Friday, September 27, 2019

A Rescan, A New Scan, And More

It's time to visit GDB's "first family" again. You might be sick of them by now, since they seem to keep popping up every year or so!

Here's that very first image from way back in May of 2006. My first scanner was kind of awful, though I didn't realize it at the time. In fact, you can't even tell how crummy it was in these low-res jpegs, really.


So... I attempted to rescan that slide, a large-format transparency that had turned quite red. I'm still not 100% happy with the color, but the contrast is better, and the image is a lot sharper. There's that famous t-shirt, yikes.


Here's a second slide that I had never scanned before, junior is waving enthusiastically. Notice mom's "I Like Disneyland" flasher button. And oh yeah, I failed to mention one of my favorite Adventureland tikis.


Going through what I laughingly refer to as my "archives", I decided to share another old scan from the same series (I originally shared this in 2009) - there were no further attempts to improve this one. It's kind of greenish!


About two years ago, somebody on Facebook shared this photo of a t-shirt that they'd saved since the 1950's, and I'm glad I kept a copy (if this is your photo, let me know!). It is very faded, but it is definitely that shirt. Some fans were in denial that such a thing could have ever been produced for the park... there was a lot of angry, sweaty, hand-waving about how it must have been home made (was that even a thing in 1958?). News flash for those people: the 1950's was a very different time.


During that heated discussion, a woman posted two photos from her childhood, and you can see that she was wearing a copy of that same t-shirt. I'm sorry I didn't save the person's name, and will be happy to add credit (or remove the photos, of course).


Here's a second photo from the same Facebook post.



11 comments:

Nanook said...

Major-

Now, you've got yourself a series. Nice restoration work, as per usual.

Thanks, Major.

Andrew said...

Wow, I can't imagine they sold that shirt for too long...

I also like the authentic-looking fence in the background. Thanks for the pictures.

JC Shannon said...

2006, before we had rocket belts to get us around. It was certainly a simpler time. What's a jpeg? I love mom's earrings, they pull the whole outfit together. Like I tell visiting friends and family, when I take 'em to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Be careful judging historical figures by today's standards. Their world was a very different place. 'Course I also tell 'em to mind the rattlers and stay out of the spendy gift shop. Kudos to Major for the scans.

TokyoMagic! said...

Wow, so the lenticular/flasher buttons go back that far in the park's history!

Great job with the re-scanning and correcting, Major!

"Lou and Sue" said...

Major, I love seeing your before and after pictures/scans! Just curious - how much time do you have to spend to fix the bad ones, and at what point do you "give up"? (I know you've been able to save a lot of Lou's that turned funny colors - and I thank you!)

The little boy is adorable, and the mom is pretty and classy! In the 4th picture, mom obviously assumes the photographer (dad?) is only going to take the son's picture. Silly dad!

That was an odd T-shirt for Disneyland to sell . . . but, as you said, times were different, then. It was never originally made and sold to upset anyone. Going through some of my old pictures, I know I'm wearing a Disneyland T-shirt - I think in 1962 - I'll have to find it and look at it more closely. Don't know what crazy graphics were on that T-shirt.

Thanks for today's post, Major!

Sue


Alonzo P Hawk said...

Be careful Major. We all appreciate your drive for perfection but using such fancy terms as "low res jepeg" and "large format transparency" you run the risk of slipping into full blown Lithography Land. It doesn't help @Tokyo Magic throwing out the occasional "lenticular" to egg you on. As a reformed dark room litho geek I've seen it happen. One day your placing slides on a platen and the next thing you know it's 4x5's mounted in mineral oil on a drum scanner!

On the other hand these look way better in color, clarity and sharpness. Thanks as always for your efforts. Happy Friday everybody.

Alonzo P Hawk said...

jpeg, duh. Good thing I didn't work in typesetting, I can't spell when I is typing.

DrGoat said...

Appreciate you bringing these back and all the work to enhance the pics. Great post for Friday morning. Loved the black and white pics that woman posted. The only T-shirt I can slightly remember wearing back then was a Davy Crockett aka Fess Parker shirt.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes, the trip back is worth it.

Thanks for revisiting these photos, Major.

The tale of the shirt is an interesting one. Sometimes things turn up in antique or charity shops that will turn your head.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nanook, I always had the series, I just hadn’t shared it with you guys yet!

Penna. Andrew, it’s hard to say, but I would bet that they sold that shirt for at least a few years.

Jonathan, I have some great black and white snapshots of the mom which I believe are pre-kid, she looks very cute. I’ll share those when it’s time to visit the First Family again!

TokyoMagic!, they must have sold those things for 20 years! In fact, I can’t find the Donald Duck “Disneyland is Ducky” pin with an Art Corner back, so maybe they sold that after the Art Corner was gone.

Lou and Sue, the time it takes to restore a slide varies a lot. Often the color correction doesn’t take that long - anywhere from a minute to five or six minutes. Maybe more for a REALLY bad one. The thing that takes the most time is cloning out the damn dust and micro fibers, it can drive me crazy. I can usually tell if an image is beyond my restoration abilities pretty quickly. As for the t-shirt, just think about the endless New Yorker cartoons that featured an explorer sitting in a giant cauldron as cannibals prepare to eat him; it was a trope that was a kind of shorthand for “deepest, darkest Africa”. Yes, look for photos of you in your 1962 t-shirt!

Alonzo, I used to have to peel my painted illustrations off of the illustration board so that the L.A. Times could wrap them around the drum scanner. Never heard of 4 X 5’s mounted in mineral oil! That seems like a bridge too far.

Alonzo, I knew what you meant!

JG, I kind of wonder, would a shirt like that go for a lot on today’s collector market because of its weirdness, or would the ickyness of it keep the price low?

Dean Finder said...

I'd guess that the shirt would have collector's value if the design was made by a well known artist or Imagineer. I have a set of Rolly Crump's drug poster repros signed by the man himself. A few of them are pretty offensive, but I think they're an interesting time capsule
https://dangerousminds.net/comments/disney_legend_rolly_crumps_vintage_drugs_beatnik_commie_poster