Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 88 Laurence Boag
60 Plays5 days ago
Step behind the curtain of Disneyland history with this week’s guest, Laurence Boag — son of the legendary Golden Horseshoe performer Wally Boag, and a man who quite literally grew up in the park that Walt built. From sleeping in dressing rooms to steering the Mark Twain Riverboat, Laurence shares what it was like to live, work, and dream inside Disneyland during its earliest years.
In this heartfelt conversation, we explore his father’s incredible legacy, the magic of the Golden Horseshoe Revue, and how the values Walt Disney instilled in the park shaped Laurence’s own journey — from cast member to teacher to storyteller.
✨ It’s nostalgia, history, and heart all rolled into one. Join the Sharing the Magic crew for a rare peek into Disneyland’s past — told by someone who lived it.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to 'Sharing the Magic'
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to Sharing the Magic, the podcast that sweeps you away into the enchanting realms of Disney. Each week, we're joined by a special guest, be it a magician casting real-life spells of wonder, or a Disney expert revealing hidden secrets in the heart of the happiest place on Earth.
00:00:21
Speaker
Together, we'll venture down glittering paths, uncovering tales of daring heroes, legendary places, and whimsical wonders that make Disney sparkle.
00:00:32
Speaker
So prepare to be enchanted, delighted, and transported to a place where dreams dance, fairy tales breathe, and the magic is real.
00:00:45
Speaker
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to another exciting edition of Sharing the Magic with me.
Meet Tonight's Host: James Kemp
00:00:51
Speaker
Your co-host again, James Kemp, because Barry has been ah missing in action and we miss Barry.
00:00:58
Speaker
Barry, come back to us soon, buddy. We miss you. ah But i'm you I'm your host for this evening. Alongside me, this ah this rowdy bunch that we have tonight is Jeff
Jeff's Disney Connection & Family Legacy
00:01:08
Speaker
Shaver. Jeff, how doing, buddy?
00:01:09
Speaker
Hey, i'm I'm doing good. um Boy, ah Lawrence, you're going to hear. I do. I love I love voice acting. I have kind of a story. My ah great cousin was Pat Buttram. He was the label sheriff of Nottingham.
00:01:26
Speaker
and know Here's my but of have a toy of him somewhere. um but But then i love I love Goofy, so it's sort of... I i love studying Bill Farmer's voice.
00:01:38
Speaker
Oh, Gorge! Well, it's just nice to have you on this here podcast. yeah oh And I just love... Love voice acting i love I love all things Disney And wonderful to have you So thank you for Being a wonderful part of Our Saturday or saturday evening You bet It's a pleasure to be here And then next We're going to pass it along to Mike Harrison He's the first time I've seen his face In one of our our wonderful podcasts Welcome Mike Hey everybody how you doing today
00:02:18
Speaker
And then last but not least, we have Rachel. Rachel, how are you doing this evening? I'm doing good in Pensacola, Florida area. hey yeah I'm looking forward. Yeah, I'm looking forward to our interview tonight and learning all about our guest and learning about his father little bit more.
00:02:36
Speaker
i am a Walt Disney World baby. So Disneyland stuff is all new to me. I'll be in Disneyland next week, though. So I'm really excited for all that going on.
Guest Spotlight: Lawrence Bowie
00:02:44
Speaker
So looking forward to our interview tonight.
00:02:46
Speaker
like found it oh gorge well i dropped it yeah it's here though oh yeah all right and but so to piggyback before we get to our guest rachel when you go we're going to we're going talk about this the this place that uh our guest father he had a view there he he was a part of a great show we have lawrence bowie on the show his father is the great wally bowie and welcome lawrence welcome
00:03:15
Speaker
How are you? ah how How's your evening? How's your how's your day been? Well, good. Of course, here it's only not quite five yet. Yeah. If you're on the West Coast, it is not quite five. But if you're on the East, it is truly getting in that later part of the evening.
00:03:31
Speaker
um So wait here on the show, we usually have one question we like to start out with. And that is, how did you get your start in Disney? what Where did your passion come from? And I kind of mentioned it earlier, but there had to been something more to start that other than your dad, right?
Growing Up Disney: Lawrence's Childhood
00:03:49
Speaker
Well, you have to remember, i was I was born in the late 40s, and so I was ah six or seven when the park opened, and it was part of my life for the whole time I was growing up. And so I was always at Disneyland and Dad's apartment in Frontierland or at the studios. you know, he...
00:04:12
Speaker
He worked ah Wednesday through Sunday. The park was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays in those days. So we never went camping or played baseball or anything like that because he was always working.
00:04:25
Speaker
And so my upbringing was slightly different than some of my buddies. But ah ah so Disney was always part of my life. You know, we used to go up to where we we go to Walt's place up in the Humbley Hills or or You know, we we did a lot of great things.
00:04:43
Speaker
Walt would fly the family around in his Grumman Gulfstream when we did, like, the New York World's Fair or when Dad produced a lot of the shows at the at the Winter Olympics Squaw Valley in 1960 or things like that. was things like that he was ah Very magnanimous gentleman, Walt.
00:05:01
Speaker
mean He could be hard for to work for for some people, I suppose, but he and dad seemed to have some magical relationship. I think ah they were, you know, Walt was a frustrated vaudevillian and dad was a vaudevillian. So they got along really well.
00:05:20
Speaker
That's amazing. That's such a great story to hear. Like, ah so I'm a former cast member, so i I don't even have any clue where that apartment would have been there's an apartment right there Frontierland.
00:05:32
Speaker
could Could you fill us into kind of where that could have could have been back then? Oh, gosh, you know, it was... ah He had like a living room office and then he had a bedroom and a bathroom. And it was ah above where Aunt Jemima's was. I think that's the Bell Terrace or something now. Oh, my goodness. So that is now, from my recollection as being a cast member, that's NOCC's office. I was in your dad's old apartment when I worked there. That's where we went did our business.
Memories with Walt Disney
00:06:02
Speaker
Oh, really? Yeah. That is crazy to me right now. Oh, my goodness. Sorry. It just shocked me. ah Yeah, so I used to stay the night there a lot and wake up to the Mark Twain in the morning. And of course, eventually they built um New Orleans Square. So one balcony looked out over New Orleans Square and the other one was over the Mark Twain, you know, in Columbia.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, that, oh my good goodness, that's such a, that's so cool. And just to hear the fact that you, I've, we've heard stories about this Gulfstream. We've heard stories about people flying, but I've never heard anybody actually being able to fly with Walt and your family ah in this Gulfstream and go on these trips. What was that like?
00:06:40
Speaker
He wasn't on the plane most of the time. um But, you know, I got to see him and meet him quite a few times. And course, when I was a little kid, quite frankly, I was more impressed with the Musketeers, you know, so.
00:06:53
Speaker
My buddy was Kevin Cochran, who was born in Santa Monica the same year I was. And, and, uh, I mean, i don't know if you remember whom, but he used to be Moochie and he was a Mouseketeer. And when I went to the studios, I was more interested in hanging out with him. And, you know, was, uh,
00:07:08
Speaker
You know, Walt used to come around when dad was doing the Asimovine Professor, of Flubber or something like that, or the Love Bugger, whatever. And he'd always be around the studio or, you know, coming into one of the sound stages. And that's where I'd see him.
00:07:21
Speaker
he was He was really nice. He showed me a lot of things, which was kind of cool. Like when they were doing the Asimovine Professor, he would show me the car they were using on um these hydraulic stands, um you know, and to make it look like he was flying around in this like a Model A or something.
00:07:36
Speaker
It's kind of cool. And then i remember when when we were at the ah Hollywood Bowl, there was a big Disney production, and i was really fascinated with Zorro. I don't know how old I was, maybe 10 or something. but and And I was ah was part of the show, and my sister and I were part of the show
Hollywood Bowl & Zorro Experience
00:07:55
Speaker
with Dad. and ah And at any rate, ah during one of the dress rehearsals, Zorro came down, he dropped a rope off the top of the dome at the Hollywood Bowl, and he slid down the rope, and then he starts sword fighting, and he goes off to the side stage for a second, and the real sword fighter changes places with him, and then he says sword fighting, and then, you know, he goes off, and then the real horse fighter comes out, and they're all Zorro, right?
