Fantasyland, April 1972
1972 was a very good time to visit Disneyland! I just scanned a small batch of slides from April of '72, often featuring three folks in this photo who may or may not be related. I can't help seeing them as "THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL", "THE FRENCH TEACHER", and "THE AP CALCULUS PROFESSOR". I'm sure they are very nice, even though they look like they will put me in detention if I insist on burping the alphabet again.
What do you know, Principal Aebleskiver might actually be smiling! Or is he just squinting in the sunlight? I'll bet the ear-worm from It's a Small World has melted his icy heart and filled him with warm caramel. Madame LeFevre and Professor Bunions are secretly in love, but... nobody is fooled. They are practically floating!
11 comments:
Major-
I feel I must disagree with you... "Madame LeFevre" is in actuality "Frau Müller" - the German teacher-! Either way, I'm certain she enjoyed The happiest cruise that ever sailed - in spite of her sullen expression.
Thanks, Major.
Major, you should be OK if you burp the Pythagorean theorem... or the alphabet, in French.
Oh my. The Principal and the French teacher look threateningly stern. The calculus prof. looks pleasant enough though. This IS a technically nice photo: well lit, colorful, in focus.
Smiling?!? Camera trickery, says I! Madame LeFevre can just barely manage a semblance of a smile. It looks almost painful for her to be contorting her face in such an unnatural (for her) expression. Again, a really nice photo. The photographer must know his/her stuff (and have a nice camera with good film).
Amusing commentary today, Major. Thanks for the sunny photos.
Yes, just look at those glum faces. I hope in future posts, we get to see them all whooping it up on the Mad Tea Party or Dumbo Flying Elephants.
David Spade's dad is in the background of that first pic!
Thanks, Major!
These grim visitors should turn around and appreciate the castle in its most realistic look. Then they'd be grinning.
MS
French teacher? Professor? Principal? No, I don't buy that. I think they are members of the Soviet Consular Office doing undercover investigative work to discover what the CIA is actually hiding in Disneyland that they would not allow Comrade Khruschev to visit in 1959. "Boris, that rocket in Tomorrowland looks wery dangerous." "I see that Sergei. Tattiana has taken picture."
All three defected a week later.
W
That poor lady really does NOT want to be in Disneyland. At first I thought she looked like that because her feet hurt, but in photo 2, she is wearing what look like “sensible shoes”. Maybe she is grumpy at the expensive tickets? “So bourgeois.”
The principal is nicely turned out in his suit, tie and dressy shoes, but the prof is more standard casual with his ticket book in his shirt pocket in the approved manner. I think they both dress like this all the time.
I’m enjoying the SBC details visible in photo 1, very nice to see all the arrow slits etc. and I could look at IASW for at least an hour, which is good since the wait could be that long…
Major, do we ever see the photographer of today’s pics? Is it the principals wife? Maybe they had a group shot taken? I hope these folks had a good day in the Park. Thank you!
JG
Nanook, if you ever had a French teacher, you know that they can be every bit as stern and humorless as Frau Müller! It’s not all baguettes and berets. (Do you happen to know the Russian surf/psychobilly band “Messer für Frau Müller”??).
JB, as far as I’m concerned, all knowledge should be burped. Carl Sagan agreed. Professor Bunions looks nice, sure, but my scariest teacher ever was my algebra teacher. He was so intense that he was always breaking the chalk as he wrote on the chalkboard. You have to look closely at Madame LeFevre to see her joy - “Still waters run deep”.
TokyoMagic!, I have to wonder who these three adults really were and why they were at Disneyland together! I see David Spade’s father Sam!
MS, it’s funny, I’m sure many people prefer today’s more-colorful castle, but I’m like you, I prefer the version seen in that first pic!
Warren Nielsen (hi Warren!), ha ha, those people are here to gather all of our amusement park technology. I remember reading about the era when Khrushchev wasn’t allowed to go to Disneyland, and he made some comment about how Russia would build their own amusement park, “better than Disneyland”. I wonder if they ever tried to do that?
JG, Madame LeFevre’s heart is full of love and joy, but you can’t show any weakness in front of students or they will eat you alive. It’s a defense mechanism, see? The principal really does look like he’s there on business. “I want NO foolishness while I’m around!”. He has a wooden paddle on his wall, with holes drilled in it to reduce air resistance. I feel like I actually did used to have to wait in line for IASW for a long time back in the day, but the last few visits, even on busy days, had perhaps a 20 minute wait, which one person described as “practically a walk-on!”. I don’t believe we ever see the person who took these pix.
Wow...maybe they thought that the cost of admission was too high! KS
A 20 minute wait for ITS A SMALL WORLD is history . That overflow que built several years ago to the right of the attraction’s entrance is now always filled . In fact Small World often has longer waits than Pirates of the Caribbean !! Imagine going back to 1972 and telling guests that !!??!
KS, it probably cost $5.50 for them to get in! Outrageous!
Mike Cozart, I guess it depends on when you go to IASW - as I said, I had a 20 minute wait, but later in the evening when it was lit up with all of the Christmas lights, the queue was MUCH MUCH longer.
“Grim Grinning Ghosts, come out to so-cial-izzzeeee”. These three look like they are straight out of Grims Fairytales…or a Romanian Laundry in the 1930’s. Strangely, who know they were all in their 20’s. Those Europeans always look older back then. But they DO look they are having a blast, or are visiting after some kind of blast in the vintage washing machine…or washboard …in the “Mrs. Bucket” Laundromat. I always felt so sad for Mrs. Bucket…why didn’t Charlie take her instead of Chico’s man into the chocolate factory?! She was supporting the family…Uncle Joe just laid there…I guess she got a lot of chocolate and a Wonkatania out of it, so it all works out. I would like to live the rest of my life in the Chocolate Room please. What an amazing set by Mr. Goff. You can see some Disneyland in Wonka Land and some Wonka Land in Disneyland…and there are some Wonka Tones in Small World, so it’s all relavent here…with the “Family Slugworth”. Thanks Major!
Post a Comment