Thanks to Dan at Mr. Toast for the image.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Painting the Peter Pan Ride Mural
A fantastic pre-opening photograph of the painting of the ride load mural at Peter Pan. I love the perspective of the city of London and in the foreground the tops of the chimneys. The photograph is marked on the back for a C.W. "Vic" Culina. On a quick look on the net, I was not able to find anything out about the photographer. I am going to assume the painting took place at the park rather than the studio. Anybody want to hazard a guess who the painters are?
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12 comments:
An unexpected way to start my day. Ditto thanks to Dan and the Mr. Toast gang for sending along this rare and interesting photo.
You'd have to be an expert on Disney flooring to tell where this was painted, but I think your guess was right: the work was probably done at the park.
Wow, super cool! I've always loved the "flight over london" aspects of the Peter Pan ride, including this painting. Dan and Mr. Toast scored big on this one!
Wonderful!
I am off to a VIP press event at Disneyland today.....I am going to ask some of the higher-ups if these sets were painted on site...
:)
Glamorous Life: Ask - but verify. From personal experience the higher up in the company, the less they know about these things and they are prone to make up stories.
Example: I used to run the museum on the Queen Mary. In the early 80's the hotel section was re-carpeted in a deco pattern. When I asked Bonita Wrather (CEO's wife) she insisted that she and Jack Wrather (CEO) had gone to England to the original factory to re-weave the new carpet from the original patterns. It didn't seem likely but who was I to disbelieve the wife of the CEO, Lassie's Mom, and star of "Now Voyager"?
Two weeks later I ate in a so-so Mexican restaurant with EXACTLY THE SAME CARPET.
What a rarity - thanks for sharing! 50+ years later, this attraction still packs 'em in with lines out to yonder.
Patrick -
glad you liked the photo. I picked this one up at Rose Bowl. Got it from a guy that had tons of photos (we were at his booth about 45 minutes), I looked at it and was pretty sure it was from Disneyland.
Wow.. SO awesome! I can never take my eyes off of that mural everytime I set off to neverland!
Great shot! I used to daydream about that mural (as well as the others) and wonder who painted it, where it was painted, etc. Awesome to actually see the artists actually painting it! Wish there were more.
:)
Katella Gate, you got to meet Bonita Granville? Very cool! I'm still sorry they changed the name of her building at the Disneyland Hotel...
PixieGirl: Yeah, Bonita Granville-Wrather was my boss and to be fair, she was actually a very pleasant woman. I found her gracious, a listener, and focused without being brusque.
I only saw her once in a pique: she was being interviewed on the secret of her long and happy marriage with Jack and the interviewer introduced her as "Bonita Wrather" - I suppose she wanted to be sure the public remembered her stage name, and corrected "Bonita Granville-Wrather."
Bonita Secret No. 23: If you're in Palm Springs, stop in the St. Theresa Catholic Church on Ramon Ave. Mr. and Mrs. Wrather paid for one of the stations of the cross, and are on the church's list of sponsors in the lobby on the far east side.
Katella, thanks for the tip - haven't heard that one! Just goes to show that Palm Springs was the swingin' place for ALL the celebrities.
Another tid-bit, (which I'm sure everyone here is familiar with) Granville's Steakhouse was named for Ms. Bonita (obviously) but went the way of the Bonita building to make way for Goofy's Kitchen.
Yes, I am a geek.
I'm guessing that this may have been painted in the early 1980s when Fantasyland was refurbished?
I seem to remember (perhaps mistakenly!) that the original ride load mural featured Peter and the Lost Boys.
I don't know for certain, but I believe the dark ride murals were painted at R. L. Grosh & Sons scene dock in Hollywood. Disney artists created the artwork, Grosh technicians made it permanent, full-size, and portable.
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