Tomorrowland Views, November 1975
Today I am sharing the last three images (plus one closeup) from the lot of slides that were mostly taken aboard the Goodyear Peoplemover. It was fun while it lasted!
I believe that our Peoplemover train is just about to enter the roundabout platform for loading and unloading, but our photographer took one last picture looking down toward the Tomorrowland Terrace. Mmmm, rubbery hamburgers, my favorite. The nearby stage is in the "down" position, I guess Sunshine Balloon was on a lunch break.
Zooming in, we can see a group of folks gathered around a tour guide. They follow her around like baby ducks following their mama.
And now our photographer has returned to ground level for a last look around before our roll of film was used up. We're standing beneath the awning seeing in photo #1, enjoying some welcome shade. There's a n awful lot of short sleeves being worn in spite of it being November (of course these could have been taken months before, it's hard to say).
I choose to believe that the Peoplemover must have been the Photographer's favorite attraction. Why else would he or she take so many pictures on it and of it? I feel the same way.
I hope you have enjoyed these Peoplemover views!
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EXTRA! EXTRA! GDB friend Mark Raymond generously shared this wonderful photo of his mother with the Tomorrowland Spaceman and Spacegirl, circa September 1962. He says that his mom is 5' - 7" tall, and as you can see, those spacefolk towered over her (having been raised in a microgravity environment, either on a space station or on the Moon). THANK YOU, Mark!
24 comments:
Major-
Mark's Mom does look like the 'object of desire' for the Spaceman and Spacegirl. Is she going through some sort of initiation ceremony prior to riding the Flying Saucers-? Either way, she's definitely being towered-over.
Thanks to Mark for sharing this fun image.
MRaymond, awwwww, that's such a great picture. Thanks for sharing it with us!
Major, I love all these 1975 pics of Tomorrowland, but that unusual telephoto shot of the blue PeopleMover train with the Matterhorn in the background, is my favorite.
MRaymond, your mom has a beautiful smile. Great photo! Thanks for sharing.
Major, Love these PeopleMover/Tomorrowland pics. I'm with TokyoMagic! in that the blue PeopleMover train is my favorite as well. Tomorrowland had some wonderful ride vehicles back then. Thanks, Major.
What a great picture, Mark! Your mother has such a lovely smile.
Woo-hoo, Double Babushka Monday! Check out the bedungareed young ladies at the far right of the first picture! I love how the blue PeopleMover cars in the last shot pick up the beautiful blue of the sky.
At first glance, the shade pattern from the awning made me think there were a bunch of people wearing similarly-striped shirts in the close-up image. Is that a bank of lights in the upper right of that photo? It looks like a bunch of depth charges.
Quite a few cigarettes hanging casually out of people's mouths. A different time.
In the second photo, the Matterhorn has a hanger in its right nostril. There's also a woman who appears to be holding a leash in the background under the pink-and-white umbrella.
Thanks for sharing your photo, Mark. Your mom looks like she's having a blast while she is being groomed by aliens. I'm curious - do you know how tall the photographer was? Based on the angles, I'd estimate they were about the same height as the space girl.
Ok, it's time for FUN WITH MATH! (The kids go wild). I've actually done a bit of scaling from photos in my model building career, so I took a stab at our Spacepeople photo! Mark, giving us his mom's height is the key. I printed out the picture on my trusty HP printer. Knowing that Mom is 5'7" (or 67 inches tall), I measured her on the print (heel to head) and got 6 and 3/4 inches. I then divided 6.75 by 67 and got a scale ratio of 1:9.925 (and change). It was then a simple matter to measure the images of the Spaceman and Spacegirl (again, heel to head, using the most centered heel). Interestingly, although the Spaceman seems taller than the Spacegirl in the picture, they are very close to the same height, with the Spacegirl being only slightly shorter. (Part of this is due to perspective, however, so we can fudge the numbers a bit). Taking that pesky perspective into account as well as possible, we find that the Spaceman is close to seven feet tall! The Spacegirl comes in at almost 6'8"! Now, they could be wearing lifts in their boots (and it looks like they may well be), but evem subtracting 3 inches to account for that, we have a Spaceman at 6'9" and a 6'5" Spacegirl. Whew! I need to sit down...Oh wait, I am sitting...
Stu, or Mark is fibbing and his mom is really 3’ 7” tall. ;)
Actually, I thought of that Sue, but that would just be too evil!
Mark, thank you for sharing your mom’s picture - What a great finale to this Tomorrowland set!
Thanks, Major!
I say the space-people are so tall due to their radiation exposure in space. I don't know where I was but I was probably asleep in a stroller, I was only 1 year old and I don't remember much. Maybe the space people used a neurolizer on me.
Chuck, the picture was probably taken by my dad, who is 6'1".
Thanks, everyone, for the comments on my mom, she loved Disneyland and it was her fault I love the place so much.
Spacegirl also has a tall hairdo, but you probably already factored that in.
Mark, I hope you have more pictures to share with us!
Thank you Mark, that’s a wonderful photo! I see that the tour in the first picture has been through Adventureland, unless the guest nearest the tour guide arrived wearing their Crocodile Dundee hat already. Wonder if that’s a tour tag on the hat or a logo or something? Melissa, bedungareed is my new favorite word.
