Diving Bell Photos

[Junior]

Absolutely FANTASTIC to see this piece again for the first time since it aired in 1978! The fellow playing Rube Dugan is Rex Burdette, a versatile entertainer around the park. It's kind of strange to see how "empty" the Deepwoods area (now Riverfront) of the park was back then. When the characters are speaking to each other next to the lake and they cut away and show a different angle you will see a wagon coming down what was then called Deepwoods Lane. Notice how much green space there is around it. That area to the left of the wagon is where Dockside Theater is, the area to the right is part of the dining area to the restaurant across from Lost River, and the area leading to Wilson's Farm and the Great Swing. Other SDC personnel in the feature are Ken Holt as the Stagecoach Clerk, Bruce Grimes as the gunsmith (shooting the rifle) and Richard (pardon my spelling) Valdicht as the piano player in the saloon. Funny thing about the diving bell subplot...to my knowledge, NONE of the Junior Dugan guys were used in the production. But, then again, my Uncle Rube used to say, "why did my sister have to have a boy when she needed a hog?!" It was good to see the interior of a diving bell capsule again...brings back a whole lot of memories! (For those interested in seeing the Lake Submersible in action, there is a shot of it going down in the lake in this production.) THANKS AGAIN FOR PUTTING THIS UP FOR US TO SEE!

[marolinesdad]

That Video was wonderful.

[rubedugans]

I concur, a great way to spend a cold January day-Watching old film of SDC! Every day should be so much fun! I haven't smiled this big in a while!

[TD8541]

 

[rubedugans]

Junior has been asking for this one for a while now! Sorry I haven't been able to get on to do anything in a while! Enjoy

[sdcforever]

^That's really cool!   Is that a sign from the attraction itself?

[History Buff]

I don't remember the audience being stair-stepped like that.  I thought the audience was all at floor level when the bell flooded.

[Junior]

THANKS RUBE! I certainly thank you for posting the image. The diving bell capsules were "stair stepped" just like a modern day stadium seating type motion picture theater. There were five rows of benches, and each capsule had a capacity of 75 "volunteers" and one Junior. The image Rube has posted is of a painting that hung in the "scales area" of the ride. When Junior would introduce himself to a new group, he'd point to the painting of the diving bell cross section and say: "this here's a picture of what we're going to go drown in, AH, I mean GO DOWN IN! Ya see folks, we load 75 volunteers inside one of them diving bells, and before ya know it, we all begin to stink! AH, I mean SINK!" (Looking at lines from the script here does not do justice to the attraction. You had to be there folks! It was the overall experience. Believe me, not one group left the scales area without laughing out loud to those jokes.) THANKS AGAIN RUBE! Seeing that picture does bring back a lot of memories for me.

[rubedugans]

Anything I can do to help !

[Junior]

If you take another look at my Flickr account, you will see I have included a very rough drawn floor plan of a diving bell capsule. The picture shows the location of some of the main features of a capsule. Click on the drawing for a larger version to appear on your computer screen. There is also a brief description of what you're looking at in the caption. The control box is where hidden buttons were pushed by "Junior" to start, stop, or recycle the capsule. (Recycling prepped the film loop for the next ride.) Behind a door themed to look like a storage locker under Rube's portrait was a telephone so Junior could communicate with the maintenance personnel in case of an emergency or problem...just like the emergency phones in an elevator. There also was a small fire estinguisher next to the phone in case of fire. Metal grating around the engine allowed the water from the roof water leak, the geysers next to the engine, and the water from the rock coming through the wall, to drain back into a stock tank located in the basement. Two or three times a year fresh water would be placed in the stock tank, cause the water got really NASTY after a few weeks. Imagine my disgust when unloading guests from a capsule and I saw people trying to drink the water dripping down from the ceiling or the rock! YUCK! I'm surprised no one ever got sick from doing that! Sorry about the quality of the drawing...I never will be an artist, so I won't quit my day job. Ha! Ha!

[sdcforever]

^Thanks for posting that diagram, Junior!  It really helps people like me, who never got the chance to ride the Diving Bell, visualize the attraction.

[Junior]

Want to see what Captain Rube Dugan looked like? You only heard the voice of Slim Pickens coming from the "Loft" of the diving bell, but in each of the five capsules, a portrait of Rube hung above where Junior piloted the vessel to the left of the viewing screen. Four of the five portraits depicted a "sinister" looking Rube, with a jutting lower jaw and bad teeth. But not in capsule "E," the portrait in "Epsilon" capsule depicted a friendly looking Rube, with a smile on his face. A photo of that portrait is now on my Flickr account. Check it out. I don't know which SDC artist did the work, but he paid attention to detail and the portrait looks pretty good.  The flickr address is at the top of page one on this thread.

[Junior]

I might add that the costuming and overall "look" that Noel Green had when playing Rube Dugan at Geyser Gulch in the 2000 season was based on the Capt. Rube portraits that hung in the other four diving bell capsules. Of course, Noel didn't have that jutting lower jaw or bad teeth, but, I think he did wear some false teeth that altered his look somewhat. Noel captured the overall look of those other portraits pretty well. I don't have a photo of the "jutting jaw" portraits, but perhaps Noel does. He was able to access the company archive when researching how Rube was supposed to look.

[History Buff]

^He also didn't have an eye patch - at least in the photo (also on the first page of this thread).  I'm guessing not too many people knew who he was in GG.  Is that the case?

Questions:
Is the name Rube Dugan completely made up, or does it have any significance to real life?
Since James Eads is credited with the invention of the diving bell, were there any references to him in the ride or the queue?

[Junior]

Eon't know where they came up with the Rube Dugan name, it was never explained to us employees. We were just given the basic story line of the ride and a brief back story on the characters of Rube, Junior, Eli, and Grandpappy. About James Eads...no reference to him at all. Not that I'm aware of.