June 29 - America Sings

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On this day, in 1974, Disneyland’s salute to the United States’ 200^th birthday, America Sings, opened in Tomorrowland. As Bicentennial Fever began sweeping the nation in the early Seventies, Disneyland naturally wanted to get in on the action. It was decided to create a new show to go in the space occupied by the Carousel of Progress. That classic show, one of the holdovers from the 1964 World’s Fair, was packed up and, in 1973, relocated to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, where it still runs today. Imagineers, led by the Legendary Marc Davis, then got to work on an all new attraction.

America Sings was structured similar to Carousel of Progress (kind of a necessity since it used the same space). A total of six theatres rotated around a central cluster of stages, each theater moving to the next stage every four minutes. Guests entered the show in stage one, saw a brief introduction, rotated through four eras of American musical history, then saw a brief conclusion and exited from stage six. For the show’s narrators, Marc created Eagle Sam, voiced by Burl Ives, and Ollie Owl, voiced by Sam Edwards. While Eagle Sam is sometimes referred to as Sam the Eagle, he shouldn’t be confused with our Muppet friend of the same name or the 1984 Olympic Mascot, Sam the Olympic Eagle; those are three distinct characters. In a nod to taking over Carousel’s space, Rex Allen, who played the narrator of Carousel, has a small part in America Sings as Sombrero, a dog.

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On a tragic note, America Sings was responsible for the death of a cast member shortly after it opened. On July 8, 1974, just nine days after its debut, Deborah Stone was caught between the stationary outer wall of the attraction and one of the inner moving walls. The 18 year old was crushed to death but her body wasn't discovered for nearly twenty minutes. Guests had actually heard her screams but thought it was part of the show. As a result of the accident, America Sings was closed for three days while safety lights were installed and the moving walls were redesigned to include breakaway panels. Thankfully, no further incidents were recorded.

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It might seem ridiculously out of place to plunk a historical show down in Tomorrowland, but Bicentennial Fever was a powerful thing in the mid Seventies and no one really minded. Until after the reasonable time that bicentennial celebrations could go on, of course. By the early Eighties, America Sings not only didn’t fit into a land that claimed to have its eyes set on the future, but it was getting long in the tooth as a concept as well. The show persisted almost to the end of the decade, however. In 1986, it was slight victim of recycling when two geese Audio-Animatronics were removed, stripped of their skin and installed as baggage droids in the queue of Star Tours. The rest of America Sings kept on singing until April 10, 1988. At that point, most of the remaining 113 Audio-Animatronic figures found a new home in Splash Mountain, which opened the following year. The Stork figure from the show’s finale is used as a training tool to teach and test new Imagineers on how to program Animatronics.

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Plans were made to install a third show in the rotating theaters and a “coming soon” sign was placed in front of the attraction. That sign stood there for almost ten years, as the remaining sets of America Sings slowly deteriorated and the building was used as office and storage space, the new attraction a victim of Euro Disneyland’s financial shortcomings. Finally, in 1998, the building was completely renovated and became Innoventions, Disneyland’s version of the Epcot area. In 2015, the space was further updated and became the West Coast’s Star Wars Launch Bay, a walkthrough attraction highlighting all things Star Wars related.

March 16 - Joyce Carlson

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On this day, in 1923, Joyce Carlson was born in Racine, Wisconsin. Joyce and her family moved to Southern California when she was 15. After graduating from Santa Monica High School, she needed a job and became a member of the Traffic Department at the Walt Disney Studio. Her job was to deliver mail, paint brushes, coffee and anything else that was needed to the various departments of the studio. It wasn't long before she wanted something more, so Joyce created a portfolio of drawings, showed them to management and was promptly moved into the Ink and Paint Department.

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Joyce's first assignments were the shorts Disney created for the United States Government during World War II. She was quickly moved into the Feature Animation division and worked on The Three Caballeros, Cinderella and Peter Pan. During production on Lady and the Tramp, Joyce was promoted to a Lead Ink Artist position which carried on into Sleeping Beauty and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Technology had advanced by that time, however. Dalmatians ushered in the era of xerography, which allowed animators drawings to be photocopied onto cels, eliminating the need for inkers. As the Ink and Paint Department shrunk accordingly, Joyce, after 16 years of expertly floating paint on acetate, transferred to WED Enterprises and began the Imagineering phase of her career.

