I'm continuing the series of photos from the Mysterious Benefactor's collection, mostly featuring the Columbia. BUT FIRST, here's a dark (but pretty) photo looking back toward the Frontierland Shooting Gallery, with the Casa de Fritos to our left.
Here's a nice shot with the stately figurehead facing sunward, with a tangle of ropes and pulleys and toasters. If only you could hear me, I'm bellowing a salty sea shanty at the top of my lungs.
It looks like they must have hired Von Dutch to put some fancy pinstriping on the Columbia. Unfortunately there are no photos of the cool flames that were painted toward the stern of the boat.
I certainly didn't expect there to be water near a sailing ship. This is why I got a "D" in all of my classes. As you can see, our photographer (whoever he/she was) snapped many MANY photos in quick succession. Which led to a lot of repetition.
Would you believe that there are a half-dozen photos of the wooden planks that make up the dock? Well, there are, and as much as I love details, I think one of these should satisfy even the most hard core among us.
There's lots more from the Mysterious Benefactor!
Major-
ReplyDeleteYesterday, there was a plague of missing skirts. Today, in the first image, there seems to be a missing head. What gives-??!!
Thanks, Major.
Nanook, ha, ha! That was the first thing my eye went to in that first pic! Poor guy!
ReplyDeleteI love the first photo. The green trees against the deep blue sky looks surreal and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI like the wood grain on the trashcan, but why are they always pushing us to waste paper?
And OMG! the person (guy?,gal?) on the right, in the shadows, doesn't have a head! Is he wearing coveralls? He must be a galactic hitchhiker; he's got his towel with him. Or whatever that white thing is.
EDIT: OK, this is weird, the no-headed guy was the first thing all of us noticed!
In #2, I'm trying mightily to see toasters in this photo but they are eluding me.
I can't hear your bellowing, Major. But I think the neighbor's dog can; he's making a fuss about something. You must be singing in a realllly high key!
#3, Those gilded Acanthus leaves are a nice touch on the Columbia. I wonder if the real Columbia had that decor?
#4, That's a striking shot of the anchor in silhouette. And I think we're safe from that lone duck; they're only vicious when there are two or more traveling in a pack. Oh wait! There's another duck coming our way! This was probably the last photo that the photographer took!
#5, OK, try as I might, I just can't figure out the justification for that shot of the decking. Is it on board the Columbia, or on the dock? Maybe whoever requested these photos told the photographer to be sure and get a shot, or six, of the decking. Oh well, I hope they got what they wanted.
Thanks, Major and MB.
What!?? Only half a dozen images of the old king of the Frontier “landing” ....??? Go back and take more! We can’t pick the BEST from just ONE!!
ReplyDeleteMany photos of something like the decking of the riverboat landing doesn’t surprise me ... it would be necessary if you were trying to establish the pattern of the planking ... or to be used in a “before” refurbishment project documentation.... almost everything in the park was rehabbed in the couple of years prior to Disneyland’s 25th Anniversary in 1980.... and 1979 would have seen lots of rehabs pending or in progress. Also back in the days of film photography professional photographers used to “bracket” photos by taking multiple shots of almost identical views ... In hopes that later during developing out of the 1-4 similar shots at lest one would be perfect.
Can’t wait to see the rest of these. As I’ve said before this was the exact period of time Disneyland was really having an impact on me ... I would have about 11 when these images were taken.
“…there are a half-dozen photos of the wooden planks that make up the dock…”. Ah, the things we could do when somebody else was paying for your film and processing…
ReplyDelete“Bracketing” involved not only multiple shots of the same subject but also usually variations in exposure to ensure you had at least one image that was exposed correctly. Because you were often changing the f-stop at the same time you were changing the shutter speed, it also gave you various options with depth of field and motion blur.
Yeah, the Headless Towelman (which I think may actually be a woman) was the first thing that drew my eye as well. I think that’s probably a natural reaction - our brain is calibrated to look for things that are out of the ordinary to detect threats, and I think there’s a communal, innate fear coded deep within our DNA of things that might throw flaming pumpkins at you. It’s what separates us from the animals.
The headless guy (gal?) is obviously looking for his head, but he doesn't realize that small group to the left has it. In his defense, it's pretty disorienting when one's head is in a different location than one's body.
ReplyDeleteI actually would like to see a Von Dutch striped ship. That would be coooool, man!
Chuck stole my thunder on the "bracketing" thing. All I can say is "yeah, what he said."
It was lucky that they had multiple shots of that dock. The love duck tore it to shreds moments later.
That was supposed to be "lone" duck, but love duck actually works better...
ReplyDeleteI do think the headless one is a woman. Looks like a purse and white sweater hanging from her left arm. I swear she's wearing a leopard striped onesie. And she's got a phaser on overload in her back pocket.
