Beauties From November 1957
I just scanned a lot of slides hand-dated "November 1957". A very good year! Let's start with this oddly-shaped example, it was the first one on the roll, and there was only half an image. Bummer! Still, the park looks great with the brilliant sunshine and blue sky. Sweaters and coats were needed in November.
Next is this real beauty ("Postcard Worthy"™?) from Frontierland, a nicely-composed shot with that little area of greenery, and that wonderful sign pointing guests in the direction of some attractions. Meanwhile, Rainbow Ridge beckons.
I zoomed in a bit and cropped it to a more standard "landscape" format. Too bad the Gonzalez Trio is not performing in that little bandstand. Man, this makes me wish I could step into the photo!
Over in Tomorrowland, mom smiles as Junior learns how to handle a genuine (if diminutive) sports cars along the Disneyland highway.
Extra! Extra! GDB pal Nanook sent this photo of himself, wearing a genuine vintage reversible jacket, it probably dates from around the same time as today's photos (he estimates it could be from 1956). I hardly have ANY clothing from 1956! His jacket really does resemble the one that the boy in the yellow car is wearing. Thanks, Nanook! (Also, his brows don't look that bad).
23 comments:
Major-
You ain't kidding about that second image-! The Rainbow Caverns Mine Train beckons.
The last image is interesting for another reason... the fella leading the pack is wearing a reversible jacket - with fleeced nylon on one side [usually with a striped pattern of some sort, as seen here - reversing to a nylon taffeta]. Popular from around 1955-1959, and made by several clothing manufacturers in all sorts of color combinations and patterns. I have several - an image of one style being worn by yours truly taken about nine years ago I'll send to The Major if he feels it's worthy of posting.
Thanks, Major.
1) Interesting, how our half-family are all wearing something red. It looks deliberate.
Meanwhile, there are two, little black rag-mop doggies next to the lady-in-red near the ticket booths. ;-)
2) Wow, perfect lighting and exposure in this one! Looks like the lady closest to the signpost found a souvenir Tom Sawyer-type straw hat to wear.
3) The close-up: I thought for sure we'd see a couple of giant mules clip-clopping behind the buildings of Rainbow Ridge. But I'm not seeing any.
4) The boy in the front car is wearing a seatbelt. I don't recall the Autopia cars having seatbelts before. Have they always? And look! The two red cars both have vanity plates that say "Disneyland". What are the odds? ;-)
Nanook, my older brother had a jacket like that, from the time of these photos, except it was red.
Thanks for the '57 pics, Major. Our family was there about a month after this group of photos was taken.
Hey, don't trip over that black and white striped curb, as you approach the park's entrance!
Major, these are all very nice early DL pics, but that second one is extra special. I also like the way you cropped it, for the third image.
Check out the flags in the first image…
Winds in the east, there's a mist coming in,
Like something is brewin' and 'bout to begin.
Can't put me finger on what lies in store,
But I fear what's to happen all happened before…
Thanks Chuck for the Pam Travers quote: I say that a lot when the “juju” feels odd and something is brewing. Either that- or “something wicked this way comes…” a terrible movie, but…they tried…stick to Shakespeare. Loving “family red”. Seems it’s not really a color to “shout out” during this time in history- but you go turn it out people! I played a wacky spy shop salesman in a TV movie and the costumer put me in a t shirt that said “better dead than red”. In the end- you couldn’t really see it on screen. I suppose people were distracted by my Emmy worthy performance…I will even take a tiny smidgen of parking lot any day! Just the act and suspense of waiting in line and buying tickets…oogling at the posters, and me: critiquing the fret and dental work of the main gate- which still happens of course. It’s kind of a shame that people now completely miss the visceral and tactile experience that us lucky ones had prior to paving paradise and putting up a theme park. I use the term theme very loosely. For another time. NASA guy on the Autopia has the same stern look as all of those Autopia employees. Glad to see it was intact in ‘57. I’m a bit thrown off by the brown belt…it looks nice, just odd with prescribed black oxfords. Details details. There’s another NASA guy in the order of the red handkerchief over there. You can certainly see that costume from a great distance. Another costume designer I worked with also put us “mean” characters in bits of red. She told me “red evokes anger”. My thought was “people can see me”. I’m not sure people hated me more because of a red pocket square, but there ya go. Another note: nice to see fenceless grass. I thought that this seem to evoke “trust” and “openness” to the expenses of space. The Frontierland fences were and are still cool, but I kind of like seeing the smattering of green unencumbered by railings in a sea of brown. Thanks for the photos this am!
