October 17 - Jack Wagner

On this day, in 1925, Jack Francis Wagner was born in Los Angeles, California. You probably don't recognize Jack's face unless you're a die-hard fan of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and remember the owner of the show's malt shop. But you definitely recognize his voice if you have ever been to Disneyland or Walt Disney World. If you can complete the sentence "Please stand clear of the doors...", that voice you hear in your head? That's Jack.

As the son of French born musicians, Jack would actually be the less famous one in the family. His brother was director of the Roger Wagner Chorale. Jack began his career at the age of four doing voice over work on American films being readied for release in France. He earned a contract with MGM in his teens and appeared in episodes of everything from Dragnet to Sea Hunt on television throughout the Fifties. When the Sixties rolled around, Jack became one of the most popular radio personalities in Los Angeles with an interview show on KNX that would be syndicated to over 1,200 other stations around the country.

Jack's association with the Walt Disney Company began with Disneyland as part of the opening day ceremonies in 1955. Over the next fifteen years, he recorded various announcements for parades and special events. In 1970, he officially joined the company as a production consultant and was quickly given the position of park announcer as well. While Jack recorded the safety spiels for dozens of different attractions for the parks on both coasts, two of his lines have stuck with guests and become some of the most recognizable pieces of Disney audio ever. The first comes from the safety talk at the Matterhorn Bobsled ride in Disneyland: "Remain seated please; permanecer sentados por favor." The second is the above mentioned line from the Monorail in Walt Disney World and is my favorite part of the toy monorail that runs around my Christmas tree every year: "Please stand clear of the doors; Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas." Both phrases have, of course, made their way onto t-shirts.

Not only did Jack lend his voice all over the parks, he also was a prodigious producer of music for them. Many of the tracks heard during parades or as background music in each of the themed lands was put together by him. Vocal cord surgery forced Jack's retirement in 1991 although he continued to record short announcements until his death in June of 1995. He would posthumously be made a Disney Legend in 2005 and his voice can still be heard in parts of Walt Disney World as well as the trams running between the main terminal and the flight gates at Orlando International Airport.

An interesting side note: Jack's son Mike has also done recordings of announcements for Disney, mostly in Disneyland Paris. And you can't say nepotism was involved in that decision, because Mike was initially rejected for the role of park announcer in Paris because he sounded too American.

Also on this day, in American history: Evel Knievel