Mark Twain, May 1981
Hey hey, it's the Mark Twain! I wonder how Sam Clemens would have felt if he knew that a steamboat at an amusement park would eventually be named after him? I'm sure he'd have something snappy to say, but I'd like to imagine that he'd be flattered. Anyway, there's the familiar boat (or is it a SHIP?), looking lovely, reflected in the water. To our right is a flock of sleeping canoes.
I assume that our photographer was standing on the upper level of the Hungry Bear Restaurant; watching the passing river traffic was always one of my favorite things to do while eating at that establishment.
28 comments:
Major-
Ahhh.... the Mark Twain:
"Lovely to look at, Delightful to know and heaven to kiss." I'm a bit uncertain about the "heaven to kiss" part, but the rest - It's just such a beautiful boat (SHIP-?), looking extra-lovely in these shots.
Thanks, Major.
Awwww! How nice of that Keelboat to watch over that flock of sleeping canoes. Unless it was sneaking up on them, and getting ready to pounce.
- Tokyo Mistletoe!
That flock of sleeping canoes even includes a roosting keelboat. Peaceful pictures.
Thanks, Major. (Did you abandon us??)
You beat me, Mistletoe, regarding the keelboat. :o)
I never noticed before that the canoes have different colors of trim. They look kinda nice, here.
In the 2nd pic, get a load of that guy's stripey pants! (upper deck, right side) I've never seen that type of stripes on pants before. Broad and rainbow-y. A lot of the passengers are shielding their eyes with their hands.
We hardly ever get to see the Mark Twain. ;-) So thanks for these rare photographic records, Major. (I actually kept the first one for my "Disney stuff" folder.)
- Jolly Bumble (Bumbles bounce!)
Bumbles, I’m not positive that’s a guy, in those spiffy pants... I think it’s possibly a young Princess Diana.
Lovely first pic. You've got three kinds of river transportation.
Thanks, Major.
Kringle Martinez
Huck’s landing puts in an appearance today. Does anyone know when they stopped using it regularly to land rafts?
JB, I think that’s actually a stripey skirt. It pairs nicely with the colorful canoe trim, which I had also never noticed before today’s photos.
Curious to see how long you can keep the Rudolph references going. There are 27 days between today and Christmas…. ;-)
Thank you for the lovely Mark Twain photos! It’s my birthday and this is the perfect gift. I believe our beautiful river boat is super underrated, especially those night cruises.
Celeste
Happy Birthday, Celeste!
Please add stripey pants to dent and fudgie. I got out the trusty mighty microscope to see what Princess Diana was wearing this day in Disneyland history. The dock to the left is for something...but what? and why? What a sweet couple walking arm in arm over there on a quiet island that has not been ransacked by Pirates They Ruin Everything. The Mark Twain reminds me of very sweet conversations with "Mrs. Francis Griffin" also known as Irene Dunne who christened the ship for Mr. Disney and who's father was a big wig in the steam ship biz for the govt...when there were such things. The Motion Picture home in Woodland Hills where she lived before crossing over would very formally announce the phone call coming in, (as with all of the other persons living there.) "I have Mrs. Francis Griffin on the line holding for you". "Go ahead Mrs. Griffin..." She was listed in our Rolodex as Irene Dunne, but if you knew anything about anything in that office, Irene Dunne did not refer to herself as Irene Dunne. She called us for comps at the gate for her guests and was sweetly tickled when she asked if I needed her "code" (the secret code) for the tickets, and I replied "of course not Miss Dunne I recognize your voice". She always had a sweet giggle after that and I think she thought I recognized her voice from pictures as I would refer to her as Miss Dunne. When the Motion Picture home called it was always very exciting as you did not know who would ultimately was on the other end of the phone after being "announced" by the switchboard lady. So wonderfully old school Hollywood. What a sweet memory this snowy Sunday morning on the Island of Misfit Toys.
Bu, thanks for sharing that story. I’m now picturing Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth with Cary Grant. I love all those ‘old Hollywood’ stars and movies. They don’t make ‘em like they used to.
Bu, that dock on the left in the first photo is Huck’s Landing, which at one point was one of two raft landings on TSI. The other is Tom’s Landing, over by where the mill was. I don’t have any memory of Huck’s Landing in use, but it showed up on all of the souvenir maps of the island. See the link below for an example:
https://wdwnt.com/2020/04/find-adventure-in-disneylands-past-with-this-1957-tom-sawyer-island-map/
Chuck, I seem to remember Huck’s Landing as the main port on the Island in my earliest memories. At some point, though, obviously, there was a shift to Tom’s Landing down by the cave exit. I could be wrong, probably am wrong. Maybe Hucks was for maintenance only so the supplies for the snack bar at the Fort could be delivered closer.
