Originally Posted By Rsey103 Most movie theater marquees I've seen have been designed with a white, lighted background and red or black title letters in front. The marquee on Disneyland's Main Street Cinema is black with white title letters in front. Is this design true to the period, or is it there because Harper Goff or somebody just wanted it that way? How practical is a black background on a marquee at night?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros For some reason, I feel like that's probably just the way things were done back then. They didn't have large flourescent lights yet, so they weren't thinking of ways to illuminate the signs from the inside. Because of that, most exterior lighting was done with small spot lights attached to the signs (think of the lights in the cages for the Tiki Room), shining on the painted signs. I would assume they wanted black and white because it was easy to read and could be seen from a distance. The black background could have come from just wanting it to look different than ink on paper. It's the same idea, but just different enough that it stands out. It also made it easier to keep it clean, since dirt doesn't show up on white as easily. It may have just been one of those totally random things that stuck, but I'm pretty sure that most old movie theaters did have black signs with white letters. Here's a link to a random picture of one that I found: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70251312@N00/2259452596" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/70251312@N00/2259452596</a>/
Originally Posted By DlandDug Grrrrrr. I hate that marquee! You see, that is NOT the marquee that graced the Main Street Cinema for 45+ years. A few years before the 50th, it was changed, for no apparent reason. Here's a look at the original marquee: <a href="http://www.matterhorn1959.com/blog1/25.cinema.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.matterhorn1959.com/...nema.jpg</a> Great, calssic turn-of-the-century look. Pale green background, dark green letters. (the color scheme was changed over the years.) Here's the new abomination: <a href="http://themouseplace.com/DL_Cinema.jpg" target="_blank">http://themouseplace.com/DL_Cinema.jpg</a> Stupid "old timey" lettering that looks like a font from a deluxe computer selection. "Main Street" in tiny script, and two little useless curlicue dingbats. I have no idea why they chose to change it. Just another reason why the Walt Disney Company is signalling the END OF THE WORLD!
Originally Posted By Mickeyfan1 Now now DlandDug, just take a deep breath and relax. Change is hard sometimes I know. Now, close you eyes and go to your "happy place", that's it, good. There, all better now? I knew it!
Originally Posted By DlandDug Oh. As to why the marquee where the titles went is black... Yes, there was a time when electrically lit marquees featured bright letters against a black background. Ever heard the phrase, "Your name up in lights?" That refered, specifically, to letters that were lined in small bulbs, and could be plugged into a framework. Another type had a large "lightbox", with white milk-glass letters set into black panels. There were blackout panes that filled in the empty spaces. As extruded plastic became more cost efficient, the vast white light boxes with dark letters came into vogue. So Disneyland's Main Street Cinema, in 1955, had a very quaint, old fashioned charm. Just one of the many details that made Disney theme parks' the salvation of the world, and by extension all mankind.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>...go to your "happy place"...<< I tried going to my happy place, but some young whipper snapper had remodeled it all out of recognition...
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>I hate that marquee!<< You should have seen my face when I walked into the "Main Street Cinema" at WDW. I did a double take, walked back outside to make sure I hadn't somehow walked through the wrong doorway. It's a STORE! Ack!!!
Originally Posted By Elderp Usually I don't like old, but when it comes to Main Street old is better.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Speaking of bad fonts, has anybody else seen the sign for the turkey leg place across the way from TSMM? That font is straight out of Word, and makes the Cinema font look down right quaint. I know some graphic designer thought it would be hip and edgy to have a neat font, but why can't we just have something that looks authentic?
Originally Posted By FerretAfros Here's a link to it, it's about 3/4 of the way down the page, near the end of the first post. <a href="http://micechat.com/forums/blog.php?b=367" target="_blank">http://micechat.com/forums/blo...hp?b=367</a>
Originally Posted By DisneyFreak96 <<Speaking of bad fonts, has anybody else seen the sign for the turkey leg place across the way from TSMM? That font is straight out of Word, and makes the Cinema font look down right quaint. I know some graphic designer thought it would be hip and edgy to have a neat font, but why can't we just have something that looks authentic?>> Ouch,that doesn't even look like something out of Word to me, it looks like something homemade.
Originally Posted By lesmisfan yeah when i first saw that sign, i asked myself, how was this supposed to fit the victorian theme of the pier? the building fits, just not the sign, hopefully they'll change it to fit with the rest of the new victorian pier.
Originally Posted By retlawfan In the link from earlier in this thread (<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/70251312" target="_blank">http://www.flickr.com/photos/70251312</a>@N00/2259452596/) I notice that the street mentioned is "Maynard". Hmmm.
Originally Posted By TP2000 Those ODV carts are usually pretty trashy looking to begin with, so why try and get classy all of a sudden? Yeah, that new turkey leg cart sign looks very out of place and ruins the theme of the new area. But that's what ODV does all over the Resort, so why expect anything better from them all of a sudden? And who the heck is Don Tomas? Google gets you nothing, and it's not a pun for anything. It's just...... another trashy ODV cart that sticks out like a sore thumb. Wait til they stick some 19 year old kid behind the counter text messaging his girlfriend while you try and order.
Originally Posted By Rsey103 Thanks for the link, FerretAfros. That marquee is basically the same as Disneyland's---black background, white titles, with a string of lights around the edges. Interesting. My family owned a movie theatre back in the silent days. It burned down and was replaced by a new theatre. I don't know if any photos of the original theatre exist. I'll ask my Dad....
Originally Posted By Rsey103 DlandDug-- I didn't know the marquee had ever been changed. Looking at your pictures side by side it seems that the top half of the marquee was removed and replaced with a cheaper facsimile. I agree that it doesn't look good. In fact, it almost looks like a temporary sign you would put up until the permanent one comes in... Thanks for the information and the links.
Originally Posted By Rsey103 >>You should have seen my face when I walked into the "Main Street Cinema" at WDW. It's a STORE!<< Yes. And that encourages me to buy less merchandise from them not more..