00:08:22
Speaker
But they're three different actors, you know, they're And this this was an epiphany to me. So I turned to this guy next to me and I said, yeah, that's crazy. I didn't know there were so many Zoros. And he said, oh, yeah, that's how we make it. Well, that was Walt standing there that told me that.
00:08:38
Speaker
I looked up at him and I thought, well, you ought to know. So, yeah, that was kind of cool. That's great. what um One last question before I pass off somebody else. how did How did your dad actually end up becoming a cast member and working with Walt? How did that relationship come to be in him working at the parks?
00:08:57
Speaker
Yeah.
Wally Boag's Disney Legacy
00:08:58
Speaker
Well, you know, those were difficult years in the late 40s, early 50s. So we lived in Australia and England and France because of the blacklisting. And so um he was having a hard time getting work.
00:09:11
Speaker
um A lot of the people he knew were, you know, considered pink and couldn't couldn't get work. And so we were abroad and we were in Australia and he was doing a show with Donald Novus.
00:09:22
Speaker
And Donald Novus was a friend of Walt's and Walt got him to be the the tenor in the show when when they opened the Golden Horseshoe, actually before the park opened, they did the additions and then Donald recommended dad. And so wal got ahold of dad and dad, you know, he did a performance on the soundstage all by himself. and It's a famous story. In fact, I have a recording of Walt talking about that at the 10th anniversary of Disneyland. He was laughing because he was saying he had a great laugh.
00:09:57
Speaker
But anyway, he was laughing and he was saying that, you know, dad did his his stick. And then at the end, he says that I can clean it up.
00:10:09
Speaker
And Walt thought that was great. But yeah, so he he got the job and he um they did a show before the park even opened, you know, and ah for Walt and his family. was So there and think it was their 30th wedding anniversary for Walt and his wife.
00:10:26
Speaker
But at any rate, yeah, he started there with a two-week contract and ended up, I think 41,000 shows later before he retired. And of course, Walt gave him a lot of other things to do.
00:10:37
Speaker
You know, he was the voice of Jose in the Tiki Room and wrote that and wrote a lot of the things for the Haunted Mansion. Yeah, he did he did a lot of things. In fact, Walt's demise was sort of...
00:10:51
Speaker
um you know it was It was too bad for dad. I think there was a lot of jealousy in the park. and and you know He was getting a lot of extra work that other people were kind of hoping they'd get. it so After that, dad kind of focused in on what he was doing. Of course, he went to Florida, as Rachel will know, and you know opened the Diamond Horseshoe there and was there for a couple of years. and Then came back to the park to finish up in 1982, think it i think it was
00:11:22
Speaker
So that's how he got going there. But you got to remember, he was he was young. he was 35, but he'd already been in show business since he was 17. So he'd been you know.
00:11:33
Speaker
ape and go you know He has an old hat at that point. Yeah. That's crazy. Jeff, go ahead. No, I mean, i mean i know, you know, a lot of lot of times.
00:11:45
Speaker
and yeah i got I got some questions. I got a bunch of them. I got like 10 of them. but don like but But I got to choose the one that I want to ask you.
00:11:57
Speaker
Because... um Okay, because there's things about... we Around here in this... here's Here's where I'm going with this. um On this... horses On this here podcast... um On this here podcast, we always say something called Story Shapes Life. And it's it's it's about... This...
00:12:20
Speaker
We love to hear stories, but it's not just the story of Disney, it's you as as our guest. And so I've been trying to think of of questions to ask you that's, hey, I would love, you know, things that are unique, things that maybe you haven't been asked before and things that are about you. and and And, you know, this is a Disney podcast, but it's more than that.
00:12:45
Speaker
And, And ah sharing the magic is about sharing the stories. And so sharing the story of the magic isn't just Disney. It's about you and your own life. And so I know you've just done so many things, you know, outside Disney.
00:13:03
Speaker
um youre You're an educator, a teacher, a mentor. um Okay, so here's a question I have. Number three, I just chose number three. You've spent you you've you've been a teacher, a mentor. What lessons? I'm sorry if this is kind of like rubbernecking you as far as like, oh, no, i yeah it's just a question out of the blue. I'm so sorry if this if this feels that way.
00:13:29
Speaker
But what is it from your own story, your own lessons from the classroom? What are some of the things that have shaped you and stayed with you most?
00:13:42
Speaker
Well, that's interesting. And, you know, and I can't divorce my life from um Disney.
Lawrence's Career & Life Lessons
00:13:51
Speaker
it to just backtrack a little bit and to get to the teaching part, you know, I i started working there when I was 14 for Taylor and Hume who owned Merlin's Magic Shop.
00:14:02
Speaker
And at the time i was a big fan of Steve Martin who was a couple years older than I, but, and dad put him in a lot of his shows. And so when he left to go to Knott's Berry Farm, like I got his place and I was there with but John McEwen who started the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and we're still really close.
00:14:19
Speaker
But at any rate, So i was I was working at the park, and that and that gave me, ah you know, I was demonstrating magic, and I worked there a couple of years until they closed, and then and then I went to operations. so Would you say you were ah sharing the magic?
00:14:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, good. All right. Sorry, that that was a that was a yeah shameless plug for us. I got it. So I worked... the 13 different attractions over the years and I took a break I got drafted I took a break and I came back to the park in 1970 and worked to know the year before I ah took off, but that set me up for teaching because a lot of the folks I worked with actually were ah were teachers and um
00:15:11
Speaker
You know, part of me wanted to go into showbiz and teaching was a perfect avenue. I used to tell people when they asked me why I didn't go into showbiz since mom and dad were both in showbiz, I and would tell them I i was. i did I did five shows a day.
00:15:27
Speaker
And that was kind of what it was. So, yeah, I ended up teaching for 30 years. ah I taught at Chico State for a number of years, modern language department, taught French, and then... ah and but For better health insurance, I switched over to ah the junior college and the high school there um and taught advanced placement English and French for another 21 years.
00:15:54
Speaker
And yeah, it was a great career. And I think it is showbiz, you know, a good teacher ah and does a production. And, you know, And there's a is it there's a dress rehearsal almost every day, you know.
00:16:09
Speaker
So um i was ah um was pulled towards the showbiz thing. You know, my sister was doing it for a while. She was a good ventriloquist, and she did a lot of shows. But unfortunately, she she she died right when she was 17.
00:16:26
Speaker
She had a brain tumor. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, it sort of changed the dynamic of our of our lives, you know. Right, yeah. How could it not? Yeah. um But yeah, teaching was a really important to me.
00:16:44
Speaker
Ironically, I used to say that teaching paid for the toothpaste.
00:16:50
Speaker
Really all the money I made is I operated a cabinet shop where I built furniture for almost 40 years. In fact, I still have the shop. That's why I still go up to Chico. It's up there. yeah Yeah.
00:17:02
Speaker
Dad got me going and woodworking early and I still have some of his machines. And yeah, I think he would have really liked to have, ah I mean, he would liked to have me build his house. I was building houses there for a while, but um ah he got to the point where he just needed to ah settle down and relax.
00:17:24
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it was a it was a good life. and And mom and dad were just superb. I mean, they were just you know wonderful parents and very supportive.
00:17:35
Speaker
And I ended up going to Europe after the service, after i went back to Disneyland for a year. And then I went to Europe for the summer and stayed three years.
00:17:47
Speaker
And I started finishing school over there. I married a a wonderful French Moroccan woman. And... Well, women, heck, she was 21, I was 26. And three beautiful daughters who are now in their 40s, and they're all dual citizens, French and American. And yeah, they all are at least bilingual, one's trilingual. And so...
00:18:12
Speaker
I think that's that's an important attribute these days. and Yes, it is. Yes, it is. And thank you for sharing your story. thats and And, you know, part of Story Shapes Live, you've shared things that, you know, there's a lot. We could have like another hour.
00:18:30
Speaker
going into certain things I've been holding my, I've been holding my tongue to say, let's go deeper into this or that. And because, um, I think, I think stories, not only, it not your stories, not only shaped your life, it shapes when you share your story, it shapes the lives of our listeners and people that are just around us. And, um, but ah stories are not always,
00:18:59
Speaker
you know, it's not very linear. You know, sometimes stories have ups and downs and twists and turns and sometimes stories feel like you've been, you're regressing and then you're progressing and then you're, you know, and everything in between.
