America Sings
The ride's soundtrack cover
Disneyland
AreaTomorrowland
StatusRemoved
Opening dateJune 29, 1974
Closing dateApril 10, 1988
ReplacedCarousel of Progress
Replaced byInnoventions
Star Wars Launch Bay
Ride statistics
Attraction typeRotating Theater
DesignerWED Enterprises
ModelCarousel Theater
ThemeAmerican Musical History
MusicBuddy Baker
Hosted byEagle Sam (Burl Ives)
The Owl (Sam Edwards)
Additional VoicesRex Allen
Sue Allen
Mic Bell
Ray Campi
Peggy Clark
Bill Cole
Mac Curtis
Jewel Hall
Geary Hanley
Bill Lee
Diana Lee
Ray McKinley
Gene Merlino
Tim Morgon
Lloyd Perryman
Cheryl Poole
Jean Ritchie
Scuffy Shew
Betty Taylor
Jerry Whitman
Chill Wills
Audio-Animatronics115
SponsorDel Monte Foods

America Sings was an attraction at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, United States, from 1974 to 1988.[1] It featured a cast of audio animatronics animals singing songs from various periods in America's musical history, often in a humorous fashion.[2]

History

America Sings exterior

America Sings opened on June 29, 1974, replacing the General Electric-sponsored Tomorrowland attraction Carousel of Progress, which had moved to the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in 1973. America Sings used the same Carousel Theater as its predecessor. The building had an outer ring of six theaters, connected by divider walls, that revolved 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 rotated in a counterclockwise direction. Also, unlike Carousel of Progress, America Sings only used the lower level of the Carousel Theater. The upper level was eventually used to house the SuperSpeed Tunnel in 1977 (which later became themed to the Game Grid from the 1982 film Tron) that the PeopleMover transportation attraction passed through.

Written primarily by Marc Davis and Al Bertino, America Sings featured a singing cast of audio-animatronics animals. The show's Masters of Ceremonies were an American bald eagle named Sam (voiced by Burl Ives) and an owl (voiced by Sam Edwards). 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 1984 Summer Olympics.

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, the lights blacked out, and the theater illuminated with flashing stars; during the rotations, Sam sang about the next era the audience was about to enter, reprising the chorus of "Yankee Doodle".[3]

Also, at some point in each act, the Weasel would suddenly appear on the scene, spouting the title line, "Pop, Goes the Weasel!" for a total of five times. At the very end of the show, he changed the line to, "Goodbye, Goes the Weasel!"

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

Death of Deborah Gail Stone

On July 8, 1974, nine days after the attraction opened, an 18-year-old hostess, named Deborah Gail Stone, was accidentally crushed to death between two walls of the building at 10:37 p.m. A narrow channel that provided the show's movement between an inside stage stationary wall and the rotating wall was open and Stone either fell, stepped backwards, got down there, or tried to jump from one stage to the other as the rotating wall began to move (it moved every 2 to 4 minutes, which was how long each act was). Her death was pronounced at 11:00 p.m., when the carousel was being reset for a new cycle. One of the audience members heard Stone's screams and notified park staff. Others thought it was a part of the show. By the time the audience member and the staff got to her, Stone had already died from her injuries. Stone's parents sued Disneyland for the death of their daughter, which resulted in a small settlement.[4][5]

Following Stone's death, the attraction was closed down, remaining closed while Disney installed warning lights and had the area where the incident occurred cleaned. Later, the walls in the theater were remodeled so that they would break away in case a similar accident happened. The attraction reopened on July 11, three days after the incident.

Closure

America Sings was born out of the company's desire to celebrate the United States Bicentennial. It did not quite fit the theme of Tomorrowland, but its relevance to that period in the United States made it appropriate. However, once the Bicentennial was over, the attraction became more misplaced. Disney's Imagineering team began developing new ideas for Tomorrowland, that included a new show in the carousel theater more fitting for the land of the future. Separately, in the summer of 1983, the idea for a log flume attraction for Disneyland that would become Splash Mountain was conceived by Imagineer and Disney Legend Tony Baxter.[6] Knowing America Sings was eventually to close for a more appropriately themed show, the idea developed to move most of America Sings' Audio-Animatronic figures into Splash Mountain.

Some Audio-Animatronic geese were taken out of the attraction. Their outer "skin" was removed, leaving only the robotic skeletons. Their heads were then replaced, and they were used as two G2 droids in the queue to Star Tours, which would open in early 1987.[7] One of them (named G2-9T) still sings a modified "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (retitled "I've Been Looking at the Same Bag") in Star Tours: The Adventures Continue. As a result, the geese quartets in Acts 1 and 2 became trios until America Sings closed on April 10, 1988.