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In 1962, Joyce began a mentoring process under two legends: Mary Blair and Marc Davis. Her first project was as part of the team designing and dressing the sets for the Carousel of Progress for the 1964 World's Fair. She worked closely with Leota Toombs, who had also come from the Ink and Paint Department (and would later achieve immortality as the face of Madame Leota in the Haunted Mansion), specifically creating the sturdier show hinges on all of the doors of the GE appliances that were used in the attraction.

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Joyce is best known for her work on another ride for the Fair, UNICEF's It's a Small World. She was responsible for designing and building the majority of the singing children figures seen throughout the attraction. She was also one of handful of cast members who traveled to New York to oversee the installation of all the Disney created pavilions. After the Fair, she was in charge of moving It's a Small World across country to Disneyland and eventually supervised the creation of the versions in Florida, Tokyo and Paris.

After the World's Fair projects were completed, Joyce and Leota continued to work together making models and final figures for all sorts of attractions. Her work can be seen in The Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree and America Sings (which had a whole slew of its figures recycled into Splash Mountain), to name a few.

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In 1982, Joyce moved to Florida where she became the resident Small World expert and was promoted to Senior Show Production Designer for Walt Disney World. She was the first female employee of the company to reach both the 50 and 55 year anniversary marks. She retired from full time work in 2000, but like most of Disney's old timers, continued to work at least part time for six more years and was available to mentor new Imagineers beyond that. Just after her retirement in 2000, Joyce was made an official Disney Legend. She was also given her own window on Main Street, USA in the Magic Kingdom that reads "Dolls by Miss Joyce - Dollmaker for the World - Shops in New York, California, Florida, Japan and Paris - Owner and Founder, Joyce Carlson." The eagle eyed among us can also spot a figure in her likeness in the Florida version of Small World. Joyce succumbed to cancer on January 8, 2008 at her home in Orlando, Florida. She was 84.

December 19 - Robert B Sherman

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On this day, in 1925, Robert Bernard Sherman was born in New York, New York. As the son of famous Tin Pan Alley songwriter Al Sherman, Robert, and his brother Richard (who would come along a couple of years later), eventually dove into the family business and elevated it to world renown status. The family moved frequently during Robert’s childhood before finally settling in Beverly Hills, California. During his high school years, Robert wrote and produced several programs for the radio and stage. One of those, Armistice and Dedication Day, raised thousands of dollars for bonds to finance World War II and caught the attention of the War Department. Robert was a mere 16 year old at the time.

In 1943, Robert talked his parents into letting him join the army when he was only 17. In April of 1945, he was wounded in the knee and would walk with a cane for the rest of his life. His list of medals for his service is fairly impressive: the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge, two Battle Stars, an American Campaign Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and several marksmanship badges. As he convalesced from his wound in England, Robert became interested in British culture and soaked up as much history and made as many English friends as he could. He was always grateful for this period in his life since so much of his later career would center on British stories and characters.

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After his return home from the war, Robert attended Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. He majored in English literature and painting, served as editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper and wrote two novels. His brother, Richard, also attended Bard as a music major. A few years later, the brothers were living together in an apartment in Los Angeles, struggling to create their separate masterpieces. One day, their father, Al, goaded them with a dare: I bet you two guys couldn’t pool your talents and come up with a song that some kid would give up his lunch money to buy. He was a wise one, that Al. The boys banded together for the first time and wrote the song Gold Can Buy Anything (but Love) and sold it to Gene Autry. The Sherman Brothers, as a songwriting duo, was born.

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In 1958, Robert founded his own music publishing company, Music World Corporation. The following year, the brothers had their first Top Ten hit, Tall Paul sung by Annette Funicello. A former Mouseketeer having a hit song of course attracted the attention of Walt Disney. Walt began having the Brothers write a song here and there, like the ones used in The Parent Trap. Then Walt finally got the rights to his magnum opus, Mary Poppins, and he hired Robert and Richard on as full time staff songwriters. They won two Academy Awards for Poppins, wrote the music for a whole slew of attractions (Adventure Thru Inner Space, Carousel of Progress and Journey Into Imagination to name just a few) and movies (like The Jungle Book, The Aristocats and Bedknobs and Broomsticks). The most ear wormy thing they ever wrote however, and their song that’s been played the most often, is the them to It’s A Small World. I would go so far as to bet that it will be stuck in your head for the next hour just because I mentioned it. I’m not sorry. It is a pretty good song.