ReplyDeleteChuck, another thing that separates us from the animals is that we throw flaming pumpkins at people. Seems to be happening more and more lately.
Interesting pics, thanks Major and Mr.B.
Nanook, obviously that guy just came from the Jungle Cruise, he made a bad deal with Trader Sam!
ReplyDeleteTokyoMagic!, heads are overrated.
JB, a lot of the photos from this lot tend toward being too dark, but this one still looks good, I guess it’s the saturated colors that help. And yes, everybody focused right in on the guy without a head! I guess it’s not something we see every day. Remember that old-time toasters look different from what we know today, they were made of wool and tallow. I also wondered if the real Columbia had such fancy decorations, my guess is that “we don’t know”. But it does look great! There were TONS of photos of that anchor, Im not sure why the photographer needed so many, but I left out most of them. If the photographer’s assignment was to take photos of every detail, then… mission accomplished! But multiple photos of that deck are not very interesting to the casual viewer.
Mike Cozart, you make a good point, maybe they were trying to preserve what the planks looked like in case they needed replacing. ALTHOUGH… it’s not like they were laid down in any sort of unusual or complicated pattern. I know about bracketing, but these photos are all different angles, so bracketing wouldn’t work. He just walked around and took six or seven photos of the wood! You will see more photos of the Columbia, but as I said, I will be skipping a lot of them because they only vary in the most minute ways.
Chuck, that’s for sure… Sue B. just sent me a scan of a page that Lou kept from 1959, and his film costs (and processing costs) were astronomical for the time! He could have probably bought a car for that much money. I hope we will all see that amazing document soon. These days, digital cameras make bracketing easy, I know Daveland played around with “dynamic range” photography for a while. I think it is big news that the Headless Towelman is a woman… BIG I tell ya! Luckily for us, pumpkins are only sold for about two months out of the year, so we are safe from those flaming projectiles.
Stu29573, I thought that the Headless Towelman might be holding his head in his right hand. Hard to say, since it might be wearing a souvenir hat. Yes, a Von Dutch-striped Columbia would have been cool! Also, it could have been painted candy-apple red with metal flake. The Love Duck, my favorite show!
Stu29573, The Love Duck was a mashup of “The Love Bug” and “Million Dollar Duck”. It was the greatest movie ever.
DrGoat, I can’t quite make the headless one a woman… could it be a man holding stuff for somebody else? I’ve had to hold purses for women before, always a joy, ha ha. Maybe I need to lighten up the image more to see the details, I sure don’t see any leopard pattern. I do see the phaser though, that thing is about to blow! When will they ever learn?
The VON DUTCH Sailing Ship Columbia model kit by AMT came out in 1966 and was called “ COOLUMBIA - Razzzz of the Ocean” a fairly rare kit if found unbuilt. The rarest AMT kit is the “SPACE 1999 Martin Landau Toupee”. I find them built up and painted but rarely sealed and unbuilt. Often model kit companies would re-issue kits decades later under different names like “Von Dutch’s COOLUMBIA - Razzzz of the Ocean” being re-issued in 1978 as “ THE LUV BOAT”. The AMT SPACE 1999 Martin Landau Toupee was reissued in 1981 by MPC as “ GRECIAN HAIR ASTRO MONSTER.
ReplyDeleteMike, I have the Polar Lights reissue of the Coolumbia. It's in the queue for assembly after the Revell Pirate Ship and my Glencoe Moonliner.
ReplyDeleteI understand the mold for the Toupee/Astro Monster degraded in storage and we may never see another reissue of that one. Fantastic Plastic was considering releasing a resin version a few years ago, but I think something went wrong with the licensing. From what I hear, there was hell toupee when that deal fell through.
Major-
ReplyDelete"...he made a bad deal with Trader Sam!". Touché-!
"I guess it’s the saturated colors that help." That, and a very high contrast ratio helped overcome the 'deficiencies' of [at first] both the Technicolor 3-Strip Camera and dye-transfer printing process; and later just the dye-transfer [imbibition] printing process. It helped cover-up the diminution of overall sharpness that was more-achievable using a 'single-strip', Eastman Color negative/positive method.
The new deck....and the quality of the Columbia lead me to believe that both had recently been thru rehab. As for that first pic, I'm ready to head into Fritos, get a tray full of food and find a table nearby the Mine Train. Sounds like a perfect way to spend an hour on a sunny afternoon. KS
ReplyDeleteChuck: “hell Toupee “ ..... that was good!! Lol.
ReplyDeleteKEN: I’m afraid in these pictures THUNDER RIDGE Is visible .....but Casa Mexican isn’t quite completed yet .....I can’t tell.
Oh yeah ... it clearly shows that Casa De Fritos is still operating.... but that mine town IS THUNDER RIDGE and not RAINBOW RIDGE. That’s one thing I didn’t like about the renaming Thunder Ridge back to Rainbow Ridge ....... is that it really isn’t Rainbow Ridge anymore and hadn’t been since Big Thunder.
