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Mell Kilpatrick and the Invention of the Dash Camera
By Jim Linderman
The mounted dashboard camera, as we all know from “America’s most horrible ruckus” on the flat screen, is de rigueur today for every cop car. Sideswipes, weaving drunks, runaway crackheads…we see them all through the electronic eye of the police car windshield. But did you know the apparatus was invented by a Weegee like ambulance chaser named Mell Kilpatrick who took accident photos for Los Angeles Newspapers in the 1940s and 1950s?
Mell Kilpatrick was a self-taught master photographer with Weegee skill and fortitude. In fact, the precious few times his name is mentioned, Weegee’s often follows. Living in Orange County when it was literally a county of oranges, Mell was attracted to photography young and certainly had the right eye. In the only photo I’ve found of him, he is posing as if squinting into a lens finder. Like a Weegee in sunshine, he traveled light…camera, flash, tripod and a trench coat when the road was slick. But he also had a camera mounted on his dashboard pointing through the windshield and I am sure these photos were shot with it. Like a hard-boiled P.O, whenever California blood was spilled, he was there. Crime, Crash, Insurance Fraud…he squinted through them all in black and white. A James Ellroy with a speed graphic camera and a police-band radio. He is probably best known for the iconic photo “It’s lucky when you live in America” which depicts a car overturned in a field after having crashed through a billboard advertising a mountain fresh brand of beer. These photos of Mell’s skid marks, so to speak, are mild compared to the gruesome carnage shown in his work (and which should be shown to every driver using their cellphone)
In an extraordinary article which draws comparisons with the car crash silkscreens of Andy Warhol and the car crash fetishists of J. G. Ballard, writer Nathan Callahan attributes Kilpatrick’s vision to those he saw while working as a projectionist at the Laguna and Balboa Theaters in the late 1940?s, where he watched film noir masterpieces while waiting to change the reels. He learned well and got used to the dark. All these photos have his identification stamp or notes, but only one provides the time: 5 am.
Kilpatrick’s negative collection, well organized and labeled, sat for 35 years until being turned up by photography collector and dealer Jennifer Dumas. She compiled them into a coffee table book “Car Crashes & Other Sad Stories” in 2000 published by Taschen, linked below.
Remarkably, there was another side to Mell. As Orange County turned into Disneyland (literally) Mell turned his camera to the construction. Soon he was loaning his darkroom to other Disney photographers, and Uncle Walt himself granted him full access to the construction site. Mell’s granddaughter has published no less than five books of his early Disneyland photographs. As Callahan reports, she “sold the most gruesome ones…they brought a bad vibe to the house.”
Forensic Photography would seem to be a growth industry, what with all the teenage texting going on at 75 MPH. It was probably a good gig for Mell…even if most of them seem to have been taken at 5:00 AM.
Original Accident Scene Photograph by Mell Kilpatrick circa 1952 Collection Jim Linderman Original Article and more photographs by Kilpatrick are on the Dull Tool Dim Bulb Blog
New books and magazine offer different peeks at Disneyland's past
By Jim Hill
Given the continuing uproar over Disneyland's "Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" ride (After I posted that piece about this much maligned attraction at JHM last week, I received a record number of hate e-mails. So it's pretty clear that that column really struck a nerve with at least some of you folks), it's obvious that quite a number of you long for the good old days.
You know, back when the Anaheim theme park was new? When Disneyland was still considered the crown jewel of the Disney Corporation? Which meant that the park was always kept in pristine condition.
Well, if you'd like to be reminded of what "The Happiest Place on Earth" was really like 'way back then, then you might want to pick up a copy of Carlene Thie's "Disneyland ... The Beginning" (Ape Pen Publishing, July 2003). For -- inside this book's covers -- you'll find another wide selection of Mell Kilpatrick's great photographs of the park. Which will give you an idea for what Disneyland was really like back in the early days (1954 - 1961).
