Disneyland by Starlite

Further evidence that fifty years ago grown-ups were more grown-up than they are today.

Newspaper clipping from 1957.

See my post today at Dinosaurs and Robots.

Disneyland Steam Trains Illustration 1955


Part of an original pencil layout created in 1955 for a full-color newspaper section presenting some of the " many delights and wonders that are yours to enjoy at Disneyland."

The text for this page:

ALL ABOARD…AT DISNEYLAND

These are little trains by comparison with Santa Fe’s present day streamliners and powerful freight diesels, but in their day they did an important job of moving passengers and freight.

Built to accurate scale, you’ll find an inspection and ride on these trains one of the thrilling adventures awaiting you at Disneyland.

The “E. P. Ripley,” Replica of one of Santa Fe’s early trains, pulls into the Santa Fe Station at the entrance to Disneyland. The 5/8 scale version of the original train will carry visitors on a complete circuit of the 60-acre Disneyland park. Weighing 15 tons, the old-fashioned steam locomotive will pull six coaches accommodating 300 passengers.

The “C. K. Holiday” is the newest old freight train in America. Its run of 1-1/8 miles is made at 20 miles per hour pulling 3 cattle cars, 2 gondola cars and a little red caboose.

And for an adventure of travel on your next trip East, ride one of the modern streamliners in Santa Fe’s famous fleet of Chiefs –The Chief, El Capitan, or the world-famous Super Chief.

May we present...

         It's our new company business card!

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A special announcement to loyal friends and followers of this blog...I have recently been invited to "guest blog" at one of my favorite websites in the whole world, "Dinosaurs and Robots" ... a site that you will note has forever been present in my sidebar of favorites.  If you're smart, you will have found it by now, too, and already know the love I feel.  "D & R"  is hosted by the inventive Mr. Jalopy and Mark Frauenfelder, whom you might run into later this week in Chicago at the American Maker event.  I wish I could be there!  Mr. Jalopy was a featured guest on "Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know?" last week and does incredible magic reworking worn out old things into useful and inspired NEW things. Go check out "Dinosaurs and Robots" -- I guarantee you'll discover some inspiration there.

A Gay Whirl at Disneyland!

"Dedicated to the Happiness of your Family"

How wonderful is that?

An original newspaper clipping from the 1950s.

Pure Delight!

Nothing says "FUN" so exuberantly as this publicity art from 1957. We found this newspaper ad several years ago and have used elements of it on several of our Disneyland collectibles. Sensational stuff!

DOWN BY THE STATION...

Part of an original pencil layout created in 1955 for a full-color newspaper section presenting some of the " many delights and wonders that are yours to enjoy at Disneyland."

The text for this page:
"At Disneyland this summer (1955), you'll see and ride replicas of the Santa Fe trains that, back in 1869, began pushing their way West --opening a vast frontier to settlement and commerce."

Wonkywagen

Last week I posted three paintings I made for the 30th anniversary of "The Love Bug." This week I'm going to drive the extra mile by featuring a hardlines item I did for the same “retro Herbie” assortment. 

This is a VW-shaped “trinket box” for holding all your... you know... trinkets.

  

Honestly it’s not even large enough to contain a spark plug, but as with most “collectibles” useful function isn't really the point.

The exciting challenge was translating the wonky graphic style of the flat artwork into a similarly wonky 3-D sculpture. To help make sure the shapes would be appealing, I made a preliminary Herbie out of Sculpey and cast up a couple of them in resin. 

(Can you tell he has a subliminal happy face?

Awww...)

I painted one of the resin casts and worked out the racing stripes and 53s on pieces of paper over the contours. 

This prototype was just three inches long – but it was a handy reference when sculpting the final version.