ReplyDeleteThe Columbia in 1978 had a extensive rehab that also included a new entryway for the Columbia Dock and “below decks” attraction. This was the entry that featured the silkscreened Columbia blueprint poster/display .... where are THESE posters?? I’ve only ever seen one before outside of the park .... those must be out there??
I love wide-angle photos that give you an idea of how something was situated. With a glimpse of a former Rainbow Ridge building, I'm imagining the first picture with the mine train still operating.
ReplyDeleteThe deck picture is the best! I already made it the wallpaper of my phone, school computer, and VCR.
Major, there are quite a few movies on your "greatest movie ever" list. PICK ONE! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI tried enlarging the Headless Towelman image and adding a bunch of Clarity, Brightness, and Contrast to it. Didn't really help. There does seem to be a sort of giraffe-type spotting on the right thigh, though. But that might just be random photo-editing artifacts.
Chuck, oh gawd. First we had 'tree' puns a while back. Now we have 'toupee' puns... Time to sweep this under the rug.
Andrew, ha! VCR. Everybody knows that the wallpaper on VCRs is factory default and can't be changed. ;-)
The headless one is truly puzzling. Is he a she, or is she a he? Something about the stance says he's a guy. But the left torso and shoulder seem to say 'she'. IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY!! [JB starts foaming at the mouth. The foam drips onto his computer keyboard. The keyboard shorts out. JB can't continue writing anymo.......]
JB, I figured someone would complain, but I didn't think you'd be the one to wig out.
ReplyDeleteJB has gone bye-bye Chuck. What do you have left?
ReplyDeleteStu, I wasn’t expecting this to be such a hair-raising experience for him.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I was trying to work in a tribbles joke... Probably best that I failed.
ReplyDeleteI'm back! And just in time, it looks like. One might even say "by a hair's breadth".
ReplyDeleteThanks, Stu. Now I can’t stop thinking about William Schallert.
ReplyDeleteTribbles. You mean like the one that William Shatner wore on his head as Captain Kirk?
ReplyDeleteGlad you made it back, JB. Things were starting to get kind of hairy.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think he started wearing that until he was T.J. Hooker.
ReplyDeleteChuck, I never thought of that before. William Schallert was in that episode, too. Right? The two Williams: Schallert & Shatner.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I don't know if kirk wore one or not. Seems like it, though.
Wow. We really upped the comment count with all this nonsense. I bet the Major will thank us! Either that or he'll flip his lid.
ReplyDeleteAfter a heavy day of work today, I read the comments... and my brain is officially Jello. I am JUST catching up on yesterday's Golden Horseshoe Girls! Which the box on the right I enjoyed. I forget which one was Walts. As Slue Foot Sue AKA Betty Taylor sings..."if you're keeping your eye on the cute cutie pie on the right, you can meet us at the Golden Horseshoe each and every night,(girls:) including Sunday! Each and ev-ry niiiigggghhhttttt...." I think she was referring to the girls and not me. And I'm not sure if it was :"stage right" or right from the house? Who knows? Who doesn't love a Golden Horseshoe Dancer? ...Now to Columbia dock: I'm sure there is a method to the madness of laying those boards...but I will have to get a mathematician involved. The color is great. "The Disneyland Passport includes all rides and attractions EXCEPT THE SHOOTING GALLERY." I never understood that. Maybe people would just play for hours and hours? Who cares! Let them play. Headless has me baffled. Is that a fringed outfit? Even if he/she is just looking down...what are they looking at? How did they contort their body into such a position not found in nature? Dogs and Cats living together, total insanity! Bracketing...know it well...being an art director for a catalog (one of my 800 jobs in life...maybe not 800...but many, many) I learned "BRACKET IT!" from our photographers- some did, some didn't...the ones that did always produced a better end result. Photographers: The king of the comment to us "artistic types": "Is that on purpose?" Me: "Yes...as a matter of fact Mr. Photographer...yes! I wanted that Starbucks cup in the shot...yes! It looks perfect there sitting on the base of an 18th century statue. Go ahead: Bracket it!" Don't worry, the photographer didn't smack me in the face: that was an internal dialog. I wanted to work again, so I kept my mouth shut. "Columbia, the gem of the ocean". Did she get painted a gem tone to go along the the very very Goldeny Golden Horseshoe? Do they even HAVE a show in there now? Such saturated colors!...perhaps the great unwashed are going blind from staring at their phones all day making reservations and planning for a Disneyland trip that is 9 months away. (I think I am grumpy- I have been summoned back to Orange County again and have a free day...do I dare?!)
ReplyDeleteKirk's hair definately looks "tribble like." Of course it didn't move or squeak...that we know of...
