Rescans
Every now and then, I like to try rescanning some previously-shared slides, in the hopes of improving the way they looked. Sometimes the results are dramatically better, other times the improvement can be subtle. Today I have rescans of two stereo images from September, 1958.
Some of you longtime readers may remember these; or maybe not. They aren't that extraordinary! Still, it's a nice view looking across a little, rough-hewn wooden bridge. It's too small to be the bridge over the moat that took guests from the Plaza into Adventureland. You can see the sign for Tiki's Tropical Imports, which was located right near the entrance to the Jungle Cruise, but I still can't quite place this little bridge.
So, here's the rescan, and it is definitely less murky, and the shadows are not so inky black. As is often the case, looking at it now I see more things I could have done to improve it, but the cat's out of the bag, so to speak.
From the same lots comes this other Adventureland view. Two mom's pose next to a planter full of tropical greenery, while the Jungle Cruise is plainly visible in the distance. Notice the benches nearby, pleasant places to rest and take in some interesting scenery.
I've removed the yellow-brown color cast; one could argue that the warm tone gave the photo an "antique" look, but I prefer it as it looks below, cleaner and cooler.
I hope you have enjoyed today's rescans!
34 comments:
Major-
Nice restoration work, as per usual. I love the first Mom's outfit. That jacket is a standout.
As for that bridge (thanks to Daveland)...
LOOK HERE - seen form the opposite direction. & HERE - off to the left.
Thanks, Major.
Major, for the first photo, I'm not sure which one I prefer. Maybe something halfway in between the two. I like the saturated, warmer colors in the older scan, especially the reds. But I like the greener greens in the newer scan. And like you said, the shadows have improved greatly in the new scan. And there's definitely more detail in the rescan. Maybe all the rescan needs is a little more contrast? It's a nice photo, either way.
In the second image, I do like the rescan better. It just looks more sunny and picturesque. I especially like the sunlight on the palm fronds.
And Nanook already did the research on the bridge location- so we don't have to! I was going to say that the bridge leads from Adventureland to Frontierland, with maybe the shooting gallery behind the photographer. But I really have no idea.
Pretty photos today, Major.
- Jam and Bread (with tea. And that will bring us back to doe, a deer. A female deer. Who gave birth to Rudolph. See how it all comes together? Eventually, it all circles back to Rudolph... or Kevin Bacon; whichever comes first.)
I'm kind of amazed that I knew exactly where that bridge was given the last time I was in that location was probably 30+ years ago. The give aways were "Hotel" above the greenery and the stone wall directly in front. The Tropical Imports are where in the 70's/80's the barrels of shrunken heads and rubber snakes were. Today there would be chicken wire or electrical fencing or whatever to keep little Johnny from falling into the river...looks like he's almost there. If I ever fell in, I would get the "you shouldn't have been monkeying around down there!" and then I would be the one getting a spanking. If there were tears it would have been "stop crying or I will give you something to cry about". Ahhh....being a kid of the 60's! Today the kids have lawyers. Dresses, hats and suits. Such a different time. Karl Lagerfeld said that "sweats are a sign of defeat. You lost control of your life, so you bought some sweatpants." Nice work on the restoration of the photos, you are a better man than I. They all look swell to me. There is something charming about un-doctored photos too :)
I love that flaming O on the right-hand woman’s purse in the last pair of photos. And if you look closely in that photo, you can see the back side of Main Street.
Thanks, Nanook!
JB, OK, here goes…Kevin Bacon was in Apollo 13 with Bill Paxton. Bill Paxton was in Tombstone with Kurt Russell. Kurt Russell was in Follow Me, Boys! with Luana Patten. Luana Patten was in So Dear To My Heart with Burl Ives. And Burl Ives was in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. Connections to Rudolph, Kevin Bacon, Disney, and the Boy Scouts of America! What’s not to like here?
Nice rescans, Major! The hibiscus flowers (first pic) and the canna lily flowers (second pic) are nice, too!
Jam and Bread, in addition to the Frauline Maria song, you also reminded me of a book I had as a kid! The title was "Bread and Jam for Frances." It was ordered from the Scholastic Book Services through my school. Now I have to go look for that and see if Frances also has "Bacon" with her jam and bread.
