1950s River Scenes

I have a LOT of river views from Frontierland, and many of those are from the 1950s. It just worked out that way. Hey, I'm not complaining! 

At first I thought this photo was taken from a river craft of some kind, maybe a Canoe. But the small branches to the right tell me that our photographer was standing on shore, probably from around the Secret Escape Tunnel (part of Fort Wilderness). A plucky li'l Keelboat is making its way past Tom Sawyer Island and the Pontoon Bridge & Suspension Bridge.

I thought that all of Frontierland's water craft would take a clockwise trip around the river, but the Keelboat is going the other direction. Crazy!

These were the days when the northwestern corner of Frontierland was undeveloped, just trees and animals and the occasional Indian village, it really felt like you were magically transported to the frontier. 

To the right we can just see the end of a Stagecoach as it rumbled past - what a great sight that would have been! In the distance we can see Mama Moose and Mojo Moose (her baby). Notice how the hills are arranged in layers to enhance the illusion of depth. 

Valentine's Day

It is Valentine's Day, the mushiest day of the year. Even mushier than National Mush Day, surprisingly.

I had nothing special prepared for today, but lucky for me, Sue B. is going the extra mile (as usual). She scanned two vintage Valentine's-related photos for your blogging enjoyment.

First up is this picture of a little girl (date unknown), with a table full of Valentines and other stuff. Maybe her school had all the kids bring in cards for each student (like my schools used to do), she has a pile of them (even a duplicate). And she has that swell stuffed dog, and not one, but TWO cakes, several boxes of chocolates, a chocolate heart (?) - - this girl scored big time. Is that a bath mat on the table, in the back left corner?? My family had a formica table and chairs that were very much like the ones in this photo (our chair were sparkly blue, though). The counter behind the girl is rather jammed with appliances, jars, pots and pans, but it's a homey sort of clutter. 

Oh my gosh, this photo is so mushy! This young couple is in love. He doesn't care that her hair is in curlers, he loves her no matter how she looks. They are kissing... something. An apple? A meteorite? A trilobite fossil? Whatever it is, they sure do like it. "This trilobite symbolizes our love". Hey, whatever works.

MANY THANKS to Sue B. for today's photos!

EXTRA!! EXTRA!!

Our pal Nanook sent these fun photos of genuine vintage Valentines to me, to share with you! They really do remind me of the kind that my mom would help us get when we had to buy cards for the whole class. I still remember covering a Quaker Oats cylindrical cardboard carton with foil and gluing paper hearts onto it to use as my in-class "mailbox". Did anybody else have to do that kind of thing? Meanwhile, THANKS NANOOK!

Stuff From the Box

It's been nearly a month since we last visited THE BOX, and it's high  time we looked at more STUFF. We'll start with the nice brass badge featuring the well-rendered likenesses of Roy and his faithful horse, Trigger. The badge is a 1950 Quaker Cereal premium. It must have been very popular, because these badges are plentiful, even today.

On the back, you can see that the pin swivels to reveal a reflective mirror so that you can flash Morse code messages to folks within eyeshot ("B-R-I-N-G  C-A-N-D-Y"). And there's a whistle for annoying your parents.

I know that I have several different pins given to Holiday Inn employees. This one is for eight years of service... I think that my other pins are for different lengths of term. I love that the pin is a mini "Great Sign", impressive but friendly. At the top is a gemstone, perhaps a peridot? The birthstone for August, and sometimes found in meteorites!

Next is this tin-litho Deputy Sheriff badge from Riverview Park (or Riverview Beach Park) in Pennsville, New Jersey; this park really got going in 1914, starting small, but more land was acquired, and attractions were added. "The Old Mill", "The Whip", "Tilt-a-Whirl", a Ferris wheel, and more. The park closed forever in 1967.

Texaco's red, five-pointed star is an appealing logo, even when it's teensy (less than .75"), as it is on this ten-year appreciation award. 

Here's an oddball little pin for a radio program - "Scattergood Baines". It was an American serial radio program that was broadcast in two versions, one on CBS from 1937 until 1942 and the other on Mutual in 1949. Both versions were based on stories written by Clarence Budington Kelland and published in magazines. Wikipedia continues: The title character operated a hardware store in Cold River, a small town, and used persuasion to encourage people to do what was in their best interests.

And finally, here's a fun celluloid "flip" for San Marto Coffee. The coffee of elves? The patent date on the back is May 16, 1905. Say, that was a while ago!

I hope you have enjoyed today's Stuff From the Box.

Snoozers

It's time once again for me to single out some scans. You know, the scans with the orange dot next to them. And orange dot means "SNOOZER". Perfect for Sundays, when my readership goes from 12 people down to five. 

