Mary Blair Monday, September 1976

Today I present three consecutively shot images of the Disneyland Tomorrowland Corridor of Murals, designed by Mary Blair. Shot in September 1976, our vintage photographer must have really been taken with these. Installed when Tomorrowland was re-imagined and re-christened in 1967, they definitely bring to mind Blair’s nearby attraction, it’s a small world.



The first two images show the north mural (on the CircleVision 360 attraction). While the dancing children in Tomorrowland may seem a bit out of context, the satellites at the top representing global communication kind of fit.



And who wouldn’t want to see children from all over getting along in the future?



Below is the south mural, installed on the Adventure thru Inner Space attraction.



The sun portion is truly representative of some of the temperatures lately!



There are conflicting stories about the status of these murals. Glass half full reports say that the murals are intact underneath the current c&*p that was placed on top. Glass half empty photos show that during the installation of the current c&*p large portions of Blair’s art was either removed or drilled through to make way for its uninspired replacement. I believe you can still see Blair’s Grand Canyon Concourse Mural in the Walt Disney World Contemporary Hotel, as shown in my photos from January 2010:



Not only did Blair’s designs include bold colors and shapes, the tiles were…well, tactile. In the detail image below you can see the textures within the design themselves.



If you prefer Blair’s two dimensional art, here’s a concept art piece she did for Disney’s “Cinderella” (1950:



See more Mary Blair Disneyland/WDW photos at my main website.

Meet Me At The Tower

The 1964/1965 New York World's Fair lasted from April 22 – October 18, 1964 and April 21 – October 17, 1965. Today's featured shot is from June 1964 and shows two of the seven dwarves on top of Rolly Crump's Tower of the Four Winds. You can just barely see the yellow of Snow White's dress at the far left of the frame. The 120' tall tower was a landmark at the Fair and spawned the phrase, "Meet me at the Tower."

The Tower was torn down at the end of the fair; this model in the Walt Disney World Contemporary Hotel is the best way to see it up close and personal.



See more Daveland 1964/1965 New York World's Fair photos at my main website.

Mary Blair 100th Birthday Anniversary Tribute

In honor of what would have been Mary Blair's (1911-1978) 100th Birthday, today's post will be a photo tribute to some of her most beloved work in the Disney theme parks. Currently, the Disney Gallery in Disneyland's Town Square is featuring an exhibit that showcases Blair's work, including this concept painting for "Cinderella" which depicts the transformation of a pumpkin into a coach. It would have been interesting to see "Cinderella" and "Alice in Wonderland" completely rendered in the Blair style.



Blair left the Disney Studios in the 1950s to do freelance, but was called by Walt himself in 1963 to work with Imagineers on "it's a small world." This is probably her best known work, and one of the few Disney projects that retained the look and feel of Blair's style.



Blair also designed two large murals for the Disney company; one that was featured in the Disneyland New Tomorrowland makeover of 1967, and another that was created for the Contemporary Hotel in Orlando, Florida, pictured here:







Although it didn't really seem to fit thematically into Tomorrowland, Blair's murals near the entrance were truly a spectacular piece of art:













Sadly, they were covered up in a later Tomorrowland remodel and most likely suffered quite a bit of damage in the process. Here's the bland mural that replaced it; something tells me that there won't be a celebration for the replacements in another 100 years:





One of my readers sent me this extremely sad link; I'd like to think that this type of destruction wouldn't happen today, however, just look across the way to the DCA tile murals. They are now toast as well:



See more Mary Blair Tomorrowland Tile photos on my New Tomorrowland web page.

Happy 40th Anniversary, Walt Disney World!

Interrupting today's normally scheduled program, Daveland brings a mini-celebration of WDW's 40th Anniversary. Looking to expand his theme park kingdom, Walt Disney ventured further east and settled on Orlando, Florida. The photos from today's post come from the collection of Daveland reader Greg Kelly, a former employee of Walt Disney World. All of these shots are from 1975, back when the Contemporary Hotel was still Contemporary!