Lou and Sue - I sent Major about 20 pics from the 70's. I just have to wait my turn to get them on line.
That’s wonderful, Mark! Looking forward to seeing them!
Mark, thank you for sharing the picture of your Mom and the Space Folks.
GDB is all about memories, thanks for sharing yours with us.
Major, this post is a fitting end to the long-running series. Clearly, the People Mover made a big impression on everyone. It's a pity that it is gone.
Thank you for the pictures and to everyone for the comments. A great start to the week.
JG
Nanook, oh, those spacefolk are just being friendly. They don’t see too many new people on the Moon, so this is a big deal for them.
TokyoMagic!, it never occurred to me that the photo of the blue Peoplemover was taken with a telephoto lens. But it does have that “flattened” effect! That tells me that the photographer must have been much more serious than the typical “point and shoot” folks.
K. Martinez, I’ve always thought that the Peoplemover vehicles had a “friendly” look to them. I’m sure they could have been made to look sleeker or more “Buck Rogers”, but these almost look like appliances. Maybe they’ll keep your sodas nice and cold.
Melissa, it’s like “Where’s Waldo?”, I really had to search for those two babushkas. Do women wear head scarves at the park these days? (I mean, nobody does right now, but a year ago did anybody have a babushka?).
CHuck, when I was a kid, I was weird and didn’t like to sit in places where a strong light pattern fell on me. Why? Who knows. But I’m not crazy! Don’t forget that cigarettes are cool, and the people who smoke them are better than the rest of us. I noticed the hanger in the Matterhorn!
Stu29573, I enjoyed your scientific method! I was much more lazy (as usual) and just thought, “Gosh, the Spacegirl looks like she’s at least a foot taller than Mark’s mom”, which would make her over 6’ - 7” tall. Wow! I knew a few tall girls in school who HATED being taller than the boys, and I always thought, “What’s wrong with being a tall girl?”. That Spacegirl looks pretty awesome in my book. Do we think that this Spaceman is the same one that we saw on GDB this past Friday?
Lou and Sue, I hope that’s not the case….!
Stu29573, evilness is bad.
Lou and Sue, you asked, and ye received!
MRaymond, your mom looks so young, I did not think that she was already a mother at that point! You make a good point about space radiation, it’s a real problem. That’s why I prefer my kingdom beneath the sea. THANKS again for sharing your great photo!
Melissa, in all scientific calculations, one must make allowances for hair height.
Lou and Sue, YES! And that goes for the rest of you.
Kathy! that definitely looks like an Adventureland souvenir hat. Gosh, it looks like that tour group is around 20 people, I didn’t think they got that big. I think that thing on the side of the hat is a mere decoration.
MRaymond, I’m trying to adjust/clean them! And sharpen them up a little bit too. But everyone will see them - in a few months (that’s my “buffer”, 3 months of posts).
Lou and Sue, stay tuned.
JG, I was just so happy to find a relatively large group of photos, almost all of which were taken from the Peoplemover! Usually Tomorrowland gets short shrift in batches of Disneyland photos. There will be 20 Frontierland photos, and three from Tomorrowland. If that.
Major...
Some of the fun of looking at pics from the 70s is that rare possibility of recognizing a TG or CM from that era. Darn if we couldn't have got that first shot with the TG facing the camera. I'd likely be able to identify her...and perhaps share that with her today. As always, thanks to you and the contributors for the memories. KS
Swell photos today. Thanks for all who shared them. 70's Tomorrowland, Babushka's and a guy doing his Hunter S Thompson impression with the ciggy in his mouth is a great start to the week.
The Disneyland PeopleMover’s shape is based on the front fenders of the 1965 Cadillac said it’s designer Bob Gurr. When he first started the designs for the PM car bodies he like the look of those front fenders.
The zig-zag modern roof design ( which efficiently directs rain runoff
away from vehicle) came from a similar design from a plastic soap dish purchased at a Uni-Mart or Fedco store - I can’t remember which it was.
CADILLAC + SOAP DISH = Friendly Design
KS, oh man, now I wish the Tour Guide was facing the camera too! That would have been super fun if you could have shared the image with somebody you know. Oh well, that’s the thing with these old photos, most of the time, as nice as they can be, there’s always something that could make them even better.
Alonzo, you know how some of those grunge bands wore skirts? I think that babushkas are going to be the next big thing. “Hunter S. Thompson”, ha ha! I’m only just noticing the triangular guided tour tag on the man with the beige shirt.
Mike Cozart, jeez, now I have to look up the front fenders of a 1964 Cadillac. Are they really as boxy as the PeopleMover cars (I say “boxy” with love, of course)? I love the zig-zag roof. “Uni-Mart”?? I have never even heard of that place!
I just had a couple observations, now that I had more time to look at the pictures...
At the foreground of the first picture, why is the lady, to the left of the red sweater guy, playing the harmonica?? Or maybe she’s adjusting her teeth...
The sides of the Peoplemover look dented (“door-ding’d”)...or am I just seeing reflections??
MAJOR: 1965 Cadillac: not a ‘64.
In college, I went to a Uni-Mart nearly every day for their two-hot-dogs-for-a-dollar lunch. I took to calling them Uni-Dogs, and made a little jingle: Uni-Dogs; look out below! Uni-Dogs, come on, let’s go!
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