Here's a group of fun-lovin' folks aboard the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, from two slides dated "September 24, 1958". You know how much I love to refer to Jason's Disneyland Almanac when I have a specific date! The 24th was a Wednesday, the park was open from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, the temperature ranged from a high of 81º to a low of 59º, and attendance was a mere 8,327! If you think that's amazing, just two days later, attendance was 4,039. On a Friday!!
Ya scurvy swabs! If I can locate our plank, yer going to walk it. Backwards! You can tell that the young lady (?) to the left is not looking forward to her dip in the ocean, but there are no sharks today, so how bad could it be?
Maybe the photographer was standing on that blue bench to the right? He'd still need a zoom lens to get that "close up" view, I would think.
Major-
ReplyDeleteJudging from the positions and posturing of the folks around the wheel, there must've also been some mighty fierce seas that evening-! (I'll bet that information was nowhere to be found in Jason's Almanac-!) And, BTW, those are some great nighttime shots. Did the family rent a 10K for these evening shots, and if so, were they available at the Kodak Shop on Main Street-?-?
Thanks, Major.
I don't think we've seen nighttime photos of the Pirate Ship before? Is this a first? I like that guy's shirt. Not sure what the design is, but there seems to a palm tree or two. I'm glad they've got their hands on the ship's wheel, otherwise the Pirate Ship would veer off course and tear through Fantasyland.
ReplyDeleteIn the 2nd photo, from their expressions, I think this group spent the whole day at the Park, starting at 10:00 AM. Now they're tired and happy and looking forward to a good nights rest.
It looks like someone stuck a small wheel of brie cheese into the barrel of that cannon.
Nice nighttime photos, Major.
I'm trying to figure out just where the photographer was standing for that second pic. It looks like an elevated view, but I'm pretty sure they weren't standing on the ship. Were there some crates stacked up on the "wharf," next to the ship?
ReplyDelete.....the young lady to the left is not looking forward to her dip in the ocean, but there are no sharks today, so how bad could it be?
When she hits that cement pond below, it's gonna hurt!
^ When I said an "elevated" view, I meant not taken from ground level!
ReplyDeleteThe Almanac gives shark reports too? I had no idea! This merry bunch was actually attempting to steal the ship, but they didn't get far because the couldn't locate the parking brake. It's ok. They couldn't drive a standard anyway.
ReplyDeleteI was going to say, for me, getting night shots at Disneyland, even in the 1980s and 1990s, was very difficult! And I didn't even know what I was doing!
ReplyDeleteI think they may have just wrapped up a water skiing session and are having trouble getting the pirate ship back into its socket.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos of people having fun, the essence of Disneyland.
Thanks Major, these are just great.
JG
I too am perplexed as to how the photographer got that point of view in the last image. It makes me wonder is the image shown reversed? If so the photographer would likely be standing on the platform leading to the staircase to the dock and grotto seating area ( north facing side) of the galleon …
ReplyDeleteI worked with a guy who started at Disneyland in 1976 in high school - Ray Shiner ( since passed) he started in custodial and in 1978 he became famous after cleaning up on the Jolly Roger he went to polish the ship’s bell and the deck boards were so rotted he ( and the brass bell ) went crashing Thru the rotted deck and landed in a storage room on the ship. Later his supervisor asked him “ what did you go and do that for???” Anyway , Ray said the Jolly Roger was mostly held together with less paint … it was in such bad condition and it didn’t surprise him when the ship was demolished. Towards the end guests were blocked from the ends of the ship’s deck for safety. He said they had a big challenge trying to keep birds from making nests on and around the boat ( birds liked to pluck pieces of the ship’s ropes to make nests) after college Ray went to work for the park service as a ranger back East and helped arrange Civil War re enactments. Eventually he came back to Disneyland and with his historical knowledge of Disney and Disneyland was a natural fit for The Disney Gallery and Disneyanna. I know management cringed when Ray retold to guests the collapsing floor & bell story of The Jolly Roger to guests … lol.
Among other things, the flash bulb for these shots must of been mighty mighty. I know in those days the entire "bulb scheme" was a different one indeed. My dad had a flash attachment to his camera that he bought in Korea during the war...there was kind of an odd smell to the bulbs: but I probably shouldn't have been sniffing them. Any flash photo he took did not come out as well lit as these: and given the distance away this photographer was: I'm kind of mystified. I'm also a bit mystified by the collection of peoples, and I'm wondering what time sundown was on that day....clearly everyone loved that ship as an attraction much more than a fast food location, despite the delicious fish sandwiches of which I have never been a fan of: despite growing up around where all the tuna came in. I still can't bear a tuna fish sandwich, however I'll gobble up a platter of raw tuna without blinking an eye. Glad to see people having so much fun with simple pleasures on that September eve. Thanks Major.
