Friday, May 01, 2015

The Tender Pirate



It's true…even Pirates have a tender side, as you can see in this August 1960 shot of Captain Guy (who is sometimes referred to as Peg-Leg Pete) posing with a little boy aboard the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. Of course, this could be Pete trying to sweet talk the little boy into joining his band of depraved marauders. Hard to say.



This recent acquisition made me curious about how long Captain Guy lasted at the park. My earliest image of him is from June 1958:



Followed by one from September of the same year:



These two from November 1959 are my favorites; they show that he definitely had a sense of humor!





This December 23, 1960 shot looks like Walt might have been telling him that his days are numbered.



The last one I have of Captain Guy is from May 1961; I wonder if Walt gave him a severance package?



Sharp-eyed readers will notice a construction crane; wonder what was going on behind Storybook Land?



Board the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship back at my main website and see more vintage shots of this lost treasure.

5 comments:

  1. The November 1959 images are beautiful, full of great color and crispness. The second of those two images is great with humorous poses by Pete and guest.

    As for the crane in the May 1961 image, who knows. It's obviously not the railroad track re-alignment for it's a small world as that was about four or five years into the future. I was thinking some backstage building or perhaps even the Global Van Lines building, but I'm unable to find online information on when the Global Van Lines World Headquarters was built.

    The Pirate Ship Restaurant along with the Tomorrowland Terrace were my favorite Disneyland restaurants from my childhood. Thanks, Dave.

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  3. I think the crane is related to the construction of the railroad and monorail maintenance shop building. From aerials in your archive there's a 1959-61 photo with no railroad or monorail spur lines to a maintenance shop building and in a 1962-63 photo the maintenance shop building is visible with spur lines leading to it. 1961 is also when the monorail system was expanded to the hotel.

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  4. who is this Peg Leg Pete and why must i know everything about him now?

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  5. Not to detract from Pete but there's currently a cast member who works POTC and HM with a peg leg. Let me rephrase that, he has a peg leg and while working POTC he puts on a very disney-ish pirate looking wooden leg. While working HM he wears a prosthetic under the green trousers. It was quite a surprise to see him put his leg on the boat to stop it when we came into "port" on one trip in 2014.

    Still, you have to hand it to the PegLeg Pete in these pics, he was undeniably first.

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