Dark Snoozles™
Here are two more scans (from September, 1968) that would be perfectly nice, except that, for some reason, they turned out really dark. The black shadows such away 43% of the joy.
Guests are milling around Town Square - that's what they're supposed to do. Check out that genuine cannon! Should we ride on the Streetcar? Or head up the steps of Main Street Station to take the Grand Circle Tour? It's only 11:30, they have plenty of time to do it all. I hope they head over to ride the still-new "Pirates of the Caribbean".
I only just noticed that some of the people in the distance to the right also appear in the first photo. There's that lady with the bright red ensemble, her friend with the flower-print dress, the man with the light blue shirt, and even the fellow to the right of him. Everyone on the Streetcar is weeping because it's so dark and scary. You'll just have to take my word for it.
6 comments:
The darkness is even worse when the sun is in front of us and everything is partially silhouetted. Oh well, it doesn't look that bad. Except, like you said, for the missing 43% of the joy. There are American flags and banners on the lampposts. Are they always there? Or is this perhaps closer to July 4th than September?
Oh my, a lot of the people on the Streetcar appear to have hemorrhagic fever! Their bodies are covered in red blotches! (You have to zoom in to see it.)
I'm not positive, but I don't think there are any balloons in either of these pics, which definitely makes them Snoozles! Thanks for the somber Snoozles, Major.
The photos are a true testament to what a decade can make in terms of fashions influence in culture. Bold colors, short skirts,...and the guys looking like they could be pulled out of every decade since this photo was taken. Looks like Gloria Steinem is having a great conversation in her culottes whilst fiddling with a ticket book...and there's Sandy Duncan to the right: unbeknownst to her at this juncture, she would be leading the future world of snack crackers. The guests on the street car and quite concerned. About what? I assume only one thing, and you know what it is! Speaking of unbuttoned vests: UBV#1 looks like he is wearing a new name tag and an old nametag at the same time...clearing "bucking the system" in this turbulent decade. The simple decor on Main Street is lovely...do we really need a giant pumpkin shaped like the mouse, or bedazzled 70th anniversary oversaturated "look at me" colors? The park looks appropriately "people saturated"...the feeling was that the park should never be seen without guests in it...that's a Walt thing...apparently...but may be legend or myth. Looks like a pleasant day in the park to stroll over to the (almost) New Tomorrowland and the new New Orleans Square. Thanks Major for the Snoozles (tm).
Those poor guests are condemning themselves to hours of hard labor. It’s a shame they don’t know there’s a mill over on Tom Sawyer Island.
That red outfit looks like she took a Hang Ten shirt and dunked it in red dye. Whaddya bet the guy in the white shirt with the lady wearing the yellow top and flowered shorts is a Marine?
Only one stroller and two trash cans total in both photos. Today, strollers far outnumber waste pleasers. I’m not sure what that says about the state of the Republic, but it must mean something…
Happy Mothers’ Day, y’all!
The Lady in Red is definitely a stand-out in any crowd. Interesting to see her group in both photos, they don’t appear to be posing for our photographer. Just natural Brownian motion of guests moving leisurely into the Park instead of dashing off to the bobsleds.
Chuck, Mr. Buzzcut is almost certainly of the Marine persuasion, an air of crayons about him.
Were trash cans fewer in 1968?
Major, always something to love in dark photos, thank you! Happy Mothers Day to all who celebrate!
JG
Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! And especially to Mom Pepperidge! Without her, we wouldn't be here.
To all who celebrate, make sure you see TokyoMagic's post for today - SEE HERE!
JB, it is true that these are both taken with the sun in front of us, but overhead - not ideal for photographs. But even so, these seem particularly dark - not sure if they had slow film, the aperture was closed down too much, or what. I always think that it must be near the 4th of July when I see all those patriotic banners, but I also don’t know if they just left them up for months. I didn’t know those people on the Streetcar had hemorrhagic fever (I would have misspelled “hemorrhagic”), now I am feeling itchy. Nope, no balloons!
Bu, it’s surprising that most of the men (as far as I can see) have pretty short hair, you’d think it would be starting to get long after the Summer of Love. On the other hand, maybe what we see here WAS considered “long”… it’s funny to read old articles about The Beatles, and to see so much controversy over their long hair - in 1964 when it looks nice and tidy to me today! Wow, Gloria Steinem and Sandy Duncan! I’m a fan of Sandy’s, as you know. Was she ever on “The Partridge Family”? I forget, did Sandy do commercials for Triscuits? I’m telling you, almost EVERY picture I have shows a CM with an unbuttoned vest! It’s rare to see them buttoned! What that says, I don’t know, but perhaps they got more strict about such things a few years later. They sure were lax about it most of the time. I don’t care for the Halloween “pumpkin mouse”, it’s so amusement park-y. But people love to take pictures of it, or have their pictures taken with it. It’s another case of them not thinking about the 1890s (or whenever) theme of the street. I do think Walt didn’t like photos of the park with no people, there is a set of early New Orleans Square postcards with almost no people that were apparently pulled and replaced with busier examples.
Chuck, it took me a minute to figure out your “hard labor” comment! “Uh-oh, Chuck’s been drinking cough syrup”. But now I get it! Hang Ten shirts - I’ve been scanning family snapshots for my mom’s digital picture frame, and it seems as if every photo of me from the early 1970s shows me wearing a shirt with the little feet! I did love those shirts. The guy with the white shirt looks like somebody I would not want to mess with. Instead, I’d make him laugh with my prop comedy. Kids were tougher back then, even tiny babies walked for miles!
JG, the Lady in Red would be useful if you were stranded on a desert island. Rescue planes would be able to see her from miles away, even at night! I had to look up “Brownian motion”, which is also known as the “Wiener process”. Heh heh. The Marine is saying to his girlfriend, “I don’t know, but I’ve been told, ice cream bars are mighty cold”. And he’s not wrong! Maybe people were less inclined to litter in 1968? Seems wrong to me somehow.
Lou and Sue, I need to call my mom today, but I know she won’t answer the phone until at least 2:00. Thanks for the nice Mother’s Day wishes, I’ll pass them along! I’ll check out TokyoMagic’s post in a little bit!
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