More Beauties From 1973
It's time for more swell photos from our pal, Mr. X! Let's start with this wonderful image of the blue Mark III Monorail as it swooshed around the Matterhorn. Those bigger windows really allowed great views for the riders.
And there it goes! Mr. X had a quick trigger finger, it can't have been more than a second or two between the first pic and this one. Is this technically the "back side" of a Monorail?
Every now and then, X will find a few more negatives in a drawer, and he has generously given those to me. This shot of the Penny Arcade has been seen before (back in 2017), though it was scanned from a photo. This newer scan looks so much better! And... not a plush doll in sight.
This one was also previously-seen, another photo print scan, and as before, this scan from an original negative is better in every respect. Let's all go in and order fried balogna (I'll have lots of raw onions on mine), along with a Moxie and some boiled turnips on the side. It's not heaven, but it's pretty close.
THANK YOU to Mr. X.
27 comments:
Major-
And to think that 'back then', those building colors were all that was needed. And these times, the color 'intensity dial' needs to be cranked-up to the max.
Thanks again to Mr. X.
Wow, those two Monorail shots are great! (I kept 'em both.) Not only did Mr. X have a quick trigger finger, he had to rotate the camera from 'portrait' to 'landscape' as well.
I believe we're seeing the tail end of the Monorail in the second shot; no dome. But I can still easily pretend that the streamlined train is entering the 2nd picture.
The Penny Arcade: Interesting decor added onto the top of that trashcan; looks like a Fortune Teller. ;-) Is that a not-so-subtle hint that the fortunes are a waste of your hard-earned money?
And what is that low upholstered chair thingy next to the band organ music box?
River Belle Terrace: I just noticed that the slurry slopes up toward the entrance of the restaurant. There is an angled gap at the bottoms of the doors. I guess that's to keep rain from trickling in? Are all the Disney buildings that way?
The fried bologna sounds OK, but I think I'll pass on the Moxie and boiled turnips.
Thanks once more to Mr. X Mr. P.
@ JB-
That 'Fortune Teller' is none other than Esmeralda. Isn't that 'upholstered chair thingy' a massage chair-? And next to it is the Welte, Style 4 - Orchestrion - which was restored in 2012.
JB, that chair is as Nanook said, a massage thingy. But only the footrest vibrated. I believe there were two of them in the Penny Arcade. And as mentioned in the comments of the previous GDB post, which included this photo, there were also two foot massage chairs in Teddi Barra's Swingin' Arcade. Those chairs were shaped like bears (seated), and had bear heads hanging on the wall over them.
As for the Orchestrion (which Nanook pointed out), Andrew posted a current photo of it, back in August. It has been moved to the back of the "Penny Arcade," which now serves mostly as just a glorified extension of the Candy Palace's space. Here's a link to Andrew's post, which includes his photo of the Orchestrion:
https://bayernkurveblog.blogspot.com/2022/08/disneylands-main-street-usa.html
Great photos from Mr.X. Like the quality and color in the monorail shots. That is an interesting color for the Penny Arcade. Almost a go-away shade of pale.
Thanks Major, really good pics. Thanks Mr.X.
PS Thanks to Sue, Major, JG & Mrs. JG, Chuck & Mrs. Chuck and Mike. Made my day, month and year.
Big thanks to Mr. X!
Photo 1 could make one of those silhouette posters with the crowd in front, all black. I should tinker with that & see what it can do.
Photo 2, yes, the Back Side of the Monorail, that Bob Gurr made as cool as the front.
And the Penny Arcade, popularized by J.C. Penny.
Tokyo, I remember those Bear Massagers, I sat on one on a high school visit. Quite an experience.
Major, your order sounds good, especially the turnips, get two of each and I’ll join you.
JG
JG,
About 200 of those pennies were mine. I gravitated toward the Penny Arcade every time I went. Even the later trips. Isn't what it used, or should be.
Still have a few Esmeralda fortune cards somewhere. One of them kind of came true.
Dr. Goat, I loved the Penny Arcade too. Went in there on every trip. I loved the little baseball game where the runners ran around the bases. I detest baseball, but the mechanical animation was so engaging.
Those shocker gadgets were fun too.
I remember how disappointed I was, wanting to show all the fun to my kids and finding the Arcade gutted.
There's a museum in San Francisco, but it's just not the same.
JG
Nanook, I love those Main Street colors, subdued but still “colorful”. I once saw an article that said early Main Street was “mostly grays and browns”, which is complete BS!
