Fantasyland and Pirate Ship, October 1962
I have two nice 1962 Fantasyland scans for you today, featuring an unsmiling (but probably very nice) lady who we've seen in earlier posts.
I always love "classic Disneyland", even if the scenes are familiar, and what could be more familiar that the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship? It never fails to impress, with its completely believable level of detail. Sails: very unfurled! One even shades my favorite mermaid from the heat of the sun.
Next our friend stands next to an ice cream vendor, and she's warming up her hands so that she can grab his shoulders and say, "BOO!". People love that. Notice the little sticks that prevented the ice cream cart from rolling away, careening out of control, and finally exploding!
If that lady is smart, she will grab the cash box before the cart rolls away. That's what I (a criminal mastermind) would do.
28 comments:
I don't believe that's a sail, behind the COS Mermaid. I think it's a very smart cape.
Major-
Who wouldn't want to step into these images-? In the first image, are those [apparent] marks on the ground next to m'lady's sandals indications for where to park an ice cream cart, fer instance-??!!
Babushka alert - 2nd image.
Thanks, Major.
Besides all the obvious great DL stuff going on in these colorful classics, I love the little palm tree (plant?) on the right, in the first scan...and the man’s cool striped shirt on the left, in the 2nd scan.
Babushka!
Thanks, Major!
Nanook, you beat me!
Thanks Major- Always nice to see Pirate Ship photos, especially this sharp & colorful. Looks like the ice cream vendor is getting ready to install his umbrella.
-DW
More crisp, colorful pictures. Just what the doctor ordered, thanks Major.
In the first pic, has that 'mermaid sail' always been there? I don't recall seeing it before. Probably has. Funny how something will jump out at you as if seeing it for the first time, even its been there all along.
In the second scan, that palm tree poking up on the left really balances out the image. Without it, the picture would list to the right.
In the zoomed-in image, I like that guys shirt with the vertical stripes. (On the left edge.) Colorful but not gaudy. (Sue B. beat me to it as I was writing.)
At first I thought the vendor was carrying a floor mop, which seemed odd. Then I saw that the 'mop' was attached to that red & white striped thingy and surmised that it is, in fact, a matching umbrella (with fringe) for his cart. (I think.)
Nanook, the tape marks on the ground indicate where the Acme anvil will fall. Our lady-of-the-day just missed getting squished, like the coins on the train track at Knott's that we discussed yesterday.
Tokyo!, looks like the mermaid took a fashion tip from Carol Burnett's "Went With The Wind" curtain rod dress.
I keep looking for my dad and his family as they visited DL for the first time in the latter half of the summer of 1962, but no joy.
I never consciously noticed the umbrellas over those glorious rockwork benches. A quick look at Daveland suggests they were gone by the time I started visiting in 1971. I’m torn - I like the idea of providing shade for guests while they rest, but then they end up blocking some great ground-level views of the ship.
I think the mermaid’s “cape” is interesting, but it looks a bit odd to me as displayed here. Properly rigged and in use, it would look like this 1950s era photo from Daveland. By counting the cannons, you can also compare it to today’s photo to see how the starboard entrance hatch was moved about 25 feet to the stern, replacing the two arch-top windows, in the 1960 refurb that gave us Skull Rock. It was originally directly across from the port exit hatch.
The ice cream vendor looks like a refugee from Main Street, but for some odd reason it doesn’t really bother me to see him dressed like that in Fantasyland. Maybe I’m becoming more tolerant in my old age. I still need you to get off my lawn, though, and turn down that infernal racket.
JB, the mermaid saw it in the window and just had to have it!
And now, ladies and gentlemen, the eighth wonder of the world: THE BACK SIDE OF BABUSHKAS!
Some lovely vintage summer clothes in that second picture. The lady in the white headband and full blue skirt looks like she stepped out of a Coca-Cola ad.
