July 25 - Harriet Burns

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On this day, in 2008, Harriet Burns passed away in Los Angeles, California. Born as Harriet Tapp in San Antonio, Texas on August 20, 1928, growing up during the Great Depression really brought out her creative side. Toys and games couldn't be purchased, they had to be created out of materials that could be found. How imaginative was Harriet as a child? While most kids would give their pet goldfish a name like Goldie, she named hers Tackaonsitgo Popeye Gotsinyammer Cockapinay Kasuzyanna Karachi Dianashey Brianashey Jickalicky Jackaboney Christianna More and could actually remember the whole name every time. Was she destined to become an artistic Legend? Whether you believe in that sort of thing or not, yes.

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Following high school, Harriet's father told her that he would only pay for college if she majored in Home Economics (yes, that was, and still is, a thing). She agreed and enrolled at Southern Methodist University in Dallas but, in the end, pulled one over on dear old dad by changing her major to Art, kind of forgetting to tell him about that. After graduating from SMU, Harriet spent another year at the University of New Mexico studying advanced design (no word on whether or not dad paid for that). In 1951, she married her college sweetheart, Bill Burns and did some work designing displays for Neiman Marcus in Texas.

In 1953, the Burns family moved to Los Angeles, California so Bill could try his hand at a career in acting. It didn't work out terribly well. In spite of the fact that she had a one-year-old daughter at home, Harriet decided that she'd better find some work to help pay the bills. On the basis of her previous design work, she was able to get a position with Dice Display Industries Cooperative Exchange, a Hollywood based prop company. For a little over a year, Harriet designed and built props for shows like the Colgate Comedy Hour. She was also part of a team that designed and built sets for the floor shows at Las Vegas hotels like the Dunes. Near the end of her short time with Dice, Harriet was a leader of the team that designed Santa's Village, a small theme park in Lake Arrowhead, California. Even with all that steady work, Dice Display still went belly up in early 1955. One of Harriet's co-workers decided to  return to his former place of employment and suggested that she try to get a position there as well.

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Harriet heard rumors that the Walt Disney Studio wasn't hiring women right at the moment, but she applied anyways. She later quipped that they must have thought her name was Harry because she got the job. Her first assignment was on a new television show the studio was working on, The Mickey Mouse Club. She started out making props but soon was helping to design and build the iconic clubhouse set that would feature prominently in every episode. Harriet worked her magic at a station right next to Fred Joerger, who was one of two people in a new department known at that time as Model Department. Fred's admiration of her talents would change the course of her career (as well as the look and feel of Disney theme parks).

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Fred worked with Wathel Rogers doing a very specific job that Walt felt needed to be done. They were making models of everything that was being built for the company's new theme park over in Anaheim, Disneyland. Fred felt that he and Wathel could use the help of Harriet in their model work and suggested to Walt that she become part of their department. Walt agreed and Harriet was transferred in. She was only the third person, and the first woman, to become what would eventually be known as an Imagineer. It's a position she would hold until her retirement over thirty years later.

Harriet's first task in the Model Department (soon to be renamed WED Enterprises), was to create a detailed model of Sleeping Beauty Castle, the most iconic landmark in Disneyland. Once the park was opened in July 1955, the trio at WED continued making models of attractions, but now they started depicting potential rides instead of existing ones. One of Harriet's first projects of this kind was to design and build a model of the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride, a 1/100th scale replica of an attraction that was a 1/100th scale replica of the actual Matterhorn in Switzerland.

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As time went on, WED Enterprises began adding more and more people to its ranks and taking on more and more projects. Designing and building four attractions for the 1964 World's Fair pushed everyone's creativity to the limit and everyone, including Harriet, showed they were more than up to the task. Harriet was part of two teams for the Fair, the one working on Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln for the State of Illinois pavilion and the one creating the Carousel of Progress for the General Electric pavilion. Both of those projects have stood the test of time. Great Moments is still running on Main Street USA in Disneyland and the Carousel is still turning in Tomorrowland in the Magic Kingdom.

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During the same time work was progressing on the rides for the World's Fair, Harriet was also busy doing another role she played with WED: she was a figure finisher. That meant she was one of the people who carefully applied paint and other materials to both Audio-Animatronics and the sets of attractions to give them their show ready or finished look. The first attraction she did this for was the Submarine Voyage which opened in 1959. It was the next one, though, that really showed off her talents. While doing finishing work on The Enchanted Tiki Room, hand applying thousands of feathers to the shows dozens of birds. she noticed a problem. When the four main birds breathed in and their chests puffed out, everything looked fine, but when they exhaled and their chests went back to normal, their skin looked bunched, kind of like Jose and the others were suffering from mites. Harriet solved this problem one day in a meeting. Walt was wearing a cashmere sweater and she couldn't help but notice that the knitted fabric moved at his elbows exactly like the Imagineers had envisioned the birds chests moving. Four custom made cashmere bird skins later and the bunching problem was fixed.

