America Sings

[ UPDATED 7-6 with new images and info ]

A look back at the Marc Davis / Al Bertino patriotic animatronic wonder and how some of it's pieces live on today.

Think of Carousel of Progress meets Country Bear Jamboree meets American Adventure.  It was hosted by an eagle named Sam, voiced by the great Burl Ives, and co-hosted by Ollie Owl.  Shows ran from 1974-1988 in Tomorrowland's Carousel Theater, Disneyland.  It replaced The Carousel of Progress which was moved to The Magic Kingdom in 1975.  The empty round building with it's rotating outer ring of seating and stationary set of inner stages was a perfect fit for such an idea.  Though I've always thought the Tomorrowland setting was not entirely fitting, America Sings was a really swell! 

After closing in 1988, a number of America Sings' audio animatronics were repurposed in the 1989 E-Ticket log flume adventure, Splash Mountain- Sam and Ollie, were not included in the move.  Splash Mountain's Song of the South premise with Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox, Brer Bear, and friends was an inviting setting for these friendly Marc Davis critters.  Costumes, props, and character poses were changed to fit the new storyline.

Below you'll find side-by-side comparisons of these critters in both setting.  Also included are some Marc Davis concept drawings for America Sings.  Photos of sculpted maquettes- on display at Disneyland's Opera House (still there today)- are also presented.  Additional photos are from Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain.  

In October of 1992 the second and third Splash Mountains opened one day apart.  Tokyo Disneyland opened theirs on October 1 while Magic Kingdom opened their Splash Mountain on October 2.  To my knowledge, these rides did not receive any America Sings original animatronic figures, though they were both populated with many reproductions.

Foxes and Hens

In Act I - Early South -  foxes, hens and frogs sung Lay Down My Burden in gospel choir fashion.  The foxes and hens now can be seen aboard Disneyland's Splash Mountain's riverboat scene singing Zippity Do Da (without Uncle Remus... thanks to Michael Eisner, that rascal).

Also aboard the Zip-A-Dee Lady riverboat are two musical pigs, a hound guitar-playing dog, and a goose playing the part of river captain up top, and 3 female geese- all from America Sings.  The can-can geese came from Act III of America Sings, featured further below.

Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain was given a mere 12 characters aboard their riverboat compared the 17 aboard Disneyland's.  No foxes and no hound dog.  In fact, no foxes other than Brer Fox exist in Magic Kingdom's version of the ride.  I imagine the happy foxes could easily be confused with the mischievous Brer Fox set out to kill and eat the attractions main character, Brer Rabbit.

The Swamp Boys

The Swamp Boys were made up of the gator trio, a harmonica-playing raccoon (above lower left), and singing frogs.  In Splash Mountain they were divided up, minus the gator trio which stayed together (above lower right).  Notice in the first video posted above the harmonica-playing raccoon is not part of the trio.  Must have been in maintenance that week (or year).  You'll see further down in the post where the raccoon ended up in Splash.

I love comparing the two Marc Davis concepts (above upper left and upper center).  It appears the raccoon was originally supposed to be a harmonica-playing possum.  Are raccoons cuter than possums?  Maybe he wanted variety, considering the fact that a mother possum with her babies was to sing right after the Swamp Boys. The second rendering includes the raccoon and the frogs as part of the Swamp Boys.  This time the gators get clothing.

 
The Swamp Boys frogs (above upper right) appear twice in the Early South act.  They sing Polly Wolly Doodle with the other Swamp Boys and they appear again at the end of the act along with the foxes and hens to sing Lay Down My Burden.  You can see where they are today (above lower left).  The closeup photo of the frog (above lower right) is a replica found in Magic Kingdom's Splash Mountain.  Notice the white eyes, lack of spots, and the different style hat.

The Boothill Boys

Before ever looking down on human passers-by with their evil grins as the humans approach Splash Mountain's largest drop, the vulture duo appeared in Act II of America Sings (above lower left and center).  For some reason the Boothill Boys didn't keep their top hats or clothing in California (above upper right) but their counterparts in Florida (above lower right) do wear clothes and have hats.  Why?  Not sure because tuxedos and top hats don't exactly fit the story.

Mule, Jitterbug-era College Students

In America Sings a mule ridden by Sam and Ollie in Act I - Early South.  Another mule carries the hound dog in Act II - Old West.  One of the mules (below right) can be seen in Splash Mountain "pulling" a wooden cart with America Sings' Jitterbug-era College Students, two female cats, a male wolf, and a male fox.  This time they wear country attire.

Saddlesore Swanson, the Turkey

Saddlesore Swanson sings The Old Chisholm Trail in Act II - Old West (above center).  For his Splash Mountain debut (above right) Saddlesore loses the spurs, gets a new hat and trades in his country guitar for one made out of a turtle shell and tree branch.  He keeps a red handkerchief around his neck, but one with a printed pattern this time. 

