I'm continuing a series of photos featuring the Frontierland Shooting Gallery (we saw some other pix a few weeks ago). Let's go!
Pay no attention to the girl with the shorts and crop-top. We're here for Disneyland! The Imagineers have taken a simple long shed and added some rustic decor (those bumpy logs), and a great sign which I need to own. At night those lanterns add a warm, flickering glow that helps with the shootin'.
In the previous photo you can see a boy with a yellow hat approaching, and in this photo he is already plunking away at ducks and bison, rabbits and meese. It's good luck if a pellet bounces back and hits you in the face.
I'm not sure I can call the next three photos "interiors", since guests are only standing beneath a shallow overhang. But you know what I mean. A friendly and helpful CM helps a boy get his weapon ready. Notice the metal oval pieces to prevent any guns from pointing too crazily.
I only just noticed what I thought were drawers down by the ground, but now I realize that they are built-in, pull-out steps for shorter folks. Mr. Green Shirt wants a turn...
... and there he is! There's nothing more satisfying that watching one of those metal animals fall over after you've hit one with a "bullet". The current shooting gallery uses infrared beams or some such nonsense, and it was not much fun when I tried it.
Stay tuned for more pictures from the Mysterious Benefactor!
It looks like Mr. Green Shirt Man, just handed Miss Shooting Gallery Lady his "C" ticket. Either that or she is handing it back to him, because he changed his mind. Actually, the ticket looks orange, so maybe she's handing it back to him because it's actually a "B" ticket and he was hoping she wouldn't notice. But she did.
ReplyDeleteThe Boy With the Yellow Hat is in the third photo, too. You can see the bill of his hat just beyond the nose of Striped Socks Guy. And note Striped Shirt Granny is in the last four photos.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how the relative darkness of the "inside" of the Shootin' Gallery and the slow film speed makes the interior photos look like they were taken at night Striped Socks Guy's hair changes from light brown or blonde in the second photo to black. But even without the context of the first two pictures, you'd still know these were daytime photos by the tint to the CM's glasses.
Thanks, MB & Major!
Wow, I've never seen those ovals - they're pretty clever when you think about it. With the darkness of these pictures, I'm guessing that there's not many images of the actual targets. These are still awesome captures, though!
ReplyDeleteFun scans with Miss Kitty moon-lighting at the shootin'gallery. I can hear the plinks of the the pellets hitting the targets.
ReplyDeleteThanks to MB and the Major,
Dz
The Major and I have two things in common. One, we both look good in thigh high striped tube socks and Vote for Pedro tees, and two, we need to own as much Disneyland signage as we can possibly squeeze into our houses and yards. I would give just about anything I own for the Adventureland overhead. I agree, infra red is not as much fun as real bullets. Thanks to MB and Major.
ReplyDeleteCozy pics Major. As a kid we all had to use those pull-out steps. Then came the momentous day, probably in the early 60s, when we could stand tall and channel the spirit of Davy and Russell.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I don't think my parents would have let me go out in public wearing a tank top and raggedy shorts. At any age.
Thanks Major and Mr. Mysterious.
The MB has captured the essence of the Frontierland Shooting Gallery in these pics.
ReplyDeleteNow that I have been reminded, I do remember the oval guards between stations meant to keep errant barrels on the straight and narrow.
People certainly dressed sloppy in this era. Dr. Goat, your parents and mine would never let us go out like this. I had a tank top or two that I wore working and sometimes to the pool but never "in public", and shorts always had a hem except the worn-out ones I wore for work. (Farm work was hot and dirty in summer, and no one could see you in the back 40).
Part of the fun of the shooting gallery is the miniature mayhem wreaked with those BB's, and the modern lasers just don't have the same feel. I stopped here on my last solo trip, and it is much easier to hit targets, and yet somehow, less fun even with a higher score.
Thanks Major and everyone.
JG
One of my favorite things about Disneyland photos from different eras is how the crowds are dressed.
ReplyDeleteIn 1958 Miss Crop Top and Mr. Green Shirt would have been stopped at the gate and sent home to change clothes. In 1978 they were simply in style.
Even though I was 28 in 1978 I dressed the same as Colorful Tube Sock Boy. Can you see any of us going out like that today? :D
This is an excellent pic of the the activity that took place within the old galleries. You mention the ricochets which could happen. While management provided earplugs (I can see the CM in the background wearing them), they did not provide eye protection. Instead, we all wore our own sunglasses..day or night in particular for those who didn't have clear prescription glasses. I don't think that would pass muster with Cal-OSHA today. I'll post the pic of the CM on a site to see if any of my contemporaries recognize her. KS
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I am not 100% sure (if I wasn’t so lazy I could go to the old “Vintage Disneyland Tickets” blog and check), but I think the color of the various lettered tickets was not consistent over the years. Sometimes an E-ticket was pinkish, sometimes it was green. Maybe the “C” tickets also had different colors! I was going to check my own unused ticket books, but I don’t have one from as late as 1978.
