Tomorrowland, May 1960
I love these old photos of Tomorrowland - they are date-stamped "May 1960", but I'll bet they were actually taken months before that. In any case, they have a clear wintery feel that I like very much.
Oh boy, it's Li'l Stubby, the blue three-car Mark I Monorail, gliding almost silently above the Autopia's multi-level roadway. The Bob Gurr design of the Monorail is very "Buck Rogers", which is probably why it appeals to people so much - it's simultaneously "retro" and futuristic. Notice the sign indicating "running children"; is that a European-type sign?
A cream-colored Mark V Autopia car looks like is returning to the Tomorrowland load area, with half-a-dozen others not far behind. Strange that we only see cream and coral colors for those vehicles! I'm pretty sure there was a sapphire-blue as well; maybe there were only three hues? Meanwhile, that girl to the right has come directly from the Great Plains, and is still wearing her bonnet and matching skirt. "My land! If only we could have crossed the frontier in one of these!".
16 comments:
Speaking of Buck Rogers, the angle of the Monorail looks like one of Buck's spaceships, from the old serials, launching up into space.
The two guys in the foreground look like they're strolling across the Autopia roadway.
Okay, so why is bonnet gal dressed like that? (I'm looking at the one on the left.) ;-) I don't think any of the CM costumes looked like that, did they? The boy closest to us has a shark fin growing out of his head. Or maybe it's his hair, like Bob's Big Boy. (I realize it's just a shadow.) Is he wearing some kind of cadet uniform?
Thanks for the glimpse at Tomorrowland 1960, Major.
I think both of these pics are of the Fantasyland Autopia. We can actually see a Motorboat in the second pic.
That monorail is getting ready to take off !! What a beautiful vehicle. Bob Gurr admits the look of the monorail nose and fins was based on some of the ships from Buck Rogers.
Tokyo is correct : these are views from Fantasyland Autopia looking to Tomorrowland. The actual names then were SUPER AUTOPIAS …. But for whatever reason the name didn’t catch on …or at least wasn’t kept going by Disneyland.
Back in the mid 70’s we were at Kmart and there was a Buck Rogers vehicle gift pack by TOOTSIETOY …. They made “middle” cars : matchbox & hot wheels were “little cars” … tootsietoys were “middle” cars and Tonka were “big” cars … anyway the set had a spaceship that looked like the Disneyland monorail and I wanted it just because … somehow I didn’t get it but I did get a 1911 Maxwell model of yesterday diecast instead . It’s odd that in the 70’s there was modern Buck Rogers stuff being made.
Major : I heard a story from a retired Disneyland cycle shop employee … he said often when vehicles like skyway , Autopia , PeopleMover we’re repainted or refurbished they were done together with other vehicles in the same color so the paint could be done at the same time …. So when a group of freshly painted ride vehicles returned to service they were all added back to the line , track or cable about the same time …. So you’d get big groups of same color vehicles bunched together .
I looked up the TOOTSIETOY Adventure playsets of the 70’s and it was a FLASH GORDON set . I guess the 70’s Versions were made into 1978. You can see the monorail looking ships …. It makes me wonder if Bob Gurr meant FLASH GORDON and not BUCK ROGERS ??
Never really noticed before how the shape of the “cockpit” bubble on the Mk I monorails looks so much like the canopies of then-current fighter aircraft, but then again, I have to admit I have never looked very closely; I love the Mk IIs & IIIs so much more that I guess I just never cared before. Don’t take it personally, Lil’ Stubby - we love you, too. The solid-painted canopy top wouldn’t be very practical when you are looking for enemy aircraft in the middle of an aerial furball, but I’ll bet it provided welcome shade for the monorail wranglers.
That red triangle on the lamppost is the international sign for “caution - shopkeepers chasing urchins with stolen apples.”
The girl in the second photo is thinking, “Ma, I’m thirsty.” Wrong park, kid.
JB, there actually was a “prairie style” women’s clothing fad in the Early ‘60s, although not quite as widespread as we saw later in the ‘70s. I have photos of my mother wearing a prairie dress, complete with bonnet (an outfit I think she made herself), as she is pinning on my dad’s brand-new second lieutenant rank at his commissioning ceremony in January of 1964.