00:19:14
Speaker
And, well, thank you for Being vulnerable and sharing some of the, so not only the the the the beauty of your story, but but the hard parts, too.
00:19:26
Speaker
I think that's, and I would love to go into all that stuff, but we have other hosts here. And so, James, I'm going to turn it over to you. Thanks Jeff. I mean, all of that is great. I mean, hearing your story about teaching, I've always had a fascination with teaching. So anybody who tells their story into mentorship and teaching, I really take a lot from because myself, I find myself, I've coached sports. I've done this and I've done that. So thank you again. I'm going to piggyback off Jeff for saying that because hearing people's stuff, you know, and teaching it it really sheds light into why I do it in some ways and why I want to do it.
00:20:01
Speaker
So ah Rachel, Mike, you got anything? I know Rachel, I saw your mic go off right away. So yeah. I do have a few things. I'll kind of narrow down. ah ah First, I'd like to say my daughter is in her second year of French, and she's going to go through all four years, and then probably in college, and I've told her that she is going with me to Disneyland Paris, so she can translate everything for me. She loves French so much, so I appreciate you teaching French through the years. That's great.
00:20:30
Speaker
Thank So my question is, um I read that your dad led the pirates went on the but that when they attacked or whatever. I'd love to hear that story a little bit.
00:20:44
Speaker
And if you were there, that would be great too. But I just love to hear that story. You you mean when you open pi to the caribbean is that yeah when he opened Yeah, when the Pirates Caribbean opened.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah, he ah he dressed up as one of the characters, actually, as one of the and audio and electronic characters. And yeah he yeah, he took over the Columbia ah along with some other pirates.
00:21:13
Speaker
And he was the lead pirate. And it was, ah you know, it was a media event. So he was there to ah to ah break in to the ride. So actually, when people were lined up to see it for the first time, it wasn't open until he actually ah was able to...
00:21:29
Speaker
to take over and open it up for the public. So that was his that was his opportunity to be a pirate there. But it's kind of funny because when he was 18, when he first got to Hollywood, he got a job at what's called the Pirates Den.
00:21:46
Speaker
And he was ah he learned sword fighting and he one of his gigs was sword fighting at the Pirates Den. So ironically, he ended up using that talent when they opened the Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:21:59
Speaker
But that was that was kind of fun. Now, was he chosen for that role or did he just step up for it? Or how did that process work?
00:22:10
Speaker
Studio lined him up for it. The studio thought he'd be perfect to do it. um I don't even think they had it in mind until they started thinking about, you know, what what he might be able to do for it. So they they asked him to write up a, you know, he wrote up a lot of the scripts for a lot of the things that were going on at Disneyland. And that was that was one of them. So...
00:22:28
Speaker
Yeah, he had a pretty good time doing that. he he He did some pretty funny things. He used to do this thing with ah but the cheek. I don't know if you remember. You probably don't. But there was an Indian village in Disneyland.
00:22:40
Speaker
And they did these great Afternoon shows where you know they would have dancers from all the different tribes of the United States and they do these incredible shows.
00:22:52
Speaker
And one of the things he used to do between between his shows he he'd go over there. yeah And course he was dressed in his Western outfit, but you know he wore to pay and that was part of his gag in the show.
00:23:05
Speaker
uh when he would take it off and say it's so hot up here you know what did you expect feathers that kind of thing so he would have uh the indian chief would scalp him so he'd pull up his toupee and take his knife and scalp him so i don't think it's very politically correct these days but um it was pretty funny some of the things they used to do so he he he would go between shows and he would start doing gunfights and And ah people thought it was so cool. Well, you know, the administrators, so to speak, decided, oh, okay, they're going to have him do gunfights between every show. Save him 12 bucks to do it every time. And he said, no way, I'm busy.
00:23:47
Speaker
and He wasn't going to do that. hey but They hired actual stuntmen from the studios and they actually had gunfights. But dad used to do all the pratfalls off the roof and everything. And he kind of set the bar high because you know dad was ah a great dancer.
00:24:04
Speaker
And so ah that's how he started. He started in dancing. So, yeah, it was ah was one of those opportunities doing the pirate thing. So, like I said, Walt had him do a lot of things. Of course, Walt wasn't around by the time that opened. But it's kind of sad. You know, Walt was building his own apartment right there above, well, you know, where Club 33 is.
00:24:29
Speaker
And one for Roy, one for Walt. I think they're, you know, if you see that their their initials are still in the wrought iron out there. and the balconies. Of course, Walt had his apartment in the firehouse on Main Street, but it wasn't as extravagant or as big as this new one was gonna be.
00:24:46
Speaker
And I guess now you could actually pay to stay there You know, I have to, there's one
Reflections on Disneyland's Evolution
00:24:53
Speaker
caveat about my Disney experience that you're probably going to be surprised about, is when I left in 1973, never went back.
00:25:01
Speaker
I didn't go back until I turned 70, and I took my kids for the first time. Although, Rachel, my two older daughters both worked at Euro Disney one summer. Wait, you're over 70? Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
I'm 76. You look like a spring chicken. My goodness. I got tell you. All right. This has to go to YouTube. That's why I doubt that a lot of you remember the things that I'm relating to because, you know, you probably weren't born. Don't, you don't look.
00:25:31
Speaker
Goodness. I just have to say, I'm like, I'm i'm playing the slow game of life. And you're giving me some inspiration. i'm like, but six years ago. And quite frankly, there's an old saying, you can't go back. And I shouldn't.
00:25:44
Speaker
My memories of the park were so different. Yeah. um um Just the wardrobe, the Disney look, everything's changed. You know, it was packed and you needed reservations and places and you I just. Yeah.
00:26:03
Speaker
It sounded somewhat depressing for me, although my kids and my grandkids had a great time. So that's fine. But a lot of the things I remembered, of course, weren't even there anymore. So, I mean, I remember things that most people, I mean, the Mouseketeer Circus, they used to be there with the tent and and ah the chicken plantation over there and all those places. are You know, yeah you have your memories of places. Yeah.
00:26:30
Speaker
So I don't know that I'll ever go back again. you know i mean and went to Walt Disney World a few times in Florida with Dad. We went for Walt Disney's 100th birthday celebration, which was really great. We stayed a week there. They put us up in the the plantation, you know the big hotel there.
00:26:48
Speaker
It was kind of cool because... We were on the top floor and one part, the second apartment next to us was Fess Parker and his family. And then on the other side of us was Julie Andrews.
00:27:00
Speaker
And ah we had a really good time because dad worked with Julie when she was 12 in England. and And boy, and they did some other things together over the years. But gosh, that was great. So that would have been 2001. When was Walt born? 1901, Anyway, 1902. was this 100 year nineteen ah one nineteen or two anyway it was this hundred year um celebration of his birthday.
00:27:23
Speaker
So yeah, there's a lot of things like that.
00:27:28
Speaker
Did I answer your question, Rachel? Yes, you did. And i was there for the 100th and I wish I would have known you. I would to come and visit. would have good. That would have been It was really cool.
00:27:42
Speaker
but all this big private party and they wined and dined us for a week. It was, uh, yeah, it was a lot of fun. I mean, I, I really enjoyed that. and of course, when dad was there, i was actually living Europe in those days, but I flew back when he was there and, and, uh, visited, him and he lived in Windermere and, uh,
00:28:01
Speaker
And I went to the park with him quite a few times. for I was only there for like a month, but I went there almost ah you every week when I was there. It was pretty impressive. That's an impressive.
00:28:12
Speaker
You know, it's everything Walt wanted. He wanted to control the all-around place. The trouble with the Anaheim was that he said there got to be, you know, Las Vegas strips built all around him.
00:28:24
Speaker
Of course, they've taken over a little more property since then. But, yeah, that was another thing that kind of depressing to me. um For me personally, what is it called? California Adventures? What's the other park there?
00:28:37
Speaker
California Adventure. California Adventure. i' i'd just I just, ah I
The Enchanted Tiki Room Insights
00:28:43
Speaker
don't know. I mean, you know you can't go back. but I will tell you that's a way better park than it was when it first opened. When it first opened was an atrocity. And I am so happy they've made certain changes to it to make it better.
