BACKSTORY: Click on the links below to see photos of your favorite Disney characters at Disneyland through the years. It is very interesting to see their changes as the costumes evolved from the "primitive" versions that originated from the Ice Capades, to the modern day ones that are definitely more "on-model." Famed Disney historian wrote this excerpted article on MousePlanet:
Host Art Linkletter. during the broadcast of Dateline: Disneyland on July 17, 1955 described the first parade down Main Street: "Dumbo, Pluto and Donald Duck and all the other characters are from the Walt Disney costumes created for John Harris' Ice Capades, which is on tour with Peter Pan right now around the United States."
Ice Capades did not feature any Disney number in its 1955 show, which may be why the costumes were available for Walt Disney to borrow for his grand opening of Disneyland. It is also suspected that some Ice Capades performers might have been in those Disney costumes for the ABC broadcast.
In 1949, Ice Capades, a touring ice skating show produced by John H. Harris, partnered with the Disney Studio to showcase a lengthy segment in each year's show that would feature Disney characters. Walt attended the Ice Capades productions, watching the Disney-inspired segments closely. However, the costumes were designed to provide flexibility for the skater so they followed the contours of the person's body and not necessarily the proportions of the animated character. In addition, they had to be designed to allow the greatest visibility, which explains the horrid teeth on Mickey Mouse on Disneyland's opening day, since the mesh between the spiky chompers was necessary for peripheral vision. These costumes were meant, like most theatrical costumes, to be viewed briefly at a distance under proper lighting, not inspected up close by a Disneyland guest.
"The walk-arounds were not originally intended to be an on-going feature of Disneyland," wrote Disney Legend John Hench. "These first walk-arounds were very clearly costumed actors portraying the characters [not the characters themselves]."
However, the guests' enthusiasm even for these oddly proportioned and sometimes grotesque figures persuaded Walt that the characters needed to become a permanent part of Disneyland.
It was impractical for Disneyland to keep borrowing those costumes, so the Disney Studio Costume Shop tried to make their own based on the Ice Capades examples, but trying to improve the appearance. These newer versions turned out to be extraordinarily heavy, awkward and, at times, unprofessional with flashes of real skin like an arm or neck being common.
The earliest costumes for the Three Little Pigs characters were made with rebar and weighed more than 70 pounds. The Seven Dwarfs performers looked through mesh in their hats and their arms hung limply at their sides so they could not shake hands or sign an autograph.
"Mickey's transformation from 2-D to 3-D worlds was natural, except for the design, of course," Hench said. "It is actually astonishing that Mickey held his identity. Making him a real, live character represented a violent shift that violated the head-to-body proportions [of the 2-D character].
"After a time, we made our own costumes for the walk-around characters," he said. "Of course, we got better at it as we went along. For example, we found smaller people [to wear the costumes] who didn't distort the image so much. The first characters weren't that great, I guess."
"Because height ranges for the characters had not been established, Mickey was sometimes over 6 feet tall!" said Ron Logan, former executive vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment. "In the fall of 1961 that all changed through the contributions of Bill Justice and John Hench who brought a higher quality design and consistency to the characters."
"At Walt's personal request, a new Mickey Mouse costume was designed by John Hench. Walt wanted to cast a smaller performer as Mickey and standardize the performer's height in costume. Paul Castle (who had performed in the Ice Capades as Mickey and other Disney characters like Dopey for years) was personally selected by Walt to perform the role."
"When Disneyland opened, we needed characters to meet the public regularly," remembered Disney Legend Bill Justice. "Everything had to be re-designed to more accurately represent the characters and stand up to the rigors of every day use among the guests."
"Walt told me, 'Other places can have thrill rides and bands and trains. Only we have our characters.' The costumed characters were very important to Walt," Justice said. "He said, 'Bill, always remember we don't want to torture the people who are wearing them. Keep in mind they've got to be as comfortable as possible. Try to get the lightest weight materials and the most ventilation as possible'. The first concern was always safety and the second was accuracy."
"To create the walk-arounds, we have to choose those physical features that convey a character's essential identity," wrote Hench in his book Designing Disney (Disney Editions 2003). "The essential characteristics that best identify the animated film Mickey and Minnie are their large heads and ears…since no human body has the exact proportions that the animated characters have onscreen, we had to find the right degree of exaggeration that would make the walk-around heads large enough to establish the character's identity while relating well to their body size."