ReplyDeleteNanook, it was one of those famous Anaheim squalls that could come up in an instant. One moment, clear skies and calm seas. Minutes later, it was “all hands on deck”! I wondered about the night shots too, maybe the photographer had one of those Speed Graphic cameras with the big Weegee flash bulbs.
ReplyDeleteJB, I might have one or two distant night shots with the Pirate Ship, but you are right, they are not common. Then again, night shots in general are uncommon. The guy’s shirt is made from a piece of a medieval tapestry. Seems wasteful, but it was the 50s and we didn’t know. With the park closing at 7:00, I wouldn’t think that the gang would be that tired, I’ve been there at the gate at 7:00 AM, not leaving until after midnight. And THEN having to walk a mile and a half back to my hotel. Fun!
TokyoMagic!, I added a photo to show where I think the photographer might have been standing, though it’s just a guess. And I know that if you dive just right, you can leap into foot-deep water without a scratch!
TokyoMagic!, a likely story.
Stu29573, oh, those almanacs predicted everything. I even knew when it was going to rain frogs, so I stood outside with a bucket because lunch was coming up, and I love a crunchy frog sandwich.
Steve DeGaetano, most regular folks probably didn’t have powerful flash attachments (I learned that Flash Cubes didn’t do much at night), but a REAL professional flash might have made all the difference.
JG, the tricky thing about getting a pirate ship back into its socket is that it is not “righty tighty, lefty loosey”, it’s the opposite. Talk about frustrating!
Mike Cozart, I was pretty sure I didn’t reverse the image, and looking at the back side of the Pirate Ship, I noticed that there are no cannons up at the rail, only down near the water. See my added photo, I can only assume that the photographer was on that bench, or maybe somebody went really crazy and held another person on their shoulders. Whoa, I never heard that the ship was so rotten that somebody crashed through the deck. And while it is believable, I blame the park for not properly maintaining the thing. It wasn’t a real boat, but they could have closed it for maintenance at least once in its 30-ish year existence and replaced old wood, just like they do all the time on the Columbia (that thing is constantly in dry dock). The truth is that they probably wanted an excuse to remove it - not that I’m cynical or anything. I’m glad Ray Shiner was OK.
Mike Cozart, the most delicious paint of all!
Bu, I’ve read about old press events where photographers dropped spent flash bulbs on the ground and popped in new ones, so much so that you couldn’t walk without crunching on the glass. Woodsy the Owl would not approve. I always assume that an experienced photographer with knowledge about the proper film stock, apertures, etc, could probably get much better results than most of us mere mortals. I’ve taken plenty of terrible night shots myself, at least with digital photos you can see your disaster right away instead of waiting for the prints to come back from the Photomat. In late September it wouldn’t be super dark at 7:00, but maybe dark enough for it to look like midnight on 1958 Kodachrome. I like tuna sandwiches a lot, though my sister thinks that I don’t actually like tuna because I add lemon juice, tabasco, scallions, etc.
MAJOR: ok as I speculated the group of people are in the opposite side of the ship …. Near the staircase leading to the grotto .
ReplyDeleteLook at the image you added : look at the entry door facing Fantasyland : look at the deck rail about and the CIRCULAR Bu ports - this is just above the entry door … THE NITETIME image is the opposite side … see the slope of the deck rail the guests are on in the nite shot is slipping in a DIFFERENT direction. The photographer is standing on the staircase ( rarely ever photographed ) that allows the photographer an extended position AWAY from the subjects standing on the deck .
The photographer could’ve stood on that ‘right’ bench (in the added picture), I think.
ReplyDeleteRemember the sizzling sound of a light bulb, after it flashed?
Thanks, Major.
^ FLASH bulb—not LIGHT bulb
ReplyDeleteYeah my theory only works if the image is reversed . By 1960 2 of the round gun ports were filled in “grotto side”
ReplyDeleteAs Walt would say with a grin “anything’s possible at Disneyland…”
ReplyDelete@ MIKE-
ReplyDeleteSince we know the 1st image is correctly-oriented, by comparing the bangs on two of the gals in each image, I'm fairly confident the 2nd image is also correct and not flopped. On the other hand, (looking at the slope of the deck railing) I completely agree, the image is from the opposite side of the ship - but with the image flopped. So, we're right back where we started. If there are any 'revealing' images from the grotto-side of the ship on-line, I can't find any.
@ MIKE-
ReplyDeleteOkay, HERE's an image [from 1962] showing the 'suspected' image area - that rear staircase now removed - that could work... if the image were flopped. And HERE's ANOTHER image, from 1957, showing that elusive staircase.
I agree that the only way the second photo works is if the image is flopped. Or possibly it was taken in the Mirror Universe, where Walt had a goatee.
ReplyDeleteSundown was 6:46pm that day and civil twilight would have gone on for about 30 more minutes, so while it looks like night in the photos, it was probably dusk. With film speeds of the time and the bright flash, that’s to be expected.
Major, pirate ships are like USB plugs, they only fit one way.
ReplyDeleteLoving the research here, thanks everyone!
JG