Old School Disneyland Primer

What would happen if you were able to have access to a time machine that allowed you to visit Disneyland back in the early days? Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Especially if you could take a camera. However, you wouldn't want to be discovered as a visitor from the future; if you've ever seen an episode of "Lost in Space" or any other vintage TV shows that deal with time travel, you'd know that strangers from the future typically don't get a warm welcome! Today's post is designed to help you assimilate and make sure that you look like you know what you're doing on a typical day at Disneyland, circa 1950's. If you're driving a car into the park, the first shot shows you the view that you would encounter as you enter the property. You'd park your vintage car alongside of all the other way cool vintage cars. And wow...you are just steps from the entrance! No gargantuan parking garage to deal with...just one level of asphalt that gives you a direct view of your destination. Oh the excitement is building!



Of course, you do have an alternative. If you had a long drive, you might want to spend a few days at Disneyland and check into the Disneyland Hotel.



You could board the Disneyland Hotel Tram and leave your car parked safely at the Hotel.



Either way, you are only steps from the entrance.





But wait...where are the ticket booths in the esplanade? In fact, where is the esplanade and the California Adventure entrance? Folks, you just parked there. Yup...DCA and the ticket booths are standing where the original parking lot was located. Back in the 50s, the ticket booths were at the entrance. How convenient is that? Again, just steps away from your destination (now I know you're really salivating).



One final tip though, and this is a crucial one. Whatever you do, don't ask the ticket counter cast member for an annual pass. Or a park hopper. Instead, you'll be paying for admission into the park, as in one park. Uno. Un. Eine. Here's a detail of the ticket prices you'd pay in the 1960's. Sorry, couldn't find a decent closeup from the 50s, but figured this would still help prepare you for the sticker shock. When was the last time you paid $5 for ANYTHING at Disneyland?!?



Wait a minute...what are those ticket books? Is that like buying multiple day passes? Nope...ticket books are what you need for the attractions. One ticket for each attraction, and depending upon the attraction, you might need an A, B, C, D, or E ticket. Here's a July 1959 photo of a guest holding their attraction ticket book in their hands. D tickets cost 35¢ back in the day, meaning you'd have to pay 35¢ to ride each D ticket attraction.



And now that you have parked your car, bought your tickets, and walked up to the entrance gate, you are almost ready for your day of fun. The turnstiles are so close! But what's the boy in the straw hat and striped shirt doing? Is he taking surveys for marketing purposes?



Nope. He's just selling guidebooks, and you'll definitely want one of those to help acquaint you with what's available at Disneyland circa 1950's. I'd recommend you buy it from this salesman though...I hear he can do magic tricks, too.



See more Disneyland entrance photos on my Disneyland entrance web page.

Sundays in Paris: Comparisons & POTC Blowout

Thanks to a request I made previously, Jenny is back with today's DLP Column, "Differences between Attractions at Disneyland Paris and Other Disney Parks."

Similar rides can be found in many of the Disney theme parks around the world but the park in Disneyland Paris has more differences than any other.

Phantom Manor & Haunted Mansions (photo courtesy of David Jafra)

There are three Haunted Mansions in Disney parks, plus the unique Phantom Manor in Paris Disneyland - given its name so that non-English speaking people could easily associate it with ghosts as they are not familiar with the word ‘haunted’. Phantom Manor is based in Frontierland, so has an “old west” atmosphere, as well as a storyline that’s much darker than the other versions with an evil Phantom taking over the house.

Whereas the Haunted Mansions around the world have a neat outside/spooky inside rule with pristine red bricks, the Phantom Manor looks worn out and abandoned both inside and out, and was intended to resemble Bates Manor in Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘Psycho’.



Pirates of the Caribbean (photo courtesy of Loren Javier)

The Pirates of the Caribbean ride was the inspiration behind the famous film franchise of the same name, starring Johnny Depp. When the ride in Disneyland Paris was built, the scenes were arranged in a different order to the other versions, with the pirates raiding the fort being first, followed by the battle scene and the prison scene.

