America Sings

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America Sings
America Sings cover of LP soundtrack record
Disneyland
Land Tomorrowland
Designer WED Enterprises
Attraction type Rotating Theater
Theme American Musical History
Opening date June 29, 1974
Closing date April 10, 1988
Hosted by Eagle Sam (Burl Ives); Owl (Sam Edwards)
Music Panorama of American music by Norman "Buddy" Baker
Audio-animatronics 115
Required Ticket E (briefly reclassified as D)
Replaced Carousel of Progress
Replaced by Innoventions
Sponsored by Del Monte

America Sings was a show at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, from 1974 to 1988. It featured a cast of Audio-Animatronic animals that entertained the audience by singing songs from various periods in America's musical history, often in a humorous fashion.

Contents

[edit] The show

America Sings exterior
America Sings exterior

America Sings opened in 1974 after replacing the Carousel of Progress after that latter show moved to the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in 1973. America Sings used the same Carousel Theater that its predecessor vacated, with its outer ring of six theaters, all connected by divider walls, revolving mechanically about every four minutes around the six fixed stages in the center of the building. Unlike Disneyland's Carousel of Progress, which rotated clockwise, America Sings went counter-clockwise.

America Sings was comparable to Disneyland's Country Bear Jamboree, in that it featured a singing cast of audio-animatronics. The show's Masters of Ceremony were an American bald eagle named Sam (voiced by Burl Ives) and an unnamed owl rumored to be named Ollie (voiced by Sam Edwards). The image of Eagle Sam was designed by Disney animator Marc Davis, as were the other characters. Eagle Sam is completely separate from the Sam the Olympic Eagle character designed a decade later by C. Robert Moore (also a Disney employee) for the Los Angeles Olympics of 1984.

Like the Carousel of Progress, the first and the last scenes of America Sings involved the loading and unloading of guests, while the other four scenes, or "acts", depicted a particular era. However, the identical load and unload theaters each featured a small curtained gazebo with a backdrop showing a park. The curtains would open to reveal Sam and the owl standing on a two-level podium, with Sam standing on the higher level, introducing or closing the show.

Between each act, as the theater rotated with the lights blacked out, Sam sang about the next era the audience was about to enter, reprising the chorus of "Yankee Doodle". [1]

The characters in America Sings were patterned after the characters from the concept art for an animated movie called Chanticleer, that Walt Disney scrapped back in the 1960's.

[edit] The Songs

Norman "Buddy" Baker arranged a selection of songs chosen to represent a panoramic view of American music.[2]

[edit] Intro

[edit] Act 1 - The Deep South

Act 1, The Deep South -- The Geese Quartet sings a Dixie medley
Act 1, The Deep South -- The Geese Quartet sings a Dixie medley
Act 1, The Deep South -- The Swamp Boys sing Polly Wolly Doodle
Act 1, The Deep South -- The Swamp Boys sing Polly Wolly Doodle
  • Dixie / L'il Liza Jane / Camptown Races - Geese Quartet
  • My Old Kentucky Home - Colonel Houndstoothe (Bassett hound in rocking chair)
  • Polly Wolly Doodle - The Swamp Boys (gator trio, frogs and harmonica-playing raccoon)
  • Single Girl - Mother Possum
  • Down in the Valley - Fox
  • Down By The Riverside - Hens, Foxes, Swamp Boy Frogs

[edit] Act 2 - Headin' West

Act 2, The Old West -- The Boothill Boys sing The End of Billy the Kid
Act 2, The Old West -- The Boothill Boys sing The End of Billy the Kid

[edit] Act 3 - The Gay '(18)90s

Act 3, The Gay '90s -- Blossom-Nose Murphy sings Sweet Adeline
Act 3, The Gay '90s -- Blossom-Nose Murphy sings Sweet Adeline

[edit] Act 4 - Modern Times

[edit] Epilogue

[edit] Incident

See also: Incidents at Disney parks

On July 8, 1974, just two weeks after the attraction opened, 18-year-old Disneyland cast member Deborah Gail Stone was killed when she was crushed between the building's rotating wall and a stationary wall. Stone approached too close to the area between the rotating wall and the non-moving stage wall and was caught between them. The Attraction was stopped when guests in the adjacent theater heard her screams.

Afterwards, America Sings was closed for two days while safety lights were installed, and for one year, management closed the theater in which Deborah was killed. Eventually, the walls were remodeled so that they would breakaway if a similar incident occurred.[3]

[edit] Closure

America Sings closed on Sunday, April 10, 1988. According to Alice Davis, wife of the late Marc Davis, production of Disneyland's Splash Mountain had gone way over budget and the only way to recover was to close down America Sings and use the characters from that attraction.[4] Show sponsor Del Monte had already ended its sponsorship. The Carousel Theater sat empty and motionless for ten years. During this time, the carousel theater's external appearance was unchanged. A large sign in front of the building showed Sorcerer Mickey alongside text reading, "Sorry, we're closed. We're imagineering a brand new attraction." For many years guests wondered what the new attraction was going to be. For a few years, during the planned 'Disney Decade' started by Michael Eisner, a new audio-animatronic show called Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue was to open. It was to have been an outer space-themed musical-variety revue featuring a troupe of Audio-Animatronics itinerant alien musicians whose spaceship has landed in Tomorrowland. However, the idea, which was part of the original "Tomorrowland 2055" plan, eventually was scrapped due to budget considerations.

America Sings was finally replaced by Innoventions, a version of the Epcot attraction of the same name, in 1998. Most of the Audio-Animatronic animals were moved to Disneyland's Splash Mountain log flume, which opened on Disneyland's 34th anniversary on July 17, 1989. Two goose Audio-Animatronics were taken out before America Sings even closed. In 1986, they had their "skin" removed, which left only a robotic skeleton, and had their heads replaced, and were used as two talkative G2 droids in the queue to Star Tours, which would open in early 1987.[5] The rock and roll stork in the finale is now used by Imagineers for training new Animatronics programmers, acting as a final exam of sorts. The remainder of the show's Audio-Animatronics were recycled.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Complete show script from DisneyPhenom.com (via archive.org). and complete script at Operation Preserve Disneyland
  2. ^ Guide to the Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection. Fales Library and Special Collections. New York University Libraries (2006). Retrieved on 7 February, 2007.
  3. ^ Koenig, David. Why we'll never forget the tragedy of 30 years ago today. MousePlanet. Retrieved on 2007-07-24.
  4. ^ Song of the South.net - Splash Mountain: History
  5. ^ America Sings Historical DVD from Extinct Attractions Club

[edit] External links

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