Kevin Kidney has uploaded some amazing Magic Highway, U.S.A. images taken straight from publicity stills of the era. He cleaned them up, spending upwards of an hour and a half on each image. As a Disney artist for over 22 years, Kevin's Flickr account also contains great examples of his work on Disney collectibles. Kevin currently works as a freelance designer.
See also:
Disney's Magic Highway, U.S.A. (1958)
Farm to Market (1958)
Magic Highway, U.S.A. Segment (1958)
Disneyland to Take to Highways Tonight (1958)
1) those are absolutely gorgeous
ReplyDelete2) hmm. Would totally elevated highways over a desert environment be more environmentally sound? They would allow for migrations and less of a footprint, but would the cost in materials and upkeep be too much
3) notice how the three tier elevated highway adhered to the cliffs appear to have NO GUARDRAILS!
Looks like backgrounds from The Venture Brothers.
ReplyDeleteAmazing insights into the philosophy of the times -- of course, why wouldn't you want to run a freeway right by the foot of the sphinx? Duh, think how easy it will be to get to it! And who cares about disturbing the appearance of monument valley by running a freeway along the canyon walls -- doesn't it look cool?!
ReplyDeleteAlso like the underwater city that's 50% interchange... though maybe it's just supposed to be some underwater rest area.
I think if there's any good ideas in here, it's the idea that we could locate new freeways under water, rather than by plowing through yet more neighborhoods and viable communities.
I love what appears to be a control tower. Or is it a lounge? And how do they enter and leave? I also love how the possibility of Egypt having any reservations about an expressway/resort parked right in front of the Sphinx was never considered for a moment. After all, inside every nation on the earth, there's a little bit of Modernist 1961 Los Angeles trying to get out.
ReplyDeleteWow. Those are beautiful.
ReplyDelete"Step right off the Magic Highway and on to your very own waiting Camel!"
ReplyDeleteI would love to get these as prints. Amazing.
ReplyDeletemgroves - Yep. It's one of the many reasons I love VB.
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, these are stunningly beautiful to look at.
I was going through other Paleo-Future posts just now and realized what's missing from all of these pictures and one reason that they DO have elegance grace to them: there is no advertising at all depicted along these highways. None. They are utilitarian high design utopia highways. Stick some ugly ass billboards in there and paint some giant ads directly on the highways. YOU ARE MISSING THE OPPORTUNITY TO SELL ROBOT MAIDS TO THESE PEOPLE!
ReplyDeleteThe clip of the future highway
ReplyDeleteand vehicles can be seen here -
on Youtube, of course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8jZtwRJnRs
Nuclear-powered cars. Would you trust Joe Sixpack with a nuclear-powered car?
And would better access for everyone to the rest of the world - would that improve understanding and peace between cultures, or just make it easier for Al Qaeda to get around?
Oh these cynical times!
And I so want my own atomic reactor for melting through solid mountains!
I so miss the real future.