Junior Autopia

Before we get to the Disneyland pix, let's wish a big Happy Birthday to GDB pals Lou Perry and Dean Finder! Sue B. has provided this fun vintage photo of a birthday party (thanks Sue!) - I'm trying to guess an approximate date, but am not sure. Early 1950s? Late 1940s? There are two young basketball referees in the center, one of them is presumably the birthday boy. I think that the table is too big, and that they should have used an even smaller table. How much cake wound up on the floor? In the background is what appears to be a photographer's lamp, so this photo might be from the finished batch.

Here are two more scans from a batch of loose (non-mounted) 120-format color transparencies, from the 1950s! A lucky girl is on a magnificent golden Junior Autopia vehicle - James Bond would look good at the wheel of a car like this. She has a steely look of concentration on her face; it looks like the cast member is giving her some sort of instructions. "Don't run over my friend up ahead", perhaps?

Well, she made it in one piece, and is returning to the load/unload area. A mechanic in oily coveralls looks like he's been kept busy.  Two other employees can be seen near his left shoulder, presumably part of the landscape maintenance crew. Thank goodness there's a telephone booth nearby, you just never know when you'll need to call "Bowling For Dollars".

 

Two From August 1970

August, 1970 would have been a great time to visit Disneyland. Well, maybe not August 6th. But otherwise you had the New Tomorrowland, and the Carousel of Progress was still going strong.  The Haunted Mansion had opened only a year earlier.

Here's a nice shot looking across the Submarine Lagoon on a glorious, sunny day - presumably from the Skyway terminal in Tomorrowland. If you look closely, there is a bobsled visible on the Matterhorn, which of course means wealth and prosperity for everyone. Guests glide up the Speedramp to the Monorail station, while the tail cone of the Green Monorail can be seen in the lower right. Also... a yellow Peoplemover train!

"Honey, take my picture, these yellow and purple flowers match my eyes". Joke's on him, he forgot to take off his sunglasses! Ah, he's enjoying his Marlboro cigarette, life is good.

Two From the 1950s

I love almost any photo of Disneyland from the 1950s - here are two of 'em! First up, here's Gramps sitting in one of the seats (where only the cool kids get to be) on the bow of the Mark Twain - it looks like the steamboat is still at the dock, but not for long! I'm sure many of you remember Gramps from these photos. I wonder what he's holding in his right hand? It appears to be a rolled-up piece of paper. Maybe one of those Pilot's Certificates? Or else it is a whammy stick.

For a year or two, there were some painted plywood "Fun Photo" ops near the Red Wagon Inn. We get a good look at one, with a little girl resembling Stinky Pete from "Toy Story 2". Pluto loves her no matter what she smells like!

More Special Guest Photos!

Today is the FOURTH post featuring family photos from GDB pal JG! As you can see, these are from September, 1965; JG included some comments on each photo for your enjoyment. Let's go!

Oh boy, what a beautiful look at the stern of the Pirate Ship, with the Chicken of the Sea mermaid in bas-relief. A nice Skyway view of my favorite place in Yesterland. The sails are unfurled and we are ready to launch, first star on the right and straight on till morning.

An action shot from the Skyway - two gondolas pass within, what? Eight feet of each other? That's 2.43 meters to the rest of the world. This picture should go in front of the one above, I think. A standard and somewhat dull view from a Skyway bucket. No, JG, this is in the correct order, the gondola is heading to the Fantasyland Chalet! The red gondola is on its way to Tomorrowland.

JG poses in front of Snow White, there she is, with the Dwarfs and various woodland critters: I'm posed in front of Snow White's Grotto, my favorite place in the Park that still exists. I love that I can still stand in the same spot 50 years later. I think it is the only spot like that in these pictures that still survives intact and I am constantly in fear that Johnny Depp or Rachel Zegler will be added to the Grotto.

Oh yeah, the Subs! Very cool that JG and Russ (his dad) are so close to the conning tower. My Dad and I in front of the Nautilus. I was fascinated with the 20K Leagues movie, we had probably just come from seeing the walk-through exhibit and then rode the sub with the same name. I think I shared the scanned version of the 20K storybook that I got on this trip.

