I've posted a few Sunday Snoozers™ from a large lot of slides that I have recently scanned, but I'm finally getting into the non-snoozers. In this lot, I'd say that 60% of them feature pictures of the photographer's charming wife (I presume). He was bananas about her! So I hope you like her too, because you'll be seeing at least 20 photos of her.
There she is, posing on Main Street, near the Tobacco Shop and the Main Street Cinema. I like her jaunty souvenir hat, an interesting counterpoint to her understated jumpsuit. Where are all the other guests? It's cat swingin' time for sure. She holds some paper ephemera, but we'll get a better look at both items in a future post.
Next we're in the Plaza, and our gal looks like she's about to commandeer the Omnibus for a top-secret spy mission. The Omnibus is so unusual that enemy spies would never suspect a thing.
Major-
ReplyDeleteSo, is 'Ginny' a good name for her-?? (Melissa... HELP-!) [As you already alluded to] I see in addition to her ever-present cigarette, Ginny is carrying a pair of guidebooks, and the brochure for the Coming - $7 Million in New Disneyland Attractions, 1962/1963 Adventureland/Frontierland expansion. I'll let you officially spill the rest of it, along with a (ah-hem) rosier picture for the Haunted Mansion and New Orleans Square than reality achieved. (I presume the NY World's Fair kinda messed with the proposed timeline).
Gotta love those sensible shoes-!
Thanks, Major.
Forget the cats, Major. It's elephant swingin' time! (Or brontosaurus swingin' time!) Where is everybody, indeed? She IS quite a fashionable looker. No wonder her husband was bananas about her. Too bad about the cigarette, though. Looks like she's gonna get every last puff out of it, too.
ReplyDeleteActually, there ARE people there. Just not in the street. I count (maybe) six trashcans; hard to tell.
Climbing onto the Omnibus, it looks like she's striking a pose. I wonder if she actually got on the Bus? And like Nanook says, there's the ever-present cigarette. Looks like she was a chain smoker... probably not with us anymore. Or maybe she got smart and quit smoking shortly after this trip, and is in her '80s with great grandkids.
Too bad the photos are kinda dark and dingy with flat lighting. But I guess every day in Disneyland can't be sunny, blue sky days. Thanks for introducing us to the Lady in Black, Major.
What Ginny doesn’t know is that if she drives the Omnibus over two miles an hour the bomb will go off. And then nobody will want to stay for Mickey’s Not-So-Bitey Cat-Swinging Party, sponsored by Human Flesh Flavored Meow Mix. It’s only s one-hour wait to get s picture of yourself scooping the Aristocats’s litter box.
ReplyDelete(She does look like s Ginny! I’ve known one Ginny and one Ginger, and this nice lady has a bit of a resemblance to both of them.)
I was going to write some "out there" stuff, but I can't top Melissa today! She's the Top Cat! (Wait, that's Hanna-Barbera).
ReplyDeleteDue to that ever present ciggy, I think Ginny had a low sultry voice that Meow Mix could have used in commercials. "Human Flavored- tastes just like Grandpa...used to." See, I'm great at marketing!
"Human Flavored- tastes just like Grandpa...used to."
ReplyDeleteShades of "To Serve Man!"
It’s only a one-hour wait to get a picture of yourself scooping the Aristocats’ litter box.
ReplyDeleteMelissa, that has to be the best idea ever, for a Disney parks photo-op! And they could throw in some large-size Tootsie Rolls, for realism.
I wonder if "Ginny" could have been from a small backwoods town, just like The Cat That Meowed Backwards? Poor little guy. He was never able to ask for Meow Mix cat food by name, until one day when he got an idea.....
Thanks Major, she is adorable, and appears to be a professional model; look at the 10 to 1 o'clock position of her feet in the first shot and those delicate arches boarding the omnibus. For sure Disneyland would have been glad to feature her in publicity pictures.
ReplyDeleteI also love her combo straw boater/porkpie hat posed under the marquee for Buster Keaton. 1962 is in there with the most stylish years of the 20th Century
Well, I was looking around for a cat to swing, but both of mine are having post-breakfast naps, so I will count trash cans instead.
ReplyDeleteJB, I agree, a probable 6. Those views down Main Street just cry out to be counted. Trash cans all the way to the Vanishing Point.
Photo 2 may be the definitive Omnibus picture.
Thanks for pics of the Lady in Black, Major. Hoping to see more.
JG
Are those the hat straps tightly wrapped around her head and neck in the first pic? Or did she have a mini-babuska stored in that small purse? Speaking of cats, is that a cat or dog on the porch of the Tobacco shop? Thanks Major, these look like they’re going to be good bunch of pics.
