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".
10 comments:
Major-
Birthdays, the Junior Autopia, AND a gold Autopia vehicle-! This IS a red (okay, GOLD) letter day.
Happy Birthday to Lou and Dream Finder.
(What's up with that 'skirt' surrounding the base of the birthday cake...) And the rattan furniture... so much.
Thanks to Sue and The Major.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GDB BOYS!!
Man the color in the AUTOPIA images is fantastic!
Happy birthday, Mr. Perry! We really appreciate seeing your photos here on GDB! And happy birthday to you, Dean. I enjoy your witty comments here.
Wow, these party-goers are young! Three and four year olds, it looks like; maybe a couple of ancient five year olds. I just noticed that there are also three adults in the picture, off to the sides. There appears to be name cards on the dished-up plates; though I can't quite read any of them. Like you, Major, I can't tell if this is the 1940s or 1950s. That table looks like it came from a Tiki bar. Does that help with the date? I think all those dark triangular things on the background shelf are Christmas trees, so maybe this was the holiday season. Thanks, Sue; another 'winner'.
I don't remember seeing a golden Autopia car before. And those black leather seats look like they would be painful on a hot day! The CM is also telling her, "And try not to hit that dead skunk in the middle of the road".
The mechanic's hands are also oily. Either that or he's carrying his pet tarantula around with him. Yep, those guys in the background look like landscapers... or maybe they're gonna remove that dead skunk in the middle of the road.
Best wishes to Lou and Dean. And thank you, Sue and Major.
Nanook, what kind of car is that parked outside the window of the first pic?
I have a rattan dining room table and chairs from the fifties or sixties. (The chairs are similar to what used to be inside the Enchanted Tiki Room.) I think that black and white photo might be from the 1940s, as the Major was guessing.
Thank you, Major and Sue! And a appy birthday, to Lou and Dean!
Tokyo!, "appy birthday"... I never realized you were Cockney til now! :-D
JB, I should have referred to Lou and Dean as "governors"! :-)
Notice the TELEPHONE BOOTH OF TOMORROW and the AUTOPIA load-unload ……I too have never noticed a GOLD Autopia car .
The two tall girls (I think there are two) must be sisters. No unrelated cooties allowed.
Happy Birthday Lou and Dean! And thank you Sue and Major.
Zach
Happy Birthday Lou and Dean! Many happy returns of the day! Thank you for being part of the Junior Gorilla Crew!
I agree on late ‘40’s for the party pic. Not sure why. Clothes and “high and tight” haircuts mostly. We can see Mom in the background, like Charlie Browns parents. Wah-wah. That’s a great tiki table.
The young lady in the roadster is being advised that fire extinguishers are regularly spaced throughout the ride and not to scratch the gold paint.
That shot straight down the fence line is an inspired viewpoint. I think this is the same fence type we see elsewhere with the scalloped wood top. Mr. Mechanic sat in something unfortunate. He’s looking forward to shift change so he can head to Chao’s for a Mai Tai. Oddly, no fire extinguishers in sight here either. Was this photo before the Great Autopia Fire?
Thanks Major, Lou, Sue, and Dean!
JG
Nanook, that cake skirt might have looked nice in color. Maybe Hallmark sold those? And yeah, rattan furniture, I didn’t know that was a thing that far back!
Mike Cozart, I have to agree with you, the color in these is especially nice!
JB, I was not allowed to have a party or see other kids until I was 18. Dancing was forbidden, just like in “Footloose”. Also, instead of cake, we were only allowed a single beet, not even scrubbed clean. But it made me who I am today! Maybe those triangular things are Christmas trees? Hard to tell, the room sure doesn’t feel very Christmasy otherwise. I didn’t think about the black seats (surely vinyl?), it makes me remember the vinyl seats in our station wagons, which could truly cause pain in the summer. I have the feeling that Autopia cars broke down regularly - I know it happened while I was in one - possibly more than once. I didn’t like the ride because I was going to be the kid blocking everyone else.
TokyoMagic!, you joke, but Nanook might be able to ID that car. Do you have a tiki theme in your home? Are there singing parrots? You might live in the Tiki Room.
JB, TokyoMagic! was channeling Dick Van Dyke.
TokyoMagic!, you could tip your soot-covered cap to everyone.
Mike Cozart, I’ve had photos of gold Autopia cars before, but they are not common. Metallic or pearlescent paints were used on the Skyway gondolas for a while too, in fact for longer than they were used on Autopia cars, as far as I can tell.
zach, my mom always invited the neighbor girls to my birthday parties. I don’t remember being upset about it!
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