THANK YOU, JG, for sharing these wonderful scans!

 

Random Beauties From the 50s

Here are two more random scans from a batch of loose 120-format transparencies from the 1950s, starting with this nice view of locomotive #1, the C.K. Holliday as it pulls into Main Street Station. If you look carefully you can just see somebody in the cab of the locomotive, while a conductor stands at the door of one of the old yellow passenger cars, waiting to help guests as they disembark. I like the view of the distant parking lot! Notice the red Christmas bell decoration to the left.

Over in Fantasyland, two girls we've seen previously (one is harder to spot in this image) ride King Arthur's Carrousel, back when the horses were all sorts of colors. Black! White! Burnt Sienna! Butterscotch! Green! Well, maybe not green, but you get the idea. Either the girl closest to us is a daredevil, or the Carrousel hasn't started moving yet. You have to hold on to that pole with a kung fu grip!

Snoozles From August, 1965

Sometimes I wonder if I should continue to share Snoozles™ here on GDB. But I guess it's a way to post some "content", even if it is not great - on a day when viewership is low. Lower than usual, I mean (it's always low)!

Neither of today's pictures is terrible, they are just a bit "soft", focus-wise. I'm never sorry to have a look at an Omnibus. My eyes always immediately go to the mini-posters on the side, I kind of wish they would bring those back (with a mix of new and old artwork of course). Having finally taken several rides on the Omnibus, I can confidently say that the top level is the best! Shocking, I know.

This one is in focus, but it's rather dark. The Streetcar is in Town Square, and is being pulled by what I believe is a Percheron horse rather than the Belgian Draft Horses that we seem to see so often. I want to feed him an apple. There's a couple to the right of the horse's head, and above them you can see a lamppost sign for DISNEYLAND '65, the joyful Tencennial celebration. 

 

Random Roadside Attractions

I have a fondness for weird roadside attractions from around the USA, and once in a while I've been lucky enough to find slides for a few that I've never heard of. Researching can be half the fun.

From December, 1964 we get this look at... well, what the heck is it? A giant piece of folk art, but what else? I was pretty baffled until I saw the red sign between the two sitting prospectors (who look like friends of Handsome Brady and Whiskey Bill from Knott's Berry Farm) - the sign says OLD SOUTH BAR-B-Q RANCH. Aha! The Old South BBQ was located in Clewiston, Florida, along US Route 27. 

Here's a vintage postcard! One website had some personal recollections from people who went here: "Boy, this was the place. Every time we would go fishing on Lake Okeechobee we would stop at the Ranch for lunch on our way home. IT WAS THE BEST! ... We used to climb on the fiberglass horses and cows and play on their outside decor forever and the food was great too."

"This place had all of that plus an outside ambience beyond description. The roadside signs started 50 miles north of Clewiston on HWY 27. I knew that we were almost home when we started seeing the signs."

"The outside was full of fiberglass 'old west' characters, wagon wheels, and punny signs adorning the building and parking lot. The inside was full of old west decor and bric-a-brac, and the waitresses wore Dale Evans-style cowgirl costumes with toy holsters."

I'm unclear as to when this place first opened (perhaps it was tied to the 100th anniversary of the start of the Civil War in 1860?), but it was there until at least sometime in the 1980s, finally closing after 1987, from what I have gleaned. You can read a bit about it on the Roadside America website.

What the heck? I guess sitting in a toylike cart  behind a burro qualifies as tourist fun! And what in the world is the "Desert of Maine"? From Wikipedia: The Desert of Maine is a natural curiosity and privately owned tourist attraction whose main feature is a 20-acre expanse of barren glacial sand in the town of Freeport, Maine, United States. The area was de‑vegetated by poor farming practices in the 19th century.

Say, this vintage postcard is somethin' else! Did you know that the burro had a name? PEDRO THE BURRO! From the back of this postcard: Desert of Maine is the greatest natural phenomenon of its kind known. The desert itself covers approximately 500 acres and is still growing, with possibilities of extending into several thousand more in the next 25 to 30 years. It is a spot no tourist should fail to visit. Only five minutes from Main Highway, Route 1, or Route 95 Freeport, Maine. Wikipedia says the place is 20 acres, the postcard says 500. Perhaps much of it was sold off to developers and is no longer "desert"?

