Special Guest Photos, 1966
I have a neat set of slide scans, sent to me by GDB friend Grant McCormick. Grant's friend Fletcher had these scans of slides taken by his father back in 1966, and I am happy to be able to share them with you all today!
Let's start with this swell picture taken from the Skyway looking down on the Submarine lagoon and the Monorail station, with the added bonus of the yellow Monorail. And the Speed Ramp!
Also from the Skyway (but now over Fantasyland) is this great photo. There's the yellow Monorail again! If you look on the horizon to the right, we can see the sign for the "Market Basket" grocery store, I thought that was long-gone by '66, but obviously I was mistaken. To the left of the Monorail, evidence of early construction for "It's a Small World" can be seen.
Everyone loves to see the old Disneyland sign! Your eyes have not gone goofy, the text is somewhat scrambled here... the original scans were rather small, and Grant generously went to the trouble of using a program to make them larger. It worked well, though some details (such as the text) did wind up a little bit garbled. Somehow I think we will survive!
This next one might be my favorite; it's very blue, and I did mitigate it a little bit in Photoshop, but as you can see, the lights were all turned on at this point, so the photo must have been taken sometime around dusk. Don't you wish you were there?
Next is this swell photo looking at the Astro Jets as they whirled around and around. To the left is the Flying Saucers attraction, and just above that, construction on the new Administration Building can be seen. At this angle we can even see Main Street Station!
You know how much I love a good photo of Tomorrowland, and this one is quite nice. Grant says that his friend Fletcher's actual first name is "Douglas", but he goes by his middle name. But he got a kick out of seeing DOUGLAS in large letters on the side of the Moonliner!
There's Fletcher's mom, along with two boys. Fletcher is the one with the red shirt. The program that enlarged these did some weird things with some of the details, but you get the idea. What a great day to be at the park, attendance was light!
And one last Disneyland view from Fletcher, as he stands near the top of Castle Rock with his brother and father. I wish I had a photo of myself and my dad like this.
And as an added bonus, here's Fletcher's dad in a pretty cool photo - he was an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam era. Why, this picture is almost as cool as one that I have of me posing with my Honda Civic.
MANY THANKS to both Grant and Fletcher for sharing this fun set of 1966 Disneyland photos.
19 comments:
Major-
Definitely some fun photos of The Park. Clearly, I missed the day when the Air Force was having a 'show-and-tell' in Tomorrowland-!
Market Basket stores in Southern California lasted until around 1982, when the locations were either sold to other local grocery chains, or simply closed.
Thanks indeed, to Grant and Fletcher.
What a fun trip around the Park, in today’s pictures. My favorites are Fletcher’s family pictures and the Moonliner shot.
Major, these scans ended up with a cool ‘look’ to a lot of the tiny people - they look like an artist drew them on. I like that!
Thanks, Fletcher, Grant and Major - I hope there’s more!
And, ‘Thank you to Fletcher’s dad, for your service!’
Ah. So the slides have been 'worked on' somewhat. I noticed something was a little wonky about the people in the first couple of photos, but I couldn't put my finger on it (I don't have the original slides, yuk, yuk).
The Subs look really busy today! Unless all those people are just standing around waiting for family and friends to finish their voyage through liquid space.
#2 is pretty special: The Canal Boats, Monstro, and as Major pointed out, the Yellow Monorail and that large crane doing crane-ish things over in the Small World plaza.
#3, Major, the text at the bottom of the Disneyland sign looks fine. It's just written in Ferengi... or maybe Klingon... or perhaps meesa tinks itsa Gunganese?
#4, I love twilight photos; they are so (dare I say) magical. And with the filtering (or whatever) it gives the photo a surreal, or impressionistic look. Sort of like a Paris cafe scene.
#5, seems odd to not see the Moonliner here. I guess it's off to the left?
#6, Ah, there's the Moonliner, right where it should be. Somehow it looks smaller with the Douglas paint job. I like seeing all the olives-on-toothpicks lights.
#7 & #8, nice to see that Fletcher and his brother went 'full Disney' and got mouse-ear hats.
Sue, exactly! The people look like artistic renderings.
Thank you to Grant, Fletcher, Fletcher's dad, and the Major.
…..the Fantasyland at dusk is great! It reminds me the double feelings of seeing the lights come on in the evening …. One of excitement , followed by the second : anxiousness that the day at Disneyland was soon coming to an end.
Yeah there are some scary images in these pictures … like that EVIL BATMAN ROBOT walking into Adventureland !!!!!
Seeing the distorted letting on the Disneyland marque reminds of a time I was delivery someone models for an exhibit … they were safely boxed up for the trip on the freeway, however it was a hot 100+ california day …. As we removed the models to be placed in the display we noticed most of the dry lettering used for the signage had been affected by the heat and was curling up like dead leaves!!!! I had to work some emergency “Magic” to fix those in a hurry!!
Love Monorail yellow !!
Thanks for sharing these images with us!