00:28:56
Speaker
um But I agree with you. it is It is a sad little park. And I love that park too for what it is. um So yeah. Mike, you got something? Yeah, I actually do. As you can see, I decided I was going to wear my Tiki Room stuff today specifically because that's probably my favorite thing that your dad did.
00:29:18
Speaker
i was just curious, and I've been thinking about this all week. um What are some of your memories from you know the early openings of the Tiki Room and you know your dad working on all that?
00:29:30
Speaker
It was quite the project, so and and it's it's stuck with me for for so long now. so well but long there's a There's a great book. I wish I could remember the name of the author. He's been up here. i get a lot of people lot of people that write books come here and because they want to go through kind of my archives.
00:29:49
Speaker
um Just as an aside, i am sitting in my father's office. Everything in this my office came from his office above Aunt Jemima's.
00:30:01
Speaker
So like that cabinet back there, all Disney paraphernalia from nineteen thirty s I mean, there's watches in there and his original badge and whatnot for his name. Instead of his name, you know, it was an actual badge. And...
00:30:15
Speaker
um Yeah, so um the Tiki Room was a big part of it And um there's a book called ah when the Before the Birds Sing Words.
00:30:27
Speaker
And it's really interesting. It's a history. ah they buy I'm buying it now. I'm sorry, y'all. I got to i gotta get it now. Yeah, no, I'm right there. but For all of our listeners, buy it now. Okay, we got to stop.
00:30:40
Speaker
And I've got probably 50 books that people send me. fifty books that people send me And they want me to either proofread them or they just want me to have them. And they sign them. And this was one that came to me.
00:30:54
Speaker
And some of them are ah really interesting. And I thought that was a really interesting book. It went all the way back when the you know the French clockmakers would make animated birds. Ken Bruce?
00:31:06
Speaker
Ken Bruce, is that it? Yeah. think you're right. bird Before the birds sing words. Ken Bruce. Yeah. Okay. Buy now. Hit. Yeah. And there's another one that I really like, too. it was called Disney's Land.
00:31:22
Speaker
And i i ah you know I wish I didn't – I don't remember the author. I have it upstairs. But ah I tell anybody who's interested in the development of Disneyland, is fascinating on how they actually built Disneyland and all of the people that contributed to building it.
00:31:44
Speaker
And in how Walt financially did it, of course, he didn't have much money. And so that's why there were so many leasees. And it's a fascinating book. It's called Disney's Land.
00:31:56
Speaker
And before I leave, I got to plug Dad's
Wally Boag's Book & Legacy
00:32:00
Speaker
book. You know, it's ah if you haven't got it, it's a Yeah, it's it's Wally Bo, the Clown Prince of Disneyland.
00:32:08
Speaker
It's only sold now at the Walt Disney Family Museum. So if anybody wants it, they can just go on the Walt Disney Family Museum site and go to the store there. And it's it's at the store. It's i think it's thirty five.
00:32:22
Speaker
Can you say it again? ah Wally Bo, the Clown Prince of Disneyland. Perfect. Thank you. Have you guys got a copy?
00:32:34
Speaker
No. Well, you'll have to but to send me your info and I'll send one to you. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah. I won't even do that. I'll support you. Yeah. We'll buy it right now. You don't have to send us something. We're here for you.
00:32:49
Speaker
So that's why asked. Can you buy it at the museum? i will I will be at the museum in July. Sure. i You can buy it at the museum for sure. And yeah, it's in the bookstore there.
00:33:03
Speaker
yeah greatness i love mar offer At the end of the podcast, we will we will revisit this and say, where can we buy these books, including that one?
00:33:14
Speaker
Yeah, wow. But I will buy it, and it will be on my shelf. I am a voracious reader. well I love it. I love it. So anything you give me, like, and I know a lot of our readers are voracious readers as well. You mean our listeners, Jeff?
00:33:33
Speaker
You said readers are readers. Oh, no, our listeners. Our listeners. state If this were not a podcast, if this were a YouTube, like you might be going to, I would just go right now.
00:33:45
Speaker
and There's some cool things in there. Yes, yes. But I mean, since ah it's it's just a podcast, people wouldn't be able to see it. that's Just a podcast. You heard that, everyone.
00:33:55
Speaker
We have to do better thing is you know when you get to youtube let's do it again and i can show you yeah no no we are we are you can show us stuff things right here right now because we are going to youtube and i'll tell you what if you're okay with this here podcast being yeah this will be part of it so He's digging in the cabinet.
Disney Memorabilia Showcase
00:34:17
Speaker
own to yeah He's getting in that cabinet, his dad's cabinet. Oh my goodness. With all the paraphernalia.
00:34:23
Speaker
theres so yeah This is tons of stuff. So this this is the book. Oh, okay. her See, that's helpful. This is why we're going to YouTube. because have Do you have a favorite part of that book?
00:34:37
Speaker
ah Yeah, my picture.
00:34:42
Speaker
That's perfect. and it You know, with a in fact, there's there's a picture of him sword fighting in here. um But yeah, so and it goes through all the Disney stuff. And yeah, it's good.
00:34:58
Speaker
That's phenomenal. I'm sorry? That's phenomenal. Stuff like that is so great. Yeah, no, it's really good. And I just wanted to show you, because hardly anybody ever saw these. This is his original. Instead of a name tag, he had a number like everybody else that worked there.
00:35:15
Speaker
And play 4,339. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. What was number one, if I remember correctly? Yeah, it's crazy. Yeah.
00:35:26
Speaker
Yeah. Wow. I wish I still had my old name tag. I could have shared it and showed you the difference in what they looked like. Because I worked there in 2011. So you brought up the Disney look earlier.
00:35:38
Speaker
And that was something I was so excited because being being prior military myself, prior Marine, know I'm used to being clean cut and having a ah sharp look. And they said, oh, you can grow your facial hair. I'm like, I can do what?
00:35:49
Speaker
Really? do that one I'm like, I can do what? Like they just changed the old... From the old way. um I'm like... But they still had very high standard. They wanted it to be very... um Modern looking. Like your beard couldn't be out of control. It had to be trimmed. It had to be a certain way. And then since then they've done like four different iterations.
00:36:13
Speaker
So... um I appreciate you bringing up the Disney look. That's something I love and love hearing people say, like, that's that's a real thing and people don't understand. It it was something that Walt lived by. There's that. And and Van Trance, who wrote you of the but Bible for just the University of Disneyland, which I still have, um you know,
00:36:37
Speaker
Part of it was the look, but also, you know, they only had certain sizes in wardrobe. They couldn't be for everybody. So you either could fit in that wardrobe or you couldn't. And if you couldn't, you weren't going to be hired. Of course, I'm not talking about, you know, entertainers, because that was a whole different thing.
00:36:57
Speaker
But I just mean ride operators and whomever, you know. And now apparently you get your wardrobe fitted to you and then you take it home and you wash it yourself. And that is a mind blower to me because we would just go to the window and throw in our old wardrobe and get our new wardrobe. And also the thing was, I guess you work at one place now, but when we were working,
00:37:18
Speaker
You never know what attraction you're going to be working on the next week until you went into the office and read the board and and to see where you were going to be. And then the longer you were there, the more likely it was that you could choose your attraction for the summer.
00:37:33
Speaker
My favorite attraction was the Mark Twain. I mean, for a while, it was either the Matterhorn or the People Mover when it first opened because it was co-ed. And those were the only rides that were co-ed. but ah But the Mark Twain, you know, it was 18 minutes long in those days. I know it's shortened now because they changed it for Star Wars, but...
00:37:56
Speaker
You know, you just get to talk to the guests, you know, you can divide them up to the wheelhouse. And then another rotation is you're just walking around the deck and it was always so peaceful and beautiful out there.
00:38:08
Speaker
And then at night we had the Dixieland bands on the bow. We had fireworks. It was, I tell you, i mean, I would have done it for free. Most of the time I worked there, I would have worked for free. Heck, couldn't do for free anyway.
00:38:21
Speaker
That is how I felt at working at Mansion. What was that?
James's Disneyland Experience
00:38:26
Speaker
What were you doing? What was your job? So my attractions were Splash Mountain and Haunted Mansion.