I hope you have enjoyed today's weird Roadside Attractions.

Tomorrowland, December 1980

I have two beauties featuring Tomorrowland, from two slides date-stamped "December, 1980". 

See what I mean? Pretty great! I believe that our Peoplemover train was on its way back to the station after a relaxing (and interesting) tour of the land.

Notice that the sign on the building to the left (America the Beautiful) still says "Presented by", but the rest ("AT&T; Your Host Company - Pacific Bell") has been removed. Presumably Pacific Bell/AT&T had ended their sponsorship at some point, but I haven't been able to determine when this occurred. If you look under the "UL" of Beautiful, you can see the ghost of an outline of the old Bell logo.

Look at that crowd! Sure, it's like a typical day today, but back then, this seems unusual. Is it possible that Tomorrowland was still getting a "bump" from Space Mountain, now in its third year? 

And there's the Rocket Jets, placed dramatically atop the Peoplemover station - I always wish the rockets were in the air in photos like these, but you can't have everything. "America Sings" would have been going strong in the Carousel Theater.

Next is this beauty looking back toward Space Mountain across the Sub Lagoon; I'm not positive, but I think that this one is also from the Peoplemover. There's the zig-zag roof of the Monorail station, the Carousel Theater (again), the Subs, and the Skyway. Even Main Street Station makes a surprise appearance!

Leftuggies™

I have two tasty Leftuggies™ for you today, so I hope you didn't eat a big breakfast. First up is this September 1964 view, either taken from the Tomorrowland Skyway terminal, or from a gondola. Below us is the striped awning for the Autopia, as well as the Autopia itself. The center rail was brand-new in '64, and we can see a few Mark VI vehicles. This corner of Tomorrowland looks very pretty, with plenty of lush landscaping. And best of all, we get both the red and blue Monorail trains! 

Next, from September, 1963 is this photo of the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship, with some sort of mysterious, and haphazard-looking scaffolding. I can't even really determine what the scaffolding is supporting, Is it going from the boardwalk to the ship itself? If anybody has any clue what is going on here, please chime in!

America Sings, September 12, 1983

Today I am happy to present the first of two parts featuring some very nice photos from AMERICA SINGS in Tomorrowland! These were taken by Lou Perry and were scanned and shared with us by his daughter, Sue B. And since we have a specific date (September 12), I had to refer to Jason's Disneyland Almanac for some data. With these later dates, we usually don't have as much information (usually attendance figures are not available) as we do for earlier dates, but we do know that September 12 was a Monday, the park was open from 9 AM to 6 PM, and that the high temperature was 96º.

I had to do some research, I only saw America Sings one time, so recollections are pretty fuzzy. Feel free to correct me since I am sure to be wrong several times.

Oh no, not Stork Bikers! The last time they came to town, they ate every sardine and pickled herring in sight. Why can't they leave us alone? I thought that they might have been singing "Born to the Wild" by Steppenwolf, or "Leader of the Pack" by Shangri-Las, but apparently the song was "Twistin' USA". By Danny and the Juniors! I like Danny, but I hate the Juniors.

The two hosts (or MCs) were Sam the Eagle and Ollie the Owl. I'd always wondered if there was any connection to the Sam The Olympic Eagle from the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but Wikipedia says that while the Olympic mascot was designed by Disney artist Robert Moore, there is no other relation. 

Hippies! You'd think they might be singing psychedelic anthems such as "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" by the Electric Prunes, or "Incense and Peppermints" by the Strawberry Alarm Clock, but instead they apparently performed "Hound Dog/See You Later Alligator" (or maybe "Joy to the World", since this group was seen more than once).

If these are members of the "College Quartet", then this "A-Tisket, A-Tasket/Boo Hoo". You know who's crying "Boo Hoo"? ME!

This might be part of the finale to the "Modern Times" segment of the show, where the cast performed  "Joy to the World". My main memory of this scene is the way the hair on the guitar stork swayed as he moved. That chicken does not look trustworthy.

