From time to time I have gone back through boxes of slides that I have marked "SCANNED" (with my high-tech Sharpie), and have discovered images that I skipped for one reason or another. Today I have three scans of those unscanned slides.
This first example was hand-dated "March 23, 1960"; and it features a view of Fort Wilderness over on Tom Sawyer Island. It's not exactly a beautiful photo, but something is afoot! There are some raw, new boards in places, though they seem out of place next to the rough-hewn logs. More new wood is hidden behind some foliage to our right. I don't really have a good guess as to what's being done here. Is it early construction for "Galaxy's Edge"?
This next photo, from August 1960, was probably skipped because who wants to look at a bunch of dumb flowers, anyway? But now - I am happy to look at those beautiful flowers. How the worm has turned. Of course this planter is where the regrettable "Partners" statue would eventually go.
And finally, this image from 1957 is not really a photo of anything, and yet it is a photo of a lot. That olive tree sure looks spindly compared to how I remember them in my lifetime (with twinkle lights aplenty after dark). An empty Horse Drawn Streetcar awaits foot-weary guests (though, judging by the shadows, it was early and people hadn't had time to get sore feet yet). And of course there's that castle, probably the smallest and humblest of all Disney park castles - but I love it the most.
I hope you have enjoyed these rescued slides!
Major-
ReplyDeleteIn the last image, I see what appears to be some sort of scaffolding along the left side of the Sleeping Beauty Castle.
Thanks, Major.
That lady on the far right of the last photo, came to the park, prepared! She brought an ice bucket with her.
ReplyDeleteNot only is it the smallest and humblest of all Disney park castles, it’s also the tastiest. Or, at least it was before they drowned it in pink frosting.
ReplyDeleteNanook, oh yeah! I wonder what that scaffolding was about? I wonder if it had anything to do with the Castle walk-through?
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, I thought that she might have brought a bucket of minnows with her!
Chuck, I never thought to taste the Castle, but I definitely will the next time I am at the park. I’ll have to look carefully for an un-licked area! I’m imagining that it tastes like vanilla Turkish taffy.
Major-
ReplyDeleteMaybe that lady has a purse with one of those 'windowed compartments' designed for displaying fishes - including minnows... and baby sharks-!
These are nice photos today!
ReplyDeleteThe first photo clearly shows that the fort was originally built out of used popsicle sticks. Now that was thinking! Everybody loves popsicles, so instant lumber!
The second reminds me that I actually think the Partners statue works at The Magic Kingdom, so I set about wondering why it works there and not at DL? Then it struck me! (ouch.) Scale. The imagineers made a elementary blunder in that they failed to realize that in the larger scale and greater distances of WDW, it is easily looked over and around. In short, it fits in. At DL, not so much. We have something that suddenly looks huge blocking views and generally upsetting world order. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!
The third photo reminds me of when I first saw that castle (I hadn't seen the WDW castle yet), I thought it was HUGE. Now, although it seems more...quaint... it still fills me with awe. (audience says "Awwwwwwwe.")
Awwwwwwwe
ReplyDeleteSome good purse and hat people today, as others have noticed. A red ostrich plume in photo 2! Is that some shiny popsicle trash in the front of photo 2? For shame! Why is the green and white striped shirt person holding a stick under their chin (maybe its a rolled up map or guidebook)? Minnow-bucket woman wore an extra mini fish bowl on her head. Thanks, Major.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Fort Wilderness is getting a new roof on the blockhouse beyond. I loved that fort, it felt so real.
ReplyDeleteThere is possibly a trash can in the right of photo 2, and definitely one, dead center of photo 3, but none of the great TSI trash stumps in photo 1. Sad.
Major, I know you feel that these photos are not first rate views, but they are fairly sharp, with good color and detail, just not focused on anything in particular.
I will argue that they are worthwhile just for that reason, these are the kind of transitional "out-of-the-corner-of your-eye" views you would see while you are there. There is a sense of movement and vigor that we don't always get in a fixed shot of some special sight. These qualify as the background of Disneyland to me and I like them.
Thanks for posting these.
JG
Nanook, as long as I don’t have to hear that song, I’m OK with baby sharks!