Chuck, you have some amazing "connections"!
- Tokyo Magic (Of Christmas!)
Ok, Chuck, I now have a headache.
I really like the first version of picture one best, but I am generally guilty of liking a bit too much contrast in my pictures. It drives my wife crazy (yet another thing husbands can do to bug their wives?) Anyway, I like the second version of the second picture, but mainly because of the Jungle Cruise boat lurking in the background about to attack is easier to see. The law of teh jungle and all that, you know.
I absolutely LOVED ordering scholastic books in school! Somehow the process of picking the books from your very own newsprint catalog sheet, then waiting FOREVER for them to come in, then getting handed your little stack of books IN SCHOOL was so great! I actually still have a few of them (ah, the joys of being a pack rat).
Stu, and those little stacks of books came tied up with string. (Hey, I think that's another Frauline Maria reference....but unintentional!) I still have most, if not all of the books I ordered at school. I guess that makes me a pack rat, too. I posted two of those books last year, for Halloween, and I plan to eventually post more of them.
Stu and TM, count me another Scholastic Book fan! I had a little book allowance for those, and just as you say, so much fun.
TM, I didn’t have Bread and Jam for Frances when I was a kid, but we bought it for our two little ones, I know that book so well after countless bedtime readings. So charming and great illustrations. Now I want bread and jam, and maybe a string bean to practice on.
Nanook & Bu, thanks for the location ID, I thought it must be that bridge, but that part of the Park has definitely changed a bit. I see the Tiki Hut sells Kodak Film, but probably had a name change when the Birds moved in down the block.
Major, thank you, not only for posting, but for your hard work in restoring these. Technology marches on, I suppose, but these are beautiful pics, both before and after.
JG
I'll be singing "I can see clearly now..." for the rest of the day.
My favorite part of the pics? The sunglasses. Gotta love 50s sunglasses!
Great work! My solution to "fixing" a picture is to blast up the color 500%.
I'm imagining the planks on the bridge creaking as you walk over them. Disneyland really was more rustic back then.
Nanook, thanks for the link, I guess I wasn’t aware of the little bridge to (and from) the old Tahitian Lanai. Interesting!
JB, I wouldn’t mind the warmer tones of the original scans, except that they look kind of dirty, as if they were taken on the smoggiest day ever. Sometimes the warm tones enhance the appeal. As for contrast, the old ones had such inky black shadows, I tried to pull some of the detail out without losing all of the blacks. Maybe I went too far.
Bu, I haven’t looked, but I assume that the little bridge is long gone by now. In fact I’m kind of surprised it was still there 30 years ago. I don’t think I noticed the “Hotel”, so that’s cool. It’s always amazing to see how much trust the park put in guests, assuming that people were smart enough to avoid falling into various bodies of water. I guess our cumulative IQ has gone way way down. I only wear sweatpants when I go to bed on a cold night, so I guess I’m doing OK!
Chuck, I remember the first time I saw that some buildings had Adventureland theming on one side, and Main Street scrollwork on the other. Maybe it was in “Disneyland: The First Quarter Century”? Great “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”!
TokyoMagic!, I do like a nice hibiscus flower, they are just so big and colorful. My mom has some in her backyard, and the hummingbirds seem to like them. “Bread and Jam for Frances”, I’ve heard of it, but never read it. I preferred those books with the thick cardboard pages that my mom could just wipe the food off of!
Stu29573, see my comment to JB! It’s that “dirty” look that I find so unappealing, it reminds me of a head of iceberg lettuce that is starting to turn brown and slimy. I’M NOT CRAZY! I loved the Scholastic book orders too, I still have my copy of “Dracula” (which was not as scary as I’d hoped, plus Dracula had a mustache. A MUSTACHE!) and a book that I think was called “Strange But True” (it’s at my mom’s house, and I haven’t looked at it in years), with ghost stories, tales of hidden treasure, and various mysteries.
TokyoMagic!, I don’t remember our books being tied with string, maybe your teachers did that? I think we were just handed a pile of slippery books.
