myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Swiss Family Robinson Book Edition - William Clowes and Sons, Limited
London and Beccles.

Walt Disney Swiss Family Robinson FAMILY FILM COLLECTION VHS Front Cover

Disney even got the wardrobe colors matching with the vintage book illustrations!

Looking down Richmond Bay - the filming location where the Robinsons landed on the desert island.

NOTE: The filming of the tub raft scenes in the deep water and around the treacherous rocks were done at Quashie Bay (renamed Shipwreck Bay after filming) in Belle Garden.

Walt Disney Swiss Family Robinson FAMILY FILM COLLECTION VHS BACK COVER

After filming was completed the tub raft was left on the beach — a local salvaged one of the fiberglass coated tubs. It’s in his collection of movie memorabilia at his home in Tobago.

Disney pin featuring the treehouse - countdown to the Swiss Family Robinson Movie on December 10, 1960.

Movie storyboard illustrating the Christmas dance scene, and at bottom right the 200 year old tree today at Goldsborough, Tobago.

The making of the 1960 Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson

Screenshot from the movie Swiss Family Robinson . L TO R - Tommy Kirk (Ernst), Janet Munro (Bertha) riding Duchess, the zebra and, James MacArthur (Fritz) arrive at the treehouse on Christmas Day. This scene was filmed at Goldsborough, Tobago, 1959.

Disney main rigger and Union Steward (NATKE), Cyril (Cid) Thawley posing with Duchess, the zebra at the treehouse set, Nanton Estate, Goldsborough, Tobago.
(Arrow shows the movie camera).

Cid stayed at the Della Mira Guest House, Bacolet, Tobago from March 1959 to January 1960.

Photograph 1959 courtesy Charmaine Powder (Grant), daughter of Cyril Thawley and Enid Grant-Heady (Taylor).

Angela Miranda (who turns 95 in January) reading her copy of The Disney Film Heritage of Tobago - Swiss Family Robinson.

Some of the British crew for the movie stayed at Della Mira Guest House, Bacolet, Tobago from March 1959 to January 1960. The crew (along with others who stayed at Hotel Robinson Crusoe in Scarborough) worked on building the movie props ahead of filming which commenced in August 1959.

Angela and her husband Neville, were the owners and managers of Della Mira and Club La Tropicale - a popular watering hole for the Disney crew in 1959.

Photograph courtesy Angela Miranda, Scarborough, Tobago
7 November 2022

Behind the scenes during the filming of Swiss Family Robinson back in 1959.

Right - Neville Miranda - co- owner of the Della Mira Guest House in Bacolet, Tobago where some of the Disney crew stayed from April 1959 to January 1960.
Second from right is Cyril Cid Thawley - Disney Main Rigger and Union Steward (NATKE) for Swiss Family Robinson. Cid is holding Marcia Miranda, Neville’s daughter
An unnamed Disney cast member is at left. Boy in front - Ingram Miranda - Neville’s son.

The movie Swiss Family Robinson was filmed in Tobago from August 1959 to January 1960.

Photo courtesy Charmaine Powder - daughter of Cyril Thawley

Christmas 1959 - Cyril (Cid) Thawley Disney Main Rigger hands a donation to Santa outside the Movie Set Office at the Blue Haven Hotel compound, Bacolet, Tobago. Monies was collected from cast and crew to bring Christmas cheer to the sick children warded at the Scarborough Hospital over the holidays. An unidentified cast member looks on.

Can anyone identify the crew member at left and who’s playing Santa?

Photograph 1959 courtesy Charmaine Powder (Grant), daughter of Cyril Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson

Merry Christmas everyone!
Jazz

Jazz557 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 17, 2022 7:23 pm Christmas 1959 - Cyril (Cid) Thawley Disney Main Rigger hands a donation to Santa outside the Movie Set Office at the Blue Haven Hotel compound, Bacolet, Tobago. Monies was collected from cast and crew to bring Christmas cheer to the sick children warded at the Scarborough Hospital over the holidays. An unidentified cast member looks on.

Can anyone identify the crew member at left and who’s playing Santa?