ReplyDeleteBu, YES!! And please report back here!
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shatner was hooking his own rugs?
ReplyDeleteTM! Hahahaha!
ReplyDeleteHey, JB and TM! When are the Valentine’s ‘names’ starting??
Mike Cozart, IF ONLY! I hate to be dumb, but did Martin Landau wear a toupee? I never really paid attention. I picture a model kid with that “flocking” powder like Perri the Squirrel had. I think you should have had a career with one of the major model companies!
ReplyDeleteChuck, I stopped building models when you could no longer get that good glue. YOU know what I mean. Maybe Funko Pop will release a version of Martin Laudau’s Toupee?
Nanook, now you’re getting all technical on me. I guess I never noticed that Technicolor had a high contrast ratio, unless you mean in the very early years? By the time films like “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz” came along, it seems like there was nothing so beautiful as a 3-strip Technicolor movie.
KS, I’ll bet you’re right, the Columbia had probably been fixed up, and everything was new and shiny. I’ll join you at the Casa de Fritos! Sounds awesome.
Mike Cozart, I believe that there are photos coming up that show Big Thunder Mountain RR under construction. Or have I already shared some? It gets hard to remember what I’ve merely looked at and what I’ve actually shared with you. Wow, I have never heard of that silkscreened Columbia blueprint poster, I NEED TO SEE ONE!
Andrew, yes, those buildings still have enough of that “Rainbow Ridge” look to make it very easy to imagine a yellow Mine Train passing by. IF ONLY. Ha ha, I’m glad you liked that deck photo!
JB, top movies: “2001: A Space Odyssey”, “Apocalypse Now”, “Million Dollar Duck”. Though I may change the order on a different day. Since I’m away from home, I can’t do much with the photo, but I appreciate that you tried. Remember, these scans were VERY dark, almost all of them required lightening and cleaning. I thought the headless one was a guy as well, but I’m not willing to put money on it.
Chuck, sometimes I just need to step away and watch the carnage.
Stu29573, you literally asked for it!
Chuck, I think I’m going to be saying “ouch” a lot today.
ReplyDeleteStu29573, NO, we need a tribbles joke.
JB, don’t make me upbraid you for that terrible pun.
Chuck, William Schallert, the man who was in EVERYTHING.
JB, making fun of Shatner’s toupee is “low hanging fruit”, but I approve of it nevertheless.
Chuck, something something hair… DARN IT! I CAN’T DO IT!
Chuck, tribbles stay on the head more securely, a good feature for actors who have to hang on to a car hood.
JB, I feel like Shatner still had a full head of hair on Star Trek, but… I could be wrong.
JB, since I get $500 per comment (thanks, Blogger!), I am very happy indeed.
Bu, I think the box on the right was Walt’s? Or maybe the one on the left! Definitely one or the other. Betty Taylor, how I wish I’d seen her (and Wally Boag and Fulton Burley) in that stage show. No such luck. The layout of those boards looks pretty uninspired to me, maybe I am missing something. I think the headless person stepped on (or in) something. A melted ice cream bar at best. I could see people abusing the shooting gallery privileges. Maybe they made a fortune in quarters? I don’t get how bracketing worked with real film, but I’m sure it was done all the time. How were multiple negatives combined? Wow, if you go to Disneyland, we’ll need a full trip report!
Stu29573, the Desilu wig technology was legendary.
Lou and Sue, YES.
TokyoMagic!, he was TJ Hooking them.
Lou and Sue, you had to do it!
Sue, AAaAaaaAahhh!!111!!!
ReplyDelete- Just Be (mine)
Bu....the galleries were a very low capacity attraction and we needed to keep guests happy by keeping the lines moving...thus we didn't allow them to shoot indefinitely. And there could be contestants between shooters...so...it was decided to put limits on the attractions. Seemed to work fine. We had discretion to allow them to give us another ticket or 25 cents and remain for additional rounds. KS
ReplyDeleteThanks KS. Makes sense! I was not the shooting gallery type, so doing that multiple times mystifies me...as does a competition in it. I know I've told the story of the original shooting gallery where people put their fingers in front of the barrel to see if those pellets were real. That was a noisy place, ping ping ping ping....and I remember seeing an ear plug dispenser somewhere for employees...you turned a wheel like a gum ball machine and earplugs came out...where was that?....
ReplyDeleteBu...my guess was it was at the sides of the galleries. I just don't recall. Even for us CMs back then, the earplugs were available from the foreman's office if we chose to use them. Never saw anyone test the barrel end of the gun fortunately. This was before they placed the gun within a ring so it couldn't be moved outside of it. We trusted people had intelligence back then. And then there were the ricochets. KS
ReplyDeleteLate as usual, but enjoying a fun thread.
ReplyDeleteMajor, I can’t rest easy till you post all the deck plank photos.
JG