JG, my mom was usually pretty tight with money, but it seems like she was OK when it came time to buy books. And hey, I became a voracious reader, so that was a good thing. “A string bean to practice on”… well OK. I like string beans, but have no need to practice! Thanks for the kind words, JG.
Grant, it’s true, ‘50s sunglasses were pretty cool!
Andrew, you are not alone! I used to see my own photos reposted on Facebook, and whoever took them increased the saturation so much that I could hardly stand to look at them. Those planks do look like they've expanded and contracted a bit over the three years that they've been there, I'll bet they did creak!
Tokyo, my childhood copy of Bread and Jam for Frances finally wore out from too much re-reading. I was always fascinated by her friend who had a salt shaker for his boiled egg in his lunchbox.
Major, I have a Scholastic book called "Strangely Enough." Could that be the one you're thinking of? It has some pretty creepy stories!
Major, same with my Mom, and I read a lot as a kid. Even now, I do about a book a week, but it used to be a book-a-day.
The story of Frances involves the little girl who will only eat bread and jam, and the string bean practice line is for her baby sister who is still eating baby food, so she practices on a string bean. It's about all I remember, other than that our kids loved that book, like Tokyo and Melissa. That and it had a happy ending.
JG
Melissa, who is this Frances, and why does she like bread and jam so much? What about sardines and cream cheese? Or salami and sauerkraut?
Stu29573, THAT’S IT!! I loved that book. Now that I’m thinking about it, I hope that I still have it and that my mom didn’t get rid of it for me.
JG, I am ashamed to admit that I don’t read nearly as much as I used to. I have no excuses either, since I have a jillion ebooks that I could read on my iPad. While I still prefer real books, I have found that it is pretty convenient to be able to have 50 books (for instance) on the iPad! I feel as if I have been deprived, since I never read “Bread and Jam for Frances”. One of my favorite books when I was a kid is called “Black and Blue Magic”, about a boy who gets a magic potion that enables him to fly. I must have read that one 25 times! My mom thought there was something wrong with me, ha ha.
Chuck, that connect-the-dots was amazing! I bow to the master.
TMOC!, nice name today. "Bread and Jam for Frances"? What kind of mealy-mouthed title is that for a growing boy!? ;-) My Scholastic books were always something like: "Spooky Magic" or "101 Elephant Jokes". You know, the classics!
Stu, I have the same memories of anticip... ation waiting for those paperback books to arrive. I think we might still have "Spooky Magic" somewhere.
Tokyo! again, Hey, maybe that's what all us GDBers have in common; we all ordered Scholastic books in grade school!
JG, See? I knew it! We're a different (better) breed of humans! (haha). Again with the "Bread and Jam for Frances"? I've never heard of it. Have I missed out on something good? (another Frauline Maria reference)
Major, I'm another lapsed reader. I have a whole bookcase of (mostly) sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books that I've read at least two or three times each; some, several times. I also used to play keyboard instruments all my life; but not for many years now. I guess I'm waiting for the Muses to smile upon me so I can start reading and playing again.
Yep, I ordered books, too...and posters.
JB, you got 101 Elephant Jokes! I got that one too!
For some reason, they did not do 101 Hippopotamous jokes?
JG
I was a Scholastic Book Club kid, too. I still have a few, but those are mostly from later grade school and tend to be novelizations of live-action Disney movies. I think I may also still have my issue of Dynamite magazine with Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict on the cover. Pretty sure all of the books from K-3rd grade went to my sister, then were put in storage in my grandmother’s attic “for safekeeping,” and then given to Goodwill (along with a bunch of childhood games and toys) three years later at my mother’s insistence without informing either my sister or me. That was a hard thing to take when we found out about it three years after it happened, particularly when I had built a student film proposal around stuff that had been in that collection that I had thought was conveniently across town at my grandmother’s..
JB, I also remember getting the paperback book of “Charlotte’s Web”, which might be considered a “girl’s book” by some? Whatever the case, it’s one that I have always loved. I hate that I don’t read as much anymore, but to be honest, if I ever find myself with some down time, I usually think about scanning slides or composing blog posts! It takes up a surprising amount of my spare time.
Lou and Sue, what kind of posters? David Cassidy? Day-glo blacklight posters?
JG, “101 Elephant Jokes”, perfect for any second-grader!