Thank you for the suit of armor link from yesterday. Very informative.
The Mark Twain is just a beautiful sight, and these shots are extra good, almost closeups. I agree that Lady Di seems to be wearing a skirt. Were the flags always there, or are those special for the Fourth?
JG
Thanks for the map....I have that map..(somewhere)...I don't remember ever seeing Tom's landing in use...so, correct me if I am wrong...they used the dock over there by the little restrooms, the dock straight across from the ride entry (the only one I remember being used) AND the one up the ways across from the Canoe landing? Was this scheme ever used simultaneously? Like for 4th of July type days? It seems like a lot of river traffic, but like Walt said "Now all we need is another big boat".
Hi everybody, I am back! Thanks so much for all of the comments and discussion while I was gone, it was fun to read. If I wasn’t so lame at typing long replies on my tiny phone with my clumsy fingers, I might be able to participate, but… it’s mostly an exercise in frustration.
Nanook, is that how MT described himself? I love it. Hey, if he doesn’t “sell” himself, who will do it?
TokyoMagic!, Keelboats are known to be natural mothers and protectors of other watercraft, sort of like capybaras.
Lou and Sue, I wonder if the canoes normally have tarps over them at night, but that they are removed during the day, even if the canoes aren’t being used??
Lou and Sue, that TokyoMagic! HE did this!
JB, I am assuming that the different colors on the canoes is a later development, but I can’t say for sure, since it’s not common to find pictures of them at the dock. And WHOA, those rainbow-striped pants, I didn’t notice them. Would that be “early New Wave”? I’m glad you enjoyed these rare photos of the Mark Twain.
Lou and Sue, hmmm, I thought it was a guy too, but it might be a girl. I guess the hair looks kind of like a male style, but now that I know that it’s Princess Diana (WHO YOU MET!), it is so obvious.
Kringle Martinez, I love all those river craft! Though it makes me miss the Keelboats knowing that they are gone forever.
Celeste, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you! I’m glad you had some nice Disneyland photos on your special day.
Lou and Sue, there’s a new one for our list!
Bu, I hope we see Stripy Pants again, but (s)he probably son’t be standing there at the rail on the Mark Twain too many times. That dock to the left is probably one of the Tom Sawyer Island raft landings, there were as many as three of those at one point. Wow, great story about “Mrs. Francis Griffin”, it’s pretty neat to have had a brush with a person from “Old Hollywood” like Irene Dunne! I know her best from “The Awful Truth” and “My Favorite Wife”, she was great in those.
Lou and Sue, gosh, I wish I could watch that movie right now!!
Chuck, I’m sorry, but that is actually Stephen Seagal landing. It’s a common mistake. As for mistakes, I might be mistaken about the “fact” that there were once three landings, but I am pretty sure that it is true. Wish I could find hard evidence! I think I even had one photo in which you could see rafts at two spots on the west river.
JG, you might be right, in fact I do think that guests often accessed Tom Sawyer Island by taking a raft from the western shore of the river over to Huck’s Landing. All the times I have gone to TSI I’ve headed to Tom’s Landing. Hmmm, maybe the “stripy pants” ARE just a skirt. But that’s not as much fun!
Bu, with TokyoMagic’s help (and help from my friend Mr. X) I have discovered that there were something like 11 (or was it 12?) variations on those Tom Sawyer Island maps (this isn’t including the maps from after the island was taken over by pirates). For the longest time I thought that there were only 3, but TM alerted me to several others, and Mr. X told me about even more. I finally got them all! I believe that Tom’s Landing is the one most commonly used now, and I do believe that they have used at least two landings at once, possibly on busy days (as you said).
Sue and Chuck, I'm stickin' with it being a guy in stripey pants; until proven otherwise. ;-)
Chuck, I'm already sweating bullets keeping up the Rudolph thing. I'm not even sure about tonight!
Bu, I remember Irene Dunne mostly from "It Grows On Trees" (1952) about a couple who discover they have a tree (or two) in their backyard that literally grows money. Fun fantasy movie.
Major (!), Looks like we're the only two who think it's a guy. But since this is your blog... WE WIN!
It's a good thing you came back when you did; I was about to trash the place. (kidding) Welcome back.
- Jolly Bumble
IIRC, Irene Dunne starred in the 1936 film version of Show Boat. It's the circle of life.