It makes perfect sense that the 1st photo was the first one on the roll. You can get extra "leader shots" on a roll of film, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Still, you can feel the excitement of a new day of adventures starting!
The next shot is a beauty! I really do want to step into it! Wow!
Thanks for the quote, Chuck! It works best if you say it in a really bad Cockney accent!
Oh, and I just spotted the little "TM."
Nice.
Steve, am I seeing things, or is the passenger consist on the passing siding in front of the Main Street Depot? It looks from this angle to be closer to the outside edge of the berm than I am used to seeing it.
1957 is too late for the original, single-station-stop-per-consist operating pattern. Could the Main Street Depot be closed due to track maintenance and the passing siding being used to keep the railroad operating?
Imagine going to the expense of color film and processing to receive the cruel hoax of photo 1.
Photo 2 offers a fine sense of anticipation, combined with nice signage and a “wood-look” trash can. Is that foursome in the center our group?
Just a smidgen of the fire extinguisher in view in photo 3, i wonder if they were purely precautionary or if they saw any use. Someone knows.
Thanks Major, let’s ride the Mine Train later, shall we?
JG
Nanook, yeah, imagine walking around that Disneyland. To my 2023 eyes it would be incredible. I’m away from home today, but if I find myself with some spare time, I’ll try to add your photo. Sorry I’m so lame!
JB, colors definitely go through cycles of being “in”, as I learned in art school. One design magazine would publish a page or two of the colors that would be fashionable in the upcoming year. Not sure who determined it, but it was always kind of interesting. I noticed the straw hat, it looks good on that woman! “Giant mules”? Aren’t they bite-sized? Or at least “fun size”? Yes, the Autopia used to have seatbelts, I remember the big grommets that were on them. I’d sure love to have one of those vintage “Disneyland” plates in my collection.
TokyoMagic!, if you trip on that curb, you can sue Disney! Because working sucks. I’m glad you liked that second image!
Chuck, yep, that sure looks like some Santa Ana winds, which I don’t care for, but hey, when you’re at Disneyland how bad can it be? Except that my hair will be messy, and that is not OK.
Bu, is that quote that Chuck used actually from P.L. Travers? I thought it was from the Sherman Bros., but it is very possible that they took some of her actual text. Meanwhile, I love the book, “Something Wicked This Way Comes”, and was very disappointed in the movie. Maybe it’s due for another try? Oh if only we could see a clip of you as the wacky spy shop salesman! Hopefully you didn’t keep glancing at the camera the way PeeWee did. I agree that it is a shame that folks miss out on the experience of approaching the park from the lot, but I guess they have found other things to love. I wondered if anybody would comment about NASA guy! The brown belt belonged to his father, much like Pootie Tang (best movie ever?). Good point about the fenceless grass, though I know that guests probably walked (and laid down, and ate) on it. Also, red evokes tomatoes. You don’t want to be a tomato, do you?
Stu29573, I’m sure that whoever took that photo wishes he’d just played it safe and gotten a good picture of his family in front of the station. But instead he only got 1/2 a picture. Oh well. A bad Cockney accent? I would be very disappointed if I ever went to England and people didn’t sound just like Bert.
Steve DeGaetano, they were very inconsistent with that “ride” rule! I’m sure you are familiar with the Mine Train/Pack Mules/Rainbow Caverns poster, with each attraction referred to as a “ride”.