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Harriet was deeply involved in the design Disneyland's first major expansion, New Orleans Square, and all the restaurants and attractions that call it home. She made a model of the entirety of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and was one of the attraction's main figure finishers. For anyone wondering where Imagineers get their inspiration from, it just might be you. The pirate that sits on the bridge swinging his leg and singing as guests float under him was based on Harriet's mailman at the time. She was also part of the design team that created the Haunted Mansion just a couple of years later. Sharp eyed guests will notice a tombstone at the Mansion about an opera singer who shares a name with Harriet (it's not a coincidence; all the tombstones at the Mansion honor the attraction's original designers). Walt was so impressed with her talents, he featured Harriet on several episodes of the Wonderful World of Disney throughout the Sixties, showcasing her work in the Tiki Room, Pirates and the World's Fair rides.

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Harriet was part of Walt Disney Imagineering until her retirement in 1986. Not only did she work on stuff at Disneyland but she was also influential on the designs of Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and EPCOT Center. She would continue to spend the rest of her life creating magic just on a smaller scale, doing it exclusively for her grandchildren and their friends. She also remained highly active in the Santa Barbara arts community, where she maintained her home. In 1992, she was honored with her very own window on Main Street USA in Disneyland, the first woman to ever receive one. It reads "The Artisans Loft, Handmade Miniatures by Harriet Burns." In 2000, the pioneering Imagineer was officially declared a Disney Legend. She passed away eight years later from complications brought on by a heart condition. She was 79.

January 15 - Space Mountain

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On this day, in 1975, Space Mountain launched its first guests in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. Walt Disney wanted to build a space themed roller coaster in the Sixties after the success of the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which opened in 1959, convinced him that thrill rides were okay to have in his park. Concept drawings were made as early as 1964 for a coaster called Space Port, consisting of four separate tracks that (slightly) intertwined with each other. Unfortunately, Disneyland didn't have enough land to accommodate that design and mid Sixties technology wasn't quite up to something that ambitious anyways, so the project was delayed. By 1967, the design had gone through several refinements, one of which was a name change to Space Mountain (another was the reduction to two tracks), but Walt's death and a focus on the Florida Project caused the coaster to be shelved indefinitely.

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Once Walt Disney World opened, it proved to be extremely popular, especially with teens. Disney executives were suddenly in need of something to satisfy their teenage guests. They considered building a replica of the Matterhorn Bobsleds (in fact the show building for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had been constructed to support that ride) but ultimately brushed the dust off the Space Mountain plans instead. Computing power had advanced enough to pull the coaster off and Tomorrowland had the space. The only thing that lacked was the funds to actually build it. That's where RCA came in.

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When Disney signed a contract with RCA to provide all the communications hardware for the Florida Project, there was a clause that said if a suitable attraction were developed, RCA would pony up $10 million to make it happen. Executives showed RCA the plans for Space Mountain, they agreed that it sounded good and construction moved forward. RCA would sponsor the ride for its first eighteen years. In 1994, sponsorship switched to FedEx, who would lend their name for a decade. Since 2004, there hasn't been a sponsor (and yet it still seems to function with great regularity).

The version of Space Mountain in Florida may have been the first one (and is the state's oldest operating coaster) but versions of the attraction have opened in every Magic Kingdom type theme park around the world except Shanghai Disneyland. The Magic Kingdom's reaches a top speed of 35 MPH, pretty tame compared to most coasters, but since it's in the dark, it feels a whole lot more thrilling than that for the two and half minutes of whiplash inducing twists and turns. And, of course, the most thrilling part doesn't even occur on the ride itself. Everyone knows that only happens when you're on the PeopleMover and you happen to get to see Space Mountain with the lights on.

October 22 - Roger E. Broggie

On this day, in 1908, mechanical engineer Roger Edward Broggie was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. By 1927, he'd moved to a little town just west of Chicago and attended from Mooseheart High School. Roger had taken some machine shop courses while in school and was, quite frankly, a genius when it came to tools and mechanical objects. He moved further west after graduation, landing in  Los Angeles. Roger almost immediately got into the motion picture business, working for companies like Technicolor and Bell and Howell, a company that built things like movie cameras. He soon found himself on the lots of General Service Studios working with such legends as David O. Selznick and Charlie Chaplin.

In 1939, Roger found a position at the Walt Disney Studio, working closely with Ub Iwerks, installing the companies multiplane camera at their new Burbank location. While his official title may have been precision machinist, Roger spent a great deal of his time whipping up special effects with Ub. By 1949, Walt tapped Roger for a special project of his. Both men were avid train enthusiasts and, together, they would create the train for Walt's personal railroad, the Carolwood Pacific, famously located through Lillian's flower beds. Roger is credited with building the Lilly Belle, a 1/8th scale working steam engine for the backyard attraction.

