Nice Black and White Pix
A few years ago I acquired some especially-nice black and white photo prints, and it's about time I scanned them.
First up is this scarce view taken inside the old "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" walk-thru attraction that was in Tomorrowland from August 3, 1955 through to August 28, 1966. Not a bad run for a "space filler" that Walt needed for his least-developed land. Using set pieces and props from his 1954 hit film was a pretty good idea! In this photo we have a couple standing in front of Captain Nemo's pipe organ, I believe that Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" was played from a speaker. I'm assuming that the man to the left is security, though he might also be a mime.
Just as an aside, I noticed that Photoshop had something in the "Filters" menu called Neural Filters. Huh? Within the Neural Filters are many options, such as "Skin Smoothing", "Colorize", "Super Zoom" (my rap name, btw), and most interesting to me, "Photo Restoration". What's that? It's in beta mode, but I tried it out, and it did smooth out the grain, and sharpen some details (while losing other details, to be honest).
Here's a closer look at the original scan on top, and the version with the "Photo Restoration" applied on the bottom. I feel like the faces were restored impressively, what do you think?
A second photo was taken inside the Penny Arcade, with a few fun details, including two attraction posters. One is for the Columbia, which debuted on June 14, 1958; but these photos have the hand-written date of "2-12-1957" on them. It is possible that the posters were ready before the attraction opened, but more than a full year before?? Something seems screwy. Thanks to "Jason's Disneyland Almanac", I can tell you that February 3rd was a Sunday, park hours were 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM, attendance was 14,705, and the high temperature was 71º (with a low of 37º).
Weirdly. I tried the Neural Filter on this photo more than once, and it made no discernible difference.
25 comments:
Major-
I agree - those faces definitely 'pop' using the restoration process, but I'm a bit disappointed those folks don't now look like Bogart and Bacall-!
It would appear the woman standing in front of the Crystal Gazer Fortune Teller machine has just learned of her impending financial windfall-! Oh, for those days-!
Thanks, Major.
Haha. Definitely a mime! To paraphrase Shakespeare's Shylock: Hath not a mime's mustache? Hath not a mime's clothing, stance?"
Is he dressed like one of Nemo's crew? And what is the gentleman holding in his hand? A cigar? A 'Chinese finger trap'? It looks a lot like the finger-pricker thingy I use when I test my blood glucose.
The "restored" image is definitely sharper, especially the faces, like you said. Makes me wonder if applying a simple "Sharpen" command would produce the same results? I notice that the various specks and scratches are still there.
I love the expression on the lady's face in the second photo: "I just saw a naked man in that peepshow machine!". Is that handwritten date "February 2nd" or "the 2nd of December"? Either way, it's still before the debut date of the Columbia. Although, "second of December" would only be about six months early.
Nanook, "I'm a bit disappointed those folks don't now look like Bogart and Bacall-!" And have 6 or 7 fingers on each hand, like a lot of AI creations.
It's always hard for me to think of black & white photos as being Disneyland pics. They're almost always color photos; even the earliest ones. Thanks, Major.
^ Make that "February 12th", not "2nd".
Is it just me, or is that lady giving off a bit of an Elsa Lanchester vibe? And the lady in the last pic (on the far left), is giving me Martha Rae.
That lighthouse machine (to the left of the "Cupid's Post Office" machine), was still around a few years ago, in what's left of the ruined Penny Arcade. It might still be there today.
And could that banner with the rifle on it (last pic), be a sign for the Main Street Shooting Gallery? I've still never seen a pic of that attraction, but on park maps, it is shown as being in the back portion of the Penny Arcade.
I love seeing photos taken inside the 20,000 Leagues exhibit. I have never seen any in color, which I can only conclude was because there were giant desaturators at the entrance and exit. It’s really the only logical conclusion.
”I’m assuming that the man to the left is security, though he might also be a mime.” Why can’t he be both?
TM!, I was thinking the same thing about the rifle banner and the Main Street Shooting Gallery(which I have also never seen a photo of). Below it is a sign with prices of various ticket books - Big 10, Jumbo 15, and Golden 20. The prices are a bit hard to read but seem more in line with 1958 than1957. It makes sense that they would have sold tickets at that location, and they probably also made change for the arcade.
