Where's My Wench Wednesday

Although I love her dearly, I have not seen her in over THREE YEARS! Who am I referring to? Why, the Redheaded Wench from Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean dark ride attraction. The panoramic view of this scene opening today’s post was shot back in December 2015. The following shot was from the last one I took of her, June 2016.



What happened to her? As you may or may not know, the Marc Davis designed animatronic became a victim of misguided political correctness. Afraid of offending, the Disney Corporation replaced the “wench” with a redheaded female pirate...HOLDING A GUN. Yes...that’s so much better.

Here’s a brief history of our gal, beginning with this July 1967 publicity shot:



A guest shot from April 1970:



A few that I captured from October 2005, digitally:



…and with a film camera:





A nice juicy closeup from May 2008:



What happened to the original animatronic? Currently on display at the Walt Disney Archives, she looks damn good for her age! I’m not quite sure where the hairdo came from, but it was still good to see her. Perhaps they used beer cans to curl her hair?



Want to see her shoes? I knew you would:



Last one for today is a “behind-the-scenes” image taken by a former cast member, showing the bare-bones of the animatronic itself:



I have yet to see the new version, and can’t say I'm really anxious to.

See more Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean photos at my main website.

Blurry Pirates 1975

I was very excited to bid on this series of consecutive images from the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction circa April 1975...until I received them. The composition was great; but the shots were all blurry. Meh. In an attempt to make up for the crappy images, I have done my best to do a contemporary compare and contrast post. Here goes!







From Blackbeard:



to Barbossa:









Enjoy this version while you can!









Another casualty to politically incorrect changes:



















What happened to this guy?



More Pirates of the Caribbean photos at my main website.

Politically Incorrect Pirates, April 1974

If you like vintage politically incorrect Disneyland, then this treasure trove should be right up your alley! Take a journey back to April 1974 and enjoy these sequentially presented images that give are probably as close as you're going to get to seeing what the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction looked like in its original incarnation. Shall we begin at Lafitte's Landing?



I had to zoom in for a closeup on this figure:



Join us in the belly of the grotto.



The Captain's Bar:



A closeup of the Marc Davis painting, back when it was probably the real thing.



Captain's Quarters:



There is so much clutter in the scene today; I had never noticed these two small paintings before:





I don't believe they are there anymore.



A dark shot of the treasure room:



The Wicked Wench, back when it was still commandeered by Blackbeard!



Poor Carlos - the eternal dunk.



The Wench Auction scene; the latest piece of Disneyland to come under fire for being offensive.



A closeup of the beloved Red-headed wench:



She doesn't seem to bother the onlookers!



Here is what I believe to be the first part of Pirates that came under fire: The Gluttonous Pirate. I had never noticed that he also held the lady's slipper besides her slip.



Today, you get a treasure map, a key, and Jack Sparrow.



The looting pirates and the hat thief:



The last one of the bunch shows the pistol duel:



I have to say that I am very impressed not only with the quality of these shots, but with the choice of scenes that the photographer chose to document. I doubt I could have done a better job back then with my Polaroid One-Step!

More Disneyland Pirates of the Caribbean attraction photos at my main website.