Chuck, I know I had the novelization of “The Island at the Top of the World”, but I’m not sure that was from the Scholastic Book Club. I just liked that cool balloon. The movie itself is pretty cheesy. “Dynamite”, oh man, that brings back memories! I think my younger brother got a magazine called “Bananas”, but I might be misremembering. Yes, mothers tend to get rid of our treasures without telling us; then we find out a few years later, when it’s too late to do anything. Part of the evil plan! My dad swore he had an “Action Comics #1” that his mom threw out when my dad left home for the Navy. Ouch!
I still have The Puffin Book of Magic. I also have Ghostly Giggles (example joke: What do monsters like to eat? Things. What do monsters like to drink? Coke, because Things go better with Coke!)
One of my favorite "strange" books from when I was a kid was The Wonderful Flight to Mushroom Planet.
I also loved Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators. I read them to my daughter when she was growing up and she has started reading them to my grandkids!
Ok, I just looked it up and it's "to THE Mushroom Planet." The scholastic version came out in 1966, so it must have belonged to my grandmother (5th grade teacher) before I had it.
JG, haha. Somebody really missed an opportunity by ignoring the multitude of hippo jokes.
Chuck, I'd bring a lawsuit if I were you.
Major, my 3rd grade teacher read Charlotte's Web to us. I still remember some of the story, and remember enjoying it.
Stu, that joke actually made me smile.
Another Scholastic book guy here. I only ordered books with titles like like “101 Magic Tricks”. They would take so long to arrive at school that I would forget I even ordered them. Then one day – poof! They appeared in a nice little stack.
My Elementary School had its own little library and I remember at some point checking out “The Story of Walt Disney” by Diane Disney Miller. Outside of a book about the Wright Brothers, this is the only book I ever remember getting from that library.
Major, one of my posters was black with colorful ‘spirals’ all over it. I think I have a photo of it (of my bedroom wall) somewhere. If I find it, I’ll send it to you. It’s ugly - I have no idea what possessed me to order it.
Hey, kids, check out Stu’s Attic blog. I love the pre-Disneyland TV tray he just posted. Am looking forward to reading everyone’s comments/observations.
Major, Bananas was the other Scholastic magazine. I can’t remember which demographic each was aimed at anymore.
I didn’t see The Island At the Top of the Worlduntil I was in my mid-thirties, and by that time I had read enough about it to expect disappointment. That movie had such potential that just didn’t quite come together. But the Hyperion was awesome…and seeing Tony Baxter’s three-dimensional realization of it at DLP (even if it was just a food court) was really neat. The Emporium window displays for that film are the first ones I can remember. Something tells me that those weren’t saved to be brought back at special anniversaries.
JB, I think it would be cheaper just to buy replacements on eBay.
Stu, I have a copy of The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet! I can’t remember if I bought it used at a fifth grade classroom rummage sale or if I borrowed it from my fifth grade teacher’s classroom library and loved it so much I never gave it back. The book is silly but fun in a Santa Claus Conquers the Martians sort of way. I think I know where the box it’s in is located; I may pull that out after I finish A Christmas Carol (which we are studying in Sunday School, believe it or not).
Another Scholastic edition I picked up that year and fell in love with was Revolt on Alpha C, a more serious”hard” sci-fi story by Robert Silverberg, copyright 1955. It deals with the themes of the American Revolution, but set on the first Earth colonies outside our solar system. That needs to come out of that box for a good reading, too. I hope I’ll enjoy it as much as I did back then.
And your joke earned a groan, a hand on a hip, and a scrunchy face from Mrs. Chuck. A perfect trifecta. Well done!
I've pitched a Scholastic Book Fair, for adults, to be held at a bar. Still waiting for a response from the company.
Stu, I just discovered that Mushroom Planet was just the first of six Mushroom Planet novels published between 1954 and 1967. Time to start collecting, I guess…
Major, maybe it was my teachers who did the bundling of the books, with the string.
Melissa, oh yeah, now I remember the friend with the salt shaker and the boiled eggs for lunch. I need to get that book out! I have a second one that was sort of like a "sequel," but I can't remember the title. When I checked online, it looks like there were six "Frances the Badger" books. I think the other one I had might have been, "A Bargain For Frances."