Well, that does it for Part One! Many thanks to Lou and Sue for these fun photos from an extinct attraction.

Three Gate Handouts, 1959 & 1960

Upon arriving at Disneyland, guests were handed what seems to be a number of useful and wonderful flyers/brochures with information about guided tours, ticket book options, and (usually) special events that were going on at that time of the year. I've shared a number of these, which I have filed under the category of IMPORTANT! flyers. See some past posts HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. In no particular order (I couldn't even locate all of them on the blog).

Going through my scans of paper ephemera, I saw that I still had three of these IMPORTANT! flyers that I have not shared. I think my concern was that, other than minor details, they are all so similar that they might not be of much interest to most Junior Gorillas. But then I threw all caution to the wind and decided to just combine them into one post. Some say I am mad, but it is THEY who are mad!

Here's a pinkish example from the Fall-Winter of 1959. Presumably attendance dropped off after a busy Summer.

I don't really expect you to read all of this, but if you do, it might provide some fun details. There was no "Nature's Wonderland" just yet, so one would enjoy a trip through "the Rainbow Desert and through Rainbow Caverns on a Mine Train". The new Submarine Voyage and Monorail were options; but you could still enjoy classics such as "Satellite View of America". And you get a souvenir guidebook!

The park is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, but "Date Nite" was in full swing. Bring your sweetheart for a night of fun, music, and dancing.

Next is the pink and blue version for the Spring of 1960. I once saw a variation on this one on eBay, and it went for a shocking amount, so it must have been exceptionally rare.

I like the updated graphics on this one, with much of the same info as before. A "Jumbo 15" ticket book for adults was $4.50, roughly $50 in today's money. I'm sure more than a few dads grumbled about the cost!

So much for special events in the Spring.

And finally, here's the "Winter 1960" flyer, in icy blue.

It seems odd to me that they reverted to the same graphic style as the first flyer. But I'll get over it. 

And again, no special events are listed. No Christmas parades? No nothin'?? 

I hope you have enjoyed these IMPORTANT! and vintage Disneyland paper items!

The Matterhorn, August 1961

Let's ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds! We haven't been to Disneyland for a few years, so this will be a new experience for us. I hope I don't barf. 

There's the picturesque load-area chalet, it looks very "at home" with an impressive Swiss Alp behind it. The glacial runoff has resulted in some splendid waterfalls! All those shields on the façade must be from local baseball teams or something. Sliding into second wearing lederhosen isn't easy, but that's what makes the game so great.

I love this photo of a mother and her two sons posing with the Matterhorn right behind them, Skyway visible in the distance. Mom is holding a shopping bag that looks like it could hold a souvenir wall map (the 1961 map is the one with the pink border, in case you were wondering). That map shows the new Flying Saucers, the helicopter pad next to the Disneyland Hotel, and the Monorail track extending all the way to the Hotel. I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't notice if there is still pretty landscaping at the base of the attraction, I was too a-scared of the abdominal snowman.

 

Snoozles™

I have some flawed slide scans for you today, and those flaws put them squarely in the "Snoozles" category. This first one is from 1967, and would be a nice "general interest" picture if it wasn't for the fact that it's a little out of focus. Not too bad though. There's an ice cream vendor to the left(ish), and to the left of him we can see two boys wearing identical blue plaid shirts. What would Melissa have to say about them?  

Next, from "sometime in the 1970s" comes this backlit, too-dark photo of King Louie, who is standing there with no guests bothering him, somehow. There are some kids who want to approach him, but how do  you do so without him going ape crazy?? Strangely, Louie is wearing a flower in his... er... "lapel", I wonder if this was some special day at the park? 

Times Square Signs, 1949

Years ago, I acquired a bunch of vintage photos from New York City. 1949, in fact - 76 years old! Among those photos were some very neat (and scarce) night photos from Times Square, showing off some of the amazing and huge signs for various movies. I'll share a few of them today, and maybe more in a future post.