ReplyDeleteStu29573, popsicle sticks were plentiful on the Great Plains, and were a natural choice for forts and other structures. I think you make a good point about how the Partners statue is better suited for the scale of the Magic Kingdom. I know that many MANY people love the statue, and I am happy for them. I just don’t share their opinion. Now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve seen nearly as many photos of the Florida “Partners” statue with the castle behind it. It’s hard to think that our castle was ever considered big nowadays, but hey, it was the only one!
Lou and Sue, ha ha!
Kathy!, that might be the wrapper from an ice cream bar, but I can’t be sure. Maybe it was from a popsicle! I love to drop my trash everywhere, it’s too hard to dispose of it like a responsible human being. I’m not sure what’s going on with the lady with the “stick” under her chin. Maybe it’s a form of dental headgear!
JG, maybe those boards really were for a roof - The milled lumber doesn’t seem to fit in elsewhere. One of the frustrations of old slides is that we don’t know the answers to so many questions! Ha ha, you and Sue are the experts at trashcan spotting. I actually think these photos are OK, I’ve certainly shared worse images!! For the same reasons that you listed. Thanks JG.
Major, Sue got me started on counting the trash cans, maybe because there are just so many in view on those long shots of Main Street. It's just become a fun thing to do to keep from working at my desk.
ReplyDeleteI went to the Magical Trash blog and read every post. Thanks for the link to that. Fascinating to see how no detail is too small to overlook. And the proliferation of quantity shows the remarkable Disney attention to cleanliness.
I think the one in photo 3 is one of the original livery, the plain dark "go-away" green paint that was used everywhere in the early years before there was enough time and money to start theming them. There is no sign of the cheerful yellow on the sides. If the photo is 1957, then that is one of the latest photos with the generic look. Theming begins to appear in around 1958 according to the dates in MT.
I think those planks in the fort picture might be scaffolding planks, like maybe they were dismantling or getting ready to set up scaffolds. The planks are really long and, as you point out, not appropriate for the style of the building.
JG
That lady on the far right of the last photo, came to the park, prepared! She brought an ice bucket with her.
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic! Or could her name be Ethel and she bought the 'bucket-hat' in Paris?? ;o)
Stu, you have an excellent point about the Partners Statue. I first saw it in WDW and loved it. I agree - it shouldn't be where it is, in Disneyland. A while ago, here on GDB, somebody made an excellent suggestion as to where that statue would look best, in Disneyland...does anyone recall where we decided on? (No, Major, not in the ROA.)
In the middle picture, speaking of things that shouldn't be there, there are at least five 'stray' really-tall white daisies, that shouldn't be there. 'Leftover' [Grew] from last year's flowers?
JG, I get blamed for everything! ;o)
I started counting the trash cans when I saw a picture (one of my dad's??) and there were something like 14 very-visible trash cans down Main Street. It may be one that I haven't yet scanned for Major, I can't remember. I wish I could find that picture... Since then, I've been trying to find it, and trying to find a photo with more. It beats work, any day, JG!!
BTW, I'm doing the happy dance...I just purchased tickets to hear The Association in concert, in November! WINDY!!!!
Thanks, Major!
I hear everyone knows it's her!
DeleteSmilin' at everybody she sees!
ReplyDeleteSue, ha, ha! I was actually thinking about saying something about the lady wearing her ice bucket purse on her head, or mentioning something about a horse's feedbag, but I decided not to make my comment an I.L.L. reference!
ReplyDeleteOn my last visit, a bit before Galaxy's Edge opened, the castle was being painting and therefore wrapped in a big picture of itself. Even so, I was a bit surprised at how small it looked -- probably because towering trees beside and behind it weakened the sense of size.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the whole park felt bigger in long-ago days. Part of that is certainly my being a lot shorter back then. But a bigger part was that nothing crowded it and imposed real-world scale. You approached across a Sahara of a parking lot, with the train station beckoning and the park itself seeming to span the horizon. I remember being oddly surprised as an adult when somebody described a restaurant as being "behind Disneyland". There was a faint sense that Small World identified the northern border, but I never seriously considered that mundane reality had to exist immediately beyond. It was mind-bending enough that the Jungle Cruise pressed against the back doors of Main Street.