Da Subs, March 1962
Snoozer Sunday! The day nobody has been waiting for. I have two perfectly unremarkable photos from the Submarine Lagoon... which seems like a strange thing to say, since I don't see too many other Submarine Lagoons in my daily life.
There goes the George Washington, the sub famous for chopping down a cherry tree and not lying about it. I guess the good (not lying) cancels out the bad (chopping down a beautiful young tree)? They don't teach these things in Ethics 101. The Monorail track and a bit of Autopia roadway crosses above the water, so that folks on those rides get some swell giraffe's-eye views.
You've heard of "The Three Tenors", well here are The Three Crabs. They serenade sub riders with Nessun dorma from Turandot. It is sublime! When they hit the high notes, they can actually stun neighboring fish. After a few years they started singing popular tunes, such as "The Girl From Ipanema", to some controversy.
19 comments:
Major, you pretty well summed up the first photo with your opening comment. Nice photo, but not remarkable. In focus. Good color. Sunny day... I lied... it IS remarkable because I'm remarkableing on it right now!
I saw The Three Crabs in concert once. The music was OK, but the Crabs seemed to be in a bad mood... Downright crabby if you ask me. I bought their album on my way out through the lobby anyway. But I passed on the t-shirt.
I don't remember being able to see these crabs from the shore before. Where in the Lagoon are they?
Thanks for the nice, if not too remarkable, Sub Lagoon photos, Major.
I don't know much about The Three Crabs, but I do know about The Girl from Ipanema. I love HER STORY.
@ JB-
THIS IMAGE may help. (Look in the lower left).
Thank you, Daveland.
Major, your comment raises a very important question. Why did little George chop down that cherry tree? Was it "to get to the other side?" Were we ever told the reason? Or was it just because he was incorrigible?
In the first photo, we get a glimpse of the bow of the Nautilus (D-301) and another mystery sub.
The Three Crabs - a perfect description of my wife and kids on a school morning.
Sue, thanks story. I think my favorite version is still the Getz/Gilberto recording.
Nanook, the lower left and right of your linked photo illustrates something I learned from the Submarine Voyage - Nature’s underwater world is in perfect symmetry, with the same things on display on either side of you.
The Three Crabelleros. A little snoozy, but I can smell the chlorine from 3000 miles away....and the diesel, and Autopia exhaust. What an amazing thing to see in 1959. I'm kind of amazed in 2022. The amazing thing was not the show aspects themselves, just that it was POSSIBLE. I'm not sure this would be attempted today, or even legal. When you take those subs in tropical tourist areas don't they make you sign waivers, and health certificates, et.al? I think I've told the tale of going on this ride as a kid and absolutely melting down. Quite close quarters for that type of action. It all culminated into the ultimate grand mal of meltdowns when the sea serpents head was seen in it's cartoon glory. The Carrousel of Progress made things better, although when the lights dimmed for the show to start I was very very very skeptical of what might follow....thanks for the snoozers Major!
The first photo was taken just after GW threw the dollar across the sub lagoon.
Little known fact, the artificial crab meat used in gas station sushi comes from animatronic crabs that can no longer carry a tune.
Bu, I think we signed “something” before our sub trip in Hawaii, but can't recall what. That trip was remarkably like Disney’s but no mermaids or sea serpents.
Thanks Major, I’ll take these soporifics any time.
JG
JG, I was always confused by that story as a kid. I couldn’t figure out how somebody could throw a bill that far. But I guess if he didn’t like his portrait on it, he might have been angry enough to pull it off.
Um, that’s a mighty nicely coiled rope in the first pic. I always liked the crab scene, though underwater shots are preferred. Has anyone heard of submechanophobia? I had a random Youtube video recommendation about it after watching a Disneyland ride-through. Apparently it’s the fear of seeing man-made objects under the water; the video focused on underwater animatronics at various theme parks. I never felt it on the Subs but I admit some examples in the video were kind of unsettling. Thanks, Major.
JB, I am going to publish a giant coffee table book full of “remarkable because they are unremarkable” photos. I won’t get rich from it, but I will make a point about, er… something. The Three Crabs? You are lucky to have seen The Three Crabs live, but they are only human. Oh wait, they are crustaceans, I guess you have to expect them to be crusty. Judging from the angle of the photo, I am assuming that the photographer was standing at the west edge of the lagoon, not far from the Matterhorn.
Lou and Sue, I had no idea that “The Girl” was a real person, and that she could actually be identified!
Nanook, I like that photo because you can see that there were three crabs on either side of the sub’s track, so that all passengers had a good look.
TokyoMagic!, George was just jealous that the cherry tree got more love than he did. Who can love a child with those wooden chompers, after all? I saw them in the Smithsonian, they were pretty gross.
Chuck, do you know which sub is which just from their bow numbers? If so, much respect. If not, I still respect you! From all of your descriptions of your wife, I imagined that she is always happy, with little cartoon bluebirds flitting around her! The Getz/Gilberto version of TGFI is the best. Have you ever heard Bebel Gilberto, Astrud and João’s daughter? She has an amazing voice too! Love her version of “Summer Song”. And hey, you appreciated the symmetry too!
Bu, “Three Crabelleros”, excellent! Now I want them to be wearing little sombreros. You make a good point, considering how many photos we have seen of the subs and the lagoon, the whole thing really IS an amazing accomplishment, especially considering that it was built in 1959, when we still spoke in grunts and carried wooden clubs. I once took a bay tour in a “submarine”, and it turned out to be just a boat with below-water portholes, sort of like the Disneyland subs. It was still fun, though! Supposedly the portholes on the Disneyland subs have blowing air, partly to help calm folks who might be feeling claustrophobic. Not sure if that would really help though.
