Snapshot: Disneyland! - 60

60. Sixty years.  Six decades.  July 17, 1955 was the watershed event; the birth of the theme park as we have all come to know it.  Happy Birthday, Disneyland.  To all who come to this happy place . . .

Happy 40th Anniversary Walt Disney World

 Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:

Totem Pole Parkeology

A Great Role in the Wonderful World of Color

The Greatest Dream of Walt Disney's Life

Theme Parkeology 101: Disney World 1979

Service With Character: Memorial Day Edition

In honor of the Memorial Day holiday, we are presenting a special edition of our very popular 2719 Hyperion Exhibition Hall series Service with Character: Disney World War II Insignia.  Today we feature twelve emblems collected from 1944 issues of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

32nd Sqd. Air Training Corps

494th Base Headquarters and Air Base Squadron

Co C 714th Tank Btn. 12th Armored Div.

799th Bombardment Squadron

881st Field Artillery Battalion

Army Nurse Corp

 Bombing Squadron 102

 Hq. Sq. 41 MBDAG-41

 Ships Repair AD-40

 U.S.S. Piedmont

 U.S.S. Sapelo

U.S.S. YMS 329

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Exhibition Hall:

Service With Character: Disney World War II Insignia

Service With Character: Whimsical Thought and Serious Intent

Happy Birthday, Hayley!

2719 Hyperion sends out very Happy Birthday wishes today to one of our most admired Disney-related personalities.  Hayley Mills was born on April 18, 1946, and by age fourteen had become a shining star of Disney Studio live-action productions.  Her first Disney film, Pollyanna, would bring international acclaim and a special honorary Academy Award for Best Juvenile Performance of 1960.  More enthusiastic notices would follow a year later with her dual performance of twins Susan and Sharon in The Parent Trap.

A wholly fanciful (and largely fictional) newspaper account from 1960 claimed that Mills first met Walt Disney when touring Disneyland with her family (including her father, noted British actor John Mills).  But Mills herself once recounted that the actual first meeting occurred a long way away from southern California.  According to Mills' biography on her Disney Legends profile, it happened when Walt was actively seeking a young actress for the Pollyanna part.  Mills recalled, "I went to Walt's suite at the Dorchester Hotel, in London, along with my parents, my younger brother and our Pekingese, Suki. Walt laughed a lot as he spoke, in rather a shy way, which I found very endearing. I think that's what made me warm to him. That, and the fact that he liked childish things -- I remember he and I were crawling around the floor after Suki, who was eating potato crisps off of the carpet."

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:
Retro Review: A Perfect Summer Movie

A Four Color Happy New Year

Today's Four Color Friday post will be a brief but very celebratory affair.  For your New Years holiday enjoyment, we welcome in two wonderful comic book covers that date back to the 1940s.  Both are from the Walt Disney's Comics and Stories series.

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Issue #28

January 1943

Art by Carl Buettner

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Issue #88

January 1948

Art by Walt Kelly

Happy New Year, everyone!

What a Wondrous Time of Year

To all of my readers, family and friends, I would like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and the happiest of holiday seasons.  I truly appreciate the encouragement and support you provide throughout the year. 

All my best--

A Happy Four Color Thanksgiving!

We are going to serve up this week's Four Color Friday one day early in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday.  For your Turkey Day enjoyment, we present three classic Thanksgiving-themed covers from the very early years of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories.

 

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Issue #2

November 1940

Art by Al Taliaferro

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Issue #15

December 1941

Art by Al Taliaferro

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories Issue #63

December 1945

Art by Walt Kelly

Taken together, they almost tell a story of sorts.

To all of our readers and friends, thank you for your continued attention, encouragement and support.  If you celebrate this day of good food and fellowship, we hope you have a very happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

Happy 82nd Birthday!

My father and Mickey Mouse were born five days apart in November of 1928.  (Dad is the elder of the two.)  A very sincere happy 82nd birthday to both of them!

The Third Wonder of the World

Has it really been twenty years?

This teaser ad appeared in a number of high circulation weekly magazines released in early April of 1989.

September 11, 1968 - Walt Disney Day

Forty years ago today marked "Walt Disney Day" in the state of Missouri. The state's governor, Warren E. Hearnes, issued the proclamation a few weeks earlier as part of the planned festivities that would be held in Marceline on September 11, 1968 to celebrate the United States Postal Service's release of the commemorative Walt Disney postage stamp.

For an excellent reporting of that day's events, check out the article "Walt Disney's Stamp of Approval" by Wade Sampson at MousePlanet.

You Don't Look a Day Over Forty . . .

Explore the 2719 Hyperion Archives:

Souvenirs: Pennant Magic and Adventure

The Toontown Field Guide

Snapshot: Disneyland!
Donald Duck Goes to Disneyland

The Disneyland (Four Color) Birthday Party

On this day, Disneyland's 53rd Birthday, we commemorate the 50th Anniversary of a comic book the celebrated the third birthday of the Happiest Place on Earth.

Walt Disney's Disneyland Birthday Party was a Dell Giant comic book published during the summer of 1958.

The Animal Kingdom Anniversary Desktop

Honoring ten years of Disney's Animal Kingdom, Nick Nitsch brings us another in his series of stunning Disney desktops. Celebrate a decade of exploration and a future of discovery with this beautiful design. Thanks, Nick!

(800 x 600)

(640 x 480)

A Decade of Exploration and Discovery

When the Walt Disney Company announced their intentions in the mid-1990s to build a zoological-based theme park as its fourth gate at Walt Disney World, I must admit I was sufficiently underwhelmed. It wasn't exactly an original idea. Busch Gardens Dark Continent was just a hop, skip and a jump down I-4. But I kept a good thought nonetheless.