ReplyDeleteWell, Friday really brings out the comments that are a must to ponder.
ReplyDeleteI've got to say, if I tried to swing Tag, our cat, I would come away with a bloody stump.
Ginny does fit the bill, but the my first thought was Miranda. Just the regular Miranda and not the Firefly version. Maybe a small bit of the Carmen variety. She is quite striking, Stefano might be right. She's probably in her late 70's by now. I hope she quit smoking before any damage was done.
Thanks Major, unique photos.
Nanook, I guess “Ginny” is as good a name as any (though I knew a girl named Ginny when I was a kid, and she was mean!). I think that the NYWF messed up the opening of some attractions, but I also think that the delay ultimately was a good thing. As intriguing as a walk-through Mansion would have been, I’m glad we got our Doombuggies. Funny, I just wrote a post last night mentioning Ginny’s sensible flats! You’ll see that one in January.
ReplyDeleteJB, there’s nothing cooler than a swingin’ elephant. Sunglasses, martini in hand, beautiful dame on one arm (leg?), the whole deal. Yes, she has a cigarette in hand in many photos, it really is too bad. But that was the time. I’ll bet she didn’t get on the bus! It was just a photo op for her. She used props and threw them away, just like men. I wish I knew why these photos are so dark. Were they always this way? Or did it happen slowly over 60 years?
Melissa, instead of Keanu Reeves helping her on her “speeding” Omnibus, she could have Rock Hudson. For some reason they always wind up in bubble baths (separately, of course).
Stu29573, “sultry low voice”… I remember speaking to a friend’s mom on the phone (I’d never met her in person), and she had a smoker’s voice. It was positively weird. Sort of like Lucille Ball late in life. Nice lady though! “Human Flavored”… with gravy!
Melissa, just before the alien spaceship flies away, Richard Kiel (with bulging cranium) should turn around holding a bag of human-flavored Meow Mix. And he could wink at the camera. Are you listening, Madison Avenue?
TokyoMagic! do the Tootsie Rolls have to be large sized? Hey, my three favorite flavors are tuna, liver, and chicken too! Filet mignon? Yuck.
Stefano, yes, in many photos she is standing with her feet just so, as if she was used to posing for photos. CANDID photos, wink wink. Disney would have had to retouch her cigarettes, just like they did with Walt. I thought her hat was a sort of straw Spanish-style hat, but what the heck do I know.
JG, cats taking naps, that’s their natural state. If photo #2 wasn’t so durn dark, it might be a better candidate for “definitive Omnibus picture”, but the nuclear wars of the 60s affected these slides.
Kathy!, hmm, that’s a good question, I think the straps might be a part of the hat, I don’t think Ginny is wearing a babushka in any of the other photos. Maybe it was a windy day? Looks like a little spotted dog on the porch, possibly a cast iron boot scraper?
DrGoat, I always assumed that Mark Twain meant a dead cat when he referred to swinging them. I hope so, because otherwise it would be mean. We’ll just pretend that the cat died peacefully while watching Meow Mix ads. The woman kind of reminds me of Yvonne De Carlo. A little. “The Firefly version”? I don’t get it! Since these photos are from 60 years ago, Ginny/Miranda would probably be past her late 70s.
ReplyDeleteIs that hole below the grill on the Omnibus, where the "crank" would have been inserted?
ReplyDeleteTM! I didn’t recognize you.
ReplyDelete—Sue
TM, i think that that hole is mimicking that function.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the Gurrmobiles have electric starters, but the original buses might have had crank start. The bigger engines would be hard to turn over that way, have to take care with the grip to avoid getting your thumb broken if it kicks back.
JG
@ TM!-
ReplyDeleteThat hole is for a 'spy camera'-!
Melissa, "Human Flesh Flavored Meow Mix". Now we know what they feed the swans on slow days in the Park.
ReplyDeleteStu, hmmm. I woulda thought that Grandpa-flavored Meow Mix tastes like Bengay. Actually, that might work! Bengay is wintergreen scented. Wintergreen is a type of mint. And catnip is a type of mint. So, cats should go wild over it! I'm good at figuring out little details... and jumping to conclusions.
Tokyo!, I was going to suggest Baby Ruths, but Tootsie Rolls do have that desiccated look that is essential to recreate the appearance of the 'treasures' found in a cat litter box.
I remember that commercial! Great ad.
JG, the only thing more exciting than napping cats is counting trashcans!
Kathy!, I would guess a dog; because the tail looks too short for a cat.
DrGoat, I think a bloody stump would be the result of most cat-swinging attempts. Just sayin'.
Major, I like how we have figured out Ginny's complete personality and the events in her life. We do that with people in your posts pretty much every day, don't we.