Now -- of course - a lot of you are (no doubt) probably already familiar with Thie's earlier books: "A Photographer's Life with Disney Under Construction," "Disney's Early Years Through the Eyes of a Photographer" and "Disney Years Seen Through a Photographer's Lens." If not ... well, I reviewed all three of Carlene's previous Disneyland photo collection books for JimHillMedia.com a month or so back. You can read that mostly positive story.
Anyway ... as I said in that review, Thie's "Disneyland Under Construction" books have gotten better and better as each new volume has been added to the series. But with "Disneyland ... The Beginning," Carlene's publishing project takes a real step-up in quality. Why for? Well, this time around, Thie has supplemented her grandfather's killer photographs with some truly fun essays from Disney Company vets.
So, who's contributed stories and memories to "Disneyland ... The Beginning?" Would you believe Walt's own daughter, Diane Disney Miller? Diane contributes a foreword to the book where she recalls that her father told Miller to stay away from Disneyland on the park's official opening day. Why for? Because Walt was sure that the Anaheim theme park would "be a mess" on July 18th.
Carlene also persuaded veteran Imagineers like Sam McKim, Bob Gurr, Harriet Burns, Rolly Crump and Alice Davis to contribute essays to the book. Harriet has some particularly funny stories to pass along in "Disneyland ... The Beginning." Burns recalled that -- on the day before Disneyland opened -- "We took props down to Anaheim and found construction rubble and rolls of wire everywhere. Everyone said 'No way can they open tomorrow.'" But -- 24 hours later -- "... everything looked perfect. As the landscapers planted all night."
Fold in an additional essay by Art Linkletter ... plus (for the first time ever in the "Disneyland Under Construction" series) color photographs of the park ... and perhaps you'll see why picking up a copy of Carlene Thie's "Disneyland ... The Beginning" might be a smart move for all you Disneyana bibliophiles out there.
On the other hand, if you're one of those folks who believes that Disneyland was at its best in the early 1970s, then you might want to chase down a copy of Firoozeh Dumas's "Funny in Farsi: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America" (Villard Books, June 2003). For this charming collection of essays offers a unique look at the park circa 1972.
You see, Firoozeh wasn't your typical Disneyland tourist. Her family moved from Abadan, Iran to Whittier, California in the early 1970s. And her father, Kazem (an engineer for the National Iranian Oil Company) just loved America. Particularly the country's theme parks.
Which is why -- every weekend -- the Dumas family would pile into the car and head off to Marine World or Knotts Berry Farms. But -- of all the theme parks in Southern California -- Kazem's absolute favorite was Disneyland.
Why for? Well, to quote Firoozeh:
"My father believed that Walt Disney was a genius, a man whose vision allowed everyone, regardless of age, to relive the wonderment of childhood. Ask my father what he considers to be man's greatest creation in the twentieth century and he won't say computers, the Concorde, or knee replacement surgery. For him, 'Pirates of the Caribbean' represented the pinnacle of man's creative achievement. No matter how many times my father goes on that ride, he remains as impressed as a Disneyland virgin. 'Did you see that pirate leg hanging over the bridge? Could somebody remind me that it wasn't real? And the battle between the ships, geez, was I the only one ready to duck and cover? What kind of a man would think of creating something like this? A genius, that's who.' I doubt that even Walt Disney's mother felt as much pride in her son as my father did."
Firoozeh's family went back to Disneyland so often that her father began acting as sort of a defacto tour guide / theme park authority for all of his Iranian colleagues. Given the number of times that the Dumases went back to the Anaheim theme park, the author began to grow a bit bored with Disneyland ... which is why she gave her family the slip one day and ...
No! It won't be fair to spoil the fun of the rest of that story. Or any of the other wonderfully witty essays that you'll find in "Funny in Farsi." Let's just say that Firoozeh Dumas' memoir of growing up in U.S. just before the hostage crisis came along and changed forever how most Americans viewed Iranians is a real eye opener. A funny, wise if somewhat bittersweet tale that I think you'll really enjoy reading.
