BACKSTORY (1955–PRESENT): The Rivers of America is an artificial river surrounding Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country. While aboard the Sailing Ship Columbia, Mark Twain Riverboat, or even a canoe, guests travel clockwise around Tom Sawyer’s Island. Looking to their right they can see the many areas of the island (the Davy Crockett’s Explorer Canoes debuted May 19, 1971). To the left they see Disneyland itself and at times will see the DLRR train pass by. At the northern end of the island (inaccessible to guests) is the Burning Settler’s Cabin. It used to actually burn by spewing fire from its roof. Despite guest complaints, the park no longer ignites the roof of the cabin with propane each time a ship/boat passes by (WDW still has its cabin burning). In 1992 the south area was renovated to accommodate the nighttime spectacular Fantasmic!. The $30 million dollar production is one of the most successful shows in Disneyland history, judging by guest popularity. In January 2016, the Rivers closed down so that they could be shortened to make room for the new Star Wars Land. The Final Spin below documents my last tour on the Mark Twain in December 2015 before the shutdown and changes occurred.
FRONTIER RIVER TO GET FACE LIFTING
OVER SIX MILLION GALLONS OF WATER TO BE RECLAIMED
Now you see it—now you don't or vice versa, have ben the magic words in Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom for over six years. But draining the Rivers of America is not quite that simple, and without the talents of Disneyland's maintenance and engineering "magicians" the job would be impossible. To drain 6,160,478 gallons of water from the Frontierland river takes a lot of know-how in planning and engineering, not to mention plain hard work.
First, all the river craft, with the exception of the Mark Twain and the Columbia, had to be removed from the river — rafts, canoes and keel boats — and trnasported to the West Street service area for storage and rehabilitation. Incidentally, the personnel in that area are now referring to it as "the shipyard." The keel boats and rafts, beause of their size, were removed and transported by a 25-ton crane.
This heavy work was limited to Mondays and Tuesdays, when the park was closed, but according to those in charge of the project, a great deal of preparation work was accomplished while guests were in the Park.
The Disneyland waterways are all on a connecting system, with the exception of the Submarine's filtered lagoon and cavern, and begin in the "headwaters" of the Rivers of America. They either flow visibly from one to the other, or by way of an underground by-pass.
So, in order to divert the water flow for the duration of the project, 1,500 lineal feet of 10-in. by-pass has been laid. This is between the temporary recirculation pump in the desert area of Nature's Wonderland and the mouth of the Jungle Rivers under the bridge near the Chicken Plantation.
Last, but not least, sandbagged weirs, or dykes, have been constructed at both outlets of the big river and the signal will be given to start draining at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 29th. It is estimated that it will be completely drained by 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 31st.
It's perfectly natural to wonder where over six million gallons of water will go in 57 1/2 hours. Disneylanders will be glad to know that the water, will not flood the streets of Anaheim, but will be drained into the Anaheim sewer system and absorbed into the ground to be reclaimed by Orange County farmers for their thirsty crops.
The draining is only the beginning. Within the next eight weeks, all craft will undergo complete overhalu, repair and repainting to maintain the Disneyland "new-look" that is so famous. The Tom Sawyer Island caves, tree house, fishing docks and Fort Wilderness will receive a complete clean-up and spruce-up job, as well as any necessary repairs.
In addition, a new generator will be installed on the Sailing Ship Columbia and the H-beam rail, which guides the Mark and the Columbia, will undergo general repair and over-all improvement.
The entire river project is scheduled for completion about the middle of December and the river traffic should be back in full swing for the Chirstmas holidays.
Scott J. Tepper solves the Disneyland Album Cover Mystery!
I was asked if I knew any information about the photo on the cover of the John Fahey album, “Of Rivers and Religion” (shown above). I wrote a post about it, and as it turns out, one of the people involved in the photo shoot recently reached out to me and gave the 411 behind this little known piece of Disneyland history. Here is the story that Scott J. Tepper (credited as the location scout on the liner notes) told me when I interviewed him.
How Scott met John Fahey: Scott was a brand new lawyer in the Los Angeles area. He moved from a firm in Santa Monica to one in the Mid-Wilshire area, focusing on selective service draft work. The attorneys there typically represented labor unions, communists, the blacklisted, and eventually political activist and philosopher Angela Davis. John had tax issues, and attorney Harry Margolis (who was indicted but acquitted for tax fraud in 1977) was assisting him. Scott became friends with the musicians that worked with his firm, even if he wasn’t all that crazy about their genre of music. In March of 1972, Fahey told Scott, “I just finished this album with an orchestra, and I have no idea for the cover.” When Scott heard the title, “Of Rivers and Religion,” he immediately thought of the Rivers of America at Disneyland. Reprise Reccords supplied the art director/photographer, Ed Thrasher, who told Scott, “This is your idea, so I want to see what it is.” The three went to Disneyland to see if the Mark Twain would work as the subject of the album cover. The day they visited, it wasn’t working. In addition, Thrasher realized what sounded good was not going to work out through his lens. “I can’t get the river AND the Twain in the frame. I also can’t really tie rivers to religion as it is, but while we’re here, let’s look around.” Scott was familiar with the Park from his childhood, so he guided Ed and John around. When he saw one of the Tom Sawyer rafts/barges, things began to come together.