JB, good point, I didn’t even think about how Mr. X had to turn the camera quickly. Like a fashion photographer! If it wasn’t for the bubble dome, we’d never know if the Monorail was coming or going. The fortune teller is interesting, since I believe that the figure has been placed in the ticket booth of the Main Street Cinema. Not sure about the upholstered chair. I’m sure they did angle the slurry in case of rare heavy rains - you can find photos of Disneyland flooding when we have those crazy downpours.
Nanook, yes! Esmerelda, she’s moved to the Cinema for some reason. Maybe the pay was better? A massage chair, you are probably right.
TokyoMagic!, hey, after a day at Disneyland, a foot massage sounds like a pretty good deal. I did NOT know about the massage chairs in Teddi Barra’s Swingin’ Arcade! In fact, I don’t know if I ever set foot in there. It’s such a bummer that they got rid of so many of those wonderful customized arcade machines, and that the Orchestrion has been “demoted” the way it has.
DrGoat, yes, the soft green and pale slate-blue, along with that butterscotch color, is a really interesting color combination for the Penny Arcade.
JG, the crowd is almost a silhouette with no tinkering at all! It can be tough to capture all the details when the sunlit part is so bright and the shadow part is so dark. I wonder if Bob Gurr ever had some other concept for the rear of the Monorail? Something more like a futuristic “caboose”? I wish I could ask him! I will be happy to share my turnips with you.
DrGoat, the only thing I remember doing in the Penny Arcade was looking at the Mutoscopes, those things with the rolls of paper cards that flipped by to show you a brief scene from a Charlie Chase movie (or whatever). I was fascinated by them!
JG, I remember that baseball game, though I never played it. I tried to find a photo of one at Disneyland, but only found a basketball game that I did NOT recall. I used to like baseball, but for some reason I just sort of lost interest. I mostly liked watching games on TV with my dad. I’d love to go to that museum in San Francisco some time, but it’s been years since I’ve been up there.
Those first two shots are all about the chiaroscuro. And I can just about count all the trash cans in #3.
JB, that warped paving is pretty common on pre-ADA buildings, and yes, it is meant to keep water from coming under the door. The warp is very obvious in the photo because the bottom of the doors are level.
There were probably a lot of doors in Disneyland that were similar.
Now, due to wheelchair access rules, the paving is brought right up to the doors and with less slope, and yes, this does reduce the water resistance of the opening, especially in heavy downpours.
NOS shops are a good example, they have almost flush entries, with a slight hump right at the door opening. These are not visually obvious and look flat, but I first noticed them by standing idly on one and feeling the gentle rise rocking my foot.
Major, there were several baseball pinball games, I can't remember all of the variations, but only one had the little runners, the others had dials or something. I don't remember a basketball game either, just that it was all so much fun and so different from today's video stuff. I'm sure they were a bear to maintain.
JG
Thanks to everyone for your info concerning the foot massage, Orchestrion, Esmeralda, and the sloping slurry. ("Esmeralda and the sloping slurry" sounds like a '70s rock band.)
From yesterday's post: Thanks to TM! for the link to your "cat post". I read part of it when Sue brought it to our attention a year ago, but never finished reading it... I just spent the last hour-and-a-half reading all of it, including the comments.
Another cat person here. Although our last kitty passed away in 2015. Our neighbors across the street have two cats that spend a LOT of their time in our backyard. We give them treats, like bits of bologna, cheese, leftover meat, etc. One of them lets us pet him, the other is too much of a scaredy-cat. Having them around is almost like having a cat of our own, but without the vet bills.
As someone mentioned on TM!'s blog (JG?), it's kind of interesting how so many GDBers are cat people.
Ha! Major, please don't fire me, but I forgot to give you something to post for today's special birthday boy. Mickey Mouse. Happy 94th Mickey!
Will be back later, gotta run...
The arcade was full of fun stuff…arm wrestle Uncle Sam, test your hotness level, crank some flickers. Even as a kid I appreciated a foot massage. Seems to me Esmeralda has always been right there at the arcade entrance, even before they put a Penny in the circle above her. I always brought a quarter just for her on my first walk up Main Street; what advice or flattery was she offering for the day? Her heaving bosom alone was always worth it.
Since it was already mentioned, I’ll add that I also always used the speed-ramps exiting the Haunted Mansion, or entering PeopleMover for a freebie foot massage… if you stand on the edges of the moving rubber, you can feel the rollers, for fun and relaxation.
