I have some excellent slide scans from photos taken by Lou Perry, and shared with us by his daughter, Sue B.! These are from November, 1959, when Disneyland's newest additions were truly new. Not many people realize that the price tag was still on the Matterhorn when it opened. What a faux pas!
It is plain to see that Lou was mighty impressed with the Submarine Voyage and Monorail (even if he did lament the removal of the Viewliner the year before). And who can blame him? This was like no other amusement park. Even the queue area and the loading dock is a sight to behold. Look at the lack of crowds, only months after the debut of these attractions!
I love this beautiful view looking across the lagoon toward the red Mark I Monorail (Li'l Stubby), with only three cars because it was just a baby. There's the waterfalls, and the Monorail track, and the Autopia roadway... there's nothing I don't like about this picture.
Before Lou passed through the nostrils of the Matterhorn he snapped one more shot of that blue-green lagoon with its coral reef. Too bad there's no merms, but I guess you can't have everything.
THANK YOU, Lou and Sue!
Major: ( from yesterdays post)
ReplyDeleteWere there any stagecoaches Depicted in any ZORRO episodes? During the ZORRO period there were no stage lines in California or Mexico . There would have been private coaches belonging to the wealthy and rancheros …. But these would not have resembled Celerity type coaches. The Disneyland stagecoaches are all based on 1860 - 1880 prototypes and would not be appropriate to g the 1820 “ZORRO” era ….
A Disneyland stagecoach in a ZORRO episode would be like seeing a GMC fishbowl new look city bus from 1959 in HELLO DOLLY!! And knowing all the episodes and lead-ins to The Wonderful World of color …. Regarding the Disney studio’s research for historical accuracy… I bet Disney would not have made that kind of error. I read that Bill Contrell , president of WED was in charge of the art production of Zorro and he said Walt was really a stickler for getting every detail on the ZORRO sets right and historically correct. I know that a long retired Disneyland stagecoach appears in Return To Witch Mountain as a gold rush exhibit prop in a bank lobby …. And one of Main Street USA horseless carriages was loaned to the studios to be converted to a mercantile truck in Pollyanna. And the Golden Horseshoe Revue stage frame for the 70’s Police Gazette and Class of ‘26 special shows was sent to the studios and reused for the New 1977 Mickey Mouse Club ….
Tomorrowland in these images seems quiet… EXCITING …… but quiet .
Major-
ReplyDeleteTalk about your 'low attendance'-!!
Thanks to Lou and Sue.
#1: Not sure how, but Lou's photo really makes the subs look like an actual shipyard. Plus it has the Lou Perry signature features: perfect composition, excellent lighting, color, and exposure, and sharp focus. This one's a keeper!
ReplyDelete#2: The red Monorail really captures our attention; being the only red in the photo. I wonder how many times Mr. Perry rode the Skyway to get the red Monorail centered in-frame just right? Maybe he just got lucky, but most of his shots look like he "just got lucky". So, I'm thinking it was more than just luck.
#3: I guess that's the Richfield 'Space Station' sign in the upper right corner? I have to keep reminding myself that the Monorail just made a loop inside the park at this time. No exiting to the Hotel and back. I wonder if the extension to the Hotel was always planned but not implemented at first?
Indeed, thank you, Lou & Sue. And to you, Major.
The first photo shows the red Monorail just as it was starting to leave the station. The second photo shows us how far it got from the station, before Lou snapped another picture of it. In the third pic....we can't see it, but just out of frame, the red Monorail is "playing chicken" with the blue Monorail.
ReplyDeleteMajor is there a picture of the Matterhorn missing from this post? If it was wearing a price tag in 1959, then it was copying Minnie Pearl!
As usual, I forgot to thank Lou, Sue, and the Major, too!
ReplyDeleteTwo astronaut trash cans and at least three, um, buttstands (?)(!) (ashtrays) on the monorail loading platform and another buttstand just before the guest entry onto the loading dock for die U-Boote. Note the repetition of the nautilus shell motif based on the Erik Nitsche-designed General Dynamics artwork promoting the USS Nautilus and the “Atoms for Peace” program.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoying all of the employee costumes on view in the first and third photo. I remember somebody (Mike Cozart? KS?). Telling us that these were not just based on US Navy uinforms of the period but were actual Navy uniforms with different insignia. On the dock are a I guess a “basic-level” employee in blue dungarees, what I guess was probably a lead in khakis, and in the third photo way off on the other end of the combined monorail/submarine load structure is a guy in undress whites. Curious if that was a higher-level supervisor or possibly a real Navy sailor who just happened to find his way into the shot.
I think that Lou just had “the Knack” for taking good photos - a good eye for composition, lighting and exposure coupled with lots of experience that comes with taking lots of photos. I worked with a lot of “professional” Air Force photographers, and some had it and some didn’t. I’m also thinking about what may have been running through his mind as he was shooting these; as much as we love these, he may have had a running internal monologue that was saying things like “oh, I wish I had a telephoto lens for that monorail.” Alternately, there are also times when you shoot something and you just know instinctively that this one is going to be a keeper. These are keepers for sure.