From 2010, during my last trip to WDW, I shot this sunrise view of the Contemporary from the sandy beaches of the Polynesian Village Resort:









Thanks to the maturation of the landscaping, the Haunted Mansion looks even more Haunted now, as you can see by this photo that I took in 2010:





The 70's look even worse from the backside.



These two lovely ladies look as if they are ready to serve a cocktail on the next flight.



Although Walt Disney World doesn't hold quite the appeal that Disneyland does for me, I still have extremely fond memories of a trip I took back in 1978 with my father when I spent an entire week exploring the resort. I think "What Not To Wear" could have done an entire episode on my Junior High wardrobe at the time. Here I am with my stepbrother, modeling my 70's chic style. PS: The hat had a zippered pocket in it.



The obligatory Castle-In-The-Background shot with my dad.



Somehow, dad arranged a private meet-and-greet with Mickey. The bored look on my face was directed towards my dad for shooting too many photos.



Oh the horror of that hat.



As a special 40th WDW Tribute, Daveland is giving away this stunning vintage ashtray. Just leave a comment for this post by Monday, October 3rd at noon, and you'll be entered to win (Continental U.S. of A. only, please!).



Only the finest quality at Daveland!



See more WDW photos on my Walt Disney World web page.

More WDW Top of the World & Contemporary Hotel

Daveland reader Greg Kelly generously shared some photos from his collection as well as a few memories of working at the Top of the World Restaurant in The Contemporary Hotel at Walt Disney World.

I worked at the Top of the World Restaurant in the Contemporary Hotel from 1974 through 1976. These pictures were taken in 1974, probably in the summer. The camera I had (and still have!) was a small Kodak. If only the technology was as it was today, I would have some great shots!



The pictures of the King Sisters came out too dark (old flash cubes!) but I still thought I'd include them with the others. All were taken from the Top of the World catwalks. I took one of the Contemporary Hotel from a distance; I was lucky to be out in Florida when it was wide open spaces!!!

The King Sisters:









I have many happy memories of my days as a cast member at the Top of the World. One of my favorite would be during the second show, all of us would go in the break room and watch Saturday Night Live back in the day when it was just starting and hillarious!



Meeting celebrities was great too. I've been around a lot of celebrities ever since I was a kid, as my Dad sang with the Modernaires (1958 to 1964) and sang on the Red Skelton Show and the Danny Kaye Show. Thanks to that, I was used to it. In fact the Modernaires played at the Top of The World for a week and it was great seeing them as they (Paula Kelly, Vern Polk, and Hal Dickenson, God Bless their souls) watched me grow up.





I think the best story I can share was when my friend and I were taking a break in the cafeteria on a slow morning and our colleague came down and his eyes were as big as saucers. He said John Lennon was in the dining room. Well, we thought he was kidding, as we used to kid around a lot. Sure enough though, John Lennon was sitting on the lower level with a whole bunch of kids and probably Yoko Ono's family. That was a trip seeing him and being that close to him! My friends followed him to the restroom and got his autograph. I couldn't as I had been around several celebrities in the past as I mentioned, and felt I should leave him to his privacy! Still, it was an experience I won't forget!



One other quick one I can share was serving Lawrence Welk (just pouring his coffee) and he tipped me $5.00 dollars. In 1975, $5.00 had a bit more mileage to it!! He was a very cool guy. So was Buddy Greco; super cool as a matter of fact! Mel Torme, Rosemary Cloney, etc. Another interesting experience was when The Amazing Kreskin was peforming for a week—he was quite a talent!



I was quite fortunate to get hired at The Top of the World and to have been part of Walt Disney's dream! It was an honor and I had such a great time. Now it is the California Grill. The new Top of the World is in the structure next to the Contemporary Hotel which is a private club or special "Key Club.”



I can't wait to go back and visit. Just to see WDW and all of its growth seems so exciting!

Thanks to Greg for sending his stories and photos!

See more vintage and contemporary WDW Contemporary Hotel photos at my main website.