I should probably point out here -- even though Firoozeh appears with Mickey Mouse on the front cover of her memoir -- Disneyland and Disney-related stories actually take up a relatively small portion of "Funny in Farsi." Mind you, this book is still very much worth reading. It's just not as chock full of Disney stories as its cover might imply.
However, what IS absolutely chock full of Disneyland and Disney-related info is the latest issue of "The 'E' Ticket" magazine. Leon and Jack Janzen have done it again, gang. I would have thought -- given that this is Issue No. 40 of their fine fanzine -- that these guys would have finally begun to run out of great behind-the-scene stories to tell about "The Happiest Place on Earth." But the Janzens must someone be related to the Energizer Bunny. For they just keep going and going and going ...
Now -- just to be fair -- I should say that this issue of "The 'E' Ticket" DOES touch on subject matter that Leon and Jack have previously covered in Issue 14 of their amazing magazine. Namely Tomorrowland's old "Adventure Thru Inner Space" attraction. But this story about the Mighty Microscope isn't a rerun. But -- rather -- an all-new article that features color photographs as well as never-before-seen concept art. So I seriously doubt that Leon & Jack are going to hear any complaints from Disneyana fans.
Also included in this issue is a great interview with Art Linkletter (who reveals here that he actually tried to talk Walt out of building Disney World. Arguing that there is only one Niagara Falls, one Pyramids ... so there should be only one Disneyland) as well as an article about Disney collector extraordinaire Richard Kraft. (Wait 'til you see what this guy has in his Disneyana collection. A really-for-real Frontierland canoe. A "Dumbo the Flying Elephant" car. A WDW Skyway bucket. A "Mr. Toad" car. As well as an authentic Disneyland keelboat.)
All this -- plus a rather touching tribute to late Imagineer David Mumford -- makes the Fall 2003 issue of "The 'E' Ticket" a magazine that every serious Disneyana fan should have a copy of. Pick this issue up today by ordering a copy through the Janzen's website. Or -- better yet -- by subscribing to this fine periodical. You can find out how to do that at "The 'E' Ticket" website.
Oh, before I forget, if you'd like to get a copy of "Disneyland ... The Beginning," you can order one directly from Ape Pen Publishing or by calling the publisher directly at 1-951-818-3694. (If I'm remembering correctly, the LaughingPlace.com store also has several copies currently available for purchase. So -- if you'd like to do some comparison shopping on this Mel Kilpatrick / Carlene Thie book -- you can do so at their site.)
Carlene Thie has made it her business to
preserve precious Disney Memories
By Chuck Schmidt
Carlene Thie considers herself blessed.
“God has really blessed me a lot,” she says with a contented sigh. “I’ve met a lot of really nice people.”
Most of those “really nice people” have one common denominator: The term “Disney legend” is always used as a prefix to their names. They are some of the most beloved castmembers to have ever worn Disney name badges.
Carlene Thie considers them good friends. The feeling is mutual.
Over the years, she’s developed special friendships with them all — Bob Gurr, X Atencio, Wally Boag, Blaine Gibson, Rolly Crump, Alice Davis, Harriet Burns, to name a few.
She keeps her most precious memories of these legendary Disney castmembers in a special autograph book.
“I have this book and every time I meet one of the Disney legends, I have them sign it,” she says proudly. “One time I asked Blaine Gibson for his autograph and he says, ‘Can I keep the book and send it back to you?’ Of course, I said yes.
“He actually drew a head of me with him carving it like he would have done a bust of somebody out of clay. I thought that was so cool. I felt so honored.”
She’s even unwittingly asked for an autograph from a legend, even though she already had his signature in her book.
“I had Wally (Boag) sign it one time, I think it was at the Golden Horseshoe,” Carlene said. “But this shows you how sharp these guys are. Years later, I saw Wally again and I said, ‘Wally, could you sign this please?’
