1959 was a banner year for Disneyland. The park had continued to grow since its 1955 opening, but this expansion changed the game. The Monorail, Submarine Voyage, and The Matterhorn all debuted in Disneyland’s fifth year. Tomorrowland and the areas surrounding it received more attention and became a key part of the draw. These new attractions and Disneyland’s overall success are celebrated in the Disneyland ’59 special. Hosted by Art Linkletter, this 90-minute live presentation spotlights the park’s early glory.
Walt Disney joins Linkletter in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle for the opening, which includes fun interplay between the pair. After the intro, a narrator reminds us of Disneyland’s changes and even brings out the familiar “Disneyland will never be completed…” quote to support it. It’s great to see the Skyway, Columbia ship, and updates to The Jungle Cruise and Autopia on display. It’s easy to forget how early these attractions were in place at Disneyland. The park was thriving even in its opening years.
Throughout this special, we also enjoy commercials from Kodak. The Nelson family (Ozzie, Harriet, and the boys) even appears in Disneyland to spotlight the amazing Brownie movie camera. Ozzie sleeps on a chair while Ricky and David are fishing on Tom Sawyer Island and catching “tonight’s dinner” as Harriet jokes. The awkward transitions to the ads, which often include Linklater, are part of the fun. Some are a bit creepy and claim that “pictures are waiting for your camera“. We also hear about Kodel’s fresh fiber clothes by the submarines. It’s both strange and hilarious.
A Parade of Cultures and Attractions
The first main segment of Disneyland ’59 is the parade, which is definitely not your typical Disney event. It focuses more on local participants from cultural groups than characters. The Disneyland Band marches down Main Street to open the festivities, and Walt follows in a car with his grandkids. A majority of the participants represent countries like Japan, China, and Scotland. Most include what you’d expect as basic themes Linkletter tries a cringe-worthy accent during the Mexican portion, and a few segments fall into stereotypes. However, the overall presentation remains impressive.
This parade also includes attraction floats, and some have inspired choices. The split between lands also spotlights Disneyland, not other aspects of the Disney brand. The Jungle Cruise float features a replica of the signature boat, and I’d love to see examples like this now. The Golden Horseshoe float even includes a dancehall fight! Linkletter surprisingly remarks that all the bad guys were killed during this battle. Autopia cars include celebrities like Tommy Kirk, Jeffrey Hunter, and even a young Dennis Hopper. The Monorail float provides a cool working model that sells the attraction well.
Not all of the offerings land so solidly, however. The Adventureland section includes Wally Boag as the “white hunter“. He’s followed by participants dressed like African natives following painful clichés. Linkletter even calls them out as “jungle women, witch doctors, and head shrinkers“. That is not great. The women even carry a dead lion, which fits with The Jungle Cruise from that era. It’s interesting to watch this in the context of the recent news of updates to The Jungle Cruise. I’m excited to see the changes but know that not everyone shares this optimism.
The Main Event
Even watching Disneyland ’59 more than 60 years later, I still felt the sense of anticipation for the new attractions. We start with a serious presentation of the Submarine Voyage an U.S. Navy admiral. Walt joins him and a “real Navy family” to note the occasion. It takes a while to get there, but the payoff is a lot of underwater footage (including mermaids). Shots of kids peering out the portholes are intercut with striking images of their sights.
Our next stop is The Monorail for another ceremony, this time with Vice President Richard Nixon and his family. The Nixon kids even recount this experience in the excellent book The Disney Monorail from Jeff Kurtti, Vanessa Hunt, and Paul Wolski. The best moment is watching Walt trying to help the girls cut the ribbon and failing. Before this moment, there’s also some footage from the “Magic Highway, U.S.A” episode with George Bruns’ upbeat “Nation on Wheels” song playing. Nixon gives a decent speech before a large crowd (including Fred McMurray) boards for the first ride. Wonderful footage of Disneyland accompanies shots of The Monorail here.
Our last big attraction is The Matterhorn, but we never step inside it. The focus here is entertainment, and several dancing troupes perform for a long time…a very long time. In particular, the second group definitely overstays their welcome. I suspect The Matterhorn wasn’t ready for rides at this point. There are fun shots of climbers scaling the mountain at the start of this segment. We even hear briefly from Harvey Hickman, a climber with The Sierra Club. Disney presents the excitement despite not showing the ride.
It’s Time for Disneyland ’59!
The final scenes really sell the excitement of Disneyland to viewers. Linkletter signs off and jumps on The Skyway as he prepares to have some fun. Walt closes Disneyland ’59 on Main Street with a large group of kids ready to play. After struggling with the ribbon again, he releases them to enjoy his creation. Walt is beaming through the entire show. You can’t fake that kind of excitement; he’s giddy about the park. His genuine thrills reveal another reminder of why Disneyland succeeded. More than 65 years later, it continues to charm us despite many changes from these early days.
The Disneyland ’59 live special is included in a black-and-white kinescope recording on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD release Your Host, Walt Disney. It’s also available on YouTube here at the Diz Avenue channel.
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