#Disneyland60.....Today In Disneyland History......August 20, 1928

First Female Disney Imagineer Harriet Tapp Is Born

                                       August 20, 1928

August 20, 1928, Harriet Burns, then Harriet Tapp, who later married and became Harriet Burns, was born in San Antonio, Texas.  The name may not sound familiar immediately but I guarantee that you know her work for this Disney Imagineer Burns was the first woman ever hired by Walt Disney Imagineering in a creative rather than an office capacity. She began working at Disney Studios in 1955 as a prop and set painter for the Mickey Mouse Club. Later on it was Harriet Burns that helped to create Sleeping Beauty Castle, New Orleans Square, the Haunted Mansion, and Pirates of the Caribbean, and many other theme park and along with many of the 1964-1965

 World's Fair attractions.   Burns may have worked shoulder to shoulder with men in the model shop, wielding saws, lathes, and sanders, she