ReplyDeleteChuck, yes, these sequential photos often show the same people more than once, it’s always fun to try spot the duplicates. There were more images of the exterior of the Shooting Gallery, but I figured that you guys didn’t need 4 pictures that were so similar. I was going to suggest that perhaps the last 3 photos were taken at night, I would somehow expect more reflected light coming in from our right, but then you mentioned the CM’s tinted glasses. Also, in the second of those three photos, you can actually see some sunlight filtering down between some wooden slats over granny’s head.
Andrew, I am happy to tell you that there ARE photos of the targets in this lot from the Mysterious Benefactor! Stay tuned.
dzacher, I’ve read that the people who worked the shooting galleries were often hit with ricochets, it seems like such a potentially dangerous gig. I like having two eyes, thank you very much.
Jonathan, I am reasonably sure that I have never worn socks that went above the knee! Even thermal socks for snowy Pennsylvania winters (14 below one year). Maybe it’s just me, but the infrared shooting gallery just doesn’t work that well. Maybe I’m just a terrible shot?
DrGoat, I honestly did not remember the pull-out steps at all, it’s pretty clever. Presumably other shooting galleries around the world thought of the idea first? I think the green tank top dude is old enough to do what he wants without asking his parents!
JG, those oval hoops are just good sense, people will manage to do the most incredible things that you would never expect. I used to have a friend who loved to go to the nearby shooting range, and I went with him a few times. You stood in your individual little are with heavy plastic (fiberglass?) barriers between you and the other people. There were bullet holes in the barriers, obviously people had been pointing their guns down, probably with a finger on the trigger, and they accidentally fired. Yikes. Also I haven’t worn a tank top since the 1980’s.
Grant, I do kind of wonder about how they decide who to send home. It’s not trivial to ban someone who might have come from hundreds of miles away! I’ve seen guests with their bellies hanging out of their shirts, completely oblivious and always scratch my head in amazement.
KS, so crazy that eye protection wasn’t provided!! Maybe they didn’t want to send the message to the guests that the guns could actually be a little dangerous? I hope no CMs were ever seriously hurt.
It's the Man in the Big Yellow Hat as a kid! The blue-and-white Gilligan hat with Baseball Glove Mickey in picture #5 is adorable.
ReplyDeleteDid you win prizes at the Shootin' Gallery? What sort of things were they?
@Melissa, I don't recall prizes at the Disneyland shooting galleries, but they gave out little stickyback gold foil paper medals at the Knotts shooting gallery if you did exceptionally well. I don't recall any kind of high score, it was just if the CM thought you were a good shot.
ReplyDeleteThat Knotss gallery had two twin prairie dogs side by side that popped up in turn, I could hit each one time after time since they were so close together, but Disneyland was harder. Their little eyes glowed red when you hit them.
JG
So many of you have left comments that the guests in these pictures are dressed “sloppy” I think they all seem to be dressed in typical late 70’s casual day wear . And what may appear sloppy is just a looser cut of the fit. Even “green tank top guy” appeared well dressed actually . He sports navy blue shorts (with the high-theigh cut - very popular from 1976- 1981) his green tank top with wide opening neck and sleeves - features a blue piping trim that coordinates with the blue of his shorts. He is also wearing a belt and men’s leather sandals. He his in the height of 1978 summer mens garb!
ReplyDeleteObviously by the late 70’s the tighter cut men’s sleeves , mock turtle neck collars and knee length shorts on the late 60’s and early 70’s and been transformed by the earlier sexual revolution into a looser look.
Also this period features heavy combinations of colors and complex patterns ( note the lady guest waiting her turn at the railing) these color and pattern tests went beyond fashion and include architectural interiors, exteriors and automobiles ( not even in the 50’s and 60’s did automobiles feature so much extra trim and brick-a-brac details! FORD was the worst!)
Even look at the Disneyland attraction posters of the period - the jungle cruise 1976 or the Disneyland railroad 1977 , the Pirates of the Caribbean 1980 ( this poster wasn’t printed till 1980 but was designed in 1978) they gesture heavy use of colors abs patterns and complex detail!!
Fun and unique views MB and Major!!
Melissa, I suppose it only makes sense that the Man in the Big Yellow Hat was once a child! I don’t believe that you won any prizes at the shooting gallery, just the knowledge that you were a deadeye.
ReplyDeleteJG, yes, I agree with you, Disneyland didn’t give prizes at the shooting galleries; I didn’t even know that Knott’s gave out sticky gold foil paper medals, that’s pretty cool! I MUST have gone to the Knott’s shooting gallery, but I sure don’t remember now.
Mike Cozart, I don’t think most people look that sloppy. It’s more that the 70’s fashions are not much to write home about, but I’ve sure seen worse. Somewhere I have pictures of people in the 70’s, and they really look bad. Bad hair, bad clothes, the whole deal! But you make a good point, these people were “of their time”. It is interesting to observe the changes in what was considered acceptable or fashionable as the years went on. Even in the 50’s, ladies wore dresses almost exclusively in 1955, and into 1956, but by 1957 you saw more and more women in pants (Capris or something like those, often). Some of the loud patterns of the 70’s look really hideous to me today, and I remember wearing some like those at the time. You should have seen my red, white and blue plaid jacket that I wore to church! With white shoes of course, well scuffed.