Happy Bday M & M
MS
Thanks Sue for mentioning the "Big Cheese" B-Day!!! Happy Birthday to Mickey Mouse who started it all :) More comments momentarily...
It’s Tilly taking tickets forever over at the Main Street Cinema…they must be paying that Club55 cast member plenty well, as her frocks have gotten rather fancy indeed over the years.
MS
Melissa, if Caravaggio painted a Monorail, it would look just like one of those photos! Only he would have added more trashcans.
JG, I have to wonder if some of those shops actually flood when there are heavy rains? Sure, it doesn’t happen often, but it DOES happen. Maybe they have sand bags or something like that to help dam the water, but that makes wheelchair access a bit dicey. You obviously paid a lot more attention to the paving than I did! I’m sure those old arcade games were finicky, but I’ll bet the park had some mechanical wizards on staff who could fix anything. Broken part? Make a new one!
JB, ha ha, my mom always got so mad at us if she caught us giving anything that wasn’t an official cat treat to our kitty. But we couldn’t resist! I’m sure she would have loved bologna, though I don’t eat the stuff, so I’ll never know. She thought tuna was for her anyway, so she would get at least a little bit. We have a neighbor cat who I always try to pet, but he just lays down and rolls onto his back and meows. If we try to get any closer, he skedaddles.
Lou and Sue, I won’t fire you, but I’m afraid I will have to reduce your pay by 50%! You’d think that by now I would be aware of significant dates like Mickey’s birthday, but… nope.
MS, I feel like a vaguely remember the Uncle Sam arm-wrestling machine. In my mind he would smash an opponent’s arm to the table with the force of a T-1000. They do call the woman in the Main Street Cinema ticket booth “Esmerelda”, but I don’t know if there is a fortune teller by the same name in the Penny Arcade. I’ve heard others talk about the free foot massages on the Haunted Mansion speed ramp… I guess I have missed out on a good thing.
Bu, I am ashamed of myself for not wishing Mickey a Happy Birthday!
MS, now that you mention it, “Tilly” rings a bell, BUT… I can tell you from recent experience that they now call her “Esmerelda”! They even point her out on tours.
"Still have a few Esmeralda fortune cards somewhere. One of them kind of came true."
DrGoat, now you have to tell us which fortune "kind of came true." Am curious...
"I once saw an article that said early Main Street was “mostly grays and browns”, which is complete BS!"
Major, that better describes Wookie World. Void of color.
Yep, JB, you can add me to your cat-person count. I currently have 3 cats that were all found on the streets as kittens, and rescued.
"Happy Birthday to Mickey Mouse who started it all."
Bu, I thought Major started it all. He's our big cheese.
Thanks, Mr. X and Major.
Esmeralda cards! Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, and I do believe in all that stuff, but the Esmeralda cards came in big blocks/stacks. As a ticket seller, a "down time" job was to "count Esmeralda cards" in groups of 25. I guess that is how they were loaded into the machine. We randomly scrambled the cards but were only responsible for counting, not getting inside Mrs. E's little cube to put them wherever they went. I would like an Esmeralda box for my house, and I'm probably fine for steering my life around the whims of my "Magic 8 Ball"....(which is always right.) I am also a PeopleMover/Haunted Mansion exit massage therapist. Why they would take out the jiggling foot seat confuses me...they did leave the electrocution machine, and the Penny Arcade has nothing to do with Pennies or Arcades and I'm not sure if anyone would really understand what a Penny Arcade was UNLESS...IT HAD ALL OF THE THINGS THAT IT HAD IN IT FOR ONE PENNY! (sorry...I'm yelling). Monorail...fantastic...large windows...yes! Why oh why would we change this design...we took the "spirit" of the design...BUT...put window vinyls on the windows..and you can't see out of them clearly...what are we riding? an RTD bus down Wilshire? The River Belle Terrace entry is lovely, and I love that color blue...it is not Tiffany Blue, it is River Belle Terrace blue, and if someone knows the color code in SW, please state it here. I would like to paint my conservatory that color.
"Lou and Sue, I won’t fire you, but I’m afraid I will have to reduce your pay by 50%!"
Major, I plan to send you 50% less scans.
Regarding Tilly and Esme, I think they are both still there. Maybe I'll try to do an internet walk down DL Main Street...I'll be back in a little while...