Thanks, Lou & Sue!
The word I was looking for was butt can or ash can. But I kind of like buttstand. At least Autocorrect didn’t mutate it into something else.
ReplyDeleteMore amazing Disneyland...lets build real submarines and put 40 or so people down there under the water line...I'm wondering what these vessels would look like if they were built today? That Monorail seems to be posing for it's immortalization in a Disneyland Poster. Since those trees grew into that space I had no idea the monorail climbed up that steep grade...but possibly that wasn't even there after the Disneyland Hotel days (?) All very cool. Do we know if the monorail platform is still original although it went through a design re-do? Seems like a big hunk of concrete to smash up. Same with the moving sidewalks? It seems like you would want those both covered from the elements- I think I remember them turning them off if it was raining. Last of all: do those subs float? and do they need to be teathered with those ropes from drifting from the docks? And why haven't I thought of these questions before? I thought that track was like a train track- but the ropes maybe has suspended my belief that they are floating (?) It seems very criminal that 20,000 Leagues became a big bag of nothing (or "escape to gummy bear mountain" or whatever it is. "Too expensive"... speaking of chicken...when they have it on "super sale" at the grocery store they make no money on it, it fact they probably lose money on all of the super sale things- but it gets you in the store....so...doesn't it make sense to have a FEW things to draw people in, then they will buy your plush and your churros and those dried out mouse shaped rice crispy treats on a stick? A popcorn wagon was lent to the studio and sent to Golden Oak for the smash hit "Devil and Max Devlin"...it was in a carnival scene. I thought at the time: "can't they just rent a cheap one?" Thanks to Lou and Sue for a great start to the week!
ReplyDeleteBu, .....the smash hit "Devil and Max Devlin".....HA, HA! That's a good one!
ReplyDelete“the Smash Hit ; The Devil and Max Devlin”…..
ReplyDelete(In Paul Lynde’s voice)
……. “Meaning the movie was a hit with smashed people.” ….
…..”I outta know : I LOVED it!”…..
Reg Submarine Voyage……
ReplyDelete(Paul Lynde reading the attraction poster….)
….”a voyage Thru liquid space….. hmmm”….
..”I’m game if that liquid’s got an olive floating in it!”……”…. If it’s got two olives and vermouth, we’ll than anchors away!!”…
Wonderful pictures, I can’t imagine visiting this shiny new Tomorrowland. Too. Much. Fun.
ReplyDeleteTokyo, I thought of Minnie Pearl as well. Great minds etc.
Chuck, those items were called ash urns or ash receptacles in the catalogs of architectural bits, before they became extinct. I remember designing some buildings with built-in type, usually by the elevators. Some of the fancier hotels had plastic molds of the hotel logo to press into the sand to leave a 3D bas relief of the brand. Those have all gone the way of the paper band over the toilet seat “SANITIZED FOR YOUR PROTECTION” and the “hammered” pattern obscure glass in the showers.
Notice the building in the distance with alternating pink and turquoise doors, just screams “Motel!”
Bu, the subs might have had positive buoyancy but seems like that would be a hindrance to navigation. I think it’s likely they are ballasted to prevent it, but that’s just speculation. It’s fun to speculate though. I wonder how frequently the tires need to be changed?
Thanks Major, Lou and Sue!
JG
Mike, so much for my question! I guess I should have thought it out a bit more.
ReplyDeleteNanook, I dream about being able to go back in time to days like that.
JB, Lou’s photo looks like a real shipyard because you can tell that the CMs have scurvy. The bleeding gums give it away. For the Monorail to be where it is in photo #2, it must have been already pulling out of the station in the first photo, don’t you think? Lou might have gotten “lucky”, but he is one of those people who was always armed with a camera, ready to snap a scene. Just like the best photographers! Most of us, if we have a camera on us, would have to get it out and take a minute or so to get ready. Yes, that’s the Richfield sign!
TokyoMagic!, ha, see my comment to JB! “Playing chicken” on a Monorail track adds a whole new level of thrills. Nobody can chicken out, unless they both slam on the brakes! Sue sent these photos to me in a folder, if there was a Matterhorn photo mixed in, it was not part of this batch. But it seems impossible that Lou wouldn’t have taken at least one picture of it, if not several.
TokyoMagic!, you are welcome.
Chuck, I’m glad that they gave people plenty of opportunities to dispose of their trash before boarding their clean, sleek Monorail. I imagine that there were people who smoked on board back then! Or were there “no smoking” signs? Sometimes those don’t do the trick, though. As I have mentioned before, I love those Erik Nitsche posters, and once went to a collector’s home with a living room full of framed “General Dynamics” posters. As for the uniforms, I would not be surprised if they were acquired from the same place that supplied the Navy; if you see the Submarine Voyage hat badges, they are nearly identical to real Navy hat badges, with the exception of a small “Disneyland” addition. I have one, I need to photograph it for GDB. And I think you are right, Lou just had the knack, probably after shooting tens of thousands of photos. That’s how you get good!
