loss of pedestrian inaccessibility to 2/3 of Frontierland is what has me most worried about Galaxy's Edge. I cringe at the notion of seeing crowds walking the western shore of the Rivers of America. The frontier will no longer be the destination, but merely a place you pass through on the way to somewhere else, transitioning the use of the term from it's American context to how it was used to describe the borders between European nations. Happily, there's no way to do that to the Jungle Cruise.
ReplyDelete@Chuck "yet"...
ReplyDelete@Steve DeGaetano, yes!
JG
Major-
ReplyDeleteI was just looking for an obscure name. Lord Brain refers to Sir Walter Russell Brain (1895-1966), or 'Lord Brain', the eminent British neuroscientist and author of Brain's Diseases of the Nervous System.
You see - you do learn something new everyday-!
"A match made in Disneyland" is pretty darn romantic.
ReplyDeleteAnd didn't we all know Ethel was gonna trade Fred in sooner or later?
TM!, I hate to disagree with you, but looking at aerial photos I don't think NW and BTRR could have co-existed without ruining everything.
ReplyDeleteWhile there was enough land behind the Living Desert to put BTRR (perhaps straddling the tracks, which would have made a cool backdrop to the Desert), it's a long way from El Zocalo to that area, farther than the distance between the Indy entrance and the load area, and the space between NW and Fantasyland was pretty narrow. I guess they could have gone underground and maybe made that tunnel part of the queue, but that would be a long tunnel, longer than the distance from the center of the Hub to the Carousel of Progress/America Sings building. Could they sustain guest interest in a queue of that length with 1970s technology and budgets? Maybe.
It also would have changed the nature of the area. Instead of a nice, relatively quiet area that made you feel like you were in the wilderness, the wildest ride in said wilderness would be screaming by with screaming passengers every few minutes. We'd probably all be complaining how they'd ruined the feel of that area the way we're all complaining about the pedestrian path on the west side of the river.
It's interesting to note how integrated design is something that we all appreciate, yet it can really hamstring you when you want to update or make any changes. I don't envy the limitations the WED/WDI crew have had to deal with since the mid-'70s.
Major... regarding your reference of marriages between CMs...oh yes, there were/are many of them, including mine with a former Hungry Bear miss :). KS
ReplyDelete