It looks like the Midget Autopia is closed. Maybe that crane is removing parts of that attraction, like you said, in preparation for IASW. Although, we can still see the little yellow "drive-thru" garage.
Thank you for sharing your personal family photos with us, Fletcher! And thank you Grant and Major, too!
The second photo gives me a much better understanding of the original exit area for the canal boats and how it was a dead end behind the Midget Autopia. I think of that whole area as open because I never saw it this way and it was rarely photographed in this era.
I had a sneaking suspicion that Fletcher’s dad was an Air Force pilot even before I saw the photo of him posing in front of the F-100. AF officers of that period - and really into the’90s - had a distinctive way of dressing off duty even when they were trying to blend in (a sergeant I worked with in the mid-‘90s pointed this out to me while we were on temporary duty in Thailand). It’s hard to describe - it’s just a particular “look.” And, of course, the Government issue sunglasses are a dead giveaway.
JB, that odd writing is actually an early test for what eventually evolved into the Mara font used in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.
Mike, you forgot a key detail - it’s a HEADLESS EVIL BATMAN ROBOT. Probably voiced by Paul Frees. Or maybe Adam West.
Thank you so much, Fletcher, Grant, and Major!
Thanks to all for these photos.
I think they were taken in 1965, since Small World opened in May '66, and construction hasn't even started on the show building.
Another bonus--attraction posters on the Submarine Voyage queue shed, definitely a first sighting there.
Major, in that gorgeous book ABOVE LOS ANGELES, from which you have posted the Disneyland aerial, the view above Farmer's Market included a Market Basket across the street, circa 1975. The sign was in the fine tradition of So Cal programmatic architecture; it resembled a giant woven basket.
Yes indeed, many thanks to Grant, Major and Fletcher for conspiring to share these photos, and thanks to Fletcher’s Dad for his service.
I’m going to have to come back to comment on the individual pics, but I will pause long enough to agree with Stefano, pics can’t be much later than 1965. It’s a shame we don’t get a glimpse of the Skyway buckets since that could pinpoint the date to 64 or 65.
Cheers all.
JG
Nanook, it was especially exciting when the Air Force would strafe Tomorrowland with Nerf rounds! I knew that Market Basket stores were around until the ‘80s, but thought that the one near Disneyland had closed (perhaps) in the early ‘60s.
Lou and Sue, you’re right, the filter added a slight “posterization” effect, which is kind of cool. Very different from the results I got when trying to enlarge them in Photoshop. Glad you liked these!
JB, all those people near the subs stopped because they knew that they were having their picture taken. Somebody is sticking out their tongue though, how rude. I love any photo showing construction, so the Small World shot is a good one. Please, no more Jar-Jar on GDB! Ha ha, like you, I try to use the word “magical” as seldom as possible on this blog. Yes, the Moonliner would have been way off to the left. I think that the type of lens on Fletcher’s dad’s camera must have made the Moonliner look small in that photo, I’ve seen plenty of other photos where it looks quite big!
Mike Cozart, I have this memory of the “twinkle lights” coming on in the Plaza, though a friend of mine claims that they turned those lights on long before it got dark so that they just appeared to always be “on”. Did my brain just manufacture that memory? Maybe. Funny about your model lettering, I used to do paste-up using text that we had to send to an actual type place, and then we used this sticky (and acrid) melted wax to stick the type down onto flow charts and such. Such a pain! Computers were just starting to creep into office use for graphics (we used them for data entry already), it’s so strange to think about it now. I still remember a fellow employee telling us that he’d upgraded his computer to store one gigabyte of data. “Why would anybody need that much storage??”.
TokyoMagic!, yes, my guess is that the Midget Autopia was being dismantled. I would want that yellow garage moved to my multi-acre ranch!
Chuck, I still think that the “exit” for the Canal Boats is weird, I believe that there were exit turnstiles just to the right of the topmost canal boat, but… why the extended exit area that goes to the left? If there were benches on the other side of that fence, it would have been a nice place to sit and watch the boats pass, but there aren’t. Funny about officers trying to “blend in”, sort of like FBI agents who forget to not wear shiny black shoes.
Stefano, you are probably right about the date of the photos; Grant was going by the date that Fletcher gave him, I’m sure. And I could have done my due diligence, but there were funny cat videos to be watched on YouTube. Long ago I tried to find information specifically about the Anaheim Market Basket, even writing to the proprietor of the “Pleasant Family Shopping” blog in the hopes of learning more. That blog was already defunct, so I never heard back, but I did find plenty of photos of other Market Basket signs.
JG, we DID conspire! We met in a dark back alley, and had to perform a blood oath. It was very cool. I wonder if Fletcher and his family went to the park several years in a row? Maybe that’s why the date was uncertain. Good point about the Skyway gondolas, kind of amazing that we don’t see a single one in ANY of the photos.
My favorite section of Old Tomorrowland. And lookit them cute li’l cowpokes!
I'm glad everyone enjoyed the photos.
About a month ago we were on a band rehearsal break and I brought up the subject of classic Disneyland photos. Fletcher (singer/songwriter extraordinaire) mentioned pics from his family visit in the 60s. I immediately asked if he could give me copies to post on a Disneyland blog. He was happy to do it.