Chuck, there is a color photo of Captain Nemo's organ (his pipe organ), in the 1980 souvenir book, "Disneyland - The First Quarter Century"!
Nanook, we can’t all be Bogie and Bacall. Well, I can be, but still. I admit that I wondered just what delighted the woman in photo #2, it’s like she won on “The Price Is Right”.
JB, only a mime would stand that way. No normal human being (and mimes are not “normal”) could do it! Unfortunately I can’t tell what the gentleman is holding, it might be a harmonica. The “sharpen” command did terrible things to that image, the Neural Filters definitely did things that “sharpen” could not. I used that filter on a friend’s very grainy and blurry photo, and it was pretty astonishing what it could do as far as defining the face. I suppose it’s possible that these people were from Europe and used their shorthand date system, but I kind of doubt it. No European would ever make the face that the woman is making in the second photo!
JB, too late, I’ve already reported it to THEM.
TokyoMagic!, I can see what you mean about the Elsa Lanchester vibe. Giving off a Martha Rae vibe should be illegal. Wow, I’m amazed that Cupid’s Post Office was around as recently as a few years ago. It really is a shame that they ruined the Penny Arcade. Good thought re: the Main Street Shooting Gallery. The sign might be for that, though there were probably also shooting-type games in the Arcade. We may never know.
Chuck, you have seen at least one photo of the 20,000 Leagues exhibit in color - one of the Donruss bubblegum cards has a very nice COLOR PHOTO. There is also a Viewmaster reel that I shared here many years ago, and even a postcard, which I don’t think I’ve scanned for the blog yet. Good eye on the Golden 20 ticket book mention on that sign… I really do wonder about the handwritten date on these photos, it seems completely wrong.
TokyoMagic!, I wish I had my copy of that book handy, I wonder if that photo of Nemo’s salon is one of the ones I mention to Chuck?
I tried the Neural Filter on my face and now I have a beard like Spock.
JG
Well, it would appear that I have done nothing here this week but turn your nice, respectable blog into a den of lies. I will go sit in the corner right after I drop this link to your 20,000 Leagues View-Master post from 2007.
I see the restoration comparison made the mime disappear so that's handy.
Interestingly, there are no trash cans in these scans. And, perhaps, 'Startled Lady' backed into the 'Electricity Machine'?
Thank you Major
Zach
Chuck, LOL! :o)
Tokyo!, yeah, sort of Elsa Lanchester... but with a dose of Kathy Bates mixed in.
Major, "too late, I’ve already reported it to THEM." Oh gawd. Well at least it didn't go on my Permanent Record (or did it?) That record must be a mile long by now.
JG, hahaha. You could try Chuck's "desaturator" on your face. Not sure if it'll get rid of the Spock beard... probably just turn your face black & white... like Frank Gorshin.
Well I never!! That Penny Arcade with a game of “Cupid’s Post Office” !! A mute-o-scope showing “Forbidden Sweets”!! AND a orchestrium that plays that devil-music RAGTYME!!!! What next? Selling soda water on Sundays!!?? I just never thought our Main Street would have such a “Devil’s Den” on it!! The shame!!
I totally thought that WAS Elsa Lanchester before I looked closer - there’s a famous set of photos Disney use to show in the hardcover Disneyland book and Disney news articles regarding celebrities enjoying disneyland and a Elsa Lanchester photo that looks like todays image could have been part of.
It’s very possible the Columbia attraction poster did go up early as the 1958 attraction additions were heavily marketed — Alice , Grand Canyon , Columbia . There’s photo evidence other attraction posters were on display in the park long before their actual opening : Tahitian Terrace / Tiki Room / Plaza Pavilion ( stouffer‘s adventures in dinning ) the grey and green “ dollar bill “ version of Mr. Lincoln , the Monorail poster with the hotel call out .. and I took a photo ( with a Kodak 110) of the final Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction poster at the Disneyland Hotel Monorail station platform in March of 1979 : 6 months before the attraction opened. In fact I remember we were not exiting at the hotel , but while waiting for guests to enter/exit I saw the poster and jumped up to photograph it. I also took a picture of the 1977 DL RR poster at the monorail hotel station .