JG, when I finally saw the Potomac with my own eyes, I realized that nobody could possibly throw a silver dollar across it. Unless George was standing at a particularly narrow part. Note to self: JG recommends gas station sushi. Do they have big pump containers of wasabi next to the slushee machines? I don’t even know, are there nice tropical reefs around Hawaii, full of strange colorful fish? That would be neat to see from a submarine.
Chuck, I spent an afternoon throwing 1 oz. gold pieces, and I couldn’t get any of them even CLOSE to the other shore.
Kathy!, underwater shots from the subs are a mixed bag, since the water could sometimes be very murky, while other times it was crystal clear. Plus, like the Jungle Cruise, the views were the same for every voyage. I wish I had photos from the “dark ride” portion! I’ve never heard of a “fear of man-made objects under water”, that’s a new one. I would be more worried about the critters with big teeth and staring eyes.
Love Sub Lagoon pics with the military grey submarines. After the subs went yellow (weak-kneed, no guts, yellow-bellied and spineless) it was never the same. T.R.E. That's what I say! ;-)
Major- AS always, I enjoy seeing sub photos.
I didn't recall these from memory, but with the help of Wikipedia, these are the original sub names & bow numbers-
-Nautilus (D-301)
-Seawolf (D-302)
-Skate (D-303)
-Skipjack (D-304)
-Triton (D-305)
-George Washington (D-306)
-Patrick Henry (D-307)
-Ethan Allen (D-308)
For those that may have missed it, when I posted this link a little while back- this shows the standard operating procedures of the submarine voyage. It has a lot of neat information.
https://www.dix-project.net/item/3587/studio-castmember-training-setting-your-course-on-the-submarine
-DW
When they hit the REALLY high notes, they crack their own shells.
Major, D-301 I have memorized, partly because the names on all of the others changed when they went yellow (weak-kneed, no guts, yellow-bellied and spineless - thanks, Ken!) - even the two other names that were reused, Triton and Seawolf/Sea Wolf, were reused on different hull numbers - and partly because there was never a test. But…challenge accepted!
Nanook, thanks for the link. Wow, that's the crabbiest Disneyland photo I've ever seen! Crabs in the foreground, crabs in the middleground. It's neat that the Disney Imagineers mirrored the Sub Voyage scenes so that each passenger got basically the same experience, no matter which side of the Sub you were on. (Edit: Chuck & Major mention this, too.)
Major, yeah, after Nanook's Daveland image I was able to locate today's camera position. You must be correct about he photographer being near the Matterhorn. Probably at that Kodak Photo Spot that we've seen so often.
K. Martinez, thanks for reminding me of that little-known Disney classic, "The Love Sub". Like "Song of the South", they pretty much took it out of circulation when military gray submarines went out of style in the late sixties/early seventies.
Melissa, you 'crack' me up.
Major, were George's teeth in the "American History" collection/building? I must have missed those! I did see Martha's inauguration dress. And at a temporary exhibit at the Huntington Library, I saw one of Lincoln's stovepipe hats and Mary Todd's chamber pot. I only wish they had washed the latter out, before putting it out on display. ;-)
Ken, they do! They do ruin everything!
DW, thank you for the list, but you left off the D-309, “Fluffy” (named after Admiral Philip “Fluffy” Saunders, the first Admiral to sail around the world backwards). Many people forget that one, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Thanks also for the link to the Operating Procedutes!
Melissa, are you saying the crack themselves up??
Chuck, well, I never memorized ANYTHING, so I guess I must bow to your superior knowledge. Gosh, the color yellow is so sunny and nice, it’s too bad it is associated with so many negative things. They should have painted the subs “lime green metal flake”! I remember years ago on one of the Disney park forums, somebody claimed that for a very short while the subs were painted blue and pink (as in, some subs were blue, some were pink, not both colors on one vessel). I fell for it, and looked for photos for a very long time to see if it was true. That didn’t work out, but I DO own the Brooklyn Bridge now.
JB, Walt demanded that there had to be at least some crab action in the Submarine Voyage. “&%#$@&, how are they supposed to know they’re in the ocean if there aren’t any %@$#& crabs? @&$%#!”. Walt was in a bad mood that day. You’re right, that photo was surely taken at a Photo Spot. “The Love Sub”, er, that movie was at the Pink Pussycat Theater I think.
TokyoMagic!, I assume that is where those gross teeth were. I think they were actually ivory and wood with metal, like something out of a horror movie. George, if you just brushed and flossed, you could have saved yourself so much grief! You are so lucky to have seen Mary Todd Lincoln’s chamber pot, what an inspiration to us all. Rinse it OUT?? But that would ruin its collector value!
I'm back...The Love Sub is Boatniks! Love that movie! The sub they used shot out a salami instead of torpedo that was filled with jewelry. Great story line! RIP Robert Morse. Also...chopping down a cherry tree is like chopping down a rubber band- don't know if you've done it: ...boinging...boing ....boing....boing.....how did George do it? I know why he had falsies...his teeth were knocked out by the axe rebounding....I guess "George sawed down a cherry tree" isn't as dramatic or as butch as "hacking it down with an axe..." Did the Ethan Allen have little Windsor Chairs with cute upholstery? I think crabs, the Pink Pussycat Theatre, and falsies should never be in the same blog posting. Just my POV. And Fantasyland is closed.
Bu, Ha! "crabs, the Pink Pussycat Theatre, and falsies" does create quite a mental image, doesn't it.
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