00:38:32
Speaker
I worked parades in Phantasmic. So... yeah It's funny you you mentioned being landlocked. So it's funny there are people who were working there at the time when I was there that were like, yeah, it never used to be this way. They they were the some of the old guard people. They'd been there forever. And they're like, oh, yeah, they changed this to where now you're landlocked.
00:38:52
Speaker
And you get so you when you go to orientation, you go to. um the the new court What was the new corporate building on property? And then they they assign you your attraction. My first attraction was mansion.
00:39:03
Speaker
And kind of like you said, at night, there's something about just standing out there on the and out in the foyer on the porch, overlooking the fences over the the rivers of America as Mark Twain or Columbia went by and just peaceful.
00:39:19
Speaker
was. It was really peaceful. And see, i i went crazy with the walking rides, like the mansion when you're walking the treadmill, or the worst for me was Monsanto.
00:39:30
Speaker
You were just walking, you were walking, li getting them in, were walking, getting them out, and ah you know you were stuck in that space. And, yeah, what gosh, the mark, you were just out there. It was just, a no, I just, people couldn't understand why I liked it so much.
00:39:46
Speaker
And, of course, that was right across from from Golden Horseshoe. You couldn't beat that. I mean, Dad was there, but so were the can-can girls, you know? Yeah. No, it's true. I mean, you can't beat that. So it's funny you bring that up because I got to see the second iteration. that So my first time going to the park was in 1989. So your dad had retired about you know seven years prior.
00:40:08
Speaker
But that they still had their original review going. And those Can-Can girls were a big highlight for a six-year-old. um well you took Tell me about it. They were a big highlight when I was a kid.
00:40:19
Speaker
and yeah By the time I got out of the service and got to start dating some of them, it was a real highlight. Yeah. That's another story. Wait, we can't just let that slip.
00:40:30
Speaker
By the time I got out of the service service and started dating dot, dot, dot some of them. That's like a whole other hour podcast right there. Oh, man. I digress. I digress.
00:40:43
Speaker
But that's that that's actually cast member culture. ah To be honest, being a cast member, hearing these stories, they don't change very much. Because you came a long time before I did, but I'm hearing the same sort of thing. It's like...
00:40:54
Speaker
dot dot dot sort of situational ah things that happen at the park. and But that's the joy of being able to be a part of that culture, though, too, because you get a different way of life. And you brought up costuming.
00:41:08
Speaker
Costuming, it it's like we had to go into an actual costuming building, an apartment, and they had these big old racks that would come down and with your size, like your pant size and ah you're youre your jacket size, whatever you were wearing. And it was It seemed like a lot, but it's I would much rather have just walked up to a window.
00:41:27
Speaker
and just Here's my costume. I hated washing my costumes. I hated going, but it also they made it impossible to want to go to costuming because you could check out your three costumes and then turn them back in whenever you were done with them. I'm like, I don't i would rather go and have interaction every day.
00:41:43
Speaker
Well, I'll tell you, we always looked, you were a Marine. yeah was in the Navy. So, you know, we were ship shape. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Always.
00:41:54
Speaker
Like, yeah, it was just like that. mean, we always looked really good. And everybody did. Everybody sort of had this look. and it was kind of fun you know i mean i guess it was just one of walt's common denominators you're like he would say you know if somebody threw down a paper cup he shouldn't be able to count to 10 before it was picked up well that wasn't like that when i went for my 70th birthday i was looking at overflowing garbage cans and dirty bathrooms and i was thinking there's no way this is mean that's completely different
00:42:29
Speaker
It was prejudicial, I must say, because you know i i my experience was different, that's all. well and That's that's ah even a really fair point, because everybody's experience is different, but there's these little nuances, and I call it the kind of what would Walt do things, as I put it in my vernacular.
00:42:46
Speaker
and It's like that the they the trash on the ground, you pick it up, you see it. you know But this is also military stuff that we learned. that It's like you want to have a clean area. You want to have a...
00:42:57
Speaker
a tidy you know you want it to be presentable you want people to be able to say hey I take pride in this I'm happy to be here I want to take pride because they take pride and that was one thing that I really took out of anything that I've I've read about Walt himself as he took pride in everything that he did in that park was no different than the cartoons to the cast members he talked to everybody I mean he so my sister passed away, and he and Roy came to the magic shop to give me their condolences. and They'd already gone to see Dad, and Dad said I was working over there.
00:43:30
Speaker
And that was so touching to me. I was just a kid, you know. i was... I was 15 and she was 17 when she died. and yeah, and that was, that meant so much. mean, he went out of his way to come over and give him, you know, condolences.
00:43:46
Speaker
Well, that was something, and i I got to say, when you shared your story earlier, that was one thing that for me just, it like stuck in my heart.
00:43:57
Speaker
I'm like, wow, what a... how hard was, you know story shapes life. Right. But some, and sometimes it's tragedies and it's, it's, it's losing your, your sister.
00:44:08
Speaker
Yeah. And, uh, I'm glad you re you returned to that story because for me, i I didn't want to push it, but I just thought that was probably, uh, there, there was a lot there.
00:44:21
Speaker
yeah but for you to, to say that, wow, that was, I don't know. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for sharing that part of it. Because for me in this podcast, I feel it sort of came full circle a little bit. And we'll continue.
00:44:34
Speaker
oh He's grabbing something again. Awesome. I love i love little adventures. Oh, a doll. facebook 1938 ventriloquist doll Susie.
00:44:45
Speaker
and and It was George and Susie. And this was in his office. And this was part of his repertoire. but But this is, my sister used to do an act.
00:45:03
Speaker
with with both of his dolls. So that's my sister, and that's same doll here, and then George, the other doll. So the irony is is that one of the things she used to do is she'd go to the children's hospital at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and do and do the show for the children, and then she ended up dying there.
00:45:23
Speaker
Oh, wow. It's ironic, but it's... A lot of people knew who she was when she was there, you know. I'm so sorry for your loss. I know it's like when you're.
00:45:35
Speaker
But he has, you know, these kind of tragedies in their lives. but But, you know, it affected my parents differently than a sibling. You know, to me, ah because we were really close, but 20 apart.
00:45:49
Speaker
But, you know, dad had to keep going. He had to perform, you know, all during her illness. I mean, she ended up actually dying of bed sores, you know, um because she was in a coma and, you know, she died of staph infections.
00:46:03
Speaker
So, um you know, they they were living this life and and dad had to keep keep performing. And it was, ah let's see, in 1964, so couple years before Walt passed away.
00:46:16
Speaker
But, yeah, I mean, and And mom, gosh, you know, she just was devastated, obviously. So, yeah, ah they were tough times, you know, when I mean, ah each time my girls got to that age, i would think, how did my parents do that?
00:46:36
Speaker
You know. it can happen. Now I have seven grandkids and I worry about them. but that but you do I have a daughter who i have two daughters that one's 19 and one's 17 about to be 18. And it's like, I don't think about these things until somebody brings up like, yeah, I, how, how, how do you not worry in those instances as a parent of any child for that matter? And it's just crazy to think, you know, and,
00:47:02
Speaker
you know Again, you said tragedy happens to everybody and people have to go forward and to show the strength within you as a sibling, but also your your family overall, your dad to continue on and continue performing because that's hard for anybody or anything. so I remember when my my my father passed away, i've im i was freelance photographer and i I completely shut down. I couldn't keep going for a bit because it was so devastating to me.
00:47:30
Speaker
So I can understand. i could definitely. i It's just something that I couldn't even fathom. And James, connecting to your story, I always say, you know, ah story shapes life. Well, part of the story, it's I always say there's a story shapes life. There's like punchlines we use around here sometimes.
00:47:48
Speaker
um Another one that I use a lot, don't know if I've, it it's, there's a table in the wilderness. And sometimes, you know, gosh, you know, we all think, I've been thinking a lot about this, um this week, actually.
00:48:04
Speaker
of how um there's a song that just randomly came on. I'm not going to be too long about this, but there's a song. It was by the Avett Brothers. It was like, it's called, Am I Losing My Mind? am I Going Backwards with Time?