With all of the lights constantly flashing in various patterns, a long exposure would have been required to get everything lit up at once. That didn't happen here, but there are still some pretty amazing examples of the sign maker's art. At the Loew's State, "Command Decision" is playing. Released in 1948, it starred Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Van Johnson, and Brian Donlevy. The film's major theme is the emotional toll on commanders from ordering missions that result in high casualties, the effects of sustained combat on all concerned, and the nature of accountability for its consequences. 

The Philco sign to the left was notable for showing simple animated scenes, it must have been a real technological marvel for the time - you'll see another photo of this in a future post.

In this view, we can see some of the familiar old neon signs for products like Kinsey whiskey and Ruppert beer, Chevrolet, and the famous Camel cigarettes sign that changed over the years, but always had a character blowing smoke rings (I think I can see a puff of smoke?), I wish we could see that one more clearly! To the right, the New York Theatre is showing "Two Thrill-Packed First Run Hits", including "The Feathered Serpent" and "Blazing Across the Pecos", both featuring cowboy Charles Starrett.

You can't help noticing the big sign for "Joan of Arc" starring Ingrid Bergman; I tried to figure out which theatre this was, but am not sure; the red LONDON might be the name of the theatre?

IMDB trivia had this tidbit: To promote the film Joan of Arc (1948), the studio placed an eight-story-high figure of her in white plastic armor in New York City's Times Square, at a cost of $75,000. That makes it sound as if they built a giant statue of Joan, but it's clear that they were referring to this sign. It's pretty spectacular! FYI, $75,000 is the equivalent of almost one million dollars in today's Moonbucks. 

According to Wikipedia, the film is a straightforward recounting of the life of the French heroine. It was Victor Fleming's ("Gone With the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz") last directorial effort, and was, unfortunately, a box-office disappointment.

 If you have liked seeing these, let me know and I'll share more!

Color Correction Academy

Happy Valentine's Day! 

 

I was going to ignore The Mushiest Day of The Year, but Sue B. is more mature than I am. She sent along two vintage scans that seemed appropriate for the occasion. As you can see, a boy and a girl are celebrating some occasion with a butterfly-shaped cake. "You've always been a fan of Lepidoptera, honey!", said the boy. "Oh, Sterling, you say the sweetest things!". Check out that wallpaper, 

What the...! Kissing?!? I choose to believe that they are just rubbing noses, the way it's done in certain cultures. Sue pointed out that the danger of cooties is in the red zone, but these two lovebirds don't care. I can't imagine being that age and then being asked to do whatever they are doing, but it's ancient history now.

 

 

It's Friday, and I wanted to share something fun, so I thought you might enjoy seeing more examples of slides that were restored from examples that had turned magenta over the years. It's always a fun challenge to try to bring the color back, even if the results were mixed. All of these are undated - but definitely from the 1950s.

So... there's the first one as it looks unaltered. Arg! Still, the subject matter is appealing, a nice view from the parking lot as we approach the ticket booths and turnstiles. 

I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the photo to look like this, and I'm still not entirely happy with it - but it is definitely an improvement. Notice the two ladies who appear to be wearing similar (but not identical) outfits; red dresses, white socks, and even souvenir Keppy Kaps (well, maybe only the woman to the right is wearing a Keppy Kap). Why are they going home so early?? To the right of the ladies we can just see a yellow "runabout" behind the ticket booths. The C.K. Holliday is at rest on the platform in front of Main Street Station. There is a banner above the west tunnel, I think I see "...ON" for the last two letters, must have to do with the debut of the Grand Canyon Diorama (which opened on March 31, 1958).

Next is this Town Square view, with an Omnibus and the Bank of America. For whatever reason, there was less color information remaining beneath all of that redness, which made things a bit trickier.

Like the first pic, I am not completely satisfied with this color-correction attempt, but it's OK. It's possible I could work on it longer and get a slightly better result, but I spent enough time! Above that trashcan, there is a man, and behind him we can see a rare Art Corner poster, as well as a 20,000 Leagues poster. Some guests are gathered around the little souvenir booth ("Do ya got any salt and peppers? My sister loves salt and peppers!"). Meanwhile, the Omnibus driver appears to be chatting with a family, because he cares. "Don't keep a grown chimp as a pet, take it from me". "I promise, sir!". Where else but at Disneyland?