Disneyland History 1969 - Mystery of the Hatbox Ghost

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Actual Home Movies of the Hatbox Ghost - 1969

Who is the most famous ghost in the Haunted Mansion? Without doubt, the Hatbox Ghost, a ghoul who lived there for only a few days. Short, pasty and decapitated--one of the most frightening figures to ever take up residence in the attic. But for decades fans wondered if this ghost actually existed in the finished attraction. Had it been removed before the Mansion's grand opening? And then four decades after opening day, DoomBuggies.Com posted the first photo of the Hatbox Ghost installed in the Mansion at Disneyland. And now, DHI comes limping into second place with some extremely rare home movie footage of dear, departed Hattie and his amazing hatbox. So rev up your DeLorean and journey with us back to the late 1960s. Footage of the Mansion (pre-opening) comes from 1968; Footage of the Mansion (newly opened, with its shiny, gilt sign) comes from 1969. And of course footage of Hattie in the attic is marked August, 1969. The footage from my own collection and the never-before-released reference photos from Paul's collection.


- Todd J. Pierce

PS Make sure to join us over on our Facebook group for updates and further discussion. Link: DHI on Facebook.

Disney's Legends

This post will be on Disney's Legends

(I'LL BE ADDING MORE LEGENDS IN TIME)

The first is on Billy Barty

I know what you are saying.... "WHY IS HE A DISNEY LEGEND?"

Well he did the voice of  "FIGMENT."

First appearance
1983

Created by Tony Baxter and Steve Kirk

Voiced by

Billy Barty (1981–1998)
Dave Goelz (2002— )

Billy Barty Biography
( 1924 – 2000 )
Actor, comedian. Born William John Bertanzetti on October 25, 1924 in Millsboro, Pennsylvania. Born into a performing family, Billy charmed his way into silent pictures at the age of three. As a child actor, he appeared in such films as Alice in Wonderland, A Midsummer's Night's Dream and The Mickey McGuire Comedies. Though he would never grow taller than 3-feet 9-inches, Billy acted steadily and performed on the vaudeville circuit until he went to college.
Throughout the 1950s, Barty appeared on numerous variety programs, soon becoming America's most popular little person. Adult film roles included Willow, Foul Play, Rumpelstiltskin and Day of the Locust. Though he continued to get minor film and TV roles throughout his life, Billy knew that parts for little people in Hollywood were limited in both number and variety.
In the 1950s, little was understood about Barty's condition - dwarfism. In 1957, he founded the Little People of America Association and hosted the first convention for little people in Reno, Nevada. Through the association and later through his own Billy Barty Foundation, he worked to raise awareness and money for medical research and issues concerning little people, using the motto "Think big."
In December 2000, Barty died of lung and heart failure. He was survived by his wife, Shirley, and their two children, Lori and Braden.
American dwarf actor
(also 1933), and he frequently popped up as a lasciviously leering baby in the risqué musical highlights of

