Yesterday, my most faithful reader brought to my attention a YouTube video that mentioned my website as “invaluable.” My first question was…why does my bank account not reflect that? Putting that aside, I took a look at the ReviewTyme YouTube channel. The title of the video that mentioned my site was “The Mystery of Disneyland’s Ugly Baby.” Intrigued, I watched the entire 21 minute video which details a statue that resided in New Orleans Square. The first photo from my collection shows the original models for that land which opened in July of 1966. On the right of the model you see the corner of Café Orleans and a low fence; this is the area where the statue was placed originally (although not part of the model). The earliest shot in my collection that shows the actual statue is a rear view. Literally. From July 1967:
The statue that Dom from ReviewTyme refers to as “The Ugly Baby” appears to have originally been a young maiden who faced towards the guests dining at Café Orleans.
This image from October 1967…
confirms that theory:
How about a genuine FauxD© shot from July 1968?
Grainy, but still there.
December 1968:
And then, as Dom pointed out, my collection goes dark until March 2010:
At some point during that large gap of time, the statue was replaced and also turned outward. The young maiden was transformed into a cherub:
The only closeup in my collection is from February 2011:
February 2012:
A year later, the statue seems to have begun a quick descent into obliteration; the erosion on the face is especially noticeable.
Flash forward to the last time I captured this statue in May 2015:
The face has begun to look grotesque with a misshapen mouth:
What happened after 2015? You’ll have to watch all of ReviewTyme’s video to find out!
See more photos at my main website.
1 comment:
Zero comments?! Fine, I'll handle this. (ahem)
I was blown away that they didn't just mention you, but really plugged your gallery as the ultimate reference for legacy images. ( It is! ) I can't tell you how many times I've come across amazing details I've never known about before.
Also, that ugly baby is hideous. There's really no excuse for that. Rolly Crump didn't even know how to sculpt when Blaine Gibson gave him a plastic fork and told him he was on his own. You would think today's imagineers ( even without any training ) would be at some level where they could take a wire and push the cement into a palatable shape. That melted monstrosity really does deserve some kind of Disney inquiry board. At the very least, toss it out and get some yard statue from a nursery. Their efforts actually seemed to be worse than buying something plaster and off the shelf.
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