Sunday, November 16, 2008

Lost in Space at Disneyland



Today’s first photo is a "new" one, showing young love at Disneyland. These two cast members in their spacesuits look like they might be making plans for what to do when their shift is over. This undated photo is somewhere between 1959 & 1965, as the Monorail is already at the park, yet the Skyway buckets are still round. And while I’m at it, I figured I’d gather all my spaceman/girl photos together in this one post. My earliest dated photo is from 1957:



In this September 1958 shot you can see the entrance to the Crane Bathroom of Tomorrow in the background.



Another undated shot, most likely pre-1959:



Approximately 1959/1960:



August 1961:



In this undated 1960’s shot, our little spacegirl is looking very mod! Cox Pilot was kind enough to share these memories about the Spaceman/Girl: “There were lots of different ones through the years, but the one I remember is this one. The first one sold balloons, the next one had the disk on his chest (looks like a CD), the next one had K-7 on the helmet, and the last one had more collar rings on his suit. About the Space Girl: She originally worked at Carnation Ice Cream Parlor on Main St. as a greeter. It was quite imposing to see this 6'2" blond asking people “How many in your party?” Keith Palmer instigated her being hired as the space girl, and I think that was around 1962. Plus, they added high heel boots. The space people became very popular. I also remember that the Space Man would stand very still inside the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit, in the shadowed area around where the diving suits were. People would think he was part of the exhibit, until he would jump out. When supervisors found out about it, they put a stop to it. Some parents complained that the children were afraid.”



This double exposure neg gives us a view of not only Circarama and the Spaceman, but the back of the Chicken Plantation. What a combo!



Last but not least, an undated color image of the Romeo & Juliet of the spaceage:



See more vintage and current Tomorrowland photos at my regular website.

3 comments:

Vintage Disneyland Tickets said...

Super post Dave, thanks! I like how they built a sunshade into the dome helmets. Yikes, is that mini-skirt in the August 1961 photo even legal now?

Major Pepperidge said...

What a fantastic bunch of photos! Great post, thanks Dave.

Matt said...

Cool...I never really knew about the space man and girl before, I must say I quite like the Aug '61 space girl costume