After observing a large weather balloon (launched from the top of Mt. Everest), I have determined that this would be a good day to share some RANDOS. First up is this nice photo, date-stamped "August, 1967", featuring the entrance to Adventureland. There's the arched sign, made of bamboo and woven palm leaves in the finest "Gilligan's Island" manner. Ivory tusks might be seen as problematic, but they were careful to get them from an elephant who was a jerk. To the left, the wonderful Enchanted Tiki Room, where the birds sing words and the flowers croon!
As most of you know, the attraction was sponsored by United Air Lines when it debuted on June 23, 1963, and continued to sponsor it until sometime in 1976 (when Dole took over). Frames outside the Tiki Room held posters, sometimes silkscreened attraction posters, and sometimes travel posters from UAL, encouraging guests to Fly the Friendly Skies.
The poster to the left is this bold design with the Statue of Liberty.
The next Rando is the last slide from a batch of 50s images that were very faded. Luckily, it was nothing that Photoshop couldn't handle. As you can see, guests explored the Hurricane Deck of the Mark Twain, which afforded great views of Frontierland and the River.
If you happened to be only three feet tall like that little kid, you mostly just saw walls! The brave and resourceful pilot is looking right at us, he can tell that we are the kind of passenger that he likes.
EXTRA! EXTRA!
GDB friend KS recently had a scare when brush fires threatened his Oregon home - which is bad enough (I've been through this in California), but KS also raises & cares for horses on his ranch. All of them had to be evacuated! Luckily, brave fire crews (including some from other countries) kept the home and ranch safe (and generous friends took in the horses). KS sent along this photo, and said, "We are all back and fine, though some are still adjusting". I'm so glad that it all worked out for him!!
Major-
ReplyDeleteIn that 1st image of Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room the sign must've been created using invisible ink, as only 'selected' words appear. (Maybe this image was taken during International Tiki Day [yes, it's real] - held on the second Saturday of August, and guests were instead greeted with a single, GIANT tiki god instead of the normal show "... where the birds sing words and the flowers croon..."), instead both 'standing mute').
Photoshop once again pleases many with outstanding color results. Looking carefully we can see the original light bulbs for DL's park-wide festoon lighting, which appear to be S-11 shape lamps: 'S' for "sign"; '11' meaning 11/8's inch diameter. And yes, the glass is round in shape.
Nice to hear that all is well in KS' world-! Give those horses some lovely carrots.
Thanks, Major.
Took me a sec to figure out you used a random event (weather balloon) to introduce your random photos. GENIUS!
ReplyDeleteWow, nice clear colorful photo! I was gonna say that the 'jerk' elephant was named Elon Tusk, but I'd better not.The little kid up front is holding a Mouse Ear hat. Hey kid! Why aren't you wearing it?!? I suppose I wouldn't want to wear a hat made from the top of a decapitated mouse head, either. It probably has fresh brain matter dripping out of it. Geez, I just realized I'm being awfully 'dark' tonight.
I much prefer the faded image of the Mark Twain, because it fits my mood tonight. JOKING! The restoration turned out absolutely wonderfully great!!! I love the lighting!
So glad to hear that KS and his home, and family, and his animals are safe. Oh my, the expression on that one horse is... scary! He looks like a chupacabra! I'm sure KS chose this pic deliberately, just to amuse us.
Argle-bargle. (I'm closing my comment with some randomness). Very nice Randos, Major. Thanks.
@ JB-
ReplyDelete"Argle-bargle". Touché-! A favorite word of mine that I must use more.
In the first pic, we can see the blue and yellow version of "José the Barker Bird," out in front of the attraction.
ReplyDeleteI always forget that those openings in the Statue of Liberty's crown originally didn't have glass! I wonder how many people used to flick stuff out of those openings? I bet Walt and Lillian just LOVED going up there!
Great job on the Mark Twain slide restoration, Major! We can even see one of Bu's popcorn wagons!
KS, I am so glad that you, your family, and your animals are all safe and back home now. Hey, was one of your horses the star of "Mr. Ed"?
Thanks, Major!
How very odd that the "Tiki" sign has been amended in some way...if you zoom it looks like photoshop, but I am perplexed as just a few feet away...there's another sign that says Enchanted Tiki Room....and PERHAPS...since this is "Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room" they are adding the boss's name (?) Very curious indeed. That bougainvillea vine has taken over Adventureland...that is a good specimen, and clearly very happy in Anaheim soil. The strollers are coming....but not like it is today...all I can say is "what happened!"...I'm happy to say that I was never in a stroller my entire life...and look how normal I turned out! Wait a tick...Walt's name is there....oh...I don't know...moving on to "my" popcorn wagon...which is interesting...as in the 80's the only red wagons were on Main Street...and the others were themed to the land: so Frontierland had a "wooden" one, New Orleans had a "plum" one...Bear Country...rustic wood...as did Big Thunder trail....Fantasyland had a "Fantasyland Blue" one (kind of a soft but castle-y light blue)...but I've seen the red ones in all these older photos...and probably that was the outside company. Red IS the traditional "popcorn wagon" color...and they probably wanted to draw attention to it to sell more popcorn rather than have it thematically blend. The Mark Twain: Always good to know your bulbs! And I can say from experience...the "land of lightbulbs" is truly exhausting...as are lighting fixtures...those lighting guys deserve every penny they make....I have had literally HUNDRED page emails about ONE lousy lightbulb....and people STILL didn't understand it...and EVERYONE has their own opinion of how things should be lit...which is why I spent a lot of time course correcting really dumb decisions where light flattened areas to "make it brighter"....Watts and Kelvin are two different things, and explaining that to mortals....well: I think I need to go get "lit" even just talking about it....thanks Major!
