Friday, March 19, 2010

Walt Disney, Fess Parker, Buddy Ebsen, Ronald Regan, Art Linkletter: Disneyland Opening Day

"White men with guns built America."

There you go. Deal with it.

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8 comments:

chickelit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
March 19, 2010 at 5:18 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...

Haha good line Trooper! I gotta borrow that about once a day.

March 19, 2010 at 5:30 PM
Anonymous said...

My father, who was a California Highway Patrolman, worked the traffic detail at the newly-opened Disneyland on that day. He was posted there for about two weeks, as they had an all hands on deck situation at the CHP. They cancelled vacations, and put every spare Highway Patrolman in Southern California on it until things were sorted out.

I think he stayed with my Uncle out in the Valley, who was a sergeant on the LAPD in those days. It was too far to drive home every night, about 70 miles, plus they were working rotating shifts. The LAPD were very happy not to have Disneyland in their jurisdiction, although I'm sure they lent some officers. As I say, it was all hands on deck from the cop standpoint. I remember my Uncle teasing my Dad about how they were all becoming a Mickey Mouse operations, etc.

Anaheim in those days was still pretty rural, with orange groves everywhere and a number of horse farms. There was one freeway, and relatively few roads in and out, certainly not the giant urban mess that Anaheim near Disneyland later became.

In fact, the decision for Disney to own and control a huge swath of land around Disneyworld in Florida was based partly on the experience in Anaheim, with the traffic nightmares, and uncontrolled ticky-tack that sprouted up near the Park, as every fly-by-nite motel and fast food franchise set up shop within sight of the Not-Particularly-Magic-Anymore Kingdom.

And, yes, my Father was, in fact, a white man with a gun, doing his duty to protect the place, for all the good it did him in the end.

March 19, 2010 at 6:26 PM
rcocean said...

I may be wrong, but IRC everyone except Walt thought Disneyland would be a flop, so no land purchase.

And thanks for the video trooper, Barnaby Jones, Daniel Boone and the 40th president of the USA - all at Disneyland.

March 19, 2010 at 7:45 PM
Anonymous said...

Ronnie was a handsome devil wasn't he.

He must of got some major league poontang. Or least he could have if he wanted too. It is more impressive that he was loved and honored his wife.

March 19, 2010 at 7:50 PM
Trooper York said...

I always knew you were related to
Crockett Theo.

I just thought it was the guy from Miami Vice.

March 19, 2010 at 10:49 PM
ricpic said...

The thing about these guys is that whether you like them or don't (something about Linkletter always rubbed me the wrong way) they shilled for a business. You could give their business your business or you could walk away. But you can't escape the compassion of the noble lefties who always rail against business.

March 20, 2010 at 1:26 PM
save_the_rustbelt said...

cool white guys - thanks

March 21, 2010 at 11:30 PM

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