Two "Previously Skipped" Slides
I have a folder of "previously-skipped" slide scans - a lot of them have been sitting there for years, mostly because I forget about them. They don't make much noise or eat much. This first one is from July 1961, taken from an unusual angle as guests wait in line to buy tickets. It looks like a Big 10 book cost $3.95 (I think) for an adult, while a guided tour would cost $5.00. Multiply by 10 for an approximation of today's money. The C.K. Holliday is at rest above the tunnel, and we can also see that swell banner for "Disneyland '61".
Next, from August 1961 we get this Frontierland photo of Chief Wavy, as seen from the Mark Twain, or one of the watercraft at any rate. Just beyond that line of birch trees, the Disneyland Railroad would pass. I love the lighting on this one!
13 comments:
Major-
I see the [twin] phone booths are still operational adjacent to the main gate. (Bring plenty of dimes). Chief Wavy looks quite handsome being bathed in the 'beneficial rays of the sun'.
Thanks, Major.
Where's the Train Station?!? How is it possible to see the train stopped at the Station, but no Station? (I know it's hidden by the trees and part of it is just out of frame to the right.) Another transition year pic, where some of the women/girls are wearing poofy dresses, while others are wearing pants.
Something looks odd about the shape of Chief Wavy's feather headdress. Isn't it supposed to hang down in back? It looks like he's in the process of waving at the passing watercraft. The Chief's horse, "Spot", is wearing festive red and yellow chili peppers on his reins.
For being "previously-skipped", these photos look quite nice. Thanks, Major.
Now I have the Sherman Brothers' "Disneyland '61" song playing in my head!
Like JB, I was wondering what was going on with Chief Wavy's headdress. Is it just blurred? Hmmm, I'm guessing that's not the case though, since his face isn't blurred. Regardless, I also like the lighting in that photo!
Thank you Major, for these "Previously Skippedzles."
Note that the Guided Tour if sold separately at City Hall in 1982 was also $5.00. I think Main Gate admission at that time was $8.00. Of course that was 40+ years ago, but it does seem like yesterday. As time goes on I feel myself saying things typical of an old man, like "back in the day" or "dang meddling kids!" Poofy dress girl is talking on her cell phone. Those dang kids! Always on their phones! Looking at Main Gate or Parking Lot photos I do get a nostalgic sense of excitement: a sense memory that hasn't been lost fortunately. Main Gate today does not seem as colorful and flowery as Disneyland '61. It's not that it's "prison like"...but it feels rather dry and functional now. I suppose that's the point, but it's not a point I would make. WDW Magic Kingdom still retains it's "approach", and feels more Disneyland than Disneyland. Just my .02. I have a lot of .02's. I imagine that the ticket booth people would get a myriad of questions not really understanding this new "Disneyland thing" or weighing the options between 10 tickets or 15. The Guided Tour is but a memory, with no one really needing to "understand" Disneyland anymore I suppose, with VIP tour guides being more of a human access point for accelerated admission to rides. Chief Wavy looks pretty authentic out there in his perfect light. Lighting IS everything! Thanks Major!
JB, you can see two of the station's dormer windows right above the blue Guided Tour sign on the ticket booth.
I really like the unique angle of photo 1, like we are seeing these sights in peripheral vision. Listen to the bell and the Announcers Voice! I can’t wait to get inside and race to the Matterhorn! Now that I think about it, I’m not sure I have ever boarded the train at Main Street station, but I think I maybe disembarked there once. I remember once I asked if we could take a Guided Tour and Dad said it was too expensive. Now I say the same thing…
I think Chief Wavy’s other headdress was at the cleaners, this is the one he wore on weekends and down to the gym. He wants to have his best one ready in time to wear it to the Samuel Clemens-Fenimore Cooper Rap Battle later at the Golden Horseshoe. Between waving at the passing watercraft, he is tending his birch orchard, in hopes of raising a bumper crop of canoes. With proper fertilizer and judicious pruning, he could grow a whole fleet of them. In later years he would turn and wave at the trains because his nephew Chico worked for Santa Fe. The lighting is really exceptional in this photo.
Thanks Major!
JG
$3.95 in '61 equates to around $42 today. $5 for a tour is $53. It was expensive in the day for our family. Seems darn right reasonable compared to what they charge today. Looking at Chief Wavy, isn't it amazing how much the foliage had grown since the Park's opening only 6 years earlier? KS
Nanook, it’s nice to know that Clark Kent had a place to change, just in case. The Chief is getting plenty of vitamin D!
JB, the train is a bit to the west of the station, you can see a bit of it to the right. I feel like by 1961, women had largely switched to pants, but perhaps it was different for younger girls. I agree about Chief Wavy’s headdress, it looks odd. Maybe it was historically accurate for a particular sort of headdress?
TokyoMagic!, gosh, I don’t know the “Disneyland ’61” song, how do YOU know it?? I can’t explain that headdress, maybe one of our resident experts can chime in.
Bu, wow, that’s pretty amazing that a guided tour cost the same in 1961 as it did in 1982! In fact, it’s almost unbelievable! Ticket prices certainly went up in that time - a lot. Nowadays you have to look at your phone while at the park, whether you want to or not. It’s part of the ecosystem, or whatever you call it. The Main Gate is definitely more sterile today, and with the new turnstiles that don’t require humans, even more sterile than before. It seems like the advantages of a 15- coupon ticket book would be pretty evident, but we all know that people have questions! I forget if I have scanned my vintage guided tour tickets, if not I’ll have to do it and share them here; I can’t remember what the prices on them are.
Steve DeGaetano, yep, the station is just peeking in to the right.
JG, I’m guessing that the photographer wanted to capture a photo of the Disneyland Railroad, stopped above the tunnel, and who could blame him? I used to always board the train at Main Street Station, in fact it felt odd to board (or exit) from any other stations when I did it later in life! But now I’m used to it. I remember somebody had a vintage recording of a Tour Guide (I wish I could remember the year of the recording), it gave one a sense of what it was like. I know I saved a copy of the recording, but it’s probably long-gone now. I don’t know if headdresses got longer and longer as a Chief had more experience in battle or hunting or something like that. If so, this Chief had a way to go before sporting one of those long headdresses like we see in movies (or at Knott’s). Whoa, did he actually turn and wave at the passing trains? I don’t think I knew that!
KS, yeah, once you adjust these prices for inflation, you can almost hear the grumbling of Dads at the gates! Vintage newspaper articles almost always mention the high expense of a day at the park. They had no idea!
JG, I was at that Rap Battle! Sam got clowned so badly by "Coop-JF" he changed his name to Mark.
I like these, Major! Thanks!
zach, I am more of a "slam poetry" guy
Zach, it was epic! Changed the face of American literature.
Major, just kidding, Chief never waved at the trains.
JG
JG, I'm pretty sure Chief Wavy did turn towards the train and raised his hand as it passed. At least, that's how I remember him in the '90s. I thought it was a nice touch.
Chuck, your memory is correct. Chief Wavy did wave to the trains as they passed by. We rode the train more than any of the various forms of rivercraft, and I remember being very surprised the first time I saw him facing the water and waving, as we passed by on one of the boats. I never knew that he could "turn." I'm guessing that his upper body could pivot to some degree. I'd like to know what happened when a train AND a boat both passed him at the same time! Maybe he waved with both hands, while his head moved back and forth so quickly, it created a blurring effect, just like in cartoons.
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