Billy Barty has had a long career in show
big enough to last for six years, when Rooney left the cast for brighter pastures at M-G-M. Barty never missed a beat and just kept creating his own path in show business, this next particular wrinkle finding him playing drums in a vaudeville act with his sisters, traveling the United States and Canada for the next eight years. In 1943, in between the stray movie role and honing his new nightclub solo act, Billy was attending Los Angeles City College. He went at academia with the same kind of determination that he went at show business, managing to both fully participate in intramural sports, but also hold down a major in journalism as well.In the meantime, his nightclub act was starting to kick up some noise and Billy was regularly employed throughout the late ’40s into the early ’50s. Barty was a one-man show; he played a brash Gene Krupa style of ‘hot jazz’ drumming, blew a little trumpet, sang, danced, and did some impressions. This much talent couldn’t go unnoticed by someone who was in a position to showcase it for too long and that person of position turned out to be bandleader Spike Jones. Jones hired Barty as a specialty act in 1953, replacing fellow short stature performer Frankie Little.
Jones ended up getting much more than he bargained for in this versatile performer. He proved to be an immediate hit, connecting big when Spike started his television show the following year. Best of all was his outrageous impression of Liberace doing “I’m in the Mood for Love, ” which would become a hit for the bandleader simply by recording Billy’s stage routine. “Spike and I hit it off right at the beginning, ” Barty has reminisced, “He knew I wasn’t a yes man; he knew I was my own boss. And he accepted me for just being me. Spike wanted me to sell programs. He said, ‘That’s how Frankie Little made his money.’ I said, ‘That’s good for Frankie. I’ll make my money entertaining.’ I think that’s what sold me to Spike; I was honest and frank right in the beginning.” Billy would stay with Jones into the late 50s, until the bandleader’s health began to decline due to emphysema, making touring a dodgy proposition at best. It was time to go back and start picking up some movie and tv work, perhaps.By his own estimate, Billy has made appearances in over 200 films, including some early Mack Sennett sound shorts with Gold Diggers of 1933, Roman Scandals, The Parade, Nothing Sacred, Alice In Wonderland, Footlight Parade, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Bride of Frankenstein numbering among his early credits. His post-1960s film work is plentiful and rewarding, including W.C. Fields and Me, Foul Play, Rabbit Test, Hardly Working, Under The Rainbow, Tough Guys, Life Stinks, The Happy Hooker Goes To Washington, Firepower, True Confessions, UHF, Legends, and Tough Guys to add to his numerous credits. Of particular merit is his fine dramatic turn in Day of the Locust. He scored equally big on the small screen as well. He hosted a successful children’s TV program from 1963 to 1967 as well as doing superb guest turns on Circus Boy, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Phyllis, and Little House on the Prairie.In 1957, while he was working in Reno, Nevada with Spike, Billy organized the Little People of America, a non-profit organization. This later dovetailed into the establishment of the Billy Barty Foundation, doing marvelous work to heighten awareness about-and come to the aid of-persons of small stature. Some of this spirit is perhaps best exemplified in the documentary that Barty also appears in, Being Different. A little man with a big heart, some would say. Certainly proof positive that good things do, indeed, come in small packages.business, spanning some 70 years of work in movies, nightclubs, theater and television. All the more amazing because Barty is a 3-foot-11, 86 pound midget. While most height challenged actors were lucky to find less than occasional work in Hollywood in the role as a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz or in a novelty Western like The Terror of Tiny Town, Billy Barty kept working in every medium available to him, ultimately becoming the most well known performer of his kind. Talent will out, indeed.He was born William John Barty in Millsboro, Pennsylvania on October 25 in 1919, although other birth dates and years have popped up in various biographies with October 24, 1923 being the most common. The youngster was already near to his eventual height and weight when he started working as a child actor in Hollywood in the mid to late 1920s, making his movie debut at age three in a Vitaphone two reeler entitled Wedded Blisters. After being turned down by producer Hal Roach when he auditioned for the Our Gang two reel comedies, Barty became a regular fixture in the rival Mickey McGuire series, starring a young Mickey Rooney in the title role. The competing series was the only one to last in the sound era, with Barty playing McGuire’s kid brother. Child actress Shirley Jean Rickert, herself a member of the Our Gang series, jumped ship in 1931 to join up with the McGuire cast. She recalls her audition for the series vividly. Her parents drove her over to the Darmour studios and while Dad waited out in the car, she and her Mother walked inside. There they encountered Billy Barty, made up as a baby for a scene. Barty jumped out of the baby carriage, lit up a cigar, and did some hand springs in front of them. Shirley Jean’s Mom grabbed her and went back to the car and told her husband, “There’s a baby in there doing cartwheels-my child can’t do things like that.” The upshot of the story is that Dad talked Mom out of leaving, they went back inside, and little Shirley Jean was cast alongside Billy as Tomboy Taylor. Although neither as innovative or as popular as the Our Gang comedies, the series was Billy Barty always claimed to have been born in the early '20s, but the evidence of his somewhat wizened, all-knowing countenance in his film appearances of the 1930s would suggest that he was at least ten years shy of the whole truth. At any rate, Barty made many film appearances from at least 1931 onward, most often cast as bratty children due to his height. He was a peripheral member of an Our Gang rip-off in the Mickey McGuire comedy shorts, portrayed the infant-turned-pig in Alice in Wonderland (1933), he did a turn in blackface as a "shrunken" Eddie Cantor in Roman Scandals Busby Berkeley's Warner Bros. films. One of Barty's most celebrated cinema moments occurred in 1937's Nothing Sacred, in which, playing a small boy, he pops up out of nowhere to bite Fredric March in the leg. Barty was busy but virtually anonymous in films, since he seldom received screen credit. TV audiences began to connect his name with his face in the 1950s when Barty was featured on various variety series hosted by bandleader Spike Jones. Disdainful of certain professional "little people" who rely on size alone to get laughs, Barty was seen at his very best on the Jones programs, dancing, singing, and delivering dead-on impressions: the diminutive actor's takeoff on Liberace was almost unbearably funny. Though he was willing to poke fun at himself on camera, Barty was fiercely opposed to TV and film producers who exploited midgets and dwarves, and as he continued his career into the 1970s and '80s, Barty saw to it that his own roles were devoid of patronization -- in fact, he often secured parts that could have been portrayed by so-called "normal" actors, proof that one's stature has little to do with one's talent. A two-fisted advocate of equitable treatment of short actors, Billy Barty took time away from his many roles in movies (Foul Play [1978], Willow [1988]) and TV to maintain his support organization The Little People of America and the Billy Barty Foundation. Billy Barty died in December 2000 of heart failure. Journey Into Imagination,Billy Barty (1981–1998)                Dave Goelz (2002— )

