Monday Trouble Trio

Today’s post has three new (to me) publicity stills from the 1962 movie, “40 Pounds of Trouble” which had a sequence filmed at Disneyland. The first shot shows Suzanne Pleshette, Claire Wilcox, and Tony Curtis drinking milk (Disney sponsor Carnation, of course!) behind the Chicken of the Sea Pirate Ship. They are wearing Halloween masks as disguises; Pleshette as Kruschev, Wilcox as Castro, and Curtis as JFK. The ship’s parrot (Paco) can be seen caged in the background:



This vintage slide from December 1962 (same time as the release of the movie) shows the Pirate Ship in full color:



Zooming in you can see the area where the three sat, including the parrot cage:



From July 1962:



The same seating area from the reverse angle, with a better shot of the Paco, the talking parrot:



Why were they wearing masks? In the movie, Tom Reese’s character was attempting to catch them, chasing them throughout the Park. Here he is in the Skull Rock cove area, with the Skyway pylons in the background:



How Skull Rock looked in color, circa September 1962:



The area where Reese was standing (note the matching light fixtures):



Here, the three leads are being pursued through Tom Sawyer Island over the pontoon bridge:



…and a color view from 1960:



While this remake of “Little Miss Marker” is not a very good film (critic Bosley Crowther called it “too hackneyed and dull”), the fifteen minute Disneyland sequence is a great record of vintage Disneyland.
 
See more “40 Pounds of Trouble” photos at my main website.

Hitchcock on location: The Birds

"The Birds" has always baffled me; it's considered by many as one of Alfred Hitchcock's best movies, but overall, it does very little for me. Its uneven mixture of screwball comedy and suspense/horror makes it one of my least favorite Hitchcock movies. Evan Hunter's screenplay doesn't help either, nor has it aged very well. Some scenes are absolutely brilliant, while others seem flat and dated. Despite that, I was very excited to find myself in Bodega Bay recently, affording me the opportunity to see some of the locations used in this movie.

The first comparison shot is where the movie begins, in San Francisco's Union Square:



A December 2005 view from the same angle:



Recklessly driving up the coast, our heroine, Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren), is going to a lot of trouble to flirt with attorney Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor).



Melanie approaches the Schoolhouse in Boedga:



The Potter Schoolhouse as it looks today:



Bodega and Bodega Bay are approximately 5 miles apart, but thanks to a little movie magic, Hitchcock stitched them together to form one little community. For downtown Bodega Bay, Hitch used the Universal backlot:



as well as the real Bodega Bay:



Melanie rents a boat so that she can sneak up on the Brenner house with her lovebirds:



A contemporary panoramic view of where Melanie piloted her outboard motorboat:



Melanie cruising through "Bodega Bay," with a scenic matte painting behind her:



The real Bodega Bay:



Just before getting dive-bombed by a gull, Melanie gives Mitch a haughty (but flirtatious) look as he waits for her on the dock.



End of flirtation; Melanie needs medical attention, as Mitch whisks her off to the Tides Restaurant:





The new and improved Tides Restaurant, which is a completely new structure:



Embracing the film, and continuing to earn a bit of coin from it, this stuffed "bird" looms over the gift shop entrance:



Later in the movie, Melanie heads back to the schoolhouse to check on the safety of teacher Annie Hayworth (the husky-voiced Suzanne Pleshette) and the children:







A front view of the schoolhouse today.



Melanie heads off to the side of the building to get a smoke while she waits for school (and specifically Mitch's younger sister) to be dismissed.





This is where the brilliance of Hitchcock's suspenseful style is at its peak, with the intercutting of Melanie getting increasingly more nervous while the birds begin to pile-up behind her.



Only the audience knows about the birds.



That is, until a single crow flies overhead.



Melanie follows the crow visually until she sees it descend upon the playground jungle gym.



Oops!



I have to hand it to Tippi Hedren. In her first starring role, she is fantastic. The controlled horror she displays is so natural. Hitch did a great job coaching her.



A contemporary side shot of the schoolhouse. No jungle gym. No playground. And no Tippi.



A few shots from the film showing the children frantically running away from the birds:





Had the little darlings actually been running down the street away from the schoolhouse, THIS is what they would have seen:



Instead, Hitch filmed that viewpoint in a different area, and spliced the two together.

Hope you enjoyed my Hitchcock on location series!

See more Bodega Bay photos on my Bodega Bay web page.

Puffin' in the Park

Times change as our knowledge increases, and so do pastimes and habits. At one time, cigarettes were smoked by the general public and also considered to be very glamorous. It should come as no surprise that since Walt himself was a smoker that cigarettes had a presence in the park, as can be seen by this photo of the Tobacco Shop on Main Street, U.S.A.



The door of the Tobacco Shop pretty much sums up the habit for those who find themselves in its addictive clutches:



I hate to call today's post a tribute to cigarettes, as they are smelly and obviously not good for your health. However, they were part of early Disneyland and even today, part of the collectibles that people accumulate. What follows are photos of some of the vintage matchbook covers you could have found at Disneyland (thanks to Bill H.!), conveniently shown flipped both ways so that you don't have to turn your computer upside down!



Matchbooks were even made for the parades:



For those who might get offended about Mickey being associated with matches, let's remember matches have other uses besides lighting up cigs.



I wonder if the Country Bears smoked?



Can you imagine cigarette smoke in the Blue Bayou? Today, smokers are relegated to a few areas within the park. I am sure the day when smoking is completely banned at Disneyland is not too far off.



I love the retro look of this one:



Even the land of Tomorrow needs matches:



Typically, a lady would not be caught with a cigarette in her mouth in a photograph; cigarettes were held discreetly at the side, almost out of view.



On Yippie Day, discretion was not an issue.



This 1962 dad is taking a hard drag on one before he tosses it into the street.



Suzanne Pleshette gives her cancer stick a touch of glamour with her pose.



Something disturbing about Walt holding a cigarette so close to that little boy's arm.



Cigs weren't banned at the Hotel:



Even castmembers could be seen smoking in the park:





What father-son outing would be complete without a dad who smoked? Hope that kid's jacket isn't flammable.



Cigarettes were even part of pop music. Check out this Tex Williams song and get ready for it to stick in your head all day long.



See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.