Saturday, September 06, 2008

Disneyland in Focus: Carousel of Progress, Pt. 2



Through the miracle of The Carousel of Progress, we can visit the 1890’s today. This first shot is from the New York World’s Fair version of Act One. Shot #2 reflects the same scene as viewed at Disneyland. The role of father was voiced by Rex Allen.



Blurry shot #3 is a shot taken by a guest in September 1969. I always thought the dog was a cute touch to the show and added even more realism. As a kid (and even today), I just thought audio-animatronics were the coolest thing ever.



Leftovers from Mary Poppins, perhaps?



So much for Women’s Lib!



Things begin to get a little Stepford here. Mother looks an awful lot like actress Dorothy McGuire.







The son reminds me of a cross between Opie (Ron Howard) from “The Andy Griffith Show” and Alfalfa from “Our Gang.”







And who could forget grandma?







And the final scene as the stage rotates into the next era:



See you for tomorrow’s next installment! See more vintage Carousel of Progress photos at my regular website. “Nightmare Before Christmas” fans—this Tim Burton classic is now available on Blu-ray, and also features a way cool tour of the Haunted Mansion (NBC version).

4 comments:

The Viewliner Limited said...

Great series Dave. Miss this place a lot. Good to see it again. Thanks.

Major Pepperidge said...

Wow, what a wonderful series of detailed photos. Great closeups of some of the figures, although they remind me of some CG humans... realistic, but just "off" enough to be a bit creepy. The "Uncanny Valley" strikes again!

TokyoMagic! said...

I am practically drooling! Thank you, thank you, thank you for these absoulutely incredible photos! I have never seen such clear close up shots of the family before. I always loved the dog too. Notice the cat sitting on the floor waching the son as he vacuums. In Florida, this scene was changed to the son looking at his father's stereoscope pictures, but the cat is still in the scene...sitting on an ottoman, I believe. And yes, the robins were used first in "Mary Poppins" and then put in the show for the World's Fair. Thanks again, Dave. I am looking forward to your next postings!

Anonymous said...

Great Photos, Dave!!

And I, too, had heard that the "Robin feathering his nest" was Julie's co-star from Poppins. The Dog, you may know, was Walt's idea for a running gag...