00:48:19
Speaker
And it's like, we all think, like, the story of our lives has to be this linear, Well, I just have to hit this my these mile markers, and it always has to be a linear upward journey.
00:48:31
Speaker
That's not true. Think about the Disney rides. Think of the beauty of, like, Splash Mountain. You're up, you're up, you're up, and then you plummet down, and then you're back up, and now you're in this place where it's, it's you know, ah happily ever after, sort of.
00:48:49
Speaker
Kind of, but I think that is a pattern of our lives. And and lawence Lawrence, just what a wonderful, thank you for sharing not only your ups, but your downs because life is just like that.
00:49:01
Speaker
Go ahead. so it's It is a full life. So what happened to me is, In 1968, I was a second year college student and I dropped one class and I got drafted in 10 days and I had ah
Life After the Navy & France Move
00:49:16
Speaker
week to do something. So i I tried to get in the reserves, I tried to get into the Coast Guard. Anyway, I ended up joining the Navy, which was great.
00:49:23
Speaker
But when I got out of the Navy in 1970, was a very terrible time to be in in America. And it was weird going back to work at Disneyland.
00:49:34
Speaker
You know, I was on a destroyer. I was, on you know, over in Westpac. And all of a sudden, you know, you're back at Disneyland. And a lot of the guys coming back were coming back from the war. And, you know, people didn't really talk about it much. And and it was a very strange time.
00:49:50
Speaker
So. I took off to go to Europe, like I said, for visiting my mother's family is from France. And so went to visit my aunt and uncle and my cousins. And like I say, I stayed for a few years.
00:50:04
Speaker
That shaped my life. I mean, you know, i mean, that's a, I mean, and i I often think of my parents, you know, losing my sister, and then a couple of years later here, I'm going into service, you know, and there's a war going on, you know. I mean, luckily I was in the Navy, but yeah, I mean, those are interesting times. And and it's funny, because life takes you different places. I ended up um coming to school up at up pa Chico State, where I would eventually get a job.
00:50:31
Speaker
um And I never looked back. you know That was 1973. And i you know I visited my parents a few times. And what what happened was the last five years of my dad's life, he had Alzheimer's.
00:50:44
Speaker
And in 1985, it was Disneyland's 50th show. It was 2005. And so I went down to help him with that. And I realized he was...
00:50:59
Speaker
losing it. And so I decided to retire and ah and go take care of them. So i I went and, you know, when you do something like that, you don't know how long it's going to be. it it turned out to be five years. So I lived with them in their house in Santa Monica, which my grandfather had built in 1920. So I lived with them for five years until my dad passed away.
00:51:22
Speaker
And And that was a very interesting experience because you learn a lot about yourself, you know. and but and And it was it was fine. But it was funny because dad got to the point where um he couldn't walk anymore and he would be in this wheelchair.
00:51:38
Speaker
And I didn't want to. as my mother would say, inventory him in some institution, you know, of course not. So he would be at home and i'd I'd take him around, you know, in his wheelchair and he would pick up all of a sudden he'd be Jose or he would be, you know, yeah he would be some character or he would start dancing with his feet in his chair but like he was, you know,
00:52:03
Speaker
doing tap dancing.
Caring for Wally Boag
00:52:05
Speaker
So he had these, I don't think there were moments of lucidity so much, although in the beginning he had moments of lucidity when he all of a sudden had realized he was screwed, you know he was in bad shape.
00:52:15
Speaker
But it was these moments when he would go back and his Disney experience for those years obviously played a huge part in his life. And so those would be little compartments in his mind where he would go back and and become these characters again.
00:52:31
Speaker
And, ah you know, that was interesting. I remember, you remember Richard Sherman? yeah oh Yeah. Oh, absolutely. ah Yes, we do. About tunes and stuff, like on the piano. and Oh, yes.
00:52:45
Speaker
I was living in Kronel-Dermire, and he was writing, we are Siamese, if you please. Da-da-da-da. Da-da-da-da-da-da. yeah I just remember things like that. and of course, I was just a kid. So it was much later when I would meet him and talk to him that I would really, in fact, he, he did the cover. He, he wrote the title for dad's book, Crown Prince of Disneyland, but, and Steve Martin did the prologue. And then Steve, the Steve Martin, as you throw that name around as if it's like, Oh, Steve Martin.
00:53:18
Speaker
It's like Steve Martin. Diane Disney did the, the forward. Yeah, well, course, Steve, you know, has always said wonderful things about dad. In fact, he did his eulogy.
00:53:32
Speaker
And it's ah really touching because he he actually started crying. And it was was really touching. That was that was something. Yeah. That was cool. And then I've got a picture of him up here and with ah the printed elegy, you know.
00:53:50
Speaker
is what you say, the elegy is what you write. So that's, he wrote a really nice thing about that. we Where, um Lawrence, we're moving forward, you know, story shapes life, and you have all these stories, and you have all this, um where are how are where where are you going? where do you Where are you taking all the the historicity, all the stories, all the lessons, and where are you taking your
00:54:22
Speaker
your life This is a softball question, by the way, because I know you're you're doing great things.
Sailing, Model Planes, & Coast Guard
00:54:28
Speaker
um But where are you where you taking your life to influence other people? By the way, you're on this podcast. So that is one that is one answer, um just sharing your story.
00:54:40
Speaker
um But other than this... iron i For dad, like I just did a a couple hour talk at the Walt Disney Family Museum in the theater there and i do ah I do a slide presentation with, you know, 80 some slides.
00:54:57
Speaker
And I've done that for the Los Angeles Breakfast Club and I you know i do it for different things. but um and And people contact me a lot about dad. And, you know, I love doing that because, ah and and they always want to reimburse, you know, they want to pay you. And I just tell them, you know, the payment is keeping dad alive.
00:55:17
Speaker
You know, it's just great. And so, and I'm always amazed when I do those shows, I'll ask the audience, you know, how many people actually saw him perform. And that's like 80% of them. They're all old folks.
00:55:30
Speaker
You know, but yeah, it's, it's pretty cool that there's still people out there, you know, they're, they're keeping his memory a alive. So that's, that's part of my life, of course. um But so I live on an Island in San Francisco Bay and sailing is my passion. Dad got me into sailing when I was eight. I started sailing and in Newport beach, I started racing sabbats and then snowbirds, flight of the snowbirds, leader 14s.
00:55:55
Speaker
And then I always had boats and I, I, um, when I retired, always kept a boat here in Alameda. And when I retired, I wanted to move down here and then I was able to get a house right here on the water. So the boat's right outside. So I, I sail a lot, um, right before COVID, I did a five month trip up towards ah Alaska, up to Haida Gwaii, um, which was great.
00:56:18
Speaker
Um, I've sailed all over the, you know, the Atlantic, the Pacific, uh, yeah. So, uh, sailing's a big part of my life. Uh, other than that, um,
00:56:30
Speaker
Crazily enough, ah Dad got me going building balsa wood airplanes when I was a kid, and I never stopped. and I've got 87 radio-controlled airplanes here.
00:56:42
Speaker
um yeah In fact, if you were to look up at the ceiling here, don't you can see them, but there's lots of them hanging up on the ceiling. that So every room has a bunch of radio-controlled planes because I've run out of room.
00:56:54
Speaker
So but my kids want to do an intervention. But... it's not the Flying them is fun. I flew this morning, but building them is my passion. So I have a nice shop here.
00:57:06
Speaker
I still have my cabinet shop, so I do work up there. um So i'm I'm really busy. I'm 10 years now. I've been with the Coast Guard Auxiliary, and I teach courses on ah doing vessel examinations.
00:57:18
Speaker
um So I'm really busy. Where I'm going from here, I don't know. i I expect I'll be here another five years or so. In five years, I'll be 81. I don't know if I want to keep sailing.
00:57:30
Speaker
At the rate you're going, you're going to be like, you'll be fine. yeah But the bottom line is i so I have these other houses in Chico. You know, I have one that I stay in and I have a couple of rentals and I'll probably end up moving back there.
00:57:44
Speaker
ah this This house, because it's on the water, is is narrow and it's three stories, you know, which is fine. You know, I run up and down them now, but there might be a time when, you know, my knees won't do it anymore. So...