When I first visited the newly opened Disney's Animal Kingdom in the fall of 1998, my disappointment was tangible. While lushly landscaped and exquisitely themed, it remained sadly insubstantial in many ways. The Asia area was still months away from completion and the Beastly Kingdom had fallen tragically under the budget ax of a very short sighted Michael Eisner.

Years passed, and like the denizens it represents, Disney's Animal Kingdom has evolved and grown into now what I consider to be one of the shining gems of Disney theme parks. Some of my initial problems with DAK were my own decidedly misguided perceptions and expectations. It is truly a very non-traditional park that is ill served by the high speed touring plans and the uber stimulation that guests typically associate with Disney theme park experiences. E-Tickets like Expedition Everest and Dinosaur not withstanding, the central tenants of DAK are exploration and discovery. It is a place that requires a slower, more deliberate pace, for so many of its treasures are subtle in both their designs and execution. Faux-history and story permeate nearly every corner of the park, from the history and culture of Harambe, to the more light-hearted yet equally entertaining backstory of Dinoland USA.

Nearly a decade ago I found myself rushing quickly from Kilimanjaro Safaris to Countdown to Extinction to Festival of the Lion King, with little heed of the many less celebrated but still equally worthwhile features of the park. Typically by mid afternoon, my family and I were on our way to adventures in EPCOT, the Studios or the Magic Kingdom. Today I linger in places like the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I relish rather than dread a thirty minute wait for Expedition Everest so to better enjoy a true masterpiece of queue area design. I walk the Cretaceous Trail and then later note the antics of the Dino Institute interns within the walls of Restaurantosaurus. Even the much maligned Chester and Hester and their Dino-Rama tell a story both humorous and fascinating. Every visit can be an amazing journey requiring only a gentler pace and a more eager eye.

Its been a wonderful ten years of exploration. I personally look forward to a future filled with more adventure and discovery. Jambo!

Merry Christmas!

And in despair I bowed my head, there is no peace on earth I said.
For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth goodwill to men.

But hear the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor does he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.

To all the readers of 2719 Hyperion, my deepest thanks for all the support and encouragement you have given me over the past year. I want to wish you all the happiest of holiday seasons, and a safe and prosperous new year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Walt's Photo

In my rush to MouseFest, I was only able to post the photo for Walt Disney's birthday on Wednesday. Jim Korkis sent on the following background on that particular image that I selected:

I am sure you realize that the Walt photo you posted yesterday was the last official photo ever taken of Walt Disney. There are actually a couple in the series including one of Mickey waving. In this one, Mickey is pulling on his tie to be "neat and pretty" just like he did on the Mickey Mouse Club television show. I believe that may be Paul Castle under the Mouse head. You will also notice the gloves that Mickey is wearing. Mickey has four fingers and a thumb. This photo (and the others in this series) were staged by veteran Disney publicist Charlie Ridgway. Charlie told me a while ago that he believed the photo shoot was the end of August or early September. Unfortunately about three months later, Walt passed away.

Walt's daughter Diane, when she was interviewed by writer Pete Martin for Walt's biography that was published in the Saturday Evening Post in the 1950s, said that "(Dad's) not sentimental about Christmas. He's more sentimental about family relationships like birthdays... about his own birthday. He feels very sentimental about that and you don't dare slight him or forget because he would be very deeply hurt. If you mention it, he's fairly assured you will remember. But if he thinks that you don't remember, when it has arrived he just feels a little bit slighted."

December 5, 1901

Happy Birthday Walt Disney!

November 18, 1928

But believe it or not, November 18, 1928 has not always been the recognized birthday of Mickey Mouse. In the recent book Mickey Mouse Treasures, author and Disney Archives manager Robert Tieman explains:

Walt Disney always said that Mickey's birthday was the day Steamboat Willie premiered, but the exact date had been lost to history. For the early birthday commemorations, the studio routinely picked a convenient day in the fall—generally a Saturday so movie theaters could schedule kiddie matinees, and generally in September (even though Steamboat Willie was nowhere near finished that early in 1928). Over the years, September 28 became known as Mickey's birthday, even making it into print in several reference books—until the establishment of the Walt Disney Archives in 1970.

One of the first things archivist Dave Smith tracked down was a vintage program from New York's Colony Theatre, the site of Mickey's debut. Inside was conclusive documentation at last of the debut of Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928. This discovery allowed for Mickey's actual birthday to be recognized for his golden anniversary in 1978.

52 Years Young at Heart

"The idea of Disneyland is a simple one. It will be a place for people to find happiness and knowledge. It will be a place for parents and children to share pleasant times in one another's company; a place for teachers and pupils to discover greater ways of understanding and education. Here the older generation can recapture the nostalgia of days gone by, and the younger generation can savor the challenge of the future. Here will be the wonders of Nature and Man for all to see and understand. Disneyland will be based upon and dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and hard facts that have created America. And it will be uniquely equipped to dramatize these dreams and facts and send them forth as a source of courage and inspiration to all the world. Disneyland will be sometimes a fair, an exhibition, a playground, a community center, a museum of living facts, and a showplace of beauty and magic. It will be filled with accomplishments, the joys and hopes of the world we live in. And it will remind us and show us how to make these wonders part of our own lives."

-Walt Disney

Happy Fathers Day!

A big Happy Fathers Day to all my fellow dads out there. If you are in possession of the Disney Treasures Complete Goofy DVD set, today's the perfect day to pop disc 2 in the player and kick back and enjoy the adventures of George Geef. Its animated fatherhood at its finest.