See You in Disneyland #3: Wally Boag as Pecos Bill

"See You in Disneyland: Wally Boag as Pecos Bill"

Artwork by Dan Cunningham, © The Walt Disney Company
Medium: Vector Art in Adobe Illustrator

As promised in the 8/10/12 post, we're celebrating the wild antics of Wally Boag: "that loud, long, lean, loquacious, lunatic who likes to deal, delve and dabble in delirious dialogue and dynamic dissertations." Wally's hilarious long-running performance at the Golden Horseshoe Revue is the focus of the third illustration in my See You in Disneyland series.

The art of human caricature can go through infinite filters, I took some careful consideration on how to depict Wally here, since he was a live performer and the first two entries in See You in Disneyland were sculpted, character-based figures. Because this is part of series, there has to be consistency across the individual illustrations in order for them to be viewed as a whole. To maintain a rigid, human likeness would stray from the style established, while going too far into stylized caricature would cause cartoon-like icons (like the Sea Serpent and Reindeer) to appear more realistic. What's been chosen is a reasonable balance allowing everyone to exist within the same world.

Fulton Burley Chuckles as "Pecos Bill" Takes the Stage

Image courtesy of Gorillas Don't Blog

From Disneyland's opening day in 1955 to 1982, Wally performed several shows daily in the Golden Horseshoe Revue in dual roles for each performance: first appearing as the "Traveling Salesman" where his iconic balloon animals, patter and dancing were featured, followed by a quick change backstage to return as a zany "Pecos Bill" for the Revue's song and dance finale. The "Pecos Bill" routine was a frenetic, upbeat number in which Wally squirted the audience with water pistols, casually doffed his toupee, then spit out uncountable "teeth" (baby lima beans) after getting socked in the jaw by Slue Foot Sue, portrayed by the beautiful Betty Taylor.

Betty and Wally Make 'Em Laugh

Image courtesy of www.yesterland.com

The original Golden Horseshoe Revue show ran from 1955 – 1986: a remarkable 31 years presented by a seasoned group of regular performers. During this span, the original show ran over 50,000 times and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running musical of all time! Despite banking thousands of performances, the cast made each show seem fresh, fun and spontaneous as though it were their first.

Wally Boag's comic persona and one-of-a-kind balloon animal act immediately became a favorite of Walt Disney himself—Walt never failed to bring important guests and dignitaries to get a box seat and watch Wally gambol across the boards of the Horseshoe. In fact, Wally Boag inspired many several young Disneyland employees to take up comedy as a career—including a young man named Steve Martin, who regularly cites Wally as the main inspiration for his stage and stand-up persona.

 Wally Boag and Steve Martin at Disneyland in 2005

Image courtesy of www.fitfabceleb.com

You'll see more here on the Golden Horseshoe down the line, we'll return to pay tribute to our lovely leading lady and ebullient Irish Tenor. The Golden Horseshoe Revue remains a favorite to many and will always be an important part of Disneyland history. In the meantime, here are some great resource to discover more about the show and its legacy:

• Jan Vincent's Golden Horseshoe Page—Jan provides terrific detail on the cast and history of the Revue through the years
• Ape Pen Publishing—Carlene Thie's outstanding site offers 3 CDs of Wally's own personal audio of live Golden Horseshoe rehearsals, performances and more
• Wally Boag: Clown Prince of Disneyland—The long-awaited book on Wally's life and career by Wally Boag and Gene Sands is in print and available now

Wally Boag: Clown Prince of Disneyland by Wally Boag and Gene Sands

Image courtesy of www.yesterland.com

There's more See You in Disneyland to come, too... next in the series, we'll travel deep into the wilds of Adventureland!