Ed grabbed some of the cast members who were hanging out on the Mark Twain and asked if they were interested in making $5 posing for photos. “Do you have any other clothes?” Ed asked them. “We have rags that we work with,” they replied. Approximately ten cast members donned the old rags, got on the barge, and floated out on the river. Ed took about a half a dozen shots on his old-school Hasselblad camera (which was hidden in Ed’s satchel and snuck into the Park), sliding the plates in and out between each photo. Scott recalls it only taking about five minutes of shooting time before Ed said, “I think I have the photo for the cover!” The amazing part? They did not have permission to shoot a single photo. The Disneyland publicity folk only gave John Fahey permission to scout the location, which really made John and Scott laugh at how everything came together so quickly. Afterwards, Scott heard from John that he told the people at Disneyland that he got the shot he wanted, and the publicity people told him they needed to see it before publication. After viewing the photo, they told John that as long as Disneyland was given credit, all was OK. In those days, they were just happy to get publicity. A very different mindset from how tightly Disney controls their image today. Something like this could never happen now without a resulting lawsuit! Scott never saw Ed again after the shoot. When the album was released, Disneyland was listed as the location (as promised), and Scott’s name was credited for the Location Concept. However, he was not happy that his middle initial was not used!
Scott also shared some memories of going to Disneyland as a child. In 1955 for his mother’s 40th birthday (which in a happy coincidence was July17), the family attended Opening Day. Thanks to the television program, “Walt Disney’s Disneyland,” the entire nation (including the Tepper family) was aware of the impending opening of the Anaheim park. The Teppers lived in Pacific Palisades at the time and hopped in the car for what seemed like a 2.5 hour drive, all on surface streets. They had never been to Anaheim before. Scott remembers the gigantic parking lot full of cars, but nothing like what it would eventually become. He also remembered the thrill of being able to park close to the entrance and seeing the Park when they got out of the car. The family didn’t have much of a wait to get in, but rather just walked right through the turnstiles. There were plenty of 15' high construction walls that day, as not everything had been completed. The family walked around the park and went on some of the attractions, with the favorite being The Rocket to the Moon in Tomorrowland. When Scott exited the attraction, he looked for a restroom. Just one month away from being 10 years old, Scott was fiercely independent and went exploring on his own. He saw a wooden door in one of the construction walls and it opened, revealing a man who asked him, “How can I help you?” Scott told him he was looking for a restroom and the man pointed down to the end of the wall. “There should be some there,” he told the child. “What did that man say to you?” Scott’s mother asked him when he returned. “Do you know who that was? That was Walt Disney!” Scott remembers his demeanor was kind, like a favorite uncle. Walt even seemed a bit bemused, especially since Scott had no idea who he was.
As for the oft-told stories about guests having to buy beverages because there weren’t enough water fountains, yes…that was true. Scott’s father was an orthodontist, so he was not crazy about having to buy sugary soft drinks for his kids. As for choosing between water fountains and restrooms, Scott says “Walt made the right decision!” He remembers it was a very hot day and that his father’s Buick sank into the recently paved asphalt of the parking lot. This made him even less happy than having to buy soda!
If you’re wondering how the Teppers got into Disneyland on opening day…so did I! One of Dr. Tepper’s patients was Annette Funicello. He took a technique from the 1930s and became the pioneer of removable braces in the early 1950s. Once the word got out, he got the business of every child actor in Hollywood. They all came to him so that they could have the removable braces, allowing them to snap them out before a scene. This helped give Dr. Tepper connections with everyone, including the rest of the Mousketeers. Years later, he also helped teen idol David Cassidy straighten his teeth.
And there you have it. The mystery of the album cover has been solved!
WHERE, BUT IN DISNEYLAND?
by: Mark Tapscott
Many of you have at sometime in your lives, visited one or more of the nations famous art galleries and have marveled at the beauty and realism of the paintings and sculpture. But, did you know that here inthe Magic Kingdom we have a collection of art as worthy of acclaim as any of the paintings of the old masters?
Disneyland's life-like animation is just that, and with good reason. Where, but in Disneyland would a famous artist be employed to maintain the savage likeness of head hunters and hungry crocodiles, the beauty of graceful deer and mermaids, and the realism a giant squid and moray eels?
And who would be more qualified than Disneyland's pictorial artist Arnaldo Rubio. Arnaldo, a graudate of Mexico's National Academy of Fine Arts and protege' of Ramos Martinez, famous Mexican artist, is honored to the present generation and to posteriry with an array of paintings which have been acclaimed across the land.
To name a few: "Atlas" which hangs in the world famous Corcoran Galleries in Washington, D.C.; "The Flower Market," a mural enlivening the Leland Stanford University Gallery; and "The Ascension," A noted mural in St. Mary's Church in Los Angeles. Many of the well known murals which helped to acclaim the Los Angeles Public Library as one of the most renowned, are the works of Arnaldo.
When Arnaldo came to the Park a year and a half ago, he found that painting at Disneyland was an experience quite different than any he'd ever had. Here an artist is required to carry his pallet and brushes into dense jungles across vast plains and deserts thorugh hostile Indian country so that Disneyland's guests may enjoy more realistic trips on the Jungle Rivers of the World and across the arid wastes of the Painted Desert.
Unlike the paintings that hang in the nation's galleries, Disneyland's works of art must be continually retouched and sometimes re-created. Our galleries are found in many corners of the 160 acre area — under the mucky waters of jungle rivers, in the depths of the sea, atop a wooded hill or along a desert path exposed to wind, sun and rain.
And unlike the paintings, our masterpieces are not done in the usual oils but with specailly developed paints to withstand the weather and the prolonged emmersion in the water to reain the life-like animation Walt Disney created.
Where, but in Disneyland would an artist with pallet and paints exchange an easel and canvas for a friendly Indian or an African native?