JG, I don't remember the string bean line, but I will definitely be looking for that book, now. I know where it is, I just have to dig through some other books that are all packed away. I had another "animal" book titled, "Morris The Moose Goes To School." I think I must have liked stories involving anthropomorphic animals, because I also had "Runaway Ralph" about a mouse who rode a motorcycle, and "The Cricket In Times Square," about a cat, a mouse, and a cricket, who are all friends and hanging out together.
JB, my brother had a Scholastic book called, "Spooky Tricks." I posted parts of it on my blog, in October of 2020, along with parts of another Scholastic book, titled, "Monster Jokes and Riddles."
Sue, I hope you also had the poster of the cat clinging to a tree branch with the tag line, "Hang In There, Baby!" Or the one with the toddler in the toilet, with his hand on the flusher, and the tag line, "Goodbye Cruel World!"
Chuck, I forgot to mention that I also had several books that were novelizations of Disney films. I even had one that was a novelization of a made-for-television movie (from "The Wonderful World of Disney"). That one was "Mystery in Dracula's Castle," starring Johnny Whitaker. And that is one book that I have not been able to find for a while now, so it might be lost for good.
Stu29573, I never got The Puffin Book of Magic, but I had a book of puzzles, optical illusions, rebuses, and other fun stuff, it fascinated me. I’ve never heard of “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet”! Sounds cool. I had one book of Alfred Hitchcock stories, and my main memory is the illustrations, that were black and white, but with a lurid magenta used as accent, it disturbed me!
Stu29573, I’m going to have to look up that book to see what it’s about!
JB, I prefer jokes about gnus. Only nobody has ever made a joke about gnus. NEVER. “Charlotte’s Web” is (in my opinion) one of the great children’s books.
Sunday Night, I had a fantasy about being able to do magic tricks, but my grandparents bought me boxed set of simple tricks, and I think that even at that young age, I knew that I did not possess the patience or the aptitude to be a magician! You know, I still have never read, “The Story of Walt Disney”.
Lou and Sue, hmmm, I wonder if I had that same poster! I was into blacklight stuff when I was a kid and have a couple of black velvet posters. I suppose they were ugly, but I was all in on anything that glowed! I will definitely go to Stu’s blog.
Chuck, I assume that Bananas was aimed at younger kids, since my little brother (five years younger) was reading it. I don’t remember looking at it, though I must have leafed through an issue or two. I didn’t know that there were Emporium windows for “The Island at the Top of the World”, I wonder if there are photos of them? Maybe TokyoMagic!, who took so many photos, has images of those. Gosh, just reading all of these memories about the Scholastic Book Club makes me long for those days when a pile of books could make me so happy!
Dean Finder, I like your idea! You’d think that the company would welcome any opportunity to sell more books, too.
Chuck, if the books were that popular, I’m surprised that no movies were ever made based on the stories. OR WERE THERE?
TokyoMagic!, I think that must be the case. Your teachers just loved string! Funny how a salt shaker made an impact on kids. Did that seem exotic, like having a flask might be to an older kid?
TokyoMagic!, an episode of “The Wonderful World of Disney” called “Mystery in Dracula’s Castle”?? Intriguing! And it starred Johnny Whitaker, the Marlon Brando of child actors.
Morris the Moose! We had the book about his adventures with Boris the Bear on Halloween.
My sister had a subscription to Bananas! It was a running joke because her handwriting was a little rushed sometimes, and the magazine came every month addressed to the best approximation of her name the subscription department could make out.
Major, I don't have my own photos of the "Island at the Top of the World" displays in the Emporium Windows, but I believe there were photos and an article about them in one of the Disney News Magazines. Now I'll have to go digging through those, too!
"Mystery in Dracula's Castle" was a two-part movie, shown over the course of two weeks on "The Wonderful World of Disney." The odd thing about it was, the kid who played Johnny Whitaker's little brother, was the same kid who played his little brother in "Sigmund and the Sea Monster" (Scott Kolden). Mariette Hartley and Pete Renaday were also in it.
Melissa, I didn't realize that Morris the Moose also had other "adventures"!
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