Walt promoted Roger to the Head of the studio's Machine Shop in 1950. He was instrumental in creating the special effects for the epic movie 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In 1952, Walt created a new division to oversee the mechanical aspects of Disneyland. Called WED Enterprises at the time, it's been known as Walt Disney Imagineering since 1986. The very first employee hand picked to be a part of this new endeavor? Rogie E. Broggie.  As plans for Disneyland developed, Roger personally oversaw the creation of the Railroad, the Monorail and the Matterhorn Bobsleds.

One of the best innovations that Roger came up with was the one he created with Bert Brundage: the Omnimover ride system. First used in 1967 for Adventure Thru Inner Space, the Endless Transit System, as it's known outside of Disney, is a fairly ubiquitous sight in Disney parks. It transformed the concept of the Haunted Mansion away from a walk-through attraction and can be seen in various forms in everything from Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin at the Magic Kingdom to The Great American Chocolate Tour in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The main difference between the Omnimover system and mere continuous ride systems is that the individual cars in the Omnimover system can rotate and tilt as needed.

The other innovation that Roger helped develop were Audio-Animatronics. Roger and his co-workers in the machine shop were the ones who created the figure of Abraham Lincoln for the 1964 World's Fair. In the years that followed, he helped create countless refinements to that initial design that continue to amaze and delight guests to this very day.

As the company marched into the Seventies, Roger was as integral a part of making the Florida Project work as he was for Disneyland. Even after he finally retired in 1975, Roger would still lend his expertise to his Imagineering friends for pretty much the rest of his life. For his 36 years spent making so much of the magic possible, Roger was honored in several ways. First, Engine No. 3 of the Walt Disney World Railroad is the Roger E. Broggie. Second, he was given one of the most deserved titles of Disney Legend in 1991. Third, Roger was posthumously given his own window on Main Street, USA in Disneyland that reads "Can Do Machine Works, Mechanical Wonders, Live Steam Engines, Magical Illusions, Cameras, Roger E. Broggie Shopmaster, Advisor to the Magic Makers."

On November 4, 1991, the man about whom Michael Eisner once declared "Without him, Disneyland wouldn't have happened" quietly passed away in his Carmel, California home. He was 83.

Also on this day, in American history: Pretty Boy Floyd

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

October 14 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage

On this day, in 1971, the classic attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage opened in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. Submarine Voyage had proved to be quite popular with guests when it opened in Disneyland in 1959, so a bigger and better version was planned for the Florida Project. And what better movie to theme the new attraction after than the Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

The ride vehicles (which are actually boats not real submarines) were started by Morgan Yachts in Clearwater, Florida and then transferred to Tampa Ship for finishing. Their look was based on Harper Goff's Nautilus design for the 1954 film. Twelve vehicles were built, identical in every way except for one of them. 11 subs had diesel engines; the twelfth sub was powered by natural gas. Guess which one was never to be hit from behind. The subs usually ran in three groups of three, with the remaining three resting on a spur dock, ready to be put into use if needed (and, as the years went by, they were frequently needed).

Even though this version of Submarine Voyage was themed to a movie, it was pretty much the same as the original with small tweaks here and there. The narration throughout was done by Captain Nemo, voiced by Peter Renaday doing a pretty good impersonation of James Mason. Some of the show scenes also included touches from the film, like the divers in the kelp beds had suits and helmets that were also based on Harper Goff designs.

One of the lost pieces of Walt Disney World history could be found in 20K's (as it was known internally) show building. You would never know it looking at the pile of "rocks" complete with waterfalls, but if you went inside it as cast members sometimes did to do maintenance, you might notice something curious about the ceiling: there were massive concrete arches supporting it. As the building existed for the almost 23 years the ride operated, those arches were completely unnecessary. It becomes clear why the building was constructed that way, though, when you learn that a version of the Matterhorn Bobsleds was slated to be built on top of it. That, of course, never happened and we are all left to sigh over what might have been.

I have three additional favorite tidbits about this attraction. The first is that when it opened, an "E" ticket was required to ride it. Anyone who rode it near the end might raise an eyebrow at that, but you have to remember that "E" tickets didn't mean thrill rides, they meant the best rides. And in its day, 20K was pretty spectacular. The second is that women never worked the attraction. In fact 20K and Jungle Cruise were the last two attractions that required a Y chromosome of its cast members. Shortly before 20K closed, Jungle began training women to lead its safaris, but none ever piloted the Nautilus. It might sound Draconianly sexist but the explanation is simple: the only women in the movie were whores. Try theming that in a family park. The third is how everything you read claims that the ride closed suddenly and unexpectedly on September 5, 1994. It might have seemed that way to guests, but the cast members knew that its run was over. I should know as I did my College Program on this attraction that final summer. All kinds of costume pieces disappeared as August came to a close (not, mind you, that I'm aware who took them or where they ended up).

The 20K lagoon went on to become two character meet and greet areas, one for Ariel and, in the old queue, one for characters like Robin Hood and the mice from Cinderella. Then part of the area became a Winnie the Pooh themed play area. Eventually the lagoon was drained, filled in and now sits under the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, gone but not forgotten.

Also on this day, in American history: Lawrence Herkimer