Today I have a pair of very nice photos... both in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle, and taken only about a year apart, although they look very different, somehow.
Let's begin with this fun, colorful view (circa 1958), showing guests as they cross the bridge over the weasel-infested moat. This is definitely an example of a Disneyland slide that is all about the guests! I love the style of the lady with the blue shorts, carrying her 1957-style guidebook (perhaps this photo was actually taken in '57? You know how that goes) - you can tell by the three columns of color. She and her mother (?) have "coolie hats", fresh from Adventureland, and mighty handy on a sunny day at Disneyland. Only a year or so before this, it would have probably been unthinkable for a woman to wear anything but a dress.
Zooming in to the left, we see lots of swan-watchers (!), gazing into the moat. I believe that the little girl looking right at us is holding a Richfield brochure from "The World Beneath Us" exhibit in Tomorrowland. Another girl looks wistfully off to our left (maybe toward the entrance to Frontierland?). And the elegant lady in the pink dress looks very dazzling!
Next is this photo, from 1957. Judging from the elderly trio out front, this might have been taken on a Sunday, so things aren't quite as casual or colorful. Still, the castle looks wonderful (hardly any pink to speak of), and I like the sleepy, old-fashioned atmosphere.
Major-
ReplyDeleteIt's a good thing you mentioned these images were taken in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, as showing this 'muted' color palette, I could barely tell. (Oh, who am I kidding-? It just looks so damn swell appearing as it does here-!) And, man - you ain't kidding about that gal in the blue shorts. That's quite the look for 1958, I must say. And the image from 1958 does look very sedate - especially those older folks, down front and center.
Thanks, Major, for sharing these great SBC images.
The crowd on the left in that first picture is probably watching the afternoon weasel feeding, held daily through November of 1958. They were fairly popular but were discontinued after management discovered that most parents actually wanted their lost children returned.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am impressed by the classy way the people are dressed in both photos, my eyes are actually drawn to the well-manicured lawn and profusion of benches. They are both sorely missed, although I doubt the lawns would survive today's foot traffic without being fenced off.
I like the way that a Skyway gondola, which happens to be the same color as the Castle, is making a cameo appearance in that second photo. There is also a gondola in that first pic, that is trying to peek over yonder castle wall.
ReplyDeleteAt last pictures of the castle! I was starting to sweat...
ReplyDeleteGood eye TM! at picking out those gondolas, er, gondolae, especially in the first picture. I'm particularly struck by the way that WED, taking a cue from nature and the way stone is gray in real life, has opted to use gray itself as the color for the castle walls. Most clever. Perhaps a memo from me out to Flower Street could restore the situation.
That woman sitting in the rounded alcove in the first two photos is THIS CLOSE to falling into the moat! Better get legal to remove those benches ASAP.
ReplyDeleteThe loss of the benches is most annoying.
ReplyDeleteThe man in the pink shirt looks like my Dad, from the back at least.
Mom had a straw box purse much like the lady in the pink dress is carrying.
I just noticed the brazier torch baskets. The stone wall is too clean, still stone-colored, they've obviously never been used.
I wish I could have a day in the Park like the last pic, what a joy that would be.
Thanks, Major.
JG
Nanook, I guess it’s just a sign of the times that people want more color, all the time, apparently. Or at least that’s what the folks in charge of Disneyland believe.
ReplyDeleteChuck, the weasels are one of those little-remembered details of early Disneyland that we fans find so fascinating. They all found good homes after that feature was removed. I wonder if the reduction in benches has to do with people “reserving” them for hours before the fireworks or parades?
TokyoMagic!, I think that the Skyway gondola was painted a metallic silver - some of my favorite early Skyway photos show that they were metallic blues, bronze (or is it copper), gold, and silver - they look so great!
Patrick Devlin, I know, I’ll never understand why people didn’t take pictures of the castle! ;-) I always assumed that one of the reasons that the castle was not more colorful is that the more subdued grays and blues would make it appear farther away when viewed from Main Street (“atmospheric perspective”) and thus, larger. It sounds plausible, especially when you read about John Hench and his knowledge of color.
Steve DeGaetano, right after the photo was snapped, the woman fell in, and was skeletonized by the weazels in 20 seconds.
JG, I noticed the pink shirt too! I guess I am small minded, because I still can’t bring myself to wear a pink shirt. My grandma bought me one in the 80’s, and I finally took it to the thrift shop. I swear I think I have a photo or two that shows braziers atop the banner poles, but now I need to double check. And yes, I would even be ecstatic to be at the park in the first pic!
I can't wear pink, but I can wear salmon. Except of course in bear country and certainly not near weasels.
ReplyDeleteIf you're putting swans against weasels, my money's on the swans. Vicious little bastards.
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