I won a book from Adam Goodger from DisneyBrit Podcast, from one of his contest, the title is called,

IMAGINEERING THE WAY, THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE MAGIC KINGDOM.

but today ill just post what the back cover says, about the book.


(KEEP COMMING BACK PLEASE FOR NEW CHAPTERS BEING ADDED)

Let's begin with what kind of contest it was, it was a trivia contest, and the trivia was: "WHAT LIVES UNDER SLEEPING BEAUTYS CASTLE AT DISNEYLAND PARK IN DISNEYLAND PARIS."
You folks can guess and post here, and ill let you know by IM so it wont give anything away from the others.

The contest was about 2 years before i got onto WB

there were 4 items that came to me for winning,
1. THE BOOK
2. CELL PHONE PENDANT
3. FRIDGE MAGNET
4. AND A MINI NOTE PAD AND PEN SET

Now onto the back cover......


Have you ever wondered how the most magical place on Earth came about?
How The Walt Disney Co. turned an area of swampland into one of the most visited attractions in the World?

IMAGINEERING THE WAY, THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE MAGIC KINGDOM
leads you through the early days of the Walt Disney World Resort, all the way to the present day.

As well as looking in detail at every ride, show or attraction that ever existed in the Magic Kingdom the book brings answers
to some of the Disney myths created over the years:

-Does the castle really lowerinto the ground to be cleaned?
-Who is George and why does he reside in Pirates Of The Carribean?
-Do chocolate chips really exsist in Space Mountain?
-Which ride can you hear the line "I LOVE DISCO!"?
-Is Walt really cyrogenically frozen inside the Magic Kingdom?

All of these answers and more can be found insiside IMAGINEERING THE WAY, THE UNOFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE MAGIC KINGDOM.

