Rare 1955 Disneyland 20000 Leagues Under the Sea Exhibit View-Master Color Pictures

These extremely rare pictures of the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit which opened at Disneyland Tomorrowland in 1955 and in which were displayed the original decors from the 1954 movie are View-Master pictures. Photos of the DL 20000 Leagues exhibit - specially in color and in this definition quality - are almost impossible to find and it's thanks to Todd Popp that i am able today to share them with you. These 20000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit photos were released by View-Master in 1955. At that time color photography was not as common as it became later and while Todd was doing his research for his upcoming book, he learned that View-Master was one if not the only licensee permitted to photograph Disneyland at its opening in 1955. View-master then released sets of View-Master packets which at the start were sold exclusively at Disneyland as "Park Souvenirs".

Below, two pictures showing the entrance of the 20000 Leagues Under the Sea exhibit in Tomorrowland.

The next picture is a Tom Scherman and David Holman artwork showing the different rooms of the exhibit.



On the left after the entrance was displayed a Nautilus model that was used in the film, in front of a Vulcania matte painting by Peter Ellenshaw...



...and on the right the first decor that Disneyland guests could see was the Nautilus wheelhouse.



One of the highlight of the exhibit was of course Captain Nemo Grand Salon in which Disneyland guests could see Captain Nemo's famous pipe organ, which is now in Disneyland Haunted Mansion ball room.



Another picture of the Grand Salon, with Captain Nemo library.



Of course, what amazed Disneyland guests was the giant squid that they could see through one of Nemo Grand Salon window.



A little bit further in the exhibit was the Nautilus diving chamber.



And right in the center of the 20000 Leagues exhibit was the "Nautilus resting place" with a giant Nautilus.



I'd like to thanks again Todd Popp for these rare 20000 Leagues exhibit View-Master pictures, and his high-quality scans!

Pictures: copyright View-Master

Artwork: copyright Disney, Tom Scherman

Rare 1954 20000 Leagues Under the Sea View-Master Pictures

Thanks to Todd Popp, a fan of the vintage 3-D images from the famous View-Master you'll see today extremely rare pictures related to 20000 Leagues under the Sea. This set of images from the classic tale was created in 1954 by View-Master but as you will see these are not stills from the Disney movie. Instead View-Master artists specially created dioramas which were then photographed to be included in the View-Master 3D discs. Even if the Nautilus or Captain Nemo don't look like exactly like in the movie the scenes are inspired by the Jules Verne novel and the Disney movie - including the giant squid scene! - and the characters were sculpted by artist Warren Chaney. Below, a photo of Martha Armstong-Hand who was the artist who created the tiny costumes for these table-top figures.



As you may know, View-Master did a lot of View-Master discs inspired by Disney classics animated movies and you can see pictures of them on Todd's Flickr page HERE. Todd succeeded to find all the View-Master reels which were released and figured out how to scan and digitally clean each picture from all of them! He's planning now to do a book with these rare View-Master pictures and of course i will let you know when the book will be released.

As for the great dioramas, sadly, the majority of these character models and sets were all thrown away many years ago. Todd interviewed one of the surviving sculptors who told him that the 'art' wasn't considered 'art' at the time - just a means to an end in the creation of the reels - so, these images are all that remain and for sure they need to be preserved!

Here we go with the 20000 Leagues under the Sea pictures, with captions for each scene, and right after them you'll find also the scan of the booklet which was include with the reels.


Professor Arronax, Conseil, and Ned Land approach the monster.



"It's man-made!",shouts Ned Land as a strange crew appears.



"You are my prisoners!", proclaims Captain Nemo



"Atomic power is the secret of the Nautilus!"



A shell kills one of the submarine's crew



With horror we watch Captain Nemo's revenge



A strange funeral under the sea



Through the salon window we see a giant octopus



The octopus holds the Nautilus in it's grip



A tentacle snatches up one of the crew



Ned Land closes in to harpoon the monster



Captain Nemo saves Ned Land



Ned dives underwater to save the crewman



"I owe you a debt," Captain Nemo tells the harpooner



The Nautilus enters an undersea tunnel



Crater Lake Base and Uranium Mine



"The lab chief has escaped," a scientist tells Captain Nemo



"This time control will detonate the atomic fuel!"



We board the Nautilus to escape the explosion



"Escape in the small boat, Ned. My debt is paid!"



Captain Nemo's secret is destroyed forever!



And now, here are the scans of each page of the booklet, and i want to thanks a lot again Todd who took the time to do these scans specially for Disney and more! If you're a 20000 Leagues fan, note that this article is also posted on my Tom Scherman site where you'll find dozens of great pictures related to the movie and the 20000 Leagues attractions.



















See you next week with another great article about 20000 Leagues with plenty of pics as rare as these one!

Pictures: copyright View-Master - Scans: copyright Todd Popp whom i thanks a lot!