Both of these are from 1956; this first one, if it was in focus, would be a beauty, with the last rays of the sun catching the topmost parts of the teepees, and the scraggly trees on the berm. The Passenger Train is passing by (CHOO CHOO!), the Canoes have been tucked in for the night (after getting a kiss on the cheek), and we can even see the birch bark house.

This is a decent photo of Sleeping Beauty Castle, taken a bit earlier than the previous image, but once again things could be sharper and clearer. The poles on the bridge that normally hold colorful banners are bare for some reason. Maybe the nation was still suffering from the Great Banner Crisis of 1956. I see no evidence of a dent on that turret, but it might just be the angle of the light.

Roadside USA

It's time for some more somewhat-random "Roadside USA" scans. You just never know where we're going to wind up!

This first slide is date-stamped "August 1972", and shows a fearsome tiger (Siberian, I think) outside of an Esso gas station. Put a tiger in your tank! Sorry, no S&H Green Stamps or Blue Chip Stamps, instead you get Top Value Stamps (featuring "Toppie" the plaid elephant). Look at those gas prices! Outrageous. Up to 40 cents a gallon?! (Little does everyone know that the big oil crisis would be coming in about a year).  

As always I want to know the location of a photo like this, and hoped that the Iofolla Industries sign might be a clue. 

Well, I think this is the location; Portsmouth, New Hampshire, looking south along Lafayette Road. The Esso station is now a Sunoco station, and Iofolla Industries is gone, but I feel pretty good about this educated guess.

Next is this photo from August, 1970. What the...! There's a big boat on this mountainside, and it ain't Noah's Ark. Turns out that it is the Grand View Ship Hotel, in Schellsburg, Pennsylvania. That's about 50 miles east of Pittsburgh. One website tells us Upon climbing the Appalachian Mountains and rounding the corner of Grand View Point, a ship stood on the side of the mountain. The S.S. Grand View Ship Hotel was the site of live bands, good food, and a place to stay the night. Since 1932, people have stopped at the ship hotel at Grandview Point to "See 3 States and 7 Counties," as the sign on the ship's hull proclaimed to all passing motorists for nearly 60 years. After closing , the Ship Hotel burned down in 2001. The ship was part of a time when people did not race to their destination, when the success of a trip was measured by the enjoyment of the journey, not just the number of miles accomplished per hour.

There are lots of different vintage postcards showing the Grand View Ship Hotel, hinting at its popularity, or at least its novelty. The ship kept a log of customers and included famous names like Clara Bow, George Burns, Joan Crawford, Henry Ford, Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Tom Mix, J. P. Morgan, Buddy Rogers, Rudy Vallee, George Raft, Mary Pickford. The ship’s ninth log which ran from September 1936 to June 1938, had more than 102,000 names, including tourists from every state and 72 foreign countries.

We're going back in time! These old linen cards are comforting to me, having spent countless hours at paper shows digging through boxes and boxes of them. The S.S. Grand View Point Ship Hotel had a lot to offer to its visitors. One of the main attractions is the fact that a person could view seven counties and 3 states (PA, WV, MD). The ship had a lookout deck on one corner with various telescopes to view the sights. It was only located about eighty miles east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This was not a far drive to spend a night on a ship hotel and enjoy what it had to offer such as dances. Dances were held on the decks during evenings in the 1930s and early 1940s. The only downside to this hotel was the fact that the restrooms were down the hill on a long walk. To make up for this walk, visitors could see ponds filled with fish on the way down.

We miss you, Grand View Ship Hotel!

Color Correction! 1960s

I had a pair of slides that had faded to an unpleasant pinkish hue; it's always kind of a bummer, but it's also kind of fun to see if I can use the magic of Photoshop to restore the slides to at least some semblance of their former glory. Looking at both of the red versions, you can see that there is still some color information beneath all of the pink, so I was feeling pretty good about my chances.

Here's the first one. Kind of a nice photo, except... the PINK. Folks are just starting to board a raft from Tom Sawyer Island back to the "mainland". I assume that's a cast member with the greenish shirt, he's raising the mizzen mast and battening down the hatches. A Keelboat passes on the river. But yikes, I can't take the pink anymore!

Here’s my restoration attempt. It's not perfect, but I'm happy enough. Perhaps I could have lightened it up a bit more, but I'm too lazy to go back and work on it any further. Is that trashcan actually aboard the raft? If so... weird. Im wondering if the man to the right is a painter, perhaps he was sprucing up some signs on the island. 

Next is this look at the queue (or lack thereof) for Storybook Land, with Monstro's toothy mouth reminding me of H.R. Giger's Xenomorph a little bit. The young boy closest to us is transfixed!

Most of the pink has been rinsed away, leaving things looking a little cold (maybe it's too cyan now?), but I still feel OK about it. Notice that there is a male host aboard the canal boat, I honestly did not know that men had filled that position as early as the 1960s (I am guessing that these photos are from before 1965). 