The attraction in Paris currently remains loyal to its roots as it still has the original ride, whereas the other versions had a revamp in 2006 that included the introduction of Audio-Animatronic figures of Captain Jack Sparrow and Hector Barbossa. There are however plans to include these in Paris in the near future.



Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing & the Jungle Cruise (photo courtesy of Loren Javier)

All of the Disney parks include a boating experience with the majority favouring a fun and exciting Jungle Cruise. The Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing at Disneyland Paris however, is a more laid-back affair, featuring two majestic river boats - Mark Twain and Molly Brown - which provide a relaxing journey as they navigate the Rivers of the Far West around Frontierland.
The Jungle Cruise in the other Disney parks is an entertaining ride for kids, featuring various boats (27 feet long), which use a 4-cylinder Chevrolet engine, with names such as Amazon Belle and Ganges Gal. Sailing around jungles and rivers from across the world, the attraction brims with exotic Audio-Animatronic jungle animals and tropical foliage.

Many thanks to Jenny for contributing this post! As a bonus for the recent release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," I am including a few extras, beginning with an interview from Geoffrey Rush, the talented actor who portrays Hector Barbossa in the movie. He is also one of the few to win the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Oscar ("Shine"), a Tony, and an Emmy.



Are you a fan of the extras that come along with DVDs and Blu-Ray disks?
I love the bonus material you find on DVDs. In a funny way, the bloopers and the behind-the-scenes coverage is like a great personal home movie for me. Some actors like to photograph their experiences on a movie set. They take pictures of the friends and the mates they work with, but I never get around to it. However, I recently looked at the DVD bonus features for a movie called Elizabeth and it felt like I was watching a home movie of all of my friends. The DVD teams manage to record everything much better than I could. It’s very professionally done, not like a hand-held camera.

Have you got used to the scale of the sets involved with the Pirates Of The Caribbean movies?
I don’t think you ever get used to working on a movie like this. The scale of everything on these films is always jaw dropping. The scale or performance that’s required is sometimes jaw dropping, too.



How long does it take you to get into character each day?
At first, it seems to take an eternity – but as the shoot goes on, you get much slicker. We got the time in makeup down from about two-and-a-half hours to one-and-a-half because everybody becomes really efficient with time.

What does the makeup process involve?
There’s a lot of preparation involved with my character’s makeup. You have to rough up the skin, stick on the beard, put on the wig – and then you put on his clothes once you’re ready. You slowly build up to Barbossa, which is great for getting into the character. However, I always feel that the hat completes everything. Once the hat goes on, I enter into the spirit of it and I truly become Barbossa.



What is the secret behind the success of the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise?
At its heart, I think the great diversity of characters in the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise has been very appealing to audiences, especially with Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow. Johnny created an entirely new and different pirate, and everybody fell in love with the character.

Did you know how popular the franchise was going to become when you first started work on the original movie?
The first film took everyone by surprise because there had been a 50-year period where nobody had been able to crack the pirate genre. People had tried to reboot it in many different forms, but it just didn’t capture popular imagination. When the first Pirates Of The Caribbean film came out in 2003, I was reading one of the entertainment magazines and I remember seeing about 50 movies mentioned, including a lot of talk about Charlie’s Angels 2 and The Incredible Hulk. However, Pirates Of The Caribbean was buried somewhere down the bottom.

Do you remember the tide turning when the movie was released?
Yes, and I think Jerry Bruckheimer’s instincts were quietly accurate because he chose a very late weekend in the summer to release the film. The first movie came out in the States in July, not May, and it just sort of ignited.



Did your kids visit the set during the film shoot?
My kids have visited a number of sets during the filming of the various Pirates Of The Caribbean movies. In fact, I’ve got a series of photographs from 2002 onwards from their various set visits. There are photos where they are up to my hips, then my chest, them my ears and now they’re even taller than me. Barbossa always stays the same, but the children have grown up a lot.