Mrs."I don't smile" seems a lot like "Mrs. Augustus Gloop"...especially with her jaunty hat. That bit of water in the Pirate Lagoon made Fantasyland seem "less hot". I tended to feel like I was melting in Fantasyland all the time after the New Fantasyland opened. Too many bodies, too much sun, not enough trees. No lakes or lagoons...The Ice Cream vendor does have his Main Street going on, but even when I was doing that job, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland both wore "Yellows"- which was quite a modern design. In most lands you would wear the merchandising costume of the land. Don't know why in Fantasyland we didn't...but we didn't. I can tell by the photo that is not where that cart is supposed to be parked...so I'm not sure why it's already blocked (and yes...I remember those little blocks and believe it or not it DID keep your wagon in place...even on a hill) . It makes more sense over by that rock wall, but what do I know. The cart did not change much in 30 years- it was clad in Formica stripes...nor did the menu sign change\...no one could really see it as the guests would stand in front of it. I asked for a sweet little hanging sign that would hang off the umbrella at eye height. I was told it would cost too much money. Oh well, I tried. To be asked 1000+ times a day "what do you sell?" could be quite taxing on ones soul. I was always was confused that people did not know what an ice cream bar was- and that was from the locals...in the UK it's a "Choc-Ice" In Mexico "Vanilla con chocolate"...you learned to say a lot of things in many different languages, including Japanese...the money too. Some people pronounced it "Ice Cream Bear"....and don't get me going on that frozen banana...that was a whole explanation in itself akin to reading a Tolstoy novel out loud. On a nice quiet day those conversations were not so bad. On a busy Summer day with a line snaking down the block...not so much. Our cash box was mounted to the wagon...but it still was old school "cigar box" style. Bills over a dollar you put in a regular white envelope. Bundles of ones went into bundles of 25 and into the wagon. All the presidents faces on the bills MUST be facing the same way, and all of the creases, edges, folds, MUST be smoothed out prior to bundling. It was hard core. You became very adept at making change quickly and could do it with multiple hands with ease...the guests were always suspicious about this, thinking that you didn't know what you were doing if you grabbed a nickel with one hand and a dime with the other at the same time. We called that efficiency. There was no register, you balanced your cash drawer based on inventory...like ticket books at the main gate. Your change fund was kept in a bankers bag on top of a piece of dry ice for safety. Not sure if that would fly with the health dept. today. Money and food don't mix. Money ON food...probably worse. Guests would often think your wagon was self-serve and would open it on their side. That never went well. Procedure was to quickly close it regardless of the innocence of it all. ...#1 there is a big bag of money in there (which some times sprouted legs and ran off)...#2...the dry ice would burn you- badly...and I still have scars. One guest thought it would be cute to put a piece in his mouth. It wasn't. Guests do the darnedest things!
I have only one slightly interesting thing to point out, apart from the single red & black pirate trash can.
In photo 1, you can see a bit of what I call the “Headway Effect”, the little spumes of water pumped against the bow of the ship to simulate movement (also called headway). The kind of detail that makes Old Disneyland special.
I think this effect was added with Skull Rock, which was brand new at the time of these photos.
Bu, your comments are priceless. I somehow missed Tolstoy’s novel about frozen bananas. Guests like your dry ice muncher are why everything has rails around it today.
Major, perhaps our photo subject has “resting sourpuss face”, something I’ve been accused of. I hope she had a good time. Thanks for todays post.
JG
Great classic photos to step into, I certainly agree. '62 was a prime year for us in Disneyland. Two trips in one year. That was the only year Mom and Dad drove from Tucson twice in one year to go to the park.
I noticed that cute little palm in the first pic too Sue. It's too perfect sitting in that nest of Azaleas, or what ever they are.
I noticed that our lady is flashing some kind of hand signals. Maybe she's a 33nd degree Mason and those are signals only the Master Mason, who happened to be riding the Teacups, could interpret.
Dry ice in the mouth? Holy cow. That would ruin your day in Disneyland.
Thanks Major, wonderful photos.
”Your change fund was kept in a bankers bag on top of a piece of dry ice for safety.”
So it was... cold, hard cash?
I’ll show meself out.
I vote that Melissa gets the ‘Top Banana of the Day’ award, for that last comment!
The ice cream vendor is singing his rendition of Irving Berlin's "A Fella with an Umbrella".
Love the the Skyway and vendor cart pic. So beautiful and colorful with those Fantasyland pastels of the early years.
Thanks, Major.
TokyoMagic!, I remember you always wore a cape, so I bow to your expertise! ;-)
Nanook, yes, I think you are right, there must have normally been where the cart would go. Wonder why they changed it?
Lou and Sue, I’m sure we could track that little palm tree’s growth if we looked at similar photos from subsequent years. And you’re right, that guy’s shirt is pretty cool!
Lou and Sue, you and Nanook are both winners in my book.
DW, I was wondering what that thing was! “Umbrella” makes sense.
JB, yes, except for the very earliest photos (from after the park opened, but before the Pirate Ship opened in August of ’55), the mermaid was always there. The mermaid sail was not always there… in fact, many photos show no sails at all on the pirate ship. I wonder if some of those palm trees got so big that they eventually had to be removed? Even though trees “have no scale”? Yeah, I thought that shaggy thing was a mop at first too, though why would an ice cream vendor need a mop? He would need to be fully trained and licensed by the State of California. Hooray for Carol Burnett!