Disney legend X Atencio shows Carlene Thie his honorary Haunted Mansion tombstone.Ape Pen Publishing
“And Wally says, ‘I’ve already signed this book, Carlene.’ Sure enough, he had!”
Ever since the day her grandmother turned over the thousands of photos her grandfather had taken of Disneyland, Carlene Thie has been on a mission of sorts: To preserve all those fantastic Disney memories. It’s an honor and a privilege, she believes, a calling she does not take lightly.
“I’ve always wanted to keep the legacy alive,” she said. “And I feel I have.”
She’s done it by writing five books on Disneyland, all beautifully illustrated with her grandfather’s photographs. “I was the first person to create such history books,” she said proudly.
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And through her publishing company, Ape Pen, she’s also had a hand in putting together a number of special events, all celebrating Disneyland’s rich history. She’s also been the driving force behind several DVDs dealing with Disneyland and the men and women who played such an important role in its creation.
Key to that history, of course, are the thousands of photos taken by her grandfather.
When Carlene’s grandfather — celebrated Orange County, Calif., news photographer Mell Kilpatrick, who was given the task of taking photos of Disneyland during and after construction — died in 1962, he left a treasure trove of photos behind in his darkroom. After his death, Carlene’s grandmother Kathryn locked the door to the darkroom and those photos and negatives sat, undisturbed, for decades.
During that time, Carlene and her family moved around, from Maryland to Colorado to Idaho.
When her family moved back to California when she was 16, she made it a point to visit her grandmother’s as often as possible. Then came what can best be described as a turning point in her life.
Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle under construction in early 1955.Mell Kilpatrick/Ape Pen Publishing
“A little prior to when my grandma passed, she said I could have everything in my grandfather’s darkroom, all the photos,” Carlene remembers. Of significance was that fact that “my grandfather had the foresight to have a written contract to retain the rights to the images he took,” Carlene said.
She wouldn’t come to realize the magnitude of what was behind that locked darkroom door until she began the painstaking task of actually going through the dozens of boxes.
“So many negatives,” she said. “Boxes and boxes of negatives of everything, from Disneyland to car crashes. You kind of saw Disneyland mixed in there, but you really didn’t know what it was.”
Thankfully, her grandfather had a filing system.
“Each box had a slip attached to it. There would be like: The Mark Twain or Walt and Engine No. 2. Eight to 15 pictures of each ... There were photos of the Andrews Sisters, Fess Parker. There would be tons of them, but you really didn’t know what exactly you were looking at.
“It was overwhelming, dealing with so much. You didn’t really grasp the whole thing as a kid. When you looked at it, it was mostly car crash photos. Some of them were pretty gruesome. There would be pictures of people with decapitated heads.
“I still haven’t gone through them all,” she adds. “I’m still finding photos of Disneyland mixed in with all the car crash photos. There’s probably 3,000 car crashes. And it’s not just car crashes. There’s photos of Anaheim that I haven’t even touched. A lot of shots of orange groves.
“It’s actually quite interesting to see how much it’s changed.”
Disneyland, of course, altered Anaheim’s landscape forever. And on opening day, July 17, 1955, Mell Kilpatrick and a select group of photographers were on hand to record the historic occasion.
“History buff that he was, Mell saved every piece of memorabilia from that day, including the official Disneyland opening day press kit,” Carlene said. That press kit, like all of his photos, sat fallow in Kilpatrick’s darkroom for decades ... until the day Carlene came across it while wading through the boxes.
“When I first found the press kit, it was in several pieces in different boxes, scattered around,” she said. The press kit told a fascinating story, including facts about the park on opening day, details about the attractions, the park’s operating hours and all of the park’s sponsors.
The Puffin Bake Shop on Main Street USA in Disneyland. The posters on the wall list coming attractions America the Beautiful, the Sunkist Citrus House and a Walt Disney Art of Animation exhibit, a precursor to the Art of Animation Resort which opened last year in Walt Disney World.Mell Kilpatrick/Ape Pen Publishing
In 2005, as Disneyland neared its 50 anniversary celebration, several Disney executives contacted Carlene in hopes of taking a look at her collection of vintage photos.
