Here are two perfectly nice photos of Sleeping Beauty Castle, circa 1961. Blue skies, a notable absence of "Barbie pink", low crowds... I wouldn't mind being there on that day at all. One unusual detail is that the Firetruck appears to be parked to the left, and filled with bouquets of flowers! Were the gardeners using it to transport new blossoms that were going to be planted that day?
Let's take 15 steps forward and take another photo! If you're the boy to the right, you must play an invisible trombone. Two grannies are making a beeline to see the swans - the only reason they came to the park.
How embarrassing! The two guys on the drawbridge in the second pic, wore the exact same shirt to the park, that day. They don't realize it yet, but they are about to in just a matter of seconds. Oh, how I would hate to be either one of them at that very moment!
ReplyDeleteMajor-
ReplyDeleteI believe it was the fire truck's birthday - and it requested flowers in lieu of presents. Our young friend nearing the fire truck has cuffed his jeans extra-special in honor of the fire truck's great accomplishment. THIS is a real castle.
Thanks, Major.
Pic #1: I think those flowers are in a hanging basket that's hanging from the light post that's across the street from the fire truck (you can just barely see the light on the left edge of the picture, and the dark green, thin metal arm that the basket is hanging from). I could be wrong, but that's what it looks like to me. Either way, "Happy Birthday, Mr. Fire Truck!"
ReplyDeletePic #2: TokyoMagic!- Could it be that we're actually witnessing some sort of a 'time warp thing'?!?! Is it possible that 30-year-old Mr. Plaid Shirt is about to pass by his young teenage self???
“There can be only one”
ReplyDeleteOnly 2 kids in the first scan. Must have been a school day. Air trombone, well I've never seen such a thing!
ReplyDeleteI do like the OG castle with a moat I can fall into a little more easily.
Thanks Major
Zach
Ah, a castle that looks like it's made of stone, not plastic. What a novel idea! Have you seen pictures of the new WDW castle paint job? It's almost as bad as the pink cake castle....
ReplyDeleteTrombone Boy reminds me of what happens when a bunch of pilots get together. As for a kid's jeans, the bigger the cuff the cooler you were. What a fashion faux pas, the plaid shirt fiasco was. I hope it didn't come to blows. I do like this version of castle exterior. Too bad someone felt the need to tart it up like that. Thanks Major.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly seems to be a key location for twin shirt day - or plaid shirt day - or maybe even blue jean day? Another one of those sneaky Skyway towers is trying to be nonchalant in the first pic. Happy Birthday to the fire truck!
ReplyDeleteMy impression is that the original color palette was more based on the artistic standards of the motion picture industry of that time - an exemplary attempt to bring Disney's body of work into the real world. Seems that someone decided that wasn't enough and everything now has to be hyper-real to make it "Disney".
TokyoMagic!, just look at all that (Pendleton?) plaid! Strangely, all of the plaid guys spoke in a robotic monotone and kept saying “resistance is futile”. I just figured it was some crazy teenager thing.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I feel like a real jerk, I always forget the birthdays of firetrucks. And they always send me a card. I’ll have to have a word with my social secretary.
Lou and Sue, ha ha, you are right about the flowers, of course! Ol’ Major Pepperidge is kinda slow. It’s funny, it demonstrates a sort of in-camera special effect, without even meaning to.
Budblade, wha??
zach, it’s surprising how often there will be photos of Disneyland with hardly any kids. And obviously you’ve never been to the International Air Trombone Championships, held each year in Branson, Missouri.
stu29573, oh no, I don’t think I have seen the repainted castle at WDW, I’m almost afraid to look. For a company founded on the talent of artists, they sure make a lot of awful artistic decisions these days.
Jonathan, now that I know the secret of big cuffs, I am going to have the biggest cuffs in town. Maybe a foot wide. Maybe even bigger! Then everyone will finally pay me the respect that I deserve. As for the castle, just think, in another 10 years it will be covered with glitter glue.
Omnispace, I’m too lazy to look it up, but I wonder if 1961 was when Pendleton shirts got really popular (due to the Beach Boys I guess)? I hope somebody made a lovely sheet cake for the firetruck. I think you’re right about the original color palette of the castle, clearly now they just want to dazzle with eye-popping colors all the time, it’s tiresome and tacky.
TM! Maybe it’s just one man who went so slow he met himself on the way back.
ReplyDeleteMajor...
ReplyDeleteThe Beach Boys originally called themselves the Pendletones. I lusted for a Pendleton shirt back in '62. It was my birthday gift when I turned 12 that year. Definitely a hot, scratchy shirt...especially for Southern California. As they were expensive even back then, you were 'the man' when you went to school wearing one. KS
Zach and Major, that's what struck me about these pictures too; the mostly lack of kids and abundance of parent and grandparent-type couples. What a different kind of visit it must have been then! I spy a sailor hat near the firetruck. I think the kid in the second picture is doing karate.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, your comment reminds me of those few times I have merged two photos, only to be able to see people twice in the same image! Always a fun thing.
ReplyDeleteKS, I had forgotten that the Beach Boys had originally gone by "The Pendletones". Yes, a wool shirt is a nice thing, but in SoCal, not really ideal for half the year. Though maybe the surfers liked to wear them after a few hours in the cold ocean?
Kathy!, maybe a lot of my photos were taken on "school days", that would explain the low number of kids. And yes, now I recognize that the young man is in his "fighting crane" stance!
Three cheers for the pastel castle.
ReplyDeleteI had a couple of those Pendleton shirts, very cozy in the valley cold and damp winters. I'm more of a Viyella guy now.
JG