Disneyland Readied by "Mr. Magic"
In late June, 1955, Walt Disney gave Los Angeles Times reporter Ed Ainsworth a tour of his latest project, an amusement park called Disneyland, less than a month before it opened to the public. As workers hurried to finish the trains, boats and scenery in time for the grand opening, LA Times readers got a peak into what would become the most famous amusement park in the world. Below are some behind-the-scenes images of Walt in the unfinished Disneyland in the weeks leading up to its unveiling.
Artist Clyde Forsythe, Mrs. Forsythe and Walt Disney take a look at the workmen putting the finishing touches on the Mark Twain and the Rivers of America. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Negative 93738. UCLA Library Special Collections.
No horses needed for the horse-drawn trolley when Mr. Disney is around! Walt gives Mrs. Forsythe the first ride past the train station by pushing the car up Main Street. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Negative 93738. UCLA Library Special Collections.
Walt and Clyde examine the moat and castle which provide the entrance to Fantasyland. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Negative 93738. UCLA Library Special Collections.
Walt (leaning against a post on the pier) hurries workers to complete Adventureland before the televised opening of the park. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive, Negative 93738. UCLA Library Special Collections.
While Disneyland has certainly expanded since its opening in 1955, many of the landmarks and attractions can still be seen on a visit to the park today. Walt's visions for not only the layout of the park, but also the feelings of magic, fantasy, adventure, and fun have persisted throughout the last 60 years, and promise to continue far into the future.
By Jen O'Leary
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Title, photographs and story of the tour from: Ainsworth, E. (1955, Jun 23). Disneyland Readied by 'Mr. Magic.' Los Angeles Times (1923-Current file). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/166786457?accountid=14512.
Richard Neutra in World War I: Sketches and Watercolors (1914-18)
In contrast to the richness, security, and relative comfort of his first two decades as a youth and student in Vienna, Richard Neutra (1892-1970) would experience, after 1914, the less happy traumas of war and illness. Following the assassination in Sarajevo in June 1914 of Imperial Hapsburg Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Sophie, by Serbian nationalists yearning to secede from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Neutra was sent as a reserve artillery lieutenant in the town of Trebinje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a remote outpost near present-day Dubrovnik, Croatia, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic. After the outbreak of war in August, the primary mission of Neutra's unit was patrolling the coast to spot approaching enemy ships. Its only combat involved small skirmishes with Slavic partisans in Albania, Montenegro, and Bosnia.
During those years, however, as an ever-observant traveler, Neutra relished his encounters with new people and places and did sketches and watercolors of them and of the area's physical and cultural landscape. He was especially intrigued with the vestiges of old Islamic architecture throughout the Balkans. But his own professional architectural skills lay largely in abeyance. In Trebinje he designed and built only a small officer's "teahouse," a modest structure that primitively anticipated his life-long penchant for simple post-and-beam pavilions. During and after the war, because of persistent malaria and incipient tuberculosis, Neutra also suffered bouts of depression, as revealed in somber black-and-white drawings.
This exhibition, curated by Thomas S. Hines, UCLA Research Professor of History and of Architecture and Urban Design, author of Richard Neutra and the Search for Modern Architecture (1982, 2005), includes selections from UCLA's holdings of Neutra's sketches and watercolors, housed within the Richard and Dion Neutra Papers. The installation design is by Octavio Olvera, visual arts specialist, UCLA Library Special Collections. Now on view until June 30, 2015.
Place, Identity, and the Armenian Genocide
On April 24, 2015, Armenians worldwide commemorated the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Recognized internationally, but denied by the Turkish government as resulting from a systemic intent, the Genocide represents a fundamental shift in the lives of Armenians. Expelled from their ancestral homes in Anatolia through deportation and massacre, Armenians became a diasporic population. In many cases, the original trauma of expulsion was followed by subsequent, successive displacements, as they sought refuge at a time when the borders of what is known as the Middle East were being maneuvered by external actors.
Discussions of the Genocide point to the numbers of its victims (1.5 million), to the documentary evidence of its atrocities, to the nature of the lives and communities that existed before. As someone whose family history has crossed continents over decades, I am interested in the nature of lives in transition. For this reason, I have used my family's history to explore the effects of the Genocide as the originating event of the status of Armenians as wandering persons.
This exhibit sought to explore and illustrate this history through the materials housed in UCLA Library Special Collections. You are invited to follow the journey in this interactive StoryMap.
- By Lori Dedeyan
Place, Identity, and the Armenian Genocide
On April 24, 2015, Armenians worldwide commemorated the centennial of the Armenian Genocide. Recognized internationally, but denied by the Turkish government as resulting from a systematic intent, the Genocide represents a fundamental shift in the lives of Armenians.
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