The Rabbit

During the I've Been Working on the Railroad number in Act II, a rabbit and a fox riding on a rail cart (above left) travel across the stage from left to right and back again.  Is this Brer Rabbit??  Marc Davis was directing animator on the 1946 part-animated, part-live action film, Song of the South.  The rabbit is not supposed to be Brer Rabbit, nor is the fox supposed to be Brer Fox.  Of course not.  But I imagine they were influenced by the Song of the South characters Davis worked with decades earlier.  Today you can see the America Sings rabbit playing the part of Brer Rabbit in Splash Mountain riding the same rail cart (above right).  This time he's wearing pants.

Geese 

I always loved the animation of the geese.  The facial expressions and the movement in their long necks.

Geese created for Magic Kingdom are given roles as fishermen (above left, center).  One has caught a boot.  The boot is no longer a real boot but one made of light-weight 'WonderFlex' to lessen the burden on the pole and goose figure.  One goose has caught the hat of another goose.  For more than a decade the hat was directly connected to the fishing line without a hook.  Finally at one point a hook was added. Hooray for details. One goose perpetually tries to catch the same jumping fish with a broken net.... that is if the jumping fish mechanism is properly functioning.  

A couple years before closing, America Sings donated the animatronic skeleton of a singing goose (above right) for the queue of Star Tours.  A binocular/Johnny5-like head was added with some other parts and some paint.  Compare the feet of the geese to the feel of the droid.  The droid definitely kept his webbed bird feet.  Of course a new voice was given.  He sings I've Been Working on the Same Droid, his own version of I've Been Working on the Railroad.  From what I know, Disney-MGM Studios in Florida was also given a goose for their Star Tours queue in 1989.

Storks and Can-can Geese

In Act III - Gay Nineties (above left) 4 female can-can geese take stage as another female goose sits in a bird cage above.  Two male storks with out-stretched wings rode old-fashioned bicycles.  The can-can geese still dance today aboard the Zip-A-Dee Lady riverboat mentioned earlier.  The goose from the cage is now on a large mushroom, under a larger mushroom (above lower right) in Splash Mountain today.  The male storks now dance in Splash (above upper right)

Frito Kid and Deeee-licious Fritos!

 
 
Click to hear the Frito Kid speak!

From 1952 until 1967, the Frito Kid was the official mascot of Fritos corn chips.  In the 1950s and 1960s, at Disneyland's Casa de Fritos, guests could pay a nickel for a bag of chips to be dispensed by this elaborate vending machine.  Upon inserting your nickel, the Frito Kid figure would come to life, turning his head, licking his upper lip, slowly moving his eyes side to side.  He would call to the unseen miner, Klondike, to send a bag of chips up the mine.  Klondike would respond with an echoey voice sounding like he was deep in the corn chips mine.  A wax-paper bag of chips would slide down the trough.  A number of different audio tracks would play so each customer heard something different from the last.  (Audio samples above).

Frito Kid:  "Someone else knows what’s good.  Another bag of Fritos, Klondike!"

Klondike:  "Okay, comin’ right up. One bag of crisp, salted Fritos."

Klondike even implies that these salted chips are good for you.  He does it to a tune similar to "Jingle Bells":

Frito Kid:  ♫   "Dig those chips, dig that gold, dig those chips of corn."  ♫   

Klondike:  ♫   "They are dark and salted too, Fritos best for you."  ♫   

Other chips were sold in normal, non-animated-vending-machine ways but I can't imagine many kids ever passed up the chance to see and hear the interaction between this miner and cowboy as they deliver chips down a wooden-like mine chute.

Casa de Fritos

Casa de Fritos originally opened the month after the opening of Disneyland in 1955 next to Aunt Jemima's Pancake House in an area called New Orleans Street.  The Frito Kid setup stood just inside the front door.  It was popular but rarely photographed making it one of the most mysterious product-pitching mechanical corporate sponsor mascots of any Disney park, much like the even more mysterious and rarely photographed Florida Orange Bird of the Magic Kingdom.

Casa de Fritos moved northward in July of 1957, deep into Frontierland to a larger location next to Rainbow Caverns Mine Train.  Found in that location now is Rancho del Zocalo Mexican Restaurant. A few architectural remnants still remain.  In the photos above (upper right and lower right) you can see a little of what still exists.  The archway with broken adobe and exposed brick was once the main Casa de Fritos entrance, now an entrance to a dining area.  The adobe/brick oven is still there today but with tables and chairs in front.

When the restaurant moved, the Frito Kid went with it.  As seen in these photos, the Kid was moved from the right of the mining trough to the left.  The mine and mountain were modified significantly, if not completely replaced.  The stand with potato chips and other products did not survive the move.  And who are those guys above the mountain?  Are they in a knife fight?  And why are they there?  I'm dying to know.  Do they have something to do with the bandits from the Frito Kid mini comic books? (Photos further below)

Where is the bag of chips the Frito Kid is supposed to be holding?  Did it fall on the chute?  Is that why there are two bags on the chute?  Did that older kid take it?  How come he sometimes has four fingers and sometimes five?  Was his yellow, curvy hair modeled after a Frito chip??  Is the Frito Kid related to Richie Rich?... or could they be the same person???  So many questions.