Do people remember you more from Pirates Of The Caribbean than from your Oscar-winning role in Shine?
It completely varies. If I’m out and about in public and someone makes eye contact, I can tell what movie they recognize me from. I can see them approach me and I think, ‘This is going to be a House On Haunted Hill or a Pirates Of The Caribbean moment.’ You can pick the different demographics.

Are there any similarities between Barbossa and Aksenti Poprishchin, the character you recently played in the play, The Diary Of A Madman?
I like to build up a diverse gallery of characters, but the theater is a very different medium because you take ownership of the performance almost exclusively. You collaborate with other actors and the director, but ultimately – when the show is running for two hours every night – you’re in charge of it. There’s nobody editing your performance.

Are there any similarities at all?
I guess there is an overlap between Barbossa and Poprishchin in the sense that I gravitate towards characters who operate in some kind of extreme world. I’m not as interested, nor as skilled, at playing the nuances of smaller lives. For me, the bigger the better.

You’re quoted as saying there’s a scary side to acting. What do you mean by that?
There’s a certain vulnerability to the job description and at the same time you constantly want to better yourself or outdo yourself – but it can be really scary. However, you up certain technical capabilities with experience. I now know that when I work in the theater, I will get four or five weeks to rehearse and I know how to get the best value out of that time frame so that I’m ready and prepared. But at the same time, you’re constantly thinking that you could go out there and bomb really badly. That’s scary, too. It doesn’t matter if you’re working on movies or in the theater, there’s always something at the back of your mind that says, ‘Are you going to bomb today?’



You’ve spent many years working on Hollywood movies. Why do you still live in Australia and not in Los Angeles?
I was in my mid-40s when I made my first film, but I was probably set in my ways and I knew that I wanted my kids to grow up in an Australian education system. It was practical for me to be able to live in Melbourne, Australia, but still be able to work internationally. The studios say to me, “Well, we’ll fly you over. That’s fine.” And that’s great for me. Work keeps happening and now I have a lot of frequent flyer points. I couldn’t be happier!

See more Disneyland Paris photos on my Disneyland Paris web page.

Screen Gem Saturdays: War of the Roses

I remember sitting in a theater back in 1989 and seeing the trailer for the newest Kathleen Turner & Michael Douglas movie, "The War of the Roses." The music was a Danny Elfman-style raucous cacophony, and the clips that were edited together made it look like a bedroom farce with people swinging on chandeliers and throwing things at each other. The film that was released was quite different and at first I didn't quite get it. The music in the trailer was not used; instead, it was more restrained. The movie was also (for the most part) more restrained and less about physical comedy. I was a bit confused and admittedly disappointed. The trailer promised "Romancing the Stone" in the bedroom, but delivered the sad disintegration of a marriage instead. When it came out on home video, I gave it a second chance and thought, "Hey, this isn't so bad..."

Since that time, I have watched it countless times and can now count it as one of my favorite films. I don't know who put the trailer together that I saw back in '89, but they sure did the movie a disservice.



If you've never seen it, let me warn you...it can be heavy at times, especially if you've lived through a divorce. It is a rare take on the topic, as most Hollywood films show outside forces as being the culprits for two people pulling apart. Instead, Oliver & Barbara Rose (played expertly by Douglas and Turner) slowly drift away from each other as Barbara becomes more disgusted with her self-centered ladder-climbing husband who neglects the wife at home who helped him reach the top.



Having previously worked together in "Romancing the Stone" and "Jewel of the Nile" (what a turkey that one is; Turner was right to initially refuse it), Turner and Douglas display a chemistry that would rival the greatest of Hollywood's screen teams. Sometimes over the top, Turner is at her very best here showing a subtlety that makes the audience sympathize with the years of neglect her character has put up with.



