Sunday, August 12, 2007

Rocket to The Moon Under Douglas Sponsorship 1961

The Rocket To the Moon was originally sponsored by TWA. In 1961, the sponsorship changed and Douglas Aerospace took over sponsorship. I believe these are from August 6th when the Flying Saucers Opened and Douglas took over as the sponsor. The first image is the Rocket Ship at night taken by the Douglas photographers and developed by them.

The next image shows the happy Douglas employees on the ride. In the crowd is the CEO of the company, Donald Douglas Jr. I hope the man smoking the pipe knows it was a non-smoking area with all that rocket fuel sitting under him.

The final image is of Walt speaking to Donald and other employees. The reactions of the employees run the gamut from amusement to intense concentration. I wonder what Walt is saying as he points out the lady's purse.

4 comments:

Daveland said...

Great photos, Matterhorn - wow! In the last pic, that looks like Lillian Disney with the black purse behind Walt's hand.

Major Pepperidge said...

Yes, I was thinking that she looked like Lillian as well.

Awesome pix!

thepicklebarrel said...

spectacular!

also, that good ol', Admiral"CAN-DO" Joe Fowler above Walt's head.

what a neat collection....

Anonymous said...

I was 11 in 1961, and my name was and is Douglas, so when I went to Disneyland on my 11th birthday and discovered that the old TWA rocket now had MY name emblazoned on it, it was like a great birthday present. It was now MY rocket.

I still think it looks like me.