Monstro's Mega Mouth
Monstro the Whale was (and still is) a popular photo subject for shutterbugs, I've sure had plenty of pix of him on this blog. As you know. I might as well use up two photos from two different batches, right? RIGHT?
From July, 1960 comes this first picture, which has hardly any people in it (there's that one lady, who has altered her chromatophores so that she blends into the background) - I think Monstro ate most of them. It's what he does! I told Walt that we should have a loud belching sound blasting out of Monstro's gullet after every boat went through, but I don't think he heard me. I referred to Monstro's Mega Mouth, but he should not be confused with a Megamouth Shark.
Here's a real Megamouth Shark. What a beauty!
Now it's June, 1962, and Monstro is still up to his old tricks. Whales are famous for being set in their ways. Ask a whale to try a new cereal, and he won't like it! All Monstro wants is "Quisp", and who can blame him? Grown men seem fascinated by Monstro, and he appreciates his fans - he doesn't say anything, but you can tell by the twinkle in his eye.
7 comments:
I just checked some recent images of Monstro (via Google)... He looks nothing like he used to! All bright blue, with white around his mouth, like he's been eating whipped cream pies... instead of guests.
Like most other things at the Disney parks, the old versions looked better. This Monstro looks a lot like he did in Pinocchio; fierce and scary!
I know that his eye opened and closed periodically, but did his fin also move? Too bad Walt didn't hear your burping suggestion, Major, that woulda been cool!
The Megamouth Shark sort of looks like a lobster claw... with fins... and an eye.
That's a nice vintage Hawaiian shirt that guy has on in the last pic. But what does the lady next to him have on her hat? Fishing lures?
One of those rare non-Snoozle Sundays. Thanks, Major.
”Whales are famous for being set in their ways….”. Especially when they are set in concrete.
Those guys in the lat photo wearing sunglasses and looking in the same direction remind me of the angels all going down to the beach to watch the sunset in the movie City of Angels. That’s about all I remember of that film. I found the German original (Wings of Desire) more interesting (plus it had Peter Falk in it).
Bu, I had a friend who was afraid to go to the bathroom after he saw Jaws. More proof of why it’s a bad idea to go take an impressionable five-year-old to see a horror-suspense film in the theater.
I’ll take the old scary Monstro over the new blue one, anytime.
I remember Monstro’s eye blinking from when I was very young, then years later, when it didn’t move, I wondered if it ever had done so. Kind of like the disappearing Barker Bird at the Tiki Room.
There was once a water spray or steam “blowhole” effect, but I’ve only seen that in photos.
Thanks for Monstro pics, Major. He is one of my earliest best memories of the Park.
JG
JB, yes, I am not crazy about the blue Monstro; I really wonder why they made him look that way, since he is not bright blue in “Pinocchio”. Did they want him to look less scary? Or more “cartoony”? No idea. I don’t even know if he still has a blinking eye, but my guess is that they would not want to maintain such a relatively simple mechanism. Magamouth sharks fascinate me, especially since they were not even discovered until 1976! The lady’s hat keeps pigeons from landing on her head.
Bu, I guess it must have been a bigger deal to repaint Monstro than we would guess, because his paint often looks a bit worse for wear. You’d think that when the park was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, they could have used a wire brush to get ride of the flaking paint and then use an industrial paint sprayer. It’s so easy, just give me lots money, I’ll do it! Maybe the rock wall was more comfortable than it looks. Those guys just wanted to be as close to the big guy as possible, and I don’t blame them. Sharks are amazing and varied animals, but as a rule I wouldn’t want to be in the water with them. Megamouths are harmless to humans, but man are they weird looking. I agree with you about not swimming when seals are around, once in a while you’ll read a story about a surfer who was attacked by a great white shark because he happened to be surfing when seals were nearby. Yikes.
Chuck, I’m afraid I don’t know the film “City of Angels”, it doesn’t have any robots, car crashes, or explosions, I’m guessing? What’s the point of even making it? OH, it’s a remake of “Wings of Desire”? I find it hard to believe that it is anywhere near as good as the original. My family decided to go to Martha’s Vinyard the year after “Jaws” had come out, and there were people in our group who absolutely would not go into the ocean. We even saw a guy who was surf fishing who pulled in a shark of some kind, a small sand shark or something - but it still freaked everyone out!
JG, the blinking eye is such a great detail that it really bothers me that they did not continue with it (assuming that this is the case). That’s an example of a little touch that Disneyland would always do that lesser parks wouldn’t. I have a great photo of Monstro “spouting” coming up (in weeks).
Cool pictures today, Major.
Looking at the last picture, on my phone, I see that the 2nd gentleman (from the left) blends in perfectly with his surroundings. His shirt matches Monstro, and his pants match the rocks. If he remains super still, he has a chance of not getting noticed, as Monstro looks like he’s salivating. (That tree trunk looks like saliva dripping down from the roof of his mouth—on my small phone picture.)
As a little kid I was a major wimp, avoiding anything that looked scary -- even knowing it was fake, because I knew it was the work of sadists who MEANT to scare me. Stayed home from "Return of the Castaways" because the commercial convinced me it was about condors eating little kids. On first family trip to Disneyland, I was the one who passed on Snow White and Mr. Toad (scary stuff on the murals), the Mark Twain (I had the idea the whole ride was carnage and burning cabins), and the Storybook Canal Boats. Being swallowed by an angry whale was preface to delightful miniature landscapes? Sure. And your older sibling will stop spinning the teacup if you get sick, as promised.
Also problematic: How you got out of the whale, if not orally? Always thought that line about sneezing his tail off was a cowardly evasion.
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