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42 Werken 313 Leden 14 Besprekingen

Over de Auteur

Tim Hollis specializes in topics pertaining to broadcasting, popular culture, and all things nostalgic. For this work, Hollis scoured his own collection of tourism memorabilia, as well as those belonging to former employees and park visitors, resulting in the most comprehensive retrospective to toon meer date about this short-lived but fondly remembered attraction. toon minder

Bevat de naam: Mr. Tim Hollis

Fotografie: Courtesy of Birmingham Alabama Public Library (Flickr) ~ Photo by Larry O. Gay

Werken van Tim Hollis

Lost Attractions of Alabama (2019) 6 exemplaren
Pizitz: Your store (2010) 6 exemplaren
Vintage Birmingham Signs (2008) 4 exemplaren
Birmingham Broadcasting (2006) 4 exemplaren
Lost Attractions of Georgia (2021) 4 exemplaren
Remembering Florida Springs (2016) 2 exemplaren
Christmas in Birmingham (2015) 2 exemplaren
Vintage Tennessee Signs (Lost) (2022) 1 exemplaar
Lost Attractions of the Ozarks (2023) 1 exemplaar
Vintage Alabama Signs (2024) 1 exemplaar
The Land of Oz (2016) 1 exemplaar

Tagged

Algemene kennis

Geslacht
male
Nationaliteit
USA
Woonplaatsen
Birmingham, Alabama, USA

Leden

Besprekingen

This thin little volume is essentially a photo gallery between two paperback covers—or, if you like, a budget-conscious coffee table book. It takes about an hour to read, at most, and almost every page contains a couple of large photographs or, in later sections, a scan of an ad, brochure, sign, or map. You might think of it is being like one of those photo books they sell in a visitors center or gift shop that includes a couple hundred photos of local town history.

Fortunately, for what it is, it's really quite nice. Almost all of the photographs are in color, which is great from the perspective of historical preservation. It can also be useful just to help define what's happening in the picture; these are mostly 1970-era shots, and they usually aren't from the idealized angles we can manage with our smartphones fifty years hence. Lack of light is a problem in a couple of pictures, but more often, it's simply a combination of distance and (lack of) focus. "Oh, that's a mouse costume?" you say to yourself. "Okay, then..."

Happily, author Tim Hollis clearly knows what he's talking about, and the pictures are accompanied by nice, chunky captions (as well as a two-page text introduction). I knew some vague details about the Land of Oz theme park before I started the book, but Hollis helped to throw it all into a much tighter chronological cause-and-effect progression. I knew Debbie Reynolds had been there to open the park on its first day, but no real clue why; I knew the park had become derelict around 1980, with no clear understanding why; and I knew that the costumes had, at some point, changed to something a little less homemade/nightmarish, again, without knowing what precipitated that change. All of those things I understand much better now.

The heart of the book really is in the original Oz park, 1970-75. The 1976-80 iteration, after the big fire (spoiler!), is given comparatively short shrift, and the modern incarnation of the park as a special event every summer and fall is only mentioned three or four times. I think if you're looking for a lot of detail on either of these topics, you'll need to keep looking. Hollis' interest is firmly on taking you through the history of the mark 1 Land of Oz theme park, and as such, his book succeeds well.
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Gemarkeerd
saroz | Sep 16, 2023 |
Being born in the 80s and raised on Sesame Street and Nickelodeon, I missed out on this era of television. The packaged format of a costumed host, a studio of kids, and the like sandwiched between cartoons like Bugs Bunny, Popeye, Mr. Magoo, and The Three Stooges! Though some we still remember in some degree, Bozo, Romper Room, Time for Beany, this book gives an interesting look at the phenomenon and has sections detailing most of the hosts and shows in all 50 states. Maybe you might find an old friend!… (meer)
 
Gemarkeerd
HShannon | Aug 17, 2018 |
As a native Floridian, I've been to a handful of sites discussed in this book, like Silver Springs and Weeki Wachee. My mother loved to tell me about how she and my grandparents would go there decades ago, and how the area has changed so much since then. This book nicely illustrates this, giving tons of historical photos, with some modern shots for comparison. I must admit though, that this isn't the reason why I got this book.

There is a VFW post in Fort McCoy, Florida, that has an authentic G-26 Missile on display. This is the only example of this type of missile, part of the Navaho missile, that exists in the world, outside of Cape Canaveral. As a Navaho enthusiast, I am deeply curious to know how the missile came to be at the VFW. Nobody there could tell me much beyond the fact that it was once in a museum. Further research identified the museum as the Early American Museum, which is featured in this book. I was delighted to find a couple of photos of the missile on display at the museum (even though it NEVER would have been painted like that in real life). The author seemed to think the missile wasn't real. He kept referring to it as a "replica" of a rocket ship. Okay, I have a problem with the term "rocket ship" on principle. This is a missile with a nuclear payload, not a prop from Flash Gordon.

I had hoped there would be more information on this artifact, but there was't probably because the author thought it was fake. No sir, it is real, and it has a real history. I hope that one day I'll find out how it escaped scrapping and wound up in central Florida.

If you are interested in Silver Springs and related sites in Central Florida, this will probably be very interesting to you. A nice nostalgia trip for people who actually visited these places back in the day.
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Gemarkeerd
LISandKL | Jun 3, 2017 |

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Statistieken

Werken
42
Leden
313
Populariteit
#75,401
Waardering
3.9
Besprekingen
14
ISBNs
72

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