00:57:57
Speaker
I could use Randall and Chico, by the way. I'll... No, I'm just kidding. I'm joking. I mean, but, James, i that's actually not true. i'm Lately, I'm like, oh, no.
00:58:08
Speaker
I could use... Oh, no, i'm moving there. Oh, no, where am I going to live? I have no idea. But I digress. up there You should come visit. yeah I would love to come visit, and I would love...
00:58:20
Speaker
and or Yes. All right. I'm going to turn it over to James because i was going to say yeah he could be like Bob Gurr still flying simulators at like 90 something years old.
00:58:32
Speaker
I mean that too. I was thinking that too. I just saw Bob ah last year at a convention, and he was talking about Walt and the love of Walt and also his flying passion. And he goes, I'll still get in a simulator, and and I'll fly, and it feels just the same. And here he goes, I'll just go paraglide, too. I'm like, I just hear him talk. I'm like, wait, you're 90-something years old and still getting a glider?
00:58:53
Speaker
Amazing. It's crazy. So you could be like him, you know, in a few years and doing what could will be. will be Yeah, exactly. Well, I was shocked earlier. I'm like, wait a minute, because I I pride my I'm 40. I turn 40. I look I don't look like I'm 40. I look I look young.
00:59:11
Speaker
Yeah, like maybe some of us. I think when you're in your. I don't know, maybe it's a Disney thing, maybe it's a, go you know, just immaturity thing.
00:59:23
Speaker
i don't know what it is, but I'm happy to look younger than what I am. And when i meet other people that look younger than how you look, Lawrence, I go, oh, goodness, maybe there's hope.
00:59:38
Speaker
Oh, man, maybe maybe this is the path to the wellspring of life to to have wonder and creativity and and all this stuff. I don't know. Yeah, they dad, mom and dad always look younger.
00:59:52
Speaker
So there's theres about 40 pictures back there. And of course, dad was on the Muppet Show and I i found this giant a poster of dad on the Muppet Show on eBay.
01:00:04
Speaker
ah think ah I got that framed back here. Yeah. Yeah, this is just a recreation of his office, except I'm looking out the window at nothing but that interesting, you know, whereas the other one was the Mark Twain. so I've been watching the Muppet Show.
01:00:19
Speaker
Now I have to go back. Okay, you're plaguing me because I'm like, all these things. I'm like, now I have to go and I have to buy this book. Then I have to go back and I... i mean Well, i love i love this. I'm going to go back.
01:00:32
Speaker
I've got to track down that Muppet show. That's a good one. it's a real Do you know what season it was? Can you help me or anyone else? i copy your mind It doesn't matter. i'll I'll figure it out, but I'm just thinking.
01:00:46
Speaker
mean i think the book's upstairs with all the Disney stuff. Okay. So Jeff, i'll i'll give I'll give you a year. up 1981. Yeah, 81. yeah eighty one Is that what it was? Yes, 81.
01:00:57
Speaker
Good old 1981. Yeah. yeah i wasn't born yet, but I think it was probably a good year. So, ah you know, I love it. I love that he's on the Muppet Show. that's actually show you I love the Muppet Show, so I'll have to go back and watch that one too.
01:01:13
Speaker
Now, Mike, Rachel, do you guys have anything before we let our guests go for the evening? Anything whatsoever? I just have a real quick question. Yes, ma'am. I have five kids and my youngest son loves the little trivia things that you see at the parks, like all the little, all the little hidden things. And I, I heard you say that Walt's initials are up above club 33 somewhere.
01:01:37
Speaker
Are there, are there any other kind of little hidden things that we might be able to find the next time we, next time he visits out there? I just, I love, I love those little facts. And to throw them out in line. She wants the illuminatic secrets. secrets.
01:01:55
Speaker
That's right. And for, i think, 12 years, published a great quarterly magazine called Backstage
Van France's Influence on Disneyland
01:02:03
Speaker
Disneyland. Yeah. And it was for the employees.
01:02:06
Speaker
And it was an employee magazine like none other. I mean, it was absolutely hysterical. But he would also run. he had, I don't know if you remember Roy Williams. He was a cartoonist um who ah was the big Mouseketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club. But he and Roy, they worked on a lot of the cartoons and what I meant.
01:02:29
Speaker
And then he had Claude Plum as a co-writer. I mean, they they worked. That magazine was so fun. I've got every copy of it upstairs. But one of those was nothing but Rachel.
01:02:42
Speaker
those hidden little gems at Disneyland that nobody knows what the origins of them are. Now, I can't tell you right offhand, but if I were to look at that, I mean, I could tell you what certain things were, but there's a lot of those things around.
01:02:59
Speaker
um It's kind of cool. So yeah, ah I would imagine that they're written up somewhere, Rachel. I'm sure that if you were to Google, you know, this and know hidden little nuances in Disneyland, you know, you could find that. But there, yeah, there are. so I know there used to be there's like a little tunnel or something. The time tunnel. yeah I know you're talking about. The time tunnel. that's it Yeah.
01:03:28
Speaker
So, oh, so the time tunnel for, or where they have the phantasm show. Oh, fantastic. Okay. So they don't, there was never a tunnel there. They didn't make it. I think,
01:03:40
Speaker
ah There's still a little window, I think, though. i have I can't remember, but I know the time tunnel, there's an employee thing called the time tunnel where they have all kinds of archives as you go down in the old ah corporate building. the old ah The old offices at the front of Disneyland.
01:03:53
Speaker
um They have a little walkway under there that they have some memorabilia from back in the Fess Parkers, coonskin cap and pistols from playing Davy Crockett coming through the park. a Different memorabilia like that. But as a cast member trying to think to help you, Rachel, one that can think off the top of my head Oh, man, that would be a different podcast, too. I know. I know. I know. I know.
01:04:17
Speaker
I put a pin in that. Yeah, put a pin in that. And we'll talk afterwards. I can think of some stuff. um Mike, do you have anything? Anything at all? Like this.
01:04:29
Speaker
On your heart, your mind. ah Yeah, your heart and your mind. You guys have really touched on a lot, especially you know with Wally's works with you know Pirates and Tiki Room and all that. But I'm just loving hearing your stories you know with you being in the Navy. and you know That had hits home because my dad was in the Navy. So I always loved hearing his stories of his time in the service and all that. And I can't think of anything off top my head. I'm just um'm loving this.
01:04:58
Speaker
ah good I'm loving you, Mike. You've been wonderful. So Mike is Mike, have you been on here before? i have not. This is my first time. Oh, well, I know. i know That was my rhetorical question.
01:05:11
Speaker
No, you're you've been wonderful. So this is Mike's first time. And what a good... Yeah. Well, you fit right in, friend. fit in great.
01:05:22
Speaker
You fit right in. So welcome to the family. and Thank you. Thank you. and And Lawrence, welcome to our family, Sharing the Magic, where yeah if you've been on, if you if you can suffer through us one time, you we are deeply friends forever.
01:05:41
Speaker
that's That's how we don't say that out loud, but... No. But we're so happy you're here. Really truly. Only happy. Yeah.
01:05:52
Speaker
because you yeah you bring a lot of things up for me. then im not of but you It's funny you talk about the like the corporate house and whatnot or whatever. you know Ron Dominguez's house, who was the original owner of the orange groves that were there, was the administration building for years and years and years. I think Space Mountain is where it was.
01:06:13
Speaker
yeah but It's funny. I was also thinking, so they Bill Evans, who was you know the head landscaper, not the not the the landscaping designer, that was a woman, I can't remember name offhand, but Bill Evans did the landscaping at Disneyland and that was my mother's first cousin, you who wants to share the same grandfather. So he tells this, he used to, I mean, he passed away years ago, but the story that, you know, the park wasn't really ready to be open when it opened. We all know all the stories, the water wasn't working and they had to decide whether the toilets or the drinking fountains, and it was 117 or whatever, you know, but,
01:06:48
Speaker
He didn't have all the landscaping done. And so Walt says, well, you' going to have to make it look like it's done. So he went around and put the Latin names on signs for all the weeds.
01:07:00
Speaker
I always thought that was pretty cool. little So sometimes you see the names out there on some of the plants and they're left over from, they kept a few of them around for Bill.
01:07:11
Speaker
You see a lot of that in Tomorrowland when they're doing the transition between like the the little garden area, they'll put it right there. I'm like, that's clever. Yeah. that's That's a nice little nod.
