Monday, May 11, 2015

Space Station X-1 and the Space Man

The ticket booth for Space Station X-1 featuring admission for ten cents and one A Coupon. The great thing is that the Disneyland Space Man is taking a break reading some books in the ticket booth. I wonder if a guest came up to pay their dime, he would take the money or the A Coupon.

11 comments:

  1. So many questions, so little time.

    Is the ticket booth attendant actually wearing a spaceman outfit or was this costumed guy filling in for the actual attendant who was taking a break?

    What on earth are those red veiny lines on the top of his space helmet?

    And what is he reading there?

    As I've commented before, these ticket booth and sign images you've been posting lately are really cool. Thanks!

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  2. When I first got these, I thought it was a live attendant too.

    But if you blow it up and look closely, you'll see that it's actually a mannequin wearing a K-7 spaceman outfit.

    Perhaps Hop-Wing-Lee was moonlighting at Disneyland...

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  3. BTW, what he's reading is one of the hardcover Disney's Man In Space series children's books, a'la Golden Books.

    What the bloody 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'veins is on the helmet is anybody's guess!

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  4. Hooray for the Spaceman! My Spirit Animal.

    I have never seen those red veins, I wonder if this was set up as a gag, maybe Halloween?.

    Cheers!

    JG

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  5. Well, you just gotta just love this! It does look like a gag photo - the sign shop having a bit of fun. It looks like he's brushing up on piloting that rocket by studying some flight data.

    So great!

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  6. @thepicklebarrel - I'm blown away that two of my questions were actually answered. That's great info and a surprise about the gag at that. Thank you!

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  7. Simply amazing, and I love the detail about the mannequin, which I never would have noticed.

    I'm sure you've seen this great photo at the Disney History Institute... looks like the mannequin did ticket booth duty there as well.

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  8. Okay, wait a second, Major. This shot is apparently from the Satellite View of America, too! Compare the two images. It just keeps getting better!

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  9. To clarify; this image would be post 1958. Would that be correct? Patrick, do you know?

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  10. Mike Okin1:57 PM

    This is transformative in myriad ways!

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  11. Space Station x-1 dates from 1955. It changed to "Satellite View of America" in '58.

    I imagine the ticket booth came into being in late '55- early '56.

    The thing that's so neat about it is that it's actually an upside-down Mercury capsule. Above the capsule are rear lit/screen projected images in the windows.

    This fits in with the many 'figural-themed ticket booths' around Disneyland such as the Casey Jr, Storybook Land, Alice in Wonderland and Tiki Room ticket booths.

    Just another reason to love early Disneyland!

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