Within days of the closure of America Sings, crews began to move most of the Audio-Animatronic figures to Splash Mountain, which opened in the summer of 1989. The rock and roll stork in the finale is now used by Imagineers for training new animatronics programmers.

The Carousel Theater was used as office space for ten years. During this time, the carousel theater's external appearance was unchanged, and the upper level continued to house the Tron tunnel for the PeopleMover until that attraction ceased to operate in 1995. A large sign in front of the building showed Sorcerer Mickey alongside text reading, "Sorry, we're closed to imagineer a brand new attraction." However, the building was not touched for nearly a decade. For a few years, during the planned "Disney Decade" started by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner, a new Audio-Animatronic show called Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue was planned 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 had landed in Tomorrowland. The idea was part of the original "Tomorrowland 2055" plan and was planned to open around 1994. However, Disneyland Paris, which opened in 1992, ended up costing the Disney company billions of dollars putting them in debt, so "Tomorrowland 2055" was scrapped due to budget considerations.

From its closure until 1996, the inside of the lower level of the Carousel Theater was used for storage and office space, leaving remnants of sets and backdrops as well as the theater seats. America Sings was replaced in 1998 by Innoventions, a version of the Epcot attraction of the same name, as part of the Tomorrowland update of that year. The building was then redesigned and reopened in 2015 as the Tomorrowland Expo Center, hosting the Star Wars Launch Bay.[8]

Cast

  • Burl Ives – Eagle Sam
  • Sam Edwards – Owl
  • Rex Allen – "Sombrero" Dog
  • Sue Allen – Collegiate Quartet Member
  • Mic Bell – Alligator, Biker Bird, "Rattle and Roll" Frog, "Rattle and Roll" Stork
  • Ray Campi – Swamp Boy
  • Peggy Clark – Collegiate Quartet Member
  • Bill Cole – Boothill Boy, Collegiate Quartet Member, Tenor Fox, Singing Goose
  • Mac Curtis – Swamp Boy
  • Jewel Hall – Biker Chick
  • Geary Hanley – Swamp Boy
  • Bill Lee – Boothill Boy, Collegiate Quartet Member, Singing Goose
  • Diana Lee – "The Wandering Boy's" Mother
  • Ray McKinley – Piano Pig
  • Gene Merlino – Singing Goose
  • Tim Morgan – Rock and Roll Stork
  • Lloyd Perryman – "Home on the Range" Dog
  • Cheryl Poole – Gilded Cage Chicken
  • Jean Ritchie – Mother Opossum
  • Scuffy Shew (Harold "Hal" Yoergler) – Convict Fox
  • Betty Taylor – Bill Bailey Pig
  • Jerry Whitman – Singing Goose
  • Chill Wills – Saddlesore Swanson

The songs

Norman "Buddy" Baker arranged a selection of songs chosen to represent a panoramic view of American music.[9]

Intro

Act 1 – The Deep South

Act 2 – Headin' West

Act 3 – The Gay '90s

Act 4 – Modern Times

Epilogue

References

  1. ↑ Strodder, Chris (2017). The Disneyland Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). Santa Monica Press. p. 51. ISBN 978-1595800909.
  2. ↑ Gennawey, Sam (2014). The Disneyland Story: The Unofficial Guide to the Evolution of Walt Disney's Dream. Keen Communications. pp. 264–265. ISBN 978-1-62809-012-3.
  3. ↑ Complete show script from DisneyPhenom.com (via archive.org). and complete script at Operation Preserve Disneyland. Archived October 25, 2009.
  4. ↑ Remembering Deborah - July 8, 1974
  5. ↑ Mouseplanet: In Memory
  6. ↑ "Song of the South.net - Splash Mountain: Facts and Trivia". www.songofthesouth.net. Retrieved 2017-09-15.
  7. ↑ Strodder, Chris (23 March 2015). The Disneyland Book of Lists. Santa Monica Press. ISBN 9781595808264.
  8. ↑ Glover, Erin (15 August 2015). "Star Wars Enhancements, New Experiences Coming Soon to Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts". 15 August 2015. The Disney Parks Blog. Retrieved 16 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "Guide to the Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection". Fales Library and Special Collections. New York University Libraries. 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2007.

33°48′43″N 117°55′00″W / 33.81194°N 117.91667°W / 33.81194; -117.91667

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