So we'll start tomorrow on chapter 1

Oh BTW I should also mention that he autographed it:

To John
     I hope you enjoy reading it as
     much as i enjoyed writing it.

the books publisher is lulu

info on the book if you're interested in getting one for yourself


$15.22 for paperback

　
$5.99 for downloaded PDF ver.
_____________________________________________________________________

PART 1- THE BEGINNING

Chapter 1It all Started with a Mouse

We all know the story. On Saturday November 18th 1928 Mickey Mouse
was born and instantly became a star. His first cartoon Steamboat Willie
was seen as a massive leap in the world of animation. From that day on
Walt Disney and Walt Disney Co. continued to cross boundaries and be
at the forefront of new new technology. Be it the multi-plane camera in
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasound for Fantasia or the
ground breaking Audio Animatronic first for Lincoln in the 1964 New
York Worlds fair.

Having already introduced the world to the theme park in the guise of
Disneyland on July 17th 1955, Walt had realized his mistake in not
snapping up more land than he needed. For years after Walt opened
Disneyland he was inundated with offers of free land all over the United
States and even by several countries abroad, but Disney didn’t want to build just ‘another park’.

This changed when he visited the 1964 New York Worlds Fair with 4
new attractions. General Electric’s ‘Carousel Of Progress’, Ford’s
‘Magic Skyway’, Pepsi Cola’s ‘It’s A Small World’, and the state Illinois
‘Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln’. Walt was so impressed with the
Technological advancements of his artist, designers, and builders, whom
He called ‘Imagineers’.

While at the Fair, Disney began to mull over the ideas of the new park
‘- Project X’. He didn’t know what he was going to put in it but he knew
the idea was feasible. It is believed that Walt Disney had sent his brother,
Roy and several friends and business associates to look for land as early
as 1963. The team had traveled the length and breadth of the country
looking for land that was suitable and cheap enough to build his new
park. They checked into hotels under false names and made anonymous
enquires on areas of land. If anyone found out that the name
‘Disney’ was attached then the price per acre would increase rapidly and
the adjoining land would be bought up quickly by other businesses. This was
just what Walt didn’t want to happen. He had always dreamed of a place
where you were able to escape everyday reality. Having any reminder
of that ruined the idea all together.

Many parts of the United States were considered. Places such as St. Louis,
Niagra Falls, and the Great Smokey Mountains. None of these places
had the draw of Florida. The weather in the state was near perfect all year
round, the roads were accessible and the land was completely untouched,
mostly used for cattle grazing or as swampland. ‘Project X’ had a location
and Walt Disney had a plan.
___________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 2


‘PROJECT X’




Back in California, Walt Disney had begun work on ‘Project X’,
later to be known as ‘Project Florida’, in production studios. He
a windowless room right next to his office. Walt kept hold of the
key, the only one available for the room and it was here that he
worked on preliminary plans for administration buildings,
recreational areas and, of course, a theme park. No areas of the
floor, wall, or table was left clear - as maps, plans, diagrams,
sketches, and models were literally scattered around the room.
With the return of Roy and his associates, Walt was very keen
To see the different locations in Florida Roy had found, and
Wanted to go out and see which he preferred. But, this was a
difficult task. How could Walt Disney be seen looking at
land in Florida? If he would be seen then the word would
get round that Disney was looking at land in the area and
the price per acre would skyrocket. Walt decided that the
only way he could view the different locations were to
fly over the areas - but remain on the plane, even when
it was re-fueling. One stop, Walt was spotted by an
overzealous flight mechanic who asked him if he was
the famous Walt Disney. Walt denied it and the secret
stayed safe.

As the group flew over the different Florida locations,
it is believed that Walt saw the land over Orange and
Osceola County and knew that it was the place where
he would build his magical land.

It was now down to the business of buying up enough
land so that Walt’s dream of Disney World could come
true. Walt and Co. set up several false companies to by
up the land. The exact names and number of companies
is unknown but some included: WED Enterprises
(WED being the initials of Walter Elias Disney),
Latin American Developments, Retlaw Enterprises
(Walter spelt backwards) and Tomahawk Properties.