Main Street, November 1974

I finally tackled a batch of over 40 slides from November, 1974. And once I got them off the football field and wiped off the grass clippings, I scanned them. It's how my grandfather did it, and my father, and now me. 

Sure, Mickey's floral portrait is great and everything, but what if they made the portrait out of various cured meats? I know, that's a silly idea, it should be a portrait of Walt made from cured meats. Olive loaf would bed perfect for the eyes. I have the whole thing planned out. 

The shadows are getting long, but in November that means it's probably around 4 o'clock. We get this nice look at Town Square and the Emporium, with the Global Van Lines "Lost and Found". Guidebooks encouraged guests to stroll in there every 15 minutes or so and ask a Cast Member, "Found anything good?".  

Look at that groovy couple! I'll bet they were wild in their younger days. The lady kind of looks like Jane Fonda in "Klute". She's puffing that Virgina Slim with real style. Her husband eschews the long hair so popular with men of that era, I think he is holding a paper cup with the Carnation logo. The Motorized Firetruck is just behind them, and to the left is the Global Van Lines truck. 

Souvenir Stuff

I heart Disneyland ephemera. Hopefully you do too.

We'll start with this scan of a score card from the Disneyland Hotel Golf Centre - 18 holes of miniature golf fun, Disneyland style! The mini-golf course was added to the Hotel complex (along with a driving range and an 18-hole, 3 par full-sized golf course) in 1961. 

You could mail this score card to your pals, probably using a 4 cent stamp. Love the spot illustrations.

As you can see, each hole had its own Disneyland theme, anything from "Main Street" to "Dwarfs Mine" to "Moon Rocket" to "Painted Desert". Sounds so fun! Somebody erased the scores, but I swear it wasn't me. 

While the score cards come along once in a while, I haven't seen too many Disneyland Hotel Golf Centre pencils!

Next is this small broadsheet advertising the 1965 edition of "Disneyland After Dark" - HOOTENANNY. A Salute to Folk Music". I love it; "Every Monday night through the Summer". Let's go see the Aquamen. A pal of mine has a very similar flyer from 1966, with the same artwork, but the band lineup is different.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Disneyland ephemera.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

GDB pal Mike Cozart sent this photo of himself from when he was a Boy Scout... and today happens to be National Boy Scout Day! Mike says, It’s from June 1976… and was taken in out family room of our first house 1970 -1978. The information on the back is in my mom’s handwriting - but I think someone else took the picture because it’s in a weird textured photo paper and the size doesn’t match any other photo prints we have from that period

In that picture it looks like I’m wearing blue jeans - we were allowed to wear blue jeans to weekly meetings and school .., but at larger auditorium meetings or parades etc we had blue pants made from the same material as the shirts. 

THANKS MIKE!

New York World's Fair

I have some more scans from the 1964 New York World's Fair for you!

We'll start with this look at the Hong Kong pavilion; from the official guidebook... The bustling commerce, scenic beauty and Oriental-European atmosphere of the famous British crown colony have been re-created in the Hong Kong pavilion and the adjoining Crown Colony Club, sponsored by the Hong Kong Trading Company, Inc. The pavilion - with upswept eaves, intense colors and intricate carvings - captures the spirit of Hong Kong architecture. It contains special Oriental exhibits and shops, and has a restaurant. The Crown Colony Club is a restaurant and night club. Set in a landscaped garden dominated by three Chinese junks, it may be entered either from the pavilion or through the stern of one of the trio of junks.

Over in the Amusement Zone you couldn't miss the Aerial Tower Ride, where four elegantly upholstered gondolas, each with a capacity of 15, majestically rise on cables to the top of a 120-foot tower. The smooth, slow ride provides a magnificent view of the Fair and lasts three to five minutes.

Strangely, next to the Aerial Tower Ride was a restaurant, which specializes in Bel-Gem Waffles - waffles served with combinations of powdered sugar, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. I hope those delicious waffles stay down while aboard the ride!

Next is a familiar view, looking across Grand Central Parkway toward the Transportation and Travel pavilion. Who doesn't love a green moon-shaped building? And there's a giant whitewall tire too, the U.S. Rubber Ferris wheel.

The Republic of China pavilion seems to have been very popular with photographers; I suppose it is pretty impressive to folks who were unused to giant pagodas. As for me, I am very used to them (long story). I love  seeing the Sky Ride overhead, with the strings of colorful gondolas. Let's ride that back and forth several times!

The opulent red and gold pavilion is a reproduction of a tradtional imperial palace - the first of its kind which has ever been erected in the Western hemisphere. Within the structure are exhibits of ancient and modern Chinese culture, and many rare and beautiful art objects: bronzes, porcelains, jades, silks and carvings in ivory, wood and stone. 