Chuck, I hope that someday you spot your father and his family in one of my photos. That would be so cool! I just assumed that the umbrellas were always there to shade the benches, but you are right, they were removed at some point. Probably some conflict with “big umbrella”. While it is interesting to see that sail properly rigged, it would block the view of the mermaid. UNFORGIVABLE. Also, great eye on the fact that the door was moved! I NEVER knew or noticed that. Fascinating. To me, at least! I definitely don’t mind the Main Street outfit on that ice cream vendor… it’s so “classic Disneyland”.
Melissa, it might even be the ninth wonder of the world. Don’t forget King Kong was the Eighth Wonder of the World.
Bu, I’d like to believe that the woman was probably very nice, but just didn’t like having her photo taken. Like so many of us. Her sweetheart wanted pictures of her though, so she just had to bear with it. I agree, having that beautiful lagoon in Fantasyland probably did help to keep the temperatures in check. If they ever remove the sub lagoon in Tomorrowland, it’s going to make a big difference. Notice that there appears to be a little drainage hold in the cement over by the rock wall, so that the custodians could hose down all the sticky ice cream mess at night. Formica stripes, I just assumed they were painted on. Interesting. “What do you sell”, oh boy. “Camel meat, you dope!” would be my reply just before getting fired. Thanks to my dad, I always put my bills in my wallet in order, with the Presidents facing the same way. Meanwhile I am disordered in every other part of my life.
JG, I’m not sure if they always had that “headway effect” in front of the Pirate Ship. I’ve seen it in many photos, but I think I’ve also seen pictures without it. Maybe that guest with the dry ice was from Neptune? “Dry ice, yum, nice and warm”. I’m sure all of us have had photos where we looked sour, when in fact we were actually having a good time.
DrGoat, two trips in one year! I think I’ve mentioned that (when I was an adult) I once went three times in a single year - a record for me - and by the third time I thought to myself, “Maybe I don’t need to come so often”. Meanwhile there are people who go weekly, or even more. The woman probably is a Freemason, but she’s also in the 13th Street Gang.
Melissa, OUCH.
Lou and Sue, ha ha.
K. Martinez, I guess I don’t know “A Fella With an Umbrella”. Unless the Back Street Boys did a cover of it, they are my favorite band. I’m like you, I just love a nice, classic Disneyland view, even if it’s one that looks like many that we’ve seen before.
Chuck, when the mermaid "saw it in the window" was she walking on her tailfins?
Bu, I love your cast member stories. (Were they called 'cast members' when you worked there?) It takes a special kind of person to eat dry ice. :-\
I laughed. I cried. I groaned, at Melissa's "cold, hard cash" joke.
About the disappearing umbrellas: As Walt was fond of saying- "Umbrellas have no scale". But of course, they do. And as the years go by they grow bigger and bigger. Eventually, they made the Pirate Ship look like a bathtub toy. So they had to go. But never fear! They were replaced with tiny little, paper, cocktail umbrellas, which will grow to a more useful size in a couple of decades. Now you know.
Major, I didn’t notice that the door had been moved until a few months ago. I bought a copy of the Revell pirate ship (which is a reissue of the 1960 model of the tuna boat) and started doing some focused research with an eye towards maybe making a diorama of the ship as it was at Disneyland, which would involve adding the hull hatches and, depending on the year modeled, the staircase down from the deck on the port side. I’d also have to figure out how to model the mermaids on both the prow and stern (the model’s stern features a large skull and crossbones rather than the shell and mermaid on the actual ship). I believe that probably exceeds my current skill level and definitely exceeds my allotted allocation of free time, so when I do build it, it will be the basic kit in Disneyland colors.
I love Peter Lawford singing “A Fella With an Umbrella” in Easter Parade.
They probably removed the umbrellas because people sitting in the shade aren’t buying stuffed animals or enamel pins.
