Bowers Museum: Disney Archives Exhibit

 

 Welcome to the exhibit

One bright spot, in a week wracked with worse and worse news about the spread of coronavirus, was braving the rain to see the Disney Archives exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Though I've seen many different exhibits featuring artifacts from the archives, this one provides an excellent overview of the many types of items collected and preserved by Disney. Here are just a few of the items displayed. (Click on image to enlarge)

 

Dumbo flying overhead as we entered the exhibit

Props from the movie Saving Mr. Banks: Walt's desk

 

Walt beckoning us in to see the exhibit

 

Animator's desk from Disney Studios

 

Mary Poppin's carpetbag

 

 

Early Disney toys

 

Engineer Mickey doll (1955)

 

Donald cartoon cel

 

Elsa maquette from Frozen

 

Early Jungle Cruise ride sign at Disneyland

Haunted Mansion ride artifacts

 

REX audio-animatronic android originally from Star Tours ride,

but now the DJ at Oga's Cantina in Galaxy's Edge 

 

Cate Blanchette (as wicked step-mother) costume in 

live-action Cinderella 

 

Cruella DeVil costume in live-action

101 Dalmatians

 

One of the most famous dresses in cinematic history:

Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (from Disney subsidiary

Buena Vista Pictures) 

 

Queen Elizabeth I (Dame Judy Dench) in Shakespeare in Love 

(from Disney subsidiary Miramax) 

 

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Emily Blunt costumes from

Mary Poppins Returns 

 

Rocketeer

Roger Rabbit (L) and Wilson (R), Tom Hanks' companion

in Cast Away 

 

Dog puppets from Isle of Dogs 

 

Winnie the Pooh

 

Baloo from live-action Jungle Book

 

Absent-Minded Professor car

Herbie, the Love Bug

Jessica Rabbit maquette

 

Photo of Disney Studios Legends Plaza and Team Disney Building

Air and Space Museum

Chuck Yeager's Bell X-1

After chatting all morning  with lobbyists, Tim and I decided to spend our last afternoon in D.C. at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Unfortunately the museum is currently under renovation, so the exhibits seemed rather haphazard—Neil Armstrong's space suit, for instance, was part of the Wright brothers display (huh?). Nevertheless, it's always exciting to be around rockets and historic airplanes.

 

Spirit of St. Louis flying over the Apollo Lunar Module

 

Skylab B, which was never launched into space

 

 Tail-end of Apollo command module

docking with USSR Soyuz 

 

Neil Armstrong's moon-landing space suit

 

And historic airplanes, too—Lockheed 5B Vega, Amelia

Earhart's favorite 

Most exciting, however, was seeing the actual 11-foot-long model of the starship Enterprise used in the opening credits of the original Star Trek series. Painstakingly restored, the model, which used to unceremoniously hang in the museum's gift shop, now has its own display, lighting up three times a day at 11AM, 1PM, and 3PM. We were, of course, there!

 

 Refurbished Enterprise

 

View from the rear

 

Unadorned backside, which was never filmed

All lit up!

Happy Trekkie!

Tiffany Lamps Gallery

 

 Gallery entryway

On our own, we decided to visit the New York Historical Society museum on the upper west side. Initially drawn to an exhibit about the history of the Hudson River, we ended up staying for an absolutely amazing permanent display of Tiffany lamps. Located in a darkened room on the fourth floor, the Tiffany Lamps Gallery features some 100 illuminated artifacts in all their majestic glory. We literally gasped when we entered the doorway. Certainly this must be the greatest collection of Tiffany lamps ever assembled!

What we learned was that a woman, named Clara Driscoll, was actually the genius behind many, if not most, of Tiffany's most famous leaded glass lampshades. Furthermore, as head of the Women's Glass Cutting Department, Driscoll was awarded the same pay ($35 a week) as Tiffany's male designers—quite an accomplishment for a woman in the early 20th century. 

We highly recommend seeing this exhibit the next time you're in NYC.

Apple blossoms

 

Dragonflies

 

More dragonflies

 

 

 

My favorite

 

And this one, too!

 

Detroit

Spirit of Detroit

After falling into serious decline in the late 20th century, Detroit is experiencing a major renaissance and was perhaps the biggest surprise of our entire trip. We arrived shortly after breakfast, hopped on a bus to Dearborn, drove past Hitsville U.S.A, the home of Motown Records, and spent most of the day at the Ford Museum of American Innovation, which started out as a car museum in the late 1920s but is now so much more. Once back at the ship, we walked the few blocks into downtown Detroit, so Tim could eat the chili dog he's been dreaming about for years. I also got to see the glorious art deco Guardian Building. Loved the whole day. We'll definitely return . . .

Drive-by: Hitsville, U.S.A., now the Motown Museum—another reason to

return to Detroit

Ford Museum of American Innovation—

still part car museum, though so much more

Chevys, too

One of the most beautiful cars ever built

Fan favorite!

Planes, too

Wright Brothers exhibit

And locomotives

FDR's presidential vehicle

The limo in which JFK was shot

And the chair in which Lincoln was assassinated

The famous bus in which Rosa Parks rode

Lots of incredible—and incredibly beautiful—generator gears

More of the same

Huge!!

Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion house

Dymaxion House interior, looking very much like Disneyland's

Monsanto House of the Future

Tim and Mo Rooca from TV show Innovation Nation,

filmed at the Museum

Chili dog heaven: American Coney Island Dog, est. 1917

There it is—eat it! (I'm eating a salad in the background.)

Happy hubby

Phenomenal Guardian Building

Fab.u.lous

More beauty

Mural celebrating commerce

Detroit skyline . . . On to Cleveland