“They wanted a variety of different photos to use for the anniversary,” she said. “They came to the house and I showed them a lot of different photos.” Then, she bowled them over. “I said, ‘Guys, you want to see something? Look what I found.’ It was the 1955 press kit for Disneyland.
“And they said, ‘Do you know what you have here? There is no 1955 Disneyland press kit. The company doesn’t even have one.’”
Of course, she let them use it ... and even came up with a clever way to present it to the members of the press and guests on hand for the anniversary coverage.
“I said, ‘I don’t know if the Post Office will allow you do this, but why not stick copies of the press kit in an envelope with ‘Lost in the Mail’ on it? And that’s actually how they sent out copies of that original press kit to all of the guests and members of the press.”
On the day of the 50th anniversary, many of the Disney oldtimers on hand took nostalgic trips down memory lane, remembering in vivid detail the significance of that special day and the general chaos famously associated with the event.
Mell Kilpatrick was there on July 17, 1955, laboring from dawn ‘til dusk in the broiling heat with his trusty weegee camera strapped around his neck.
So, too, was a gentleman who would have an enormous influence on Disney parks in general and Carlene Thie’s career in particular.
Carlene Thie
Keeping her grandfather's legacy alive through his classic Disney photos
By Chuck Schmidt | schmidt@siadvance.com
She’s never worked a day for the Walt Disney Company, but make no mistake — Carlene Thie is Disney royalty.
Carlene’s Disney roots run deep, much like California’s legendary sequoias, back to the mid-1950s, when her grandfather began a years-long working relationship with Walt Disney himself. And her Disney pedigree has continued right up until today, thanks to her dedication to keeping her grandfather’s legacy alive.
When the acreage between Katella Avenue, Ball Street, Harbor Boulevard and West Street in Anaheim was in the process of being transformed from lush orange groves into Disneyland, the world’s first theme park, Walt invited one of southern California’s most well-known news photographers to record the development of his Magic Kingdom.
That photographer was Mell Kilpatrick, who captured just about every phase of the project with his trusty “weegee” camera, even though photographing destruction, not construction, was his forte.
Kilpatrick “worked relentlessly to capture on film Walt Disney’s dream,” explains his granddaughter Carlene. “He climbed atop scaffolding, crawled into tunnels, even hung out of a light plane 5,000 feet above Disneyland to snap the perfect shot.”
Kilpatrick was a well-known figure in and around Anaheim during the 1950s. His weegee camera — a cumbersome, box-shaped device with a large flash bulb attached to the side — was more known for taking photos of deadly fires, gory crime scenes and horrific car accidents as chief photographer for the Santa Ana Register than it was for snapping shots of a more sedate, if hectic construction site.
But when Walt invited Kilpatrick to take photos of Disneyland — literally from the time the orange trees were leveled in 1954 to opening day about a year later — he was more than willing to lend his photographic expertise, becoming the park’s the main chronicler in the process.
But when Walt invited Kilpatrick to take photos of Disneyland — literally from the time the orange trees were leveled in 1954 to opening day about a year later — he was more than willing to lend his photographic expertise, becoming the park’s the main chronicler in the process.
Thus began a relationship between Disney and the Kilpatrick family that has lasted for decades and is still going strong today, thanks in large part to Carlene Thie and her Ape Pen Publishing Company.
Carlene has written five books about Disneyland, featuring hundreds of vintage, never-before-seen photos of the park snapped by her grandfather.
Indeed, the five works — “Disneyland ... the Beginning,” “Disneyland Under Construction,” “Disneyland’s Early Years,” “Disneyland Seen Through a Photographer’s Lens” and “Homecoming: Destination Disneyland” — were the first outside, self-published books to be sold in Disneyland’s souvenir shops.