Mike, I can understand Bob Gurr mixing up his 1930s comic strips and movie serials, particularly when their design styles bear more than a passing resemblance to each other.
The girl in the second photo is thinking, “Ma, I’m thirsty.” Wrong park, kid.
Brilliant, Chuck! Simply brilliant!
“Aren’t you a little short for a monorail?” (in Princess Leia voice).
Major, I think there might be a blue car in photo 2, way in back, just a tiny glimpse coming out from below the overpass.
These a fun today, thank you.
JG
JB, I can imagine sparks coming out of the back of a Monorail, just like those old Buck Rogers spaceships! And yes, my weird dyslexia about right and left rears its head again. It only seems to manifest itself when I am writing. Like I said, weird. I swear both of my shoes are on the correct feet. I can’t imagine why that girl is dressed that way; maybe if it was the 1970s I could guess that it was fashionable, but not in 1960.
TokyoMagic!, OH YEAH? Oh, yeah.
Mike Cozart, I wonder what made them “super”, as opposed to just a regular Autopia? I have a few 1930s Tootsietoy Buck Rogers spaceships, I picked them up at various swap meets and toy shows. But I didn’t know that Tootsietoy even existed in the 1970s. Did you get the 1911 Maxwell because you are a fan of Jack Benny? I assume that those Tootsietoys were made before the Gil Gerard “Buck Rogers” TV show. Thank you for the info about how the vehicles were painted, that makes sense!
Mike Cozart, AHA, Flash Gordon, that makes sense. Maybe my old Tootsietoys are Flash Gordon too! They are in a box somewhere, I haven’t seen them for years.
Chuck, I’ve read about how some old amusement park rides used war surplus fuel tanks and plexiglass (etcetera), since so much was just sitting in warehouses or in vacant lots. I never really thought about whether the front windows and bubble domes on the Monorails were glass or some sort of clear plastic. I wonder!! If there’s one thing I hate, it’s urchins stealing apples, so that sign makes sense to me. Yes, that “prairie” style is what I was referring to in my comment to JB. I don’t remember bonnets on women, but I do remember the long calico dresses and ruffled long-sleeves.
TokyoMagic!, ha ha!
JG, I can’t tell if that’s a blue vehicle, or if the shadows just make it look blue!
Nanook, now you’ve done it! There’s going to be a rumble! I admit that I did not put much thought into which Autopia was pictured, but I really did think that it was Tomorrowland. Sounds like you have done your research!
Oh, Major-
If other 'mere mortals' are seeing the same comments as I, my previous comment has been removed. (Just what sort of magical powers do you have-?)
After careful consideration - especially listening to the wise words from both MIKE & TM! - and a bit more research [the Wings Over Disneyland view] from The 'E' Ticket article on The Monorail is a beauty - I must concur, both are images from the Fantasyland Autopia. The first image gives only the slightest glimpse on the right edge, of what might be the banks from the Motor Boat Cruise - and actually IS - the S/S railings on the bridge are a bigger giveaway... But, if the image was of the Tomorrowland Autopia, a second monorail beamway could be observed in the distance - clearly missing in this image.
The Little Monorail That Could!
Sunbonnet Sally is going to be waiting a while if she's expecting a Conestoga to come around that Autopia track. My sister and I had homemade prairie dresses, but we only wore the matching bonnets to church on Easter Sunday.
Major: TOOTSIETOY actually had its highest sales in the 1970’s and 1980’s . I think every store from TG&Y to supermarkets to department stores to FAO sold TOOTSIETOY CARS in the 70’s and 80’s . The company still exists today and still makes inexpensive die cast cars and other toys. They also offer a higher end line of car models similar in detail to RIO or DINKY. They also often offer reproductions of there dime store toys from the 1920’s and 1930’s . In fact when Disneyland converted the Main Street Tobacco Shop to the hobby/ toy shop, “Pantented Pastimes” I purchased their 1936 reissue boxed set “city parking garage” which included great Art Deco looking sedans and coups with white rubber tires and some metal road signs ( no garage). The packaging also was identical to reproduced. Disneyland also had the train pack and metal dollhouse furniture….. all made from their original tooling in Rockford Illinois. There’s a toy store in Laguna beach that has some tootsietoy cars … intended for play in the sand. In the late 70’s tootsietoys were started to be mostly manufactured in Hong Kong . The company is owned by another company today and is based in Chicago … but almost all manufacturing is done on Asia now.
