Disney Legend Herb Ryman was born in Vernon, Illinois. Ryman had an illustrious Disney career and cemented his legacy as the artist Walt Disney turned to when he needed someone to translate his dream of Disneyland onto paper. Ryman worked as a storyboard illustrator at MGM before joining the Walt Disney Studio in 1938. He would work on animated features, including Fantasia and Dumbo. On September 26, 1953, Walt called Herb Ryman over to the studio and they spent the weekend putting together concept art and pitch documents for Roy to take to New York for meetings with potential investors. The Disneyland concept map drawn by Ryman over the weekend was the first comprehensive look at what Walt was planning. Among Ryman’s many contributions in the design of Disneyland was the look of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. Ryman visited the Neuschwanstein Castle in Germany, which became the inspiration for the castle, and provided sketches that were then used by legendary Disney model maker Harriet Burns to create scale mock-ups. Ryman then painted the models, including the sky blue tops for the turrets which are a signature of all Disney Park castles. As the design work for Disneyland moved forward, Ryman drew concept art for areas of the park including Frontierland, the Jungle Cruise and Main Street, U.S.A. Constructing and opening the park in less than a year was an extraordinary experience for those involved. Ryman said “It was frantic, frantic work on the part of everybody. In fact, now that I look back on it, I don’t know how it got done. I really don’t.”
Morgan “Bill” Evans was born in Santa Monica, California. As Disney Imagineering Legend Marty Sklar describes him, “Bill defined Disney theme park landscaping.” Walt Disney’s first encounter with the Evans family came years before Disneyland was planned. According to Disney Imagineer Paul Comstock, a young Walt purchased roses from the Evans and Reeves Nursery for the Disney family home in the San Fernando Valley. Many years later, Walt hired Bill and his brother Jack to landscape the backyard at his Holmby Hills home which also incorporated Walt’s Carolwood Pacific backyard railroad. In 1954, the Evans brothers were asked to landscape a theme park project Walt was going to build in Anaheim. In an interview with author Jim Korkis in 1985, Bill talked about how much Walt valued landscaping: “Fortunately for us, he wanted a lot of green plant stuff. That was one of the elements Walt felt would separate his park from the Coney Island format.” One of the biggest challenges in landscaping the park was finding the large, adult trees that would appear to park guests as though they’d been there for years. As luck would have it, the construction of Disneyland coincided with the building of a number of freeways throughout the Southern California region. Bill and his team made arrangements with freeway construction crews to dig, box and ship trees slated to be bulldozed over to Disneyland. Bill told Jim Korkis: “When I’m at Disneyland, I can tell you tree after tree. This one was from the Santa Monica freeway and that one was from the Pomona freeway and so on.” After Disneyland opened, Bill was given the title of director of landscape architecture. He oversaw Disneyland additions as well as the master plan for Walt Disney World.
In 1990, a Main Street, U.S.A. window above the Opera House was dedicated in his honor. It reads: “Evans Gardens, Exotic & Rare Species, Freeway Collections, Est. 1910, Morgan (Bill) Evans, Senior Partner.” The Freeway Collections mention is a nice nod to the trees he “rescued” from the bulldozers and transported to the park. Bill was named a Disney Legend in 1992. Disney Legend John “Jack” Wrather, Jr. was born in 1918 in Amarillo, Texas. Jack was a successful businessman as well as Hollywood producer, and the person Walt Disney turned to when he needed a hotel built next to Disneyland. In 1954, as the Disneyland project was well underway, Jack got a call from Disney asking if he was interested in building a hotel next to the park. As he later explained, “I had heard a little bit about the Disneyland plan but when they told me where it was going to be built, all I could exclaim was ‘Anaheim! Oh, God! Anaheim!’ Then I asked them why they didn’t call Hilton or Sheraton…They said they had called them, but Hilton and Sheraton never heard of Anaheim and weren’t interested.” With Disneyland being rushed to open in July of 1955 for its television premiere, the Disneyland Hotel was also being built at breakneck speed and was not ready to welcome its first guests until October of 1955. The Disneyland Hotel, like the park itself, turned out to be a big success. In the years after its opening, Disney made several attempts to buy the Disneyland Hotel, but Jack resisted. Jack passed away in 1984. Disney finally acquired the Disneyland Hotel in 1987, when it purchased a half share ownership in the Wrather Corp. and then purchased the other half in 1988.
Admiral in the united states navy now In 1954 Walt Disney was looking for a naval
expert to help him with the building of the Mark Twain which was under construction. Fowler was hired to work on the Mark Twain, but stayed around for quite a while as he became the construction boss for the entire Disneyland project. Going way beyond his responsibilities for the Mark Twain and after Disneyland was completed, Fowler stayed as the general manager of the park during it's first 10 years. He also assisted with the construction of Walt Disney World Florida and retired from the Walt Disney company in 1978. He continued to be a consultant. Admiral Joe saw Disneyland as if both he and Walt were building a real city. Keeping in mind that many of the people who helped designed Disneyland were from Hollywood and had a much more temporary view on construction. They typically were used to building temporary sets, but Admiral Joe wanted to build Disneyland like a real town. One of the things that he knew was that the riverboats would need a dry dock to be serviced. Walt didn't want to spend money on this so there was push back. After a couple of decades, Admiral Joe won and Walt said, "fine we'll give Joe his little ditch". Fowler's Harbor is named after Joe Fowler and in 1999, one of the ferries that crosses the seven seas lagoon in Walt Disney World, was renamed the Admiral Joe Fowler in his honor. Fowler passed away at age 99 in 1993. Mary Blair was an American artist, animator, and designer. She was prominent in producing art and animation for The Walt Disney Company, drawing concept art for such films as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Cinderella. Blair also created character designs for enduring attractions such as Disneyland's It's a Small World, the fiesta scene in El Rio del Tiempo in the Mexico pavilion in Epcot's World Showcase, and an enormous mosaic inside Disney's Contemporary Resort. Several of her illustrated children's books from the 1950s remain in print, such as I Can Fly by Ruth Krauss. Blair was inducted into the group of Disney Legends in 1991. In 1967, Blair created mural art for the Tomorrowland Promenade.
In 1968, Blair was credited as color designer on the film version of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. 1971: Her design of a 90-foot-high (27 m) mural remains a focal point of the Disney's Contemporary Resort hotel at Walt Disney World, which was completed for the resort's opening in 1971. |
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