Melissa, you're right. I think she was also in the '50s version. That circle just keeps goin', just keeps goin' 'round.
JB, it feels like the old SNL character, “Pat”. Is Pat a “he” or a “she”? Will “Rudolph” be on regular TV this year, or has it been nabbed by one of the many pay streaming services? By the way, my sister had the original animated “Grinch” on her TV, there were so many commercials that I had to walk away. They ruined it. “It Grows On Trees”? Never heard of that one! And I hate to throw around my weight as the grand poobah, but I’ll take a win this time!
Melissa, who watches movies from 1936?! There’s no giant blue beam of light shooting up into the sky or fighting robots or superheroes or ANYTHING!
JB, while I saw a stage version of “Show Boat” (in Chicago, with Eddie Bracken as Cap’n Andy (looking it up this must have been 1989) but I have never seen any film version.
Major, welcome back! Thanks for the pics. Did you visit our tiki friend?
JG
Major, I think Rudolph was already on regular TV this year. The guy who does the daily TV write-up in the paper was complaining the other day about how Christmas shows are coming earlier every year. And that Rudolph would air 3 days before Thanksgiving (or was it 3 days before December?) I'm sure it will be on a few more times on various (cable) networks.
That's an interesting point about people in 1936. They had considerably fewer outlets for entertainment. Maybe that's why the movie stars of that era were placed on pedestals, like gods. They were STARS! They had FACES! We have popular movie stars today, but nothing like it was back then.
They were STARS! They had FACES! We have popular movie stars today, but nothing like it was back then.
JB, IMO, no one presently can hold a candle to Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert....
Ditto what JG said - Major, welcome back! (Did you bring us anything??)
I admit to a preference for the 1951 film version of Show Boat over the 1936, even though the latter had the amazing Paul Robeson as Joe. I'm a sucker for Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson, and Ava Gardner's Julie is sublime. They dubbed her singing voice, but I've heard her own vocal tracks and they were perfectly fine IMO. The Technicolor is spectacular. And the 1936 version has a blackface number which was NBD at the time but is a bit uncomfortable for the modern gaze. When I finally got to see a live version, it was surprising how much had to be cut out for the movies. One of my best friends played Ellie Mae in a dinner theater production (how they pulled off the staging in dinner theater I'll never know) and she re-used parts of her costume when we were in Oklahoma! together.
And of course, there were no fewer than 6 Maverick episodes set on riverboats.
JG, thanks! And NO, we didn’t make it over to Morro Bay this time, even though I wanted to go see the otters. It just didn’t happen. I learned that supposedly the famous triple smokestacks over there are slated to come down. I like them, though others think they are an eyesore, so it just goes to show you.
JB, maybe there’s just too much competition for air time, and some of those classics are just too “old” to some people. I love “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”, and “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” especially. As for classic movies, I generally love to watch them, but I guess people have to have a certain mind-set. Some find the old-fashioned acting and melodramatic plots to be hard to watch. For me, it takes me back in time to another era.
Lou and Sue, er, um… I brought you a partially used pack of cinnamon gum! When my mom was in the hospital for a long time, the only channel I could stand to watch was TCM, it was really nice to watch something that wasn’t loud and obnoxious. And I saw some fun movies that I’d never seen before. Sadly, I cut my cable, so I don’t get TCM anymore, unless there’s some other way to watch it.
Melissa, it’s always strange to see old movies with blackface numbers. I forget which Fred Astaire movie has his tribute to Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Even as a tribute, it makes me cringe. And I remember seeing a Bing Crosby movie with a blackface number (can’t recall the name) that was just painful. So fun that you have done theater, if only we could see you onstage!
I'm endlessly fascinated that the MT steamboat was an accurate reproduction down to the curve of the upper decks from the centerline to the starboard and port sides, and from the bow to stern. It would have been much cheaper to make those decks perfectly level, but it feels more like a "real" steamboat with those details.
Major-
The Fred Astaire film you're thinking about is Swing Time. The Crosby (and Astaire) film is most-likely Holiday Inn (1942), with Bing and other cast members 'adorned' with black face, in a singing Tribute to Abraham Lincoln, entitled "Abraham". Yes, it's pretty cringe-worthy.
But nothing tops Goin' to Heaven On a Mule from the 1934 film Wonder Bar, with dance numbers created by Busby Berkeley. It's both ingenious and clever but overtly racist in ways that make you want to cover your eyes.
Yeah...the good ol Mark Twain. Best job ever!! Some made it a career when the pay could support it! OK...Time for me to blow the whistle and ring the bell...coming into the dock. KS
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