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After Walt’s death, Robert and Richard stopped working full time for the Disney company (although they never really left it completely). Their first outside project was to team up with Poppins star Dick Van Dyke on the 1968 fantasy Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Over the years they began writing screenplays for projects as well as the music. Their version of Tom Sawyer won first prize at the Moscow Film Festival in 1973. An adaptation of Cinderella titled The Slipper and the Rose was chosen for a Royal Command Performance in 1976. On stage, the Brothers wrote a musical called Over There! that was nominated for Tony Awards and was the highest grossing musical of 1974. Since then, highly successful stage versions of both Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang have graced stages around the world.

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The tragedy of all the marvelous music, laughter and joy Robert and Richard brought to the world over their decades long career, is that it turns out the Sherman boys were pretty good actors as well. Modern conveniences may have kept their collaboration going, but the Brothers were, in actuality, bitter rivals who could go years without speaking to each other. Whether or not they ever actually repaired the rift between them, Robert and Richard were both inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in 2005, given the National Medal of the Arts by President George W. Bush in 2008 and had been made official Disney Legends in 1990. In 2010, the Brothers received their own window on Mainstreet USA in Disneyland which reads “Two Brothers Tunemakers, Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman, proprietors, We’ll write your tunes for a song!” They also recently had a soundstage at the Burbank studios renamed in their honor

Robert B. Sherman, decorated war hero, father of four, and co-writer of more film scores for musicals than anyone else (except his brother of course) passed away on March 6, 2012 in London, England. He was 86.

December 17 - Rex Allen

On this day, in 1999, Rex Elvie Allen passed away in Tucson, Arizona. Rex was born on the last day of 1920 on a ranch near Wilcox, Arizona. His father played a mean fiddle and little Rex would sing and play guitar with him at social functions around the area. After graduating from high school, he toured the Southwest United States as a rodeo cowboy for a few years before heading to the East Coast to try his luck as a singer on the vaudeville circuits. He eventually settled in Chicago as a performer on WLS’ National Barn Dance, the precursor to the Grand Ole Opry.

In 1949, at the height of the popularity of singing cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, Rex moved to Hollywood, got a screen test with Republic Pictures and became one of the top ten box office draws of the era. He partnered with Buddy Ebsen for a while then teamed up with Slim Pickens in movies with titles like Rodeo King and the Senorita and Shadows of Tombstone. At the same time, he’d signed a deal with Mercury Records and began belting out a string of hit Country singles. When that deal ran out, Rex switched to Decca where he continued to press records well into the Seventies. One of those singles, Don’t Go Near the Indians, reached the top five of the Country charts in 1962.

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Rex came to the table a little late as the western phase in Hollywood began to wind down by the mid Fifties. In fact, he had the dubious pleasure of making the very last singing cowboy film, The Phantom Stallion, released in 1954. His attempt to transition into television began and ended with a one season stint on a show called Frontier Doctor. Fortunately, the rich tones of his voice would become his saving grace. Rex was hired by the Walt Disney Studio in the early Sixties to narrate some of their nature films. His voice overs worked so well, he would go on to narrate over 80 films and television episodes for the company throughout the decade. He can be heard on films like Run, Appaloosa, Run, Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar and the 1963 version of The Incredible Journey. All his narrative worked earned him the nickname “the Voice of the West.” Walt liked his sound so much, he asked Rex to play the role of Father for the GE sponsored attraction being built for the 1964 World’s Fair, Carousel of Progress (he was replaced as Father in 1993 by Jean Shepherd of A Christmas Story fame but can still be heard as Grandfather).

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After his work with Disney, Rex continued a fairly prolific voice over career. In 1973 he narrated the animated version of Charlotte’s Web and for the rest of his life he recorded hundreds of tracks for various national commercials, the lengthiest contract of which was for Purina Dog Chow. In 1996, Rex was named an official Disney Legend for lending his voice to so many projects over the years. Tragically, three years later, at the age of 79, he would be accidently run over by his care giver in his driveway and suffer fatal injuries.

September 9 - Carousel of Progress

On this day, in 1973, the Carousel of Progress ended its run in Tomorrowland in Disneyland.