On May 4th 1965, the Orlando Sentinel reported rumors
of an ‘East coast of Disneyland’. Disney was still buying
land at this point and the team had to be extra careful about
preceding with the land they bought, making sure they did
not arouse anymore suspicion.

During the process Walt spent his time continuing his work
in the productions studios and his secret passion - ‘Project X’.
He kept informed about how much land had been acquired
and how much it had cost so far. The average price had worked
out about $180.00 an acre. When Roy and Co. had accumulated
around 12,500 acres, the Florida team had thought they had
bought enough. With the remainder of his mistake in Disneyland,
Walt told the team to continue buying. Later in the project, Walt
was reported to have commented on the lessons he had learned
from building Disneyland.

“I mean, when we opened, if we could have bought more land,
we would have. Then we’d have had control and it wouldn’t
look too much like a second-rate Las Vegas around here. We’d
have had a little better chance to control it. But we ran out of
money, and then by the time we did have a little bit of money,
everybody got wise to what was going on and we couldn’t
buy anything around the place at all! The one thing that I l
learned from Disneyland was to control the environment.
Without that we get blamed for things that someone else does.
When they come here they’re coming because of an integrity
that we’ve established over the years, and they drive for
hundreds of miles and the little hotels on the fringe would
jump their rates three times. I’ve seen it happen and I just
can’t take it because, I mean it reflects on us. I just feel a
responsibility to the public when I go into this thing that
we must control that, and when they come into this
so-called world, that we will take the blame for what
goes on.”                                           (WALT DISNEY) Disney was that disappointed with what happened in Anaheim
that he was 100% committed to making sure Disney World wasn’t
going to go the same way. The only way to do this was to buy far
more land than needed, creating a boundary around the things he
wanted to build. This way, Disney could make sure his ‘dream’
world was well separated from that of reality.

By October 1965, Disney had acquired 27,443 acres of land (43 square miles) at a cost of just over $5 million. It was the twice the size of Manhattan and the same size of San Francisco.

On October 24th , 1965 the Orlando Sentinel were back on the case.
The correctly guessed the purchaser’s identity with a 72-point
banner that said, “WE SAY OUR ’MYSTERY’ INDUSTERY IS
DISNEY.”

By now the cat was out of the bag and Disney could no longer
keep the secret. The Following day, October 25th, the Florida
Governor, Hayden Burns confirmed reports that Disney has
purchased land in Florida. As soon as the announcement was
made, the price per acre rose from an average of $180 to a
massive $1,000.00. With the rise in price and the instant urges
of Governor Hayden (who was in the midst of a re-election campaign)
Walt agreed to officially announce the secret that he had kept in a windowless room in California. Disney World would become
public domain and the world would be able to share in Walt’s
amazing dream.

On November 15th, 1965, at the Cherry Plaza Hotel, Orlando
Florida, Walt Disney, Roy Disney, and Governor Haden make
the first official public announcement that Walt is planning
on building Disney World (and gives a 6 year schedule until
it will open). His plans are still sketchy at this point but he
announces a city of future (EPCOT), a vacation resort with
parks, golf courses, and resort hotels. He announces that at
least 7,500 acres will be kept as natural land as Walt strongly
believed in preserving the natural environment.


“I would like to be part of building a model community, a
City Of Tomorrow, you might say, because I don’t believe
in going out to this extreme blue-sky stuff that some architects
do. I believe that people still want to live like human beings.
There’s a lot of things that could be done. I’m not against the
automobile, but I just feel that the automobile has moved into
communities to much. I feel that you can design so that the
automobile is there, but still put people back as pedestrians
again, I’d love to work on a project like that. “ Also I mean
in way of schools, facilities for the community, community
of entertainment and life. I’d love to be part of building up
a school of tomorrow …. This might become a pilot operation
for the teaching age - to go out across the country and across
the world. The great problem today is the one of teaching.”
                                                                 (WALT DISNEY)
Within days of the announcement land around Disney property
rose to a huge $80,000.00 an acre. Walt Disney had arrived in
Florida.