"Fritos Served With All Dishes"

A combination plate for a buck?  Ice cream for 15cents?

"Spaghetti and Chili", is that Mexican?

Check out the Frito Kid hamming it up with his Golden Horseshoe Revue friends and "friendly rival", Pecos Bill in this Pepsi-Cola/Fritos promotional piece.

Look!  Fritos can be used for bait to lure unsuspecting bandits out of caves.  Who knew?  And what is that cool thing on the left?  Looks like a toy but at second glance you'll see that this statue is rather large.  I'd like one.  And my wife loves old junk like that too... not.

It's not easy to forget the Fritos mascot who followed the Frito Kid, the Frito Bandito.  The character was voiced by the great Mel Blanc.  Close your eyes and you might think you are listening to Speedy Gonzales- also a Blanc character.  Some call the Fritio Bandito racist.  I call him hilarious.  How can you not like his mild threats made in the name his love for corn chips?

♫   "Aye, yii, yii, yiiii, oh, I am the Frito Bandito. Give me Frito Corn chips and I'll be your friend. The Frito Bandito you must not offend."   ♫

My dad still loves to sing the sond, accent and all.  Sadly the Frito Bandito never made it to Disneyland (that I know of).

In 2007, in celebration of Fritos' 75th anniversary, the Frito-Lay company released limited anniversary edition packaging with old brand and image of the Frito Kid, even though the Frito Kid was not introduced until 20 years after the Frito chips made their debut.  Still fun.

If you have memories of the Frito Kid machine at Disneyland, do tell!  If any of you have video or photos not seen here, please send.  I'd give my right eye for behind the scenes photos of this thing.

Image credits:  Ozarklabrdoodles, Tiki Ranch, Daveland, Miehana, Ladypuppy1939, lplocharsk, Frito-Lay, Jtons7880, and myself.

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UPDATE:

Hoot Gibson posted a comment below that raised my eyebrow.  Does the mountain behind the Frito Kid not look like Splash Mountain???... and the original location is oh so close to that of Splash Mountain....  Hmmmmmm.  What do you think?  (The Splash Mountain model photo is one I recently took at the Opera House and it happens to be the same angle and sort of similar scale).

Related post:

Frito Kid Mysteries Continue

The Wonders of Nature's Wonderland [ PART 1 ]

[ PART 2 Now available ]

A trip earlier this year to Yellowstone National Park inspired me to post about one of Disneyland's greatest retired pieces, Nature's Wonderland. Beware. You may just love Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a little less after enjoying the following.

Listen to this fantastic narration. But watch out! It may get a little sexist along the way:

"We have ‘stocked’ our preserve with over 200 amazingly realistic animated animals and birds - including almost every specie still roaming the North American continent."

Timeline 1955-PRESENT

1956 Rendering of Rainbow Caverns Mine, Rainbow Ridge Mule Pack, and Rainbow Mountain Stage Coaches
Story

"Here, in a primitive setting that duplicates the remote wilderness country, you may watch beavers, busy as always, on home-building and tree-cutting chores; coyotes and mountain lions; clown-like bears, romping without a care in the world; Olympic Elk engaged in battle for survival, just as it is enacted daily in the natural wilderness."

Rendering by Marc Davis
Photo courtesy of Pete

Rendering by unknown artist

Layout

Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland overlaid on today's Big Thunder site.

Detail of 1962 souvenir mapFull-size map here.

Then and Now

Cascade Peak was removed in 1998 due to structural damage. The broken down Mine Train was removed in a recent Rivers of America rehab.

Photo (left) courtesy of Pete

The front of the rock tunnel is easily visible today as you walk on the trail that connects to Fantasyland just west of Big Thunder Mountain. The back opening of the same tunnel is visible along the east side of Rivers of America. If you pay attention you may see a jumping fish on the north side of this pond, thought sadly it's not often operational these days.

The "Assay Office" building (right) can be seen on the far left of the left photo.

The "Panhandle Hotel" and "Big Thunder Epitaph" buildings (right) can be seen behind the center tree in the left photo.

Live, wild cats hanging at the abandoned tracks! (Several, if not dozens, of wild cats live in Disneyland bushes.) They can occasionally be spotted during the day but more often they come out after hours). I took this photo from the Mark Twain in 2004 and thought to myself, 'if I were to be a mangy wild cat, I'd like to live on the site of an extinct Disneyland attraction too". Static mountain lion figures now sit between the old tracks facing Rivers of America.

The Must-see "Frontierland in Color"... though not all of this video is "in color"

Continue with [ PART 2 ]

Photos, scans, and graphics by Fritz. Additional photos submitted by friend and fan of the blog, Pete. Other photos provided by Daveland, Calisphere, and Tim's Disney News Archive. Videos originally posted on YouTube by our friend, Rustin.