JB…I have a million of them (stories that is…) Employees were referred to in official circumstances as “Cast Members”…in front of guests, during your review, when someone was giving a speech…etc. otherwise…we all said “employees”. I think probably now they use “cast member” for everything under the sun. In my time, people just didn’t “get” “Cast Member” even tho it had been a term for a while…it honestly sounded odd to me then, and odd to me now…guests were always guests however. Customer sounds kind of harsh. Disneyland Employee Cafeteria was the DEC “pronounced deck”…was underneath Pirates, but was more commonly referred to as “The Pit”…not because it was located in a pit, or was “a pit”, but when they released one of those Herbie movies they decorated it with all sorts of car insignias, hence “Pit stop”. I have a photo of the characters sitting at a table at the Pit with an ashtray on the table…they were on alllll the tables and smoking was perfectly fine :). The term DEC lasted as long as I did…Disneyland Employee Federal Credit Union became “Partners” after that Charles Boyer lithograph was created. The word “employee” was used frequently in naming things. I can go on, but I’ll stop there. I worked in documentation quite a bit at the end and all of that nomenclature had to be quite tight and was vetted by more than a few minds. I put the word “employee” on more than one page in many SOP’s. I am sure that has all changed to Cast Member.
Thanks, Bu. Much appreciated. I always thought "cast member" sounded a bit pretentious. Then again, "guest" sounds kinda odd, too. I mean, if yer someone's guest, you're not expected to pay your own way. Am I right?! I think we, as guests, should get into all the Disney parks for FREE. Who's with me! (Let's make this happen!) ;-)
It’s been tried before, JB. It didn’t work for the Yippees, either.
When I worked in a department store they called the customers “guests,” too. That’s carrying it a bit far, in my opinion. You don’t sell underwear to your guests, unless you’re some kind of pervert.
Can we make that a ‘Double Top Banana’ award??
LOVED all the comments!
Bu, hurry and get your pictures to Major!
You, too, JB! Can’t wait to see them!
JB, the mermaid was walking on her hands. Not easy to do! Plus she was eating an ice cream bar. I also love cast member stories, and can’t ever get enough of them. More! More! Walt sure said a lot of things, I wonder if he ever said anything about duckbilled platypuses?
Chuck, ah, now I want to see your completed and incredibly detailed and accurate diorama! I love the idea, it’s the kind of thing I would have wanted to do - if I had any model-making talent. It’s too bad that Revell’s model isn’t 100% accurate… but the idea of trying to sculpt that stern bas-relief or the adorable mermaid is daunting. Even if you wind up doing the unaltered model, I’d love to see it.
Melissa, don’t we all love Peter Lawford? Well, maybe not Frank Sinatra, who is actually alive and reads GDB.
Bu, I think we saw recently that an employee booklet referred to employees as “hosts” and “hostesses”, which isn’t bad. The “cast member” term definitely seems to have caught on much later. I’m not sure what’s wrong with “employee” in their eyes, perhaps it made the job sound too much like… a job? I’d love to see your photo at The Pit!
JB, yes, “cast member” is a bit much. “We’re all players on a stage!”. Well, OK, when is my lunch break? Somehow I don’t mind “guest” so much, though you make a good point about making a guest pay so much for the privilege.
Chuck, those darn Yippies, I’ll bet they didn’t know that everyone would still be talking about their antics half a century later.
Melissa, at least they didn’t refer to the customers as “marks”.
Lou and Sue, can’t it be something other than a Top Banana? I prefer a nice juicy orange.
CHUCK: did you know REVELL ( Venice CA/USA) went bankrupt recently? In the late 70’s a division of REVELL was set up in Germany to service the European market .... tooling would be sent “on loan” to Germany to manufacture kits aimed at the European market. Revell Germany also issued kits using model tooling from Heljan - Denmark and Preiser -Germany, and Heller models.
Anyhow , eventually REVELL EUROPE became its own company and still licensed older Revell USA kits for re-issue. With REVELL USA now gone - REVELL Germany Has purchased all tooling , graphics , name rights Etc from REVELL USA .... some of the German reissue kits still feature markings reading “ Revell , Venice CA”
The end of yet ANOTHER era.....
JB and Chuck, I remember that Carol Burnett skit! Sorry, I would have responded earlier, but I was "detained" for most of the day.
MIKE COZART, did you know that some of the tooling that was at the Revell USA warehouse was purchased by Atlantis Models? This includes Revell, Monogram, Aurora & Renwal items. Some of these have been already reissued & are manufactured in the U.S.A.
-DW
Mike & DW, I seem to remember hearing about the Revell bankruptcy, although I must confess I had forgotten it. I still have to remind myself sometimes that Revell USA and Monogram merged back in the ‘80s. I hadn’t heard that Atlantis had bought some of the tooling. The plastic model business is certainly not immune from mergers and buyouts, but it still seems weird to me that so many of the kits we knew as kids from certain manufacturers are now offered by somebody else. Are we sure this isn’t how the world ends?
Post a Comment