I hope you have enjoyed your visit to the World's Fair!

More From Ken S.

It's time for another selection of images, graciously donated by GDB pal Ken S.! And once again, he has included recollections from his own days as a Disneyland cast member. Better than the photos? Let's call it a tie, they're both great! I'll let Ken take over.

Ah…the organized Cast Member parties of Summer.  They were like the bookends of the Summer Season when the ‘permanents’ mixed with the “seasonal” CMs.  Custer’s Last Stand, held earlier in the Summer on the anniversary of his last stand, begun by the canoe Indians, became essentially a bacchanal consisting of many hundreds of Cast Members where the liquor was bottomless, the bands echoing through whatever large venue was selected, or dared to host us…endless dancing and frivolity…with hangovers and fortunate selective brain loss later in life (as in “I deny all knowledge!”).   And then in August, the Adventureland crew sponsoring its own party, the Banana Ball.

During my time, it was portrayed as a more subdued event, where one was encouraged to wear tropical garb…like a couple cocoanuts over a bikini.  But that’s another story.  While that would not have been frowned upon (smile), it was a relaxed version of Custer’s with a little less noise but the same amount of booze.  Some decorations were in the venue…maybe an item or two that needed to be returned to the JC before supervision found out.  Were there wild times?  Uh… I forget (smile).  But I liked the tropical tone that the JC guys could put on…at least being able to hold it together for an hour or two.  Many a relationship began or ended on that night.  But it was just plain fun.  Today so many of us laugh about it and some pictures get posted that are strictly for those participants intended to see them.  LOL.  And that tells me that while it was a bit risqué at times, we all took it in good fun and still look upon that innocence with a subtle smile and wink.  And look at those prices for admission for such an event.  Less than a hour’s wages at top scale, which for me was $6.47/hr.  That’s the equivalent of $33.45 at the moment.  WOW!

As I began to find more of my old CMs on social media, I asked one who moved up and retired from Disney if these parties…or something of similar scale, were still being held either at Disneyland or WDW.  He was always involved in them.   His response was “It’s no longer possible, Ken”.  It was a sobering answer acknowledging another tradition being lost over time.

Doesn’t this look like a cute couple?  But they weren’t in reality.  It was just a moment in time.  Such a favorite of mine.  The clock in the background says the next show is 7:40pm.  Denny was the foreman on Tiki and this is at the turnstile entrance.  Denny and Joan.  It’s my thinking she was leaving for the day and was walking to the locker room when she was captured for the picture.  Such great CMs.  And Denny…you are so missed.

Speaking of tradition was the never-ending shenanigans while “on stage” which have been well documented.  And showing off for the camera was the ‘Canoe Reserves’.  In case we found ourselves shorthanded we kept a few in a dock box.  Right!  Denny, at the rear of this line up.  Oh, was he fun to have in your rotation…and a star baseball player for the Adventureland team.  Unfortunately, I can’t identify the slightly hidden fellow in front of him after all these years.  Jim…again just a fun guy and jock who was a QB for a nearby college.  Within 4 years of this shot, he was the starting QB for the Seattle Seahawks.  By then I was living in Oregon, listening to the game on my radio.  Talk about whiplash!  Last upfront is John whom we have met before.  He’s still happily selling real estate in Santa Fe and doing very well.

My first nametag with my one- and 5-year pins attached.  More like punching a hole through the plastic like a stud earring in an ear lobe except a whole lot less than painful…or so I assume.  I would wear an earring while working Pirates but it was a clip…just to add to the attraction and not as a personal statement.

Lastly, taken in the Wheelhouse of the MT.  Some of the infamous CMs of the era.  There are pictures floating around with CMs in the Wheelhouse with beer they would smuggle in.  But not this time.  “Wild Bill” on the left.  That was a play on words.  He was quiet with a sharp wit.  His “real job” was a teacher at a nearby high school.  Spent years at the Park as did so many other educators as a side job.  Steve, obviously in civilian clothes, and Jim.     What cutups.  Steve was a surfer who started selling surf gear to surf shops.  He became the top salesman for a small company that isn’t small anymore.  And he’s still surfing, taking trips back to Orange County from his home in Utah.  I think he got a “no rehire”.  LOL.  Showed them!  Jimmy, a legend within our group.  He became an OC fireman who manned the crew at the John Wayne Airport as I found out a few years ago from him.  Retired, living the good life with that sense of humor intact.  Many a time when I flew in and out of John Wayne and saw the firehouse along the runway…to think we essentially crossed paths frequently over the years.  With his sense of humor, I would love to have been a fly on the wall inside that unit!  

Wow! Thank you SO MUCH, Ken! I absolutely love your stories and memories. I'm sure that many readers (including me) wish they'd had a chance to work at the park during those golden years. I have one more batch of photos from Ken for another post, STAY TUNED!