ReplyDeleteI missed the horses! and I'm so very happy to hear everyone is safe and sound. Those hair-do's on Mr. Ed, and Mr. X are impressive. They look like a very interesting breed, with very sturdy looking necks, and sweet noses....(I'm sure there are horse terms, but I've been out of the horse game since my stint at Medieval Times...that's for another time). The couple looks very happy there with shade trees, and lots of room to romp around. I'm a bit jealous, and should probably take advantage of a horse farm that is literally walking distance from me. Sometimes (very rarely) I see them on the road, and interestingly...my dogs don't bark...they become mesmerized and just stare as they walk by...very happy you are safe!!! Thanks for taking care of these and other creatures.
ReplyDeleteI have always loved the Tiki Room, and Gilligan’s Island, a great pairing.
ReplyDeleteThose posters are new and different. The Hawaiian girl is especially nice.
Don’t get me started on light bulbs. I worked with an electrician who told me of one project where the lighting designer called for over 200 different lamp types in a modest sized city library. I feel sorry for the poor custodians there keeping up with that.
Terrific good news about KS and his horses! An answer to prayer.
Thanks Major, a good news Friday.
JG
Speaking of tusks, of course, in Alabama the Tuscaloosa...
ReplyDeleteThat United "New York" poster is really cool for the Tiki Room location; they've made Lady Liberty's oxidized copper skin look like the weathered wood of a Tiki goddess, and the colorful little people in her observation deck at first glance give the appearance of a flower crown. Very clever!
I dunno; there's something a little sinister about that riverboat pilot. He's just backlit enough to be dangerous.
So glad to hear KS and his equine friends are OK!
@ Bu-
ReplyDelete"Watts and Kelvin are two different things, and explaining that to mortals....well".
Hey, kid... ya wanna talk footlamberts-? (Not footcandles - footlamberts).
Nanook, we’ve seen that sign before, some of the lettering was (apparently) in very pale pink. It must have looked OK to the naked eye, but in photos it sometimes completely vanishes. I’ve never really paid attention to see if the sign was altered at some point. I’m happy that the Mark Twain photo will be exciting for all the fans of S-11 lightbulbs! It is truly a happy Friday.
ReplyDeleteJB, ha, I listen to a podcast that calls Musk “Elongated Muskrat”, which I like. Maybe that mouse-ear hat smells bad. “Real mouse scent!”. It was my idea, I admit. I don’t mind the faded image of the Twain, since it looks nice and antique, but I prefer the fixed version. Yes, I’m very glad that KS is home with his horses, I’ve been through close calls with brush fires, and they are very scary.
Nanook, is “argle-bargle” a word??
TokyoMagic!, oh yeah, there’s the Barker Bird. I always like seeing him, no matter which color. I think the openings in Lady Liberty’s crown now have metal mesh over them so that you can’t flick things, or at least you can’t do it easily. TRE. I forget, did Bu work at a popcorn wagon in Frontierland?
Bu, see my comment to Nanook! I remember years ago, some commenters thought that the sign for the Tiki Room was in “mid-change”, or something. They used a pink that did not have enough darkness (my brain isn’t working this morning, there is a better term). Bougainvillea is beautiful, but it is spiny. Unless there is a non-spiny variety? I used to have to cut the stuff back in my mom’s backyard, and had to wear very heavy leather gloves. I’m assuming that in those earlier days, the popcorn wagons came from the company that supplied them, completely unaltered. After all, people had expectations of what a popcorn wagon should look like (as you said). I have to admit that I have never had any emails about any lightbulbs, and I feel left out. Why does everyone else get to have all the fun? I’m a tax payer! I know my rights!
Bu, I’m not sure if KS exclusively has Belgians, but I think that they are the breed he specializes in. I think he rescues them, too, which is pretty great. KS has a Facebook page, and he sometimes shares photos of the area, which is very beautiful, a horse would be lucky to live there.
JG, I love those posters! While I do have Disneyland posters, and love them, I could see myself getting really into poster collecting in general, if I had more money and room. I just find them super appealing. Jeez, whoever decided that a library needed 200 types of lightbulbs should have to change them himself.
Melissa, I didn’t really think about how the people in Liberty’s crown resembled a flowered crown, but now I do. Love it! I think the oxidized copper got pretty grungy before the statue’s restoration, that artwork was probably not too far from reality. Weird thing about that riverboat pilot, no matter where he was, he was always backlit!
Nanook, I had to go to the doctor because of my footlamberts, but he gave me a prescription for an ointment.
Major-
ReplyDeleteArgle-bargle is most-certainly a word: argument; dispute; donnybrook; hassle; imbroglio; etc.
"I had to go to the doctor because of my footlamberts, but he gave me a prescription for an ointment."
That 'condition' is better-treated with an unguent-!