I took a quick stroll. According to Google Map, as of 2018, both were there--so everyone's probably right. Tilly at the Cinema and Esme at the Penny Arcade, unless things changed recently.
"MS, now that you mention it, “Tilly” rings a bell, BUT… I can tell you from recent experience that they now call her “Esmerelda”! They even point her out on tours."
Major, the Tour Guides probably get the names switched. I wouldn't always trust everything they say. Bu can probably attest to the fact that the younger Tour Guides probably don't know Disneyland history/facts as well as us Jr. Gorillas.
JB, GDB fans seem to have higher than average cat ownership. We have 2, 12 & 16.
MS, YES Tilly runs the theater, Esmeralda holds down fortunes, and back in the day, Fortune Red handled the Pirate Arcade fortunes!
Bu, get me a chip of that paint, we can match the color.
All the speed ramps were massage machines, subs, HM, People Mover, Space Mountain, I loved that feeling on tired feet.
Major, I spend way too much time looking at door thresholds and knobs, pavement slopes, handrails, etc. every two years, to keep my architects license, I have to pass tests on wheelchair rules, it’s a huge source of liability so I’m always curious to see how different places address it. Don’t feel bad for not seeing this stuff, it’s really specialist stuff.
JG
JG, you have 30 cats?!?!
;o)
—Sue
Re: unorthodox cat treats, I had a cat who could always be relied on to steal the broccoli out of Chinese takeout. She lived to be 21, and even in her old age you could count on her to stick her little orange face into the takeout container and grab a spear to gnaw on.
RE: TG's: there actually may BE some who read this blog...and maybe they are learning a thing or two about fact...or fiction...It's possible that they don't have the documentation department hunting them down like I was for a project...and they are so young...I think...BTW: Bob Balwin's (Magic Kingdom Club) wife (who now I guess went back to the park and is a trainer for the TG's) did a "Discussion on VIP Costumes at Disneyland 1955-present"...I think it was a live thing at the WD Museum in SF, and now it is a "playback" on Vimeo on Dec. 5 (an important date) via the WD Family Museum. It's $10, but might be interesting. There were some pretty awesome "costumes" back then, some from famous designers that weren't costumes at all. I don't know if I had ever met Bob's wife...it seems plausible, but I did interview with him a few times for a sales position. Back in the day, there wasn't any "history" training at all. You learned the spiel, and you were on your own for the rest...which even in 1982 was odd to me. There were NOT Jr. Gorillas or anything close to it...lot's of pretty girls and young ladies..and a couple (5) of us gents. I can say with some certainty that although we knew a LOT about the inner workings of Disneyland, there weren't a lot of "history buffs" or any "library of facts" to go to. That was for the VERY few in the entire park, who attended the Disneyland Film Club meetings- and from various departments. I was the only TG in the club. You were on your own to seek out knowledge. Interesting, right?
Regarding Tilly. I like Tilly, but she may not be a "Disneyland Original" as plugged. I've seen some photos of the ticket booth with a dude in there...maybe a mannequin, maybe a human. Was this another ticket booth? I dug and found a 1968 photo with employee taking tickets by a turnstile, and Tilly in the booth. She may have had a nick name Tilly...or maybe she was named by employees or Walt or someone? Someone knows. Personally, her name tag breaks the 4th wall for me..I understand it's clever, it's just not authentic. Find a "thing" from the REAL Marceline Theatre...or make it look like a name tag from the turn of the century...honestly, I don't think name tags were a thing unless you were in the military in 1890, and even that is debatable. Maybe a metal tag with numbers stamped into it: like the original Disneyland name tags that only had numbers. Even THAT would be a cooler thing then a modern plastic name tag made by a rando next to the security office.... I actually like that idea of the 1955 number badge, and it would be authentically plausible, as there were some people in the 50's who commonly dressed a little more towards 1910 or so than 1950...possibly in Marceline? It's late, I'm being hyper critical. Tilly has a real story and family and I am going to find out. Esmeralda BTW has always looked the same. I would like to see Esmeralda from Bewitched in the booth please...that would be a hoot. I know she's passed, but I would like to see it anyway. RIP Alice Ghostly. Very probably she was a sooth-sayer too- with that name....just saying.
For anyone who is interested, here's a pic that I took of Tilly decked out in her October finery. This pic is from 2012. I wonder if they still dress her in this same outfit, or if she has been given a new Fall wardrobe by now. As usual, scroll down to the last photo:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2009/12/snowflakes-in-emporium-1995.html
Post a Comment