Many experiments were made in those early years to capture an acceptable Mickey Mouse costumed character. At one time, the head was enlarged to the same size as the body to try and achieve a cartoonish smallness. Mickey had been wearing regular sized black shoes so another attempt gave him large yellow shoes and a huge red bowtie to suggest a smaller character. He was given long black pants and sleeves to hide his skinny mouse legs and arms but still suggest them. While Mickey was given white gloves, they were standard gloves but with the last two fingers sewn together to give the impression of three fingers and a thumb.
"People's perception of Mickey Mouse is the one they see at [Disneyland]. That's the one they meet with their children. He's got long pants. He's got extra eyebrows….more like the stuffed dolls they sell [than how he ever appeared in any cartoon]," said Disney Legend Ward Kimball.
In the early to mid-1960s, there was a core group of 10 to 12 full-time character performers supervised by Marvin Marker and they performed sets at Disneyland five days a week (since Disneyland was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays). In addition, there were 40 part-time performers who worked on weekends, holidays and evenings. The character training and supervision was informal at best.
"In the early years, the characters walked around Disneyland freely, greeting guests and posing for pictures," stated Ron Logan, former executive vice president of Walt Disney Entertainment. "There was no schedule shared with the guests so there was no guarantee that the guests might see them. It was all serendipity."
In 1967, Bob Jani was hired as director of Entertainment and, soon after, Bob Phelps joined the staff from Western Costume Company as director of Costuming. Phelps introduced such improvements as poles on which to put the character heads so they would not be damaged by moisture and dirt on the ground.
In the later 1960s, Jack Muhs directed some re-designs of character costumes. In 1971, Alex Goldstab and Fred Duffy were re-located from Disneyland to Walt Disney World to establish a Disney Character Department and hired more than 200 character performers. Experimenting continued on the costumes but was usually unsuccessful. An attempt to install air-conditioning or a fan inside the costume merely added greatly to the weight of the costume and its awkwardness. Another attempt to include a tape recorder with pre-recorded phrases didn't anticipate the challenge of the wrong response being the next one ready to be played and that many guests came from foreign countries where they had heard Mickey speak fluently in their own language.
In 2010, an interactive Mickey Mouse head was introduced to the Disney theme parks where Mickey blinked his eyes, moved his mouth and eventually in 2013 talked with guests as part of the "Living Character Initiative."
MORE FUN FOR EVERYONE IN SUMMER OF '71
40 CARTOON CHARACTERS TO MAKE DAILY APPEARANCE
Showtime is all the time at Disneyland throughout the summer.
The whole of the Magic Kingdom is a stage where more than 150 entertainers are showcased daily. Musicians, singers, dancers…even magicians, puppeteers…and nearly 40 Walt Disney characters add a lively sparkle to every corner of Disneyland.
Somewhere in each land, from the first hour of dailiy operation to the last, guests will find a live show in progress.
This big Disneyland show will continue right up to midnight every day except Sunday when clsoing time will be 10 p.m.
Several additions to the Disneyland entertainment roster will make their initial appearance this summer.
Led by Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, The Three Little Pigs and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, dozens of other Disney characters will romp with the kids and gladly pose for pictures with the family.
Added to the Fantasyland scene will be the brightly attired "Schnickle-Fritz" Polka Band which will parade and serenade our guests.
Beginning this summer the evening air will regularly be filled with music that will be equally appropriate for listening or dancing. And on Saturday night, June 3rd, Benny Goodman and his band will return for a second special appearance to officially open the 1961 Date Nite season.
Beginning June 9th the spectacular "Fantasy in the Sky" fireworks will signal the nite-time "live" show at 9 p.m.
The popular Elliott Bros. dance band will swing through four hours of music at the Plaza and a new Hawaiian trio featuring Miss Hawaii of 1958 will provide the appropriate atmosphere at the nearby Pavillion.
The real "show stopper" is likely to be the newest addition — authentic old New Orleans Dixieland jazz played ina setting to match the music — aboard the Mark Twain. A dance floor has been added on the top deck of the stern wheeler and as it steams along the Frontierland river. "The Young Men From New Orleans" will rock the ship with all the Dixieland favorites. The "Young Men" are mostly 60 and 70 years of age, featuring famed banjo player Johnny St. Cyr. and other immortals of genuine New Orleans jazz.
This summer, as never before, Disneyland guests will thrill to a continuous "live" show.