She also assisted legendary ride designer Bob Gurr with his seminal masterpiece, “Design: Just for Fun.” And she’s produced a number of informative DVDs, including “Meet Bob Gurr” and a Disneyland 50th anniversary work.
When you talk to any Disney executive, they’ll tell you emphatically that The Story is the most important element of anything Disney does. The story of Carlene Thie’s family is as fascinating as it is steeped in Disney history.
It began in 1948 when Mell Kilpatrick became a news photographer for the Santa Ana Register. He was so good at what he did that he was named the paper’s chief photographer. His specialty: The life and times — both good and bad — of Orange County, Calif.
“He covered Orange County in every possible manner — by air, on foot, by car ... even by boat,” Carlene said. “He even attached a small camera to the dashboard of his car that was pointing out the front windshield.”
As the Register’s chief photographer, he took pictures of everything documenting the Santa Ana-Anaheim area. Little League games, airplane shows, car crashes, crime scenes. He was one of those nose-for-the-news guys who would often show up at the scene of a crime, fire or accident before the police.
He took so many photos that he needed a suitable place to store them. That place turned out to be the darkroom in his home.
“His darkroom was a little office which actually had two parts,” Carlene said. “The first part was bookshelves with a desk on either side, and the very back part was the darkroom.”
In the darkroom were boxes — actually, boxes atop boxes atop more boxes — of all the photos he had taken for the Register.
“When I was a kid, we’d go in the darkroom and say, ‘Oh cool,’ but my grandmother would always tell us to leave. Grandma wanted to keep that as his little shrine because that was his darkroom with his little office in there.
“She didn’t let us in very often and if we did, we kind of snuck in until we were told to get out.”
Kilpatrick’s reputation as an ace photographer in and around Anaheim obviously caught Walt Disney’s attention, which led to the plum assignment of taking photos of Disneyland under construction amid the noise, dust, heavy equipment and hot sun.
Mell’s relationship with Disney was further cemented when he generously allowed Disney’s staff photographers access to his personal darkroom since there wasn’t yet a place for them to develop their photos at Disneyland.
[Interestingly, some of the photos Mell snapped during this time included Curtis Sissel — his son-in-law and Carlene’s dad — a skilled craftsman who worked on Sleeping Beauty Castle and many of the buildings located on Main Street USA.
And Mell’s wife, Kathryn Kilpatrick, was a castmember at Disneyland for 18 years. She held a number of positions, including working on Tom Sawyer’s Island, in the model shop, at the Bait Shack in Frontierland and in several shops on Main Street.]
“Walt often called Mell to photograph special days during construction, as well as granting him unlimited access to Disneyland,” Carlene said. “Along with dozens of the nation’s photographers, Mell was invited to Disneyland’s press premiere on July 17, 1955, as well as Disneyland’s golden opening day, July 18, 1955. “History buff that he was, Mell saved every piece of memorabilia from that day, including the official Disneyland press kit.”
After the park opened, Mell was on hand to document a number of Disneyland special events, including that memorable day in 1959 when the monorail, Matterhorn Mountain and the submarine voyage all debuted.
It was Mell who snapped those classic photos of then-Vice President Richard Nixon trying to cut the ribbon to officially get the monorail off and rolling. [Of historical significance: The man at the controls of the monorail as it pulled into the station for the ceremonies was none other than Bob Gurr, who not only designed the monorail, Matterhorn Mountain and the submarines, but was called on to serve as the monorail pilot during that eventful day.]
Mell continued to photograph the now-flourishing park for a few more years, but in 1962, at the age of 60, he died of a heart attack.
Following his death, his beloved darkroom — with all those boxes of death, destruction and Disneyland negatives — was locked and left undisturbed for 30 years, gathering dust but never too far from the thoughts of his widow, Kathryn.
After those 30 years passed, though, granddaughter Carlene Thie came into the picture.
Next time: More on Carlene Thie and her legendary friends.