You may have previously seen my photos from Audie Murphy's 1956 visit to Disneyland; now I have two more in my collection, bringing me up to a grand total of five. Murphy was a decorated American soldier during World War II who earned the Medal of Honor & Purple Heart and turned his fame into a movie career. He was also one of the first soldiers to bravely speak out publicly about post-traumatic stress.
Here, he is taking it easy with his family in Fantasyland: wife Pamela Opal Lee Archer (a former airline stewardess) and boys Terry (age 4 at the time) & Skipper (age two at the time). The area that they're standing in appears to be the same one shown in this May 1973 shot; the awning and hinged doors on the right seem to be a match.
The second photo shows them getting ready to sail away on the Peter Pan attraction; even a glimpse of the original mural gets my heart pounding!
In case you missed them, the previously posted shots of this family trip also included one of The Mr. Toad attraction queue mural:
See more vintage & current Disneyland Fantasyland photos on my Fantasyland web pages.
Dave, that corner confuses me. When I first saw photo one, I thought it was backstage behind the Fantasyland theater, but now you have convinced me it is in a public area, but where? The sign says "Fantasy Gift Fair" but that doesn't ring any bells to me.
ReplyDeleteThey must have cleared the background to take photo 1, judging from the crowd in your color shot. That tall blank castle wall is just weird. Maybe it would have had vendor carts against it.
Thanks for these.
JG
@JG - This area is located between the "Fantasyland Theater" building and the "Character Foods" stand next to "Dumbo the Flying Elephant". Hope these Daveland images help you place it.
ReplyDeletehttp://davelandweb.com/dumbo/popup.htm?images/50s/9_58_BW_1_dumbo.jpg
http://davelandweb.com/fantasyland/popup.htm?images/50s/AnscoAnsco_8_27_56_FL1.jpg
Dave...your earlier post stated you had no idea where the first photo was take at...sound like you solved your puzzle.
ReplyDelete- Darryl
@K Martinez. Yes, thank you, it makes sense now.
ReplyDeleteBoth photos you reference have a stand with a striped awning against the wall seen behind Mr. Murphy, which is how I remember the area.
The blank wall in the Murphy photo just looked weird. Maybe that striped awning is a later addition to the building, or a movable stand of some kind.
Also Vintage Tickets has posted today, coincidentally, a reverse angle shot showing the backside of the "crenelated" awning: >> http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-vkNDerxtyiI/USQ_Hn-3FBI/AAAAAAAAY_U/Z6SODOBF9bQ/s1600/DL+SLide_unk_fantland.jpg
JG