Photograph 1959 courtesy Charmaine Powder (Grant), daughter of Cyril Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson

Merry Christmas everyone!
Jazz

Jazz so happy you made this post. Love seeing my Dad being able to get into the holiday spirit..bringing some Christmas cheer to the kids at the Scarborough Hospital

Jazz557 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 17, 2022 7:23 pm Christmas 1959 - Cyril (Cid) Thawley Disney Main Rigger hands a donation to Santa outside the Movie Set Office at the Blue Haven Hotel compound, Bacolet, Tobago. Monies was collected from cast and crew to bring Christmas cheer to the sick children warded at the Scarborough Hospital over the holidays. An unidentified cast member looks on.

Can anyone identify the crew member at left and who’s playing Santa?

Photograph 1959 courtesy Charmaine Powder (Grant), daughter of Cyril Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson

Merry Christmas everyone!
Jazz

Jazz so happy you made this post. Love seeing my Dad being able to get into the holiday spirit..bringing some Christmas cheer to the kids at the Scarborough Hospital

REX CINEMA, TOBAGO (CIRCA 1992)

The 1960 movie Swiss Family Robinson was released on 21 December 1960. In 1961, the movie was shown for the first time at the Rex Cinema, Scarborough for one week.

According to the then cinema operator, Clifford Cook (90), every show was sold out. Interestingly, Rex Cinema was used during filming in 1960 by the production team to view the dailies (day’s filming).

The Swiss Family Robinson dailies (day’s filming) were viewed at Rex Cinema during the filming of the movie in Tobago from August 1959 to January 1960.

Swiss Family Robinson - Two 2 Laserdisc Album (3 sides)

Front of Laserdisc shows the 70 foot long shipwreck prop built against the rocks at
Quashie Bay, Belle Garden, Tobago. After filming, Quashie Bay was renamed
Shipwreck Bay. Inset - a promo photo of the Robinsons and Bertha.

Happy new year 2023 everyone …
Jazz

QSL card used at Hotel Robinson Crusoe, Scarborough, Tobago. The card was used by Jack Lambert, from the crew of Walt Disney Productions filming the movie Swiss Family Robinson in 1959-1960.

QSL card courtesy - John Chay - President of the Philatelic Society of Trinidad and Tobago (PSTT)

Hotel Robinson Crusoe, Scarborough, Tobago 1959
One of three hotels leased by Disney from March 1959 to January 1960 for some cast and crew members working on the movie Swiss Family Robinson.

John Dial Beach, Hope Bay is where the canoe crash scene was filmed. I’ve included here two pieces of Tobago tourism ephemera from 1959 when the movie was being filmed in Tobago West Indies.

John Dial Beach, Hope Bay is where the canoe crash scene was filmed. I’ve included here two pieces of Tobago tourism ephemera from 1959 when the movie was being filmed in Tobago West Indies.

Swiss Family Robinson lobby card - fighting off the pirates on the fort. This scene was filmed at Richmond Bav. Tobago in 1959.

Arnos Vale Hotel, Tobago

Dorothy McGuire (Mother) stayed here with her husband John Swope, during the filming of Walt Disney’s 1960 movie - Swiss Family Robinson.

Swiss Family Robinson lobby card - building the canoe outrigger on the grounds of the treehouse. This scene was filmed at Goldsborough, Tobago in 1959?

ARNOS VALE HOTEL, PLYMOUTH AND DISNEY’S 1960 MOVIE - SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON - Dorothy McQuire (mother in Swiss Family Robinson) and her husband John Swope - the famous Life Magazine photographer stayed in one the beach cottages at the hotel for 6 months during filming in 1959 - back then the owners were a British couple who stayed there a couple of years before, fell in love with the hotel and bought it from the original owner when it was just a couple of years old ...

Peter Ellenshaw and Disney’s
Swiss Family Robinson movie Tobago

Matte artist Peter Ellenshaw painting on glass used on the set for a high quality in camera matte effect during the filming of the pirate ship blown up at Richmond Bay. The scene was filmed from the hill with the family fort but owing to the elevation needed, the hill and the nearby island was painted on glass in front of the camera. The wooden frame housing the glass is visible in this photo.