Oh, look - another color view of the 20k exhibit.
What’s that? Oh, right - back in the corner.
Maybe the photographer just wrote 1957 on a 1958 picture. Mid-February is about when I stop writing the previous year when I have to put dates on things
With the discussion of Elsa Lanchester, this photo of her & Charles Laughton at the Main St. Cinema is appropriate-
https://flic.kr/p/2qYxGYv
-DW
Maybe this link will work better-
https://www.facebook.com/screengemsbyronnie/photos/a-blast-from-the-past-charles-laughton-and-his-wife-elsa-lanchester-visiting-the/977618934541758/
-DW
JG, the filter didn’t work on my face at all.
Chuck, thanks for the link, there is another post with scans from the same reel, but I’m too lazy to link to it. Folks can find it if they care enough!
zach, I don’t want to say anything negative about mimes, in case I have a large (and silent!) mime audience. I hope that nice lady wasn’t “goosed” by an electric gizmo.
Lou and Sue, don’t laugh at Chuck’s evil ways!
JB, trust me, your permanent record is four inches thick, they know EVERYTHING.
Mike Cozart, I never thought about Cupid needing a post office, but it’s difficult to know the ways of the Gods. As you first paragraph demonstrates, one of the big charms of the Penny Arcade was the powerful sense of what a lucky person might have enjoyed in the age of their grandparents. Elsa Lanchester, she was brilliant as The Bride, and pretty in those days too. A “different” kind of beauty, to be sure, but a looker. And then it seems like I didn’t see her in anything again until she was an older woman. Not sure why her movie career wasn’t more robust in those early days, though perhaps she made a lot of films that I am not aware of. Thanks for the info about the early poster displays, and you make a good point about things like that Stouffer’s Tiki Room poster, which I am lucky enough to own. When they thought it was going to be a restaurant, which is fascinating. I always kind of wish I’d bought one of those early Mr. Lincoln posters (you call it the “dollar bill” version, which I’d never heard before), but when it came time to buy one, there was always something I wanted more.
Chuck, aha, I’d forgotten about that souvenir slide!
Dean Finder, yes, that’s what I was thinking too, or perhaps they added the date years later and misremembered?
DW, nice! I think that photo appeared in a book, maybe it was the “First Quarter Century” volume, which I bought at the park and carried around with me all day. I was too dumb to buy it on my way out!
For some weird reason when January 2020 hit , I kept writing “1920” on things like things at work and cards … checks. Around mid February my credit union called me and let me know that I was writing “1920” . I apologized and thanked her for letting me know and I told her that I hope she’s gets the right to vote soon.
^ LOL! Mike, I occasionally revert back to the 1980s when I type dates on letters. I guess it's just wishful thinking, at my end.
FUN post, today!
SUE : I can see writing a date from
A time you lived … but “1920” ?? And I was so comfortable writing it…. I guess it was a faint shadowy memory seeping through of a past life….
Mike, on a side note:
I always thought it would've been 'cool' to live in the 'Roaring 20s.' If you think about it, my dad [and other fortunate older folks] are now having a second go at it [since it's the 'Roaring 20s,' again].
Mike, maybe you knew my dad, during that first era. ;o)
^ Oops, I may not have been super-clear . . . but my dad was born in the 1920s (1929).
Wow, I’m amazed that Cupid’s Post Office was around as recently as a few years ago.
Major, it was the lighthouse machine that was still around a few years ago. I found a pic that I took of it, and it turns out that it's a "Grip Test" machine and the goal is to "ring the bell." Here's the pic that I took of it in 2009, but I know it was still around quite a few years later, and it might still be there today. Unless of course, management decided to ruin that space even further, and replace the few remaining vintage machines with $50 Zinger dispensers.
Here's my pic of it from 2009. You can see that the very top of it has been altered (maybe repaired) at some point since your vintage pic was taken:
https://meettheworldinprogressland.blogspot.com/2009/12/snowflakes-in-emporium-1995.html
The 20,000 Leagues organ can still be seen today in the Anaheim version of the Haunted Mansion - although the fancy Nemo pipes have been replaced.
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