Walt and his imagineers were incredibly busy in the months, and in some cases years, running up to the opening of the 1964 New York World's Fair in Queens, New York. They were creating four different attractions for three different companies and one state. The project that Walt was most excited about was the one being created for General Electric's Progressland Pavilion: the Carousel of Progress.


Early in Disneyland's history, plans were made to expand Main Street, USA with an "International Street" and an "Edison Square." The highlight of Edison Square was to be a show, sponsored by General Electric, chronicling the advancement of electricity usage in the home. As often happened with Walt's ideas, the technology of the time period was inadequate to making them a reality, at least to the standards Walt wanted. The expansions never happened and the show was shelved but not forgotten.

Several years later, GE came to Walt again, wanting to do something for the upcoming World's Fair.  This was music to Walt's ears. Remember that show we wanted to do a while back but couldn't? Well, now we can. Will it sell lots of GE appliances? Then we love it. And that's the story of how Walt got GE to pay for the further development of Audio-Animatronics. Seriously. The Enchanted Tiki Room already existed, but its figures were fairly simple and the show developed for the state of Illinois' pavilion only involved one. GE's show would involve dozens of figures on multiple stages. The real progress in animatronics would happen here and on GE's dime.

Walt spent more of his time tinkering with this attraction for the Fair than any other. He asked the Sherman Brothers for a song to help bridge the time between scenes. They came up with the classic "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow." They based it on Walt's enthusiasm about the future and technology and believed it to be his theme song. Walt had Roger Broggie and Bob Gurr design a moving theater that would bring guests from scene to scene, rather than making people get up and walk between theaters. He got the last singing cowboy, Rex Allen, to play Father, the show's narrator. And he constantly tweaked and fussed and tweaked the whole thing some more. All that attention payed off.

The final show, Carousel of Progress, was one of the biggest hits of the Fair. Even though 200 people were seated for a new show every four minutes, a capacity of over 3,000 people an hour, the line frequently grew to over an hour long. An extended, covered queue had to be built next to the pavilion to keep waiting guests out of the summer sun. Everyone loved the show, not least GE executives.

After the Fair closed in October 1965, plans were made to move the Carousel of Progress to Tomorrowland in Disneyland, which was currently being made New. It would re-open July 2, 1967, several months after Walt's death. It would also survive its cross country move relatively intact, the biggest change being the removal of any references to a now obsolete GE marketing campaign. As the 1970s began, however, the audience for Carousel began to dwindle and GE began complaining it wasn't getting a big enough bang for its sponsorship buck. It asked if perhaps the attraction could be moved again, to the Florida Project, where maybe some new customers would get the chance to see it. And so Carousel of Progress made the journey back to the east coast, sort of.

Unlike the minor changes that had been made between the Fair and Disneyland, the Walt Disney World version of Carousel would be something kind of familiar but at the same time completely different. The first and last theaters had featured "Kaleidophonic Screens", silver screens that lit up in patterns like a kaleidoscope. Rather than fix the technical problems that had started to develop with them, the new version just hung curtains. The Sherman Brothers were asked to write a new theme song. They wrote one, "The Best Time of Your Life", but still thought the original song was better. The entire voice cast was changed and the audio re-recorded. And the fourth scene, the one depicting the near future, was given an update. GE signed a new ten year sponsorship agreement and the new Carousel of Progress open in January of 1975.

Over the years since then, Carousel of Progress has drifted along in its back corner of Tomorrowland. The fourth scene was updated again in in 1981. When the sponsorship agreement ran out in 1985, all references to GE were taken out, except the logos on several of the appliances. In 1993, the attraction received another major facelift, including a new voice cast, the reinstatement of the original theme song and another update to that pesky fourth scene. Since 2001, Carousel is technically listed as a seasonal attraction, although it runs pretty much every day. There are constantly rumors that it will close permanently and Disney constantly denies those rumors.

Those who know me, know that I'm a Disney traditionalist, so it may surprise some people that my personal opinion on Carousel is that it's time to let go. I know that Walt hoped the attraction would never close but I also know that when something wasn't working, he didn't keep it around for nostalgia's sake. Otherwise you'd still be able to ride mules at Disneyland. Beyond the fact that the audiences just aren't there anymore, it's a show that is impossible to keep current well. Maybe if the whole thing were rewritten whenever the fourth scene needed updating, it would be okay. But to have the third scene set in the 1940s and then suddenly jump 70 years for the fourth only highlights how dated the whole thing has become. And that's not Progress.