Chuck, “buttstand” is very appropriate!
Bu, it is an interesting thing to consider what a Submarine ride would look like today. Chances are, it would be a simulator ride of some kind. Much cheaper to build, and probably a much higher capacity. But you’d lose so much, too. I love the fact that the Disneyland Monorail and Peoplemover both went up and down some grades - in the Peoplemover’s case, some surprisingly steep grades. Yes, the subs float, with a wheeled thingy that rides in a “track” under the water. “The Devil and Max Devlin”, man, that was a rough period for Disney live-action movies. “Condorman”, yeesh.
TokyoMagic!, I’ve actually never seen “Devlin”, but assume that it is pretty terrible. I wonder if it’s on Disney+?
Mike Cozart, from now on I will read all of your comments in Paul Lynde’s voice!
Mike Cozart for the center square!
JG, think of the mileage Minnie Pearl got out of that price tag. “Ash urns” might be more correct, but come on, “buttstands” is more fun. I always wondered about cleaning the sand full of butts, somebody had to get a sieve I assume. Or did they pick them out one by one? Yuck! There must have been bags of clean sand so that they could replace the ashy stuff every once in a while. I’m so glad I don’t smoke. I love the motel observation, I did not notice that in the haze. I might be wrong, but I believe that the subs really do float, though I am sure there is some ballast to trim things out.I would assume that those tires lasted longer than Autopia tires, but don’t really know.
Major and Chuck, here is a current search for ash urns and receptacles... still available, but not sure where they would be used now.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.google.com/search?q=ash+receptacles+cigarette+urns&source=hp&ei=O7-LYpWNF6aZkPIPxd6duAo&iflsig=AJiK0e8AAAAAYovNS57gFcQK6Sf2VT0X_QEn82oWQ_2E&oq=ash+urns+cigarette+&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAEYADIGCAAQHhAWMgYIABAeEBYyBQgAEIYDMgUIABCGAzIFCAAQhgM6EQguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBENEDOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToOCC4QgAQQsQMQxwEQ0QM6CAguELEDEIMBOg4ILhCABBDHARCjAhDUAjoFCC4QgAQ6EQguEIAEELEDEIMBEMcBEKMCOg4ILhCABBCxAxDHARCjAjoFCAAQgAQ6CAgAELEDEIMBOggILhCABBCxAzoLCC4QgAQQxwEQowI6CwguEIAEELEDEIMBOggIABCABBCxAzoICC4QgAQQ1AI6BwgAEIAEEAo6CggAELEDEIMBEAo6CAgAEIAEEMkDOggIABAeEA8QFjoICAAQHhAIEA1QAFj9XmCzdWgEcAB4AIAB1wGIAaISkgEGMTYuNi4xmAEAoAEB&sclient=gws-wiz
I agree, "buttstands" is certainly evocative. I have no idea of the mechanics of cleaning the ones with sand, but sieving like cat litter might be a method. I suppose, but cannot confirm that some vendor sold the sand as a related product, that is, the sand didn't come from the materials yard that sells gravel or bark chips. I seem to remember that some businesses had sand in colors coordinated with their logos, pink, orange, etc. although pure white was pretty common. The sand would be something provided by the Owner, like toilet paper, soap and other sanitary consumables, not in our contracts. Sand was not needed in some types, one of the wall mounted type had a split ashtray like an excavator, press a button and the bottom of the tray split in half and the debris fell into the bottom. No idea how it was removed, maybe a vacuum cleaner. SO glad that smoking is no longer common and that these things have become so rare. I remember every elevator lobby and office corridor being cluttered with these things.
JG
That curved grade that the Monorail Red has completed in the second photo no longer exists. After leaving the station, the track now exits the park and heads towards the hotel. It must have been a very exciting beginning to the Monorail attraction.
ReplyDeleteVery cool photos today! Thanks!
JG, so much to know about “buttstands”! I just bought some sand to level out a patch in my mom’s backyard, you could get the nice white “granulated sugar” kind if you wanted to pay extra. I guess it’s for kid’s play areas. I bought the cheap stuff. I admit that I like the idea of colored sand, though I generally want nothing to do with ashtrays of any kind (unless they are cool advertisements for old diners).
ReplyDeleteOmnispace, yes, this is from the days when the Monorail was strictly an in-park ride. It’s pretty cool that Walt expanded it to be an actual mode of transport to and from the Hotel! I’ve seen various never-realized plans to expand the Monorail even further, but I think that the construction costs are too much these days, sadly.
I'm glad you liked these! Thank you for the fun comments and fun day!
ReplyDelete"I have to keep reminding myself that the Monorail just made a loop inside the park at this time. No exiting to the Hotel and back."
JB, I'm sure you'll remember the post from a little while back where we (Jr. Gorillas) determined that the Moonliner was used to transport folks back and forth to the Disneyland Hotel. That was before the Monorail did so.