My Mom has a Tootsietoy dollhouse from the 1920s. It's in beautiful shape, but with none of the original furniture.
Nanook, I must have left my comments window open while your old comment was still there. No magical powers. OK, I believe you, I will notify the archives in Paris so that they know that the Autopia pictured is the Fantasyland version!
Melissa, I was thinking of Becky Thatcher for some reason, or “Half Pint” from Little House. I’d love to see a photo of you and your sister with your Easter Sunday bonnets on!
Mike Cozart, amazing, I just assumed that Tootsietoy was from the 1930s and 1940s, and MAYBE into the 1950s, I had no idea that they were still around today. OF course now everything will be “made in China”, I assume. I have a few old Dinky toys too, some very 1930s looking cars with big Buck Rogers fins. I would bet that even the reproduction of the Tootsietoy garage set is worth some money today. Collectors love sets in boxes! Thanks Mike.
Melissa, funny, one of the things I used to have was a Tootsietoy toilet. It was purple, for some reason.
Monorail...awesome color and perfect pitch...very Buck Rogers, I do have a Gil Gerard story...but for another time. Bonnet and note-pad girl I am not understanding. What is the writing pad? What is she writing about? What is that outfit? Was Holly Hobby a trend? The super Autopia looks a little super dilapidated, but I think those cars got a beating. As I passed it on the DLRR the other night, the noise (and smell) took me back 40 years...still sounds like nails on a chalkboard to me. Historically I do enjoy the Autopia, and the design of it's many iterations...but unless I am driving to the Stop and Shop in one (which would turn in a few heads in my village)...I'll leave it to the Autopia lovers. To answer the question of yesterday about the younger generation giggling and squirming on the Monorail, the answer is YES! Once again, to see it from the perspective of a "never seen"....it did boggle the mind, and there was quite a bit of adrenaline and excitement flowing. So, I think we are good with it still being the transportation system of tomorrow. The only disappointment is that it didn't go schuzzzing through a building as in WDW. I did notice a curious thing...that the Monorail does not sound like the Monorail anymore (?)...or maybe it's my failing ears. There was a very specific sound it made when traversing it's rail. From the inside it was actually more noisy than "experiential", and the open windows during a cold night (In was in the low 40's) seemed a little odd to us East Coasters. Nary a heating lamp to be seen, and the Plaza Inn closing at 9pm (?) That I did not understand as it generally was the last place to close given that backstage the facility was a 24/7 facility. I just wanted a cup of coffee. I did finally get one...at Wendy's. Not bad coffee actually. Also, regarding European style signage on Autopia...I think I remember quite a few...no? Or was that in the Zurich Autopia? Also: re: Monorail...don't understand the seating arrangement inside...seemed odd and super clunky and super plasticy. Personally, I did not feel the future, I felt kind of McDonaldland unbeatable furniture...hard seats built for only 5 minutes. My co-worker was going on about it for hours- I guess the ride still "works".
BU : you are very correct about the current Monorail ride and “sound” . The interior is very plasticky …. It is the first to not feature padded seating and there is no floor carpeting - this makes the ride noisy and the plastic panels tend to rattle. They also Lack air condition. All this was a cost reduction and to keep the trains even lighter than the Mark 5 . Since there was to be no 4 Monorail train , extra cars were added to the 3 operating monorail trains …. So they had to make them
Much lighter to make up for the weight of the additional cars. When the Mark 7’s were introduced they were insanely hot as air didn’t circulate into the passenger cabins as expected Thru the governed window openings so very quickly engineering created air scoops on the roof of each of the monorail cars to help cool the baking guests.the pilot cabin and the “club car” ( the end cabin) can be air conditioned. The current seating arrangement was done with the idea that it was quicker to load and unload …. And technically it is … however the layout seats less passengers.
The current monorail is clunky in its operation …. And is constant down. The ride can be rough and noisy … but the look is very nice.
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