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!
13 comments:
Major-
Other than the 'multi-color' horse selection, the carousel looks pretty bare bones back then.
Thanks, Major.
My, what a striking photo! The highlights and shadows are just where they should be. Are you sure that's a red Christmas bell? I thought it was a traffic cone... oh wait... I had a smudge on my glasses... yer right, it's a bell. With all the feral cows roaming around the Park, I bet the train's cowcatcher has come in handy! We've also got the 'towers of power' standing guard in the background.
You'd probably wanna avoid the green horse; evidently that one has motion sickness from going around in circles too often. You could end up with green horse-barf all over you. Some say that carousel horses look 'spirited'. But to me, they always look terrified; running for their lives!
Thanks for the "random beauties", Major. And here I thought we were gonna see unknown men and women in bathing suits. :-D
These are beauties, Major. I'm guessing from that slight blur in the second image, that the carousel WAS in motion. I think that girl is just a big showoff and is pulling a "Look Ma, no hands!" stunt. She'll be sorry.
Thanks, Major!
Nothing too distinguishing about the C.K. Holliday. It's nice to see it pulling the yellow passenger cars--not its "regular" consist of the freight train. The train's bell isn't ringing--or perhaps the photographer just caught it at the lowest point of its arc. And no roof hatch to let some of the 140 degree heat out of the cab. And talk about a "clean stack!" No smoke or steam whatsoever!
…..that girl on the Carousel is a “dead ringer” for Judy Hensler - Theodore Cleaver’s schoolmate on LEAVE IT TO BEAVER!!
Nanook, it’s true, there seems to be a lot more bare wood than we see today. No paintings of the story of Sleeping Beauty, etc.
JB, when I use traffic cones, I always put them seven or eight feet up on a building. It’s just my way! I feel like cowcatchers are something that the public expected to see on an old train (and maybe that was accurate?), so Disney put them there. I do know that I’ve read about other vintage locomotives in which anachronistic cowcatchers were eventually removed. I thought that green horses were from Ireland, but that shows what I know.
TokyoMagic!, I dunno, both girls are looking pretty casual, I’d think they’d be hanging on if the Carousel was in motion. But I don’t want to fight about it! :-)
Steve DeGaetano, oh good point re: the yellow passenger cars, I obviously did not notice. That one little flag at the front of the locomotive seems to be under the influence of a stiff breeze, so you’d think the train would be in motion, and that the bell would be ringing. The guys working on the train could have kept some hotdogs in the pockets of their overalls, they would be fully cooked after a couple of trips!
Mike Cozart, oh boy, I haven’t seen “Leave It to Beaver” for about 30 years, I don’t even remember Judy Hensler.
Horses become green from eating too much cabbage.
The power lines and the “too solid air” are evident in the train photo, while the train is exactly what it should be, classically trainlike.
I think repainting all the horses white is very silly. I preferred a palomino if available, but any horse in a storm or something…
Good start to the week Major, thank you!
JG
@ MIKE-
"... that girl on the Carousel is a “dead ringer” for Judy Hensler". You're not kidding-!
Funny you should mention the flags on the engine, Major. The green flags aren't just for show--they have a meaning on the railroad. A locomotive showing green flags (or green classification lamps at night), means that there is one of more sections of the same train that are following behind. Since the railroad is a circle, and all the locomotives have green flags, it means that no matter how many "trains" are running, they are all technically just "sections" of the same train!
JG, it sounds like I wouldn’t want to be behind one of those green horses. It’s almost amusing at how bad the smog could be back then. Not that we don’t have it now, but it seems to be less of a thing. Or is that wishful thinking on my part? The conceit that “everyone wants to ride a white horse” seems like one of those Disney stories, I’ll bet it was more of a money-saving thing; why have 10 different colors for horses when you can just paint them all white?
Nanook, Mike never kids when discussing “Leave It to Beaver”.
Major-
And neither do I-!! [Actress] Jeri Weil I'm certain would be proud to know her 'likeness' was spotted on the King Arthur Carousel.
All of this talk of green horses reminds me that it's nearly time to watch Darby O'Gill and the Little People.
The funny thing about LEAVE IT TO BEAVER is that it’s always marketed as a children’s show ….. but the humor is obviously aimed at adults -especially those who had kids. The show was mostly directed by Norman Tokar who directed dozens of films for Walt Disney Productions.. including one of my most favorite films ever SNOWBALL EXPRESS (1972).
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