Danny DeVito directs the film and also plays a narrator of sorts. His character, Gavin d'Amato, a colleague of Oliver’s, also represents him in his acrimonious divorce from Barbara. Gavin ponders, "There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull. How do you hold onto someone who won't stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won't go?" Things continue to get uglier between the Roses, who inhabit the same house during the proceedings. Barbara decides to throw herself on Gavin to entice him to talk Oliver into moving out.



Barbara kicks off one of her heels and puts her foot in Gavin's crotch, knowing that years earlier at one of her dinner parties, Gavin got a foot job under the table from his date.

Barbara Rose: what would it take to get you to help me, Gavin?

Gavin: Come on, put your shoes on, Barbara. I haven't been into feet since '82.

Although tempted, Gavin comes to his senses and wards off her advances, despite finding out that her previous training as a gymnast would have made her a very flexible partner in the hay.

I'm all for happy endings, but this one (which is not) will blow you away. The climax of the film is played between Turner, Douglas, and a chandelier...and nobody wins. Turner's final tiny gesture shows just how much disgust she has for Oliver, whose stupidity and macho bravado causes their ultimate demise.



If you like black comedies, they don't get blacker than this one.

UPDATE: I decided to look for the trailer that I recalled from over 20 years ago and found it on Youtube:



See more Kathleen Turner photos on my Kathleen Turner web page.

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.

Traveling Thursdays: Vintage 1960s New Orleans Details

It's pretty cool to scan in an old vintage slide or negative; the quality is usually so much better than working from a photographic print. If the photographer had a good camera and a steady hand, the details that can be yielded from a decent high resolution scanner are really wonderful to discover. Today's post is dedicated to one of my favorite cities that I yearn to return to for a vacation. First up is the Dream Room from August 1968. You'll note that although Disneyland is faithful to the style of architecture one sees in New Orleans with its New Orleans Square tribute, you will also note that Disneyland's version is scrubbed squeaky clean. Zooming in you can see that there's a big jam session on Friday and Saturday that lasts until ?



Beignets and java at the Café du Monde; a great way to start any morning, especially if it's May 1961.



And don't forget the vintage autos!



Anyone care to sample Ma-Lou's Pralines? I wouldn't mind some crumbled over vanilla ice cream. This one is from June 1962



My inner sign-geek is telling me to get a closer look at the signage of the Green Orchid:



Panning over to the left, you can see The Patio Art Studio and some of the pieces that were created there. Anyone care to rent an apartment here from Soniat & Quinlan?



Here we have a typical view of the lacy wrought iron railings and shutters that can be found on most buildings in the French Quarter.



Zooming in we can see that we've stumbled onto the photography studio of de Sylva-Dyer, circa April 28, 1960.



See more vintage & current New Orleans photos on my New Orleans web page.

Captain Eo Premiere

Hard to believe it's been 25 years since the initial release of Michael Jackson's 3D featurette, "Captain EO." Doing a quick run through in my head of Disneyland history, I can't think of a single attraction other than "Captain EO" that was removed and then years later, brought back to life. "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" was a temporary removal for the 50th Anniversary Steve Martin movie; The Motor Boats morphed into different forms over a period of some 30+ years before disappearing for good. Is "Captain EO" the only attraction to get yanked and then return? I'm sure there's a DL history nut out there who would know.



These publicity photos were released in conjunction with the grand opening of "Captain EO" at Disneyland. From the publicity caption:



9/13/86: Director Francis Coppola, actress Anjelica Huston and Director George Lucas cut the ribbon to open Walt Disney Co.'s "Captain Eo," the much-ballyhooed 17-minute 3-D film starring Michael Jackson. Jackson did not take part in the opening but Disney's chairman Michael Eisner told the crowd that Jackson was somewhere in the audience disguised "either as an old lady or an usher or animatronic character." Although the cost was not disclosed, it is estimated to run more than $1 million a minute.

Here is a shot of the men behind the film, Coppola, Jackson, and Lucas:



See more Captain EO photos on my Captain Eo web page.