Steve DeGaetano, :-)
Chuck, hmmm, now that you mention it, the train does appear to be a bit closer than usual. But how would passengers board? I’m sure they wouldn’t step down, across the tracks. Maybe you’re right, and Main Street Station was temporarily closed, I’ve seen that with my own eyebones.
JG, yes, somebody was “penny wise and film foolish”! As Ben Franklin (or was it Kurt Vonnegut?) said. I had to really look for that trashcan, but once I found it, I couldn’t unsee it. I don’t believe that the foursome is our group, but it’s hard to be 100% certain. I’m sure the fire extinguishers were precautionary, but I would not be surprised if they needed to be used at least a few times over the decades. I’d give the kid in the driver’s seat a blast too. “Sorry kid!”. See you at the Mine Train!
I'm going to pretend the Half Family arrived in a 1957 Chevy- soon to be a classic! I hope they held on to it.
zach
@ zach-
Maybe they arrived in that 1955 Chevrolet in Neptune Green - barely visible at the very far left edge of the 1st image-!
zach, what made the '57 Chevy such a classic? Did it just "click" with consumers, or was it actually a superior vehicle?
Nanook, I am impressed that you can ID that car based on seeing a tiny bit of the front corner!
Love the color-coordinated family; they are the ancestors of today’s matching T-shirt families. Junior even managed to get a red car at the Autopia! (My Grandma would be proud.) The fact that all their reds aren’t quite a 100% match reminds me of “School Color Day” in Homecoming week back in high school. It’s not easy to find perfect matches when your school colors are maroon and white.
The second picture is postcardworthy. POSTCARDWORTHY! The sign post reminds me of the one they had on M*A*S*H, with everybody’s hometown on it.
Bu, I confess I once fell back on that “villains in red” cliché when costuming a play, even thought I usually associate red with cheerfulness in real life.
Thanks as always, Major, for the carrousel ride back in time.
Happy new year Gorillas
#1 is awesome because it is squarely a photo of Disneyland…never-mind those nosy folks in the foreground. Main Street train station perfectly framed, including a peek at Mickey flower face.
But what grabbed me is, how many millions of pics have I seen of the entrance… and never noticed the Emporium as part of the profile?!
Cheers- MS
Melissa, oh man, those t-shirt families. I remember seeing a large family of “true believers” at the park not that long ago, and I say this as a die-hard Disney geek - they were a bit much! But hey, I love their passion. Red cars are pretty hard to beat in the old Autopia, though I did like all of those old original metallic hues. Have you ever gone to Target and noticed that the employees are wearing red shirts, but they are every variation of “red” that exist? I sometimes hike up to the old site where they filmed MASH (too lazy to put in the asterixes) and the park has put in a replica of the old sign. I thought villains wore black?
MS, Happy New Year to you too. Yes, from certain angles you can see the Emporium and City Hall, or the Opera House on the other side. Somehow the brain wants to edit them out.
Major, you get "giant mules" when you put normal-sized pack mules up against teeny tiny buildings.
The Redman family was always known to be far-right extremists.
Bu, you have to share the name of the movie with us, please.
My favorite picture today is Nanook's. It's great to finally meet "grown up" you, Nanook! And I agree with Major...your eyebrows don't look bad at all. ;o)
Thanks, Major and Nanook!
@ Sue-
The location of the photo was no accident - as it was intended to share with my "hair care professional"-! She has [rather] strong opinions about 'poor' hair/eyebrow/tattoo choices. As for me, I'm rather lacking in the eyebrow department, with just enough there to 'keep the franchise', if you will.
Nanook...I'd admire that hair. More so now than years ago as the rain that falls on my head seems to be getting colder and wetter each year. Alas. KS
@ KS-
Ditto.
Nanook, I very much enjoyed the additional photo of "the mad behind the Eskimo." Thanks for sharing a personal pic with us! One day, I hope to be so brave!
Ooops, make that "the MAN behind the Eskimo."
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