Unfortunately the only scans he has are really small. I used a free online photo upscaler that worked ok but did funny things to some of them. Headless robots, wacko entrance sign lettering. And as Sue said, some people looking like drawings. Fun stuff :)
Stefano and JG, I was wondering about the accuracy of the 1966 time frame too, especially with the Small World construction. But the main entrance sign gives a good clue. It's advertising the Spring Fling on Saturday April 2nd. The only early/mid 60s year that April 2nd falls on a Saturday is 1966. Since SW opened in May '66 I'm thinking the main building is probably near completion, just out of frame in the photo. So I'm guessing the shot was taken sometime in March '66.
I have trouble picking a favorite photo. Monorail Yellow was my fav, two pics to choose from! Fantasyland at dusk is special. Little kids with Mouse Ear are too cute. But I'm going with the Astro Jets one. Mostly because the building behind the Jets with the geometric window designs housed the Crane Co. Bathroom of Tomorrow where mom worked (although it was long gone when the pic was taken).
Thanks for posting the pics Major. I love contributing to GDB.
Melissa, which section of Old Tomorrowland is your favorite? The Moonliner? Or the Astro Jets? You can’t have a wrong answer!
Grant, I encourage everyone to bug their friends and relatives for vintage Disneyland pix! Or Knott’s, or the World’s Fair, or anything like that. I’m grateful to Fletcher and to you for sharing these scans. I agree with you, the main structure of the IASW building would be just out of frame to our left, presumably it is well under way, in fact they must have been working on the interior scenes already (albeit at the Studio). Thanks Grant!
Mike, looks like that evil Batman robot has a Bat-a-rang stuck into the back of his Bat Belt.
Chuck, if I remember correctly, the Mara font was actually legible as English, if you looked at it carefully enough? So you're probably right about the Disneyland sign, since it's sorta legible here, too.
Major, I agree about Jar-Jar's appearances here. I've locked him up in an underground cell, two miles beneath the surface. He won't be annoying us anymore... at least till next time.
My first computer was an Atari 800, with a whopping 48k RAM.
Speaking of cat videos: What's with cats being frightened by cucumbers (or zucchinis, etc.) when placed behind them unknowingly??? Crazy, and funny! I haven't watched any cat videos on YouTube, but I do watch the TBD TV channel a bit. Which, I think, is comprised entirely of YouTube videos.
Grant, the upscaling artifacts added to the interest and enjoyment of the photos.
Grant, please tell Fletcher that I'd love to see more of these 'small scans.' It really is fun to see that "posterization effect" (what Major called it). It's something 'different' - especially since we're getting tired of all the castle and Mark Twain pictures that Major usually always posts. ;oD
JB, you’re right, you actually could read the Mara Font without your handy translation cards, once you got the hang of it. I’m waiting for the Jar-Jar Disney+ series that will attempt to rehabilitate his reputation. I hope it’s better than the Boba Fett show, which was a train wreck. And the trailers for the Obi Wan show are not inspiring a lot of confidence. I always assumed that cats thought that cucumbers were snakes, but I don’t really know why they leap into the air like that.
Lou and Sue, HEY! ;-D
Those “attraction posters” along the loading warf of the Submarine Voyage sometimes display Disneyland attraction posters, however the displays are intended to showcase the celebrated GENERAL DYNAMICS and GENERAL ATOMIC attraction posters created by Swiss born GD art director Erik Nitsche. Nitsche created a series of 54”x36” posters showcasing the scientific advancements of General Dynamic. These posters were created between 1955 and 1962. It’s interesting that the Disneyland attraction posters first debuted in 1956 by artist Aron Bjorson …. Bjorson and Nitsche were friends and I can’t help but think there is a bigger story as to why Disneyland’s attraction posters happen to be the same size at the celebrated GD posters ….. that debuted a year before Disneyland’s did.
Why sometimes you see Disneyland attraction posters in the General Dynamics display frames while Submarine Voyage is still sponsored by GD us I know …. Because in photos you see both . Since the GD posters were printed in Switzerland by Marsen Lithogrsphic , its possible Disneyland decorating ran out.
Both the Disney archives at WDI art collections hold sets of the General Dynamic posters . I remember in 1988 when the Disney Gallery began to sell the sign shop sold supply of attraction posters there were quite a bit of the GD posters still stored with the submarine voyage attraction posters … but people didn’t want them. Today mid century art collectors will pay big bucks for the General Dynsmics posters and few collectors have the entire set.
Grant, I’m sure you are right about IASW. I didn’t see the dates on the sign or think to do any calendar search.
It’s a splendid tour of the old Park.
Thank you for sharing these, so much fun.
JG
the writing under the Disney sign says "OPEN WED THRU SUN TODAY 10-7, SPRING FLING SAT APR 2 8PM-1AM. TICKETS ON SALE HERE" I'm reading from the original photo. Fletcher.
Post a Comment