When Wally Boag Met Stan Freberg

Stan Freberg With The Original Cast Album Cover

Image courtesy of musicstack.com

Stan Freberg turned 86 this week and he's still working! An advertising iconoclast, ground-breaking writer/satirist, producer, star of radio and screen, voice-over legend, and that's just the tip of the Freberg. The breadth of Stan's career cannot be covered in a single blog post (nor an entire blog) but a good way to get better acquainted with the man is to visit prolific writer Mark Evanier's excellent POV Online series: The Stan Freberg Discography.

Mark also runs one of the best daily blogs on the internet News From ME which often brings news of things Freberg, such as Stan's appearances and updates on his continuing voice-over career on The Garfield Show, for which Mark is Supervising Producer.

The comedy recording EVERYONE should own.

Image courtesy of flickr.com user "Epiclectic"

Should you choose to know nothing else of Mr. Freberg's oeuvre, pictured directly above is the album art for essential listening: the comedy album masterpiece Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Vol. 1. The recording remains as funny and fresh as the day of its original pressing in 1961: a sharply comedic, musical theater of the mind performed by a cast of some of the finest actors to ever step in front of a microphone. Here, Stan's precision sense of comic timing is front and center by way of impeccably placed music cues, pauses, and characters stepping on the dialogue of others in just the right places.

To celebrate Mr. Freberg's Birthday, I've embedding an audio clip of an interview that has not been widely heard in over 50 years. It originates from a 1957 series of radio programs broadcast from Disneyland, hosted by the multi-talented Wally Boag, comic star of The Golden Horseshoe Revue (you can expect to see more here on Wally very soon).

Wally Boag on Stage at The Golden Horseshoe Revue

Images courtesy of The Associated Press

Here Stan recounts some of his own hit parodies with Wally, gives Disneyland a run for its money, and recites a comedy bit evangelizing "Three-Dimensional Radio" – a timely topic to satirize in1957, as the 3-D craze was winding down in movie theaters, just as it has begun to lose potency with viewers in 2012.

Hit the play button below to enjoy an exchange between two very funny gentlemen:



Or download the MP3 HERE

This rare audio clip comes courtesy of the lovely and very generous Carlene Thie, proprietor of Ape Pen Publishing. She graciously granted me permission to share it here on the blog. Carlene is responsible for the album from which this was made available, The Golden Horseshoe: Live in the Park is one of three CDs created from Wally Boag's personal collection of recordings. In addition to Stan Freberg, Live in the Park features Wally interviewing stars of 1957 such as Bud Abbott, The Andrews Sisters, Pat O'Brien and several more. I highly recommend picking up the other two CDs of live recordings of the actual Golden Horseshoe Revue - they're great fun! You can order them here:

Ape Pen Publishing - Golden Horseshoe CD Collection

 

Ape Pen Publishing's Golden Horseshoe Revue CDs:
Live in the Park, Rehearsal Days & The Stage Show

Images courtesy of and © 2012 Ape Pen Publishing

Carlene's grandfather was Mell Kilpatrick, the best-known cameraman in Orange County, CA and chief photographer for the Santa Ana Register from 1948 until his untimely death in 1962. Mell's photography recorded the growth of Orange County. As country roads and orange groves gave way to major highways and the sprawl triggered by the debut of "The Happiest Place on Earth."

A Mell Kilpatrick photo of Disneyland under construction in 1955,
likely taken from one of the site observation towers

© 2012 Ape Pen Publishing

Image courtesy of Amazon.com

Mell’s widow gave Carlene the entire set of negatives and photographs. Soon after, Carlene opened Ape Pen Publishing Company to produce five stunning books showcasing her grandfather's vintage Disneyland photography. The books are a labor of love, and provide a never-before-seen look at Disneyland during construction and in its earliest years of operation. Ape Pen had also organized events, and produced a selection of exclusive media to the delight of Disneyland enthusiasts and historians everywhere. You can browse their selection of books, photos, CDs, DVDs and much more right here:

 

Upcoming articles focused on the Golden State are planned for this blog. Perhaps we'll see if Carlene would consider an interview about her Grandfather's invaluable contribution to the legacy of Orange County for a future post.