01:07:23
Speaker
I love those things. and And they also moved the Dominguez tree carefully to buy the Jungle Cruise, the Dominguez Palm. yeah Yes. It's funny because the domingue the Dominguez family is very well loved, as everybody knows, through the Disney family.
01:07:40
Speaker
And they want to do everything to preserve that family. One, really great. Yeah. My favorite guy, though, is Van France. You've never got a chance to meet him probably. bit What a kick in the butt he was. He was so much fun.
01:07:56
Speaker
Real character. never met him, but his name still rang around the park a lot because of the little things that somebody would do. like oh that was I'm like, oh, okay. He was a great guy.
01:08:07
Speaker
he was a great guy are little can you give us like a I don't know I think these stories see story shapes life and we can keep going on and on I love it okay so that story that story can you i don't know
01:08:28
Speaker
Can you tell us a little bit of that story before we go? i feel presumptuous, feeling like I have to like take your energy out of you, which I said earlier I wasn't planning to do. But but if you could share that story at just a little bit before we end, it would be wonderful.
01:08:46
Speaker
Yeah. Well, van Van was a really good family friend. And, you know, when but Disneyland first started, it was really a family.
01:08:56
Speaker
Everybody knew everybody. I mean, it was, when I worked there, I just felt like it was a family, you know? And, and Van, ah gosh, he was just such a character, but he wanted me to work at Paris Disneyland because of course I was teaching French in those days and, and he thought I'd be a perfect. So I did, I did all the interviews and whatnot, but,
01:09:20
Speaker
It wasn't going to be a secure situation, you know? mean, you don't know where it's gonna go. So I wanted to keep my tenure where I was going, but ah he was he was really a ah great human being.
01:09:32
Speaker
And oh, Marty Scalar, gosh, you know, he he was such a good friend to dad. Of course, he started just writing for the Disneyland little newspapers, you know, in 1955 and ended up being what, the head of Imagineering.
01:09:47
Speaker
um But um yeah, gosh, the last time I saw him, actually, he was giving a talk at the Walt Disney Family Museum. And i I went up afterwards because I purchased his book. And he was really delighted to see me and introduced me to everybody that was there. And then he yeah signed his book for me. But um yeah, he's one of those people we'd see quite often. And, ah you know, those those are the people that really...
01:10:13
Speaker
made Disneyland Disneyland because they bought into it, you know a thousand percent. I mean, they they were going to go way overboard and work extra hard to make sure that it was going to be Walt's vision.
01:10:29
Speaker
and And they did. You know, Walt was lucky to be able to have people like that around him. And of course, his brother, Roy, he was great because without Roy, the financing never would have happened.
01:10:43
Speaker
that's phenomenal all right james okay i i had one i one thing i thought because as soon as you said you saw marty i'm like he's giving you you want to say he gave you a marty graham because you know marty was famous for giving his marty grams everybody if he is oh are you pulling a marty graham out
01:11:01
Speaker
ah ah nod dear i bring up marty grams and here here was ah less a marty graham like there And then this is the introduction by Diane Disney. And this is Marty Scalar writing in his book, too.
01:11:23
Speaker
Oh, man. Marty mar and he went back a long way. that so Freaking beautiful, James. What do you think? i Oh, man. i could So, you know you know my affinity for Disney Imagineers and all that. So i won't I digress from that. But the fact that you you brought up that I seen Marty, eat and you know I was like, oh, please say Marty. But this you showed that. That's even better than mark James is stuttering. he's ha ha ah it's I love you. I love it, but no, I love my history. I know you know i've I've appreciated you know Lawrence being on tonight just like the rest of the crew absolutely your stories have been so wonderful um that The the things you've shown us the stories you've told um it really hones into what Jeff totally says about story shapes life and
01:12:11
Speaker
You have a rich one within the Disney family and your own personal story outside of it, which is even bigger in the lexicon of sharing the magic because yeah you're able to take what you learned early on in life through your life in Disney and were able to present everything in such a way and in your own life that it's carried over through the way you teach. it's unique.
01:12:35
Speaker
It's personal. It's unique and it's transcendent. transcendent yes great work it's not just transcendency is not just you know you're not damned to course who parted my French you're and you know part of my French you're it's not you're you're not it's not just about Oh, let's just talk about it's not beep bop boop, you know, talk about Disney.
01:13:01
Speaker
This is a story in your own history, your historicity, your story it's different is bigger than Disney.
01:13:12
Speaker
and And that transcendency is that's why we call it sharing the magic. which is it's it's about sharing not just, okay, first question we always open up.
01:13:26
Speaker
Oh, why do you love Disney? Okay, that's contrived, but it's not. But later on, as we end these episodes, it's it more about you, your personal history, and and then it's hearing your story, and that's why it's called Sharing the Magic. cause So thank you.
01:13:47
Speaker
appreciate appreciate that morning for sharing the magic yeah back to you james yeah no ah jeff you couldn't summed it up any better man again for the rest of the crew here lawrence we we appreciate you we appreciate your story we appreciate anything that you could you know give us you know and in the tales that you told and the the information you gave i swear our listeners are going to go home completely happy just like we did and we appreciate you for being here, and we'd love to have you back in the future because I know there's more magical tales to be told.
01:14:21
Speaker
I mean, there's Marty's- Please come back. yeah that's it and There's so many.
Closing Gratitude
01:14:26
Speaker
that That's Jeff's plea, his bag. ah But we we do appreciate that. We sincerely mean that. i know i know from my end, i know for the rest of the crew, Rachel, my Jeff, we did appreciate this interview, and we appreciate having you again.
01:14:41
Speaker
Thank you.
Promoting Disney Magic & Book
01:14:42
Speaker
appreciate i appreciate keeping that alive and uh yeah i always appreciate you know opportunities to give that uh give that little disney magic away no it's it's not giving away sharing it because if you gave it away everybody want it but not everybody wants this so when we're able to share it with like-minded people who love to keep memories alive of those people who you know created the magic to begin with or were part of that creation in some level uh it means a lot more to us that way so thank you and yeah you know we're on youtube i i can get some things here to to show you guys i mean it's like those uh backstage disneylands they're they're amazing heck yeah rachel mike anything else um i just would love for you to repeat
01:15:29
Speaker
wait your book and where we can buy your book and if we can find you or you how can we support you sir yeah yes yeah the the book is Wally Bogue Clown Prince of Disneyland and you can get it only these days um at the Walt Disney Family Museum And when you go to the site, the first thing andll you'll see at at the top, it takes you to the store.
01:15:59
Speaker
And as soon as you get to the store, there'll be a picture of this. I think there's, you know, quite a few books, but I think it's on the third page of books.
Diane Disney's Impact
01:16:11
Speaker
And a... ah that's a That was a real treat being at the museum. Diane Disney Walt's daughter, I first met her the Toile Valley Winter Olympics and she babysat me.
01:16:28
Speaker
I was like 12, but she already had a couple of kids and we became friends for life. She and and Ron, her husband, and it was really devastating that we lost them both here this last decade. But they opened the museum as her baby.
01:16:42
Speaker
And yeah, she was... ah She really enjoys this book, so she wanted to make sure the store carried it. So I just quit selling anywhere else, and I just sell it at the Walt Disney Family Museum because all the money goes to the museum.
Show's Magical Farewell
01:16:57
Speaker
that's wonderful wonderful thank you again and everybody from myself jeff rachel and mike thank you for being a part of our show and sharing the magic uh this week again with warrens boge uh and that's it for me james kemp have a wonderful rest of the week wherever you are at thank you for joining us for another enchanting episode of sharing the magic We have magical conversations that are crafted to your ears.
01:17:25
Speaker
The Edutainment Show, where education and entertainment collide each week. We bring you whimsical interviews with Disney guests who share their magical experiences and reveal how they are woven into the Disney fabric.
01:17:37
Speaker
Don't forget to hit that follow button to stay updated on our latest episodes. Spread the word and let your friends know they can tune in wherever they enjoy their favorite podcasts. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and X, formerly Twitter, at at sharingthemagicpod.
01:17:54
Speaker
Until next time, keep sharing the magic and rattle the stars.