The Plaza, June 1962
Well, I screwed up, and today''s blog post was a little late. But some of the Junior Gorillas were on it and let me know! Luckily I got up very early and fixed it, so hopefully it did not inconvenience anyone too terribly.
Today's photos from the Plaza area kind of remind me of the Town Square images we saw two days ago... only these are from eight years earlier. The photographer took more than a few shots that (at first) seem kind of random, but once you are on his wavelength, there was a method to his madness. And it's always fun to look at the people.
This first one must have been taken in an attempt to catch that Firetruck as it was apparently taking on more passengers. It looks completely full already! Maybe if you stack the people like cordwood they will all fit. The little girl in the foreground is looking both ways before crossing the street, she has learned well from Jiminy Cricket.
Unlike many vintage Disneyland photos, this one has several groups that include kids. It was June, and everybody was out of school. There's the dad and his boy to the left, and the little family walking in the street. There's also the group of four gals, unencumbered by niños. I assume the Matterhorn was the intended subject, while the House of the Future got in there too.
13 comments:
Are they holding the fire truck for those two hoodlums with untucked shirts to board? I say, “let ‘em walk.” You start catering to their kind and the next thing you know you’ve got plush in every store. It’s a sure sign of impending societal collapse.
My vote for today’s VFA (we miss you, Melissa!) goes to the kid at extreme right of the first image. It takes a lot of self-confidence to pull off that look.
The group of four ladies in the second photo reminds me so much of pictures of my mom taken during this era.
Thanks, Major!
I actually thought I had clicked on the wrong day today, until I noticed that little rock in the background.
It always surprises me how everyone is all dressed up. But then again I'm easily surprised. Stop jumping out at me!
Major, that little girl is no fool! No siree!
TokyoMagic! She's no fool! No sirree!
She wants to live to be seventy-three
She plays safe for you and me 'cause
she's no fool!
Love the classic views of the Matterhorn from the Hub Plaza. Thanks, Major.
A Lost Era.
I like the composition of the HoF and the Matterhorn.
Major, for the prices you charge for GDB, I think you can be late once in a while. It’s still a bargain, thank you!
JG
"hopefully it did not inconvenience anyone too terribly."
Humphfff... I tossed and turned ALL NIGHT! And now I'm gonna be grumpy ALL DAY!!! (Better, Grumpy than Sneezy, I guess.)
Misty Mountain's majesty. The misty Matterhorn looks especially mountainous... and majestic; much larger, more real, and more distant than usual. Did I mention that the Mountain looks misty and majestic?
Chuck already mentioned most of what I was gonna say (Thanks A LOT, Chuck!) ;-) Though I initially saw only one hoodlum with an untucked shirt. After Chuck's urging, I see the other one trying to hide his rebellious act behind the Firetruck. After they were apprehended, both of them spent the rest of the day in the Churro Mines beneath the Castle. The little kid with striped pants and Chairman Mao jacket must have time-travelled from 1969 back to 1962.
Palm trees! Where are the palm trees?!?! You can't have a Swiss mountain without palm trees! That would be like having chocolate without mustard! Most of the niños in this photo are really young; 1st graders, or younger. Where are the tweens and teens? (Probably riding the Matterhorn Bobsleds!)
Thanks for the (late) misty Mountain pics, Major.
Major-
I concur with Chuck about today's 'VFA' going to the young lad with the buzz cut and stripy trousers. But, it'll take a few more years than vertical stripes can provide to give him the added height he's so desperately seeking. I'm certain some day he'll be a 'giant among men'; that, or a member in a marching band somewhere (on stilts). Extra points to the young lady in the 2nd image with the 'electric' blonde hair, and her over-dressed Mom who failed to get the memo about always wearing "sensible shoes" to Disneyland.
Thanks, Major.
Yeah, the stripy pants in the first pic really are something! Someone should have put their head right up under the firetruck bell like a hat. In pic 2, I can't imagine wearing a pencil skirt and heels to Disneyland like Little Family mom. Give me some sensible flats and pants like the gals. Thanks, Major.
Chuck, they’d better hold that Firetruck for those hoodlums, if they know what’s good for them! They don’t want to eat knuckle sandwiches. Yes, we miss Melissa, I know that at least one Junior Gorilla is doing everything possible to try to contact her. I do like the group of four ladies, just enjoying life.
Stu29573, “little rock”? You mean the Matterhorn?? :-D I’m sure back in those days the “dressed up” look was just regular daily wear.
TokyoMagic!, why I can hear Cliff Edwards as if he was in the room!
K. Martinez, I wonder if that was a Jimmy Dodd song? I’ll look it up! OK, he wrote the lyrics, so far I’m unclear as to whether Cliff Edwards wrote the melody.
JG, today I am offering GDB to you at half price!
JB, at least you won’t be Dopey. The smog really makes the Matterhorn look great, I wish we had a lot more smog all the time. If elected, I will make sure of such a thing. That untucked shirt is so disgraceful that he almost looks like me. “Chairman Mao jacket”, ha ha. I guess the palm trees are visible from the Tomorrowland side, not so much from the Fantasyland side.
Nanook, I had striped pants when I was a kid, but nothing quite like those! I mean, those things are STRIPED. I wonder, will that general style ever come back? Maybe it came and went and I didn’t even know it. “Electric” blonde, I like that description!
Kathy!, imagine having that bell ringing two inches from your head. Deafening! I gotta say, that mom looks great, even if she is not dressed in a practical manner.
Major-
“Electric” blonde, I like that description!" I should've stolen the Maureen O'Hara line from the (1961) The Parent Trap... "...That plotz-faced child bride and her electric hips!"
Not sure that's a young lad in stripey trousers. He has hair like mine. He may have been a half-in-costume employee (?) "Something's up" with the trousers/bald head/short arms....seems kind of circus performer to me...completely plausible. Untucked shirts are like unbuttoned vests: "no". I like the look of un-contained grass beds: looks like they are trying hard with the benches squeezing them together. Guess they didn't have the cash yet: but there is something "freeing" about open expanses of grass. I can see guests trampling it quickly....so I get it. I once had to pay for re-seeding an entire park after an event...not personally...but it seemed like kind of a punishment for a few hour event....and it was....and we paid...at this stage in life I'm ready for some electric hips: and perhaps they are in my future. I had to look up the word Plotz....I've heard it 100 times in the Parent Trap but it never registered. I guess the word works....but I don't think that actress really gave off "child" vibes....she seemed kind of matronly and harsh...and nothing like Maureen O'Hara who was oh so lovely...excellent casting however. Thanks Major.
@ Bu-
I kinda agree with you - the 'child' description of Joanna Barnes' character is a bit misplaced but was used to emphasize the age difference between she and the Brain Keith character. The use of plotz, however, can be a but more nuanced. I presume David Swift was going for the more German (Plötze) use of the word - 'common roach'. After all, the screenplay IS based on the original German book - Das doppelte Lottchen.
The Yiddish use of the word (plotz) [in America] is used for expressing 'surprise' or 'excitement' - or more often for bigger moments, where one "feigns" to 'collapse' or 'faint'-! Remember... it's all about invoking sympathy from others for "your moment" of grief - even if exaggerated.
"....Luckily I got up very early and fixed it, so hopefully it did not inconvenience anyone too terribly."
Major, you truly do not need to worry about inconveniencing US, as YOU are the one who selflessly spends an average of a couple hours EVERY DAY, to bring us entertaining posts. THANK YOU!
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