I was going to suggest that her name was Victoria (Vicky, for short), as in Queen Victoria. Who always wore black after she lost her husband.
The nuclear wars of the '60s also produced the zombie apocalypse; hence the Human Flesh Flavored Meow Mix.
"We’ll just pretend that the cat died peacefully while watching Meow Mix ads." Was the cat's name "Schrodinger"?
Tokyo! again, are you saying that the Omnibus is rubber band powered? ;-)
Sue, Ha! I didn't notice Tokyo!'s new avatar until you mentioned it. Where is the white oval? Is that the Carousel of Progress guy?
I remember speaking to a friend’s mom on the phone (I’d never met her in person), and she had a smoker’s voice.
ReplyDeleteWe had a cat with a particularly low, raspy voice, and we always called it "smoker's meow." He could have been the spokescat for Tareytons. Mark Twain was very fond of cats.
A timely comment for me regarding “human flavored Meow Mix” …. I just finished watching a series where a current mortician ( rather young) answered many questions about dead bodies and how they are prepared for viewing and internment etc…. And they was a bit about the very high cases of family pets feasting on their dead owners before their death was discovered. It’s seems dogs and cats love their beloved owners …. And the TASTE of their owners…
ReplyDeleteInteresting thought regarding the crank starter hole on the Omnibus. Self starters inside the automobile became common during the 1920’s as automobile manufacturers marketed towards a wider audience and to women drivers. But automobiles and vehicles that used crank starters - with sone exceptions- didn’t leave the crank in position while driving … it was normally taken out of a car’s tool box …. One was frequently a dealer option location on the rear of a running board - often designed as a step for rear seat passengers. Sonetimes a tool box compartment was on the flank of the car’s body. The crank was often stored in the toolbox. Driving with the crank inserted would run the risk of coming lose on the bumpy roads and losing your means of starting the car.
If the Disneyland Omnibuses ever sported a crank - I can find no images of one . But the crank acess would have been an authentic detail - even it the actually vehicle was a self starter. On smaller automobiles the crank access would be below the radiator. The four canopied topped Electric Runabouts were based on 1901-1903 curved dashed Oldsmobiles ( the first American Mass produced auto - long before the Ford) and it featured a tiny crank starter on the driver's seat side : a detail omitted from the Disneyland versions. The red and yellow “ Toneua’s” were based on the 1903 “Autocar” ( incidentally real Autocars were available only in red or green) and the crank shaft connector would be below the hood and not visible. Same with the Fire Engine. The Main Street USA vehicles are all modern 1950’s powered and never actually used a crank start to operate . A altered water pump in each engine creates the “chugging” sound which would have been heard on real vintage automobiles.
Disney got advice from Henry Ford Village regarding the daily operations of actual vintage horseless carriages and restored horse drawn streetcars and quickly learned that modern constructed replicas would be needed for a place like Disneyland.
Photos taken on holiday, could be, could be.
ReplyDeleteCandid photography, know what I mean, know what I mean, nudge nudge, wink wink. Candid photography, bathing costume, know what I mean, nudge nudge, say no more, SAY no more.
Yvonne DeCarlo, yes, Miranda, yes.
Don't be swinging any cats near me, small dogs are ok, or an opossum, but never a cat.
JG
Mike, your first paragraph... only on GDB.
ReplyDeleteSue & JB, after 14 years with the same avatar, I figured it was finally time to change it! And yes, that's the father from Act 1 of the Carousel of Progress (the World's Fair version).
ReplyDeleteJG & Mike, thanks for that info about the crank hole! And Nanook, a spy camera would work well in that spot. Or at least some kind of camera that could give a heads up to the driver, if he/she were about to drive over any wayward strollers.
Mike, I seem to remember an episode of Sex and the City, where Miranda reads about an older lady who died alone in her apartment and by the time she was found, her cat had eaten her face off. This stressed Miranda out because she didn't want to die alone and have her cat eat her face off. I say, if I go and I'm not going to be found for a while, then my three cats are welcome to any part of me that they want, if it will help keep them alive.
Melissa, one of my cats has a very low "meow." It's also very short, like "half of a meow." I have wondered if something happened to her "out in the wild" before I adopted her. Or maybe it's just that she was a smoker, before being brought into my non-smoking home.
JG, these pictures prove the guy lied when he told you “No, no I'm afraid we don't have a camera.”
ReplyDeleteChuck, “What’s it like Squire?”
ReplyDeleteMike thanks for pointing out the crank was a loose tool. I never thought to mention.
TM, I have a cat who can barely make a sound. He’s been that way all his life since we got him as a kitten. He sort of squeaks. I don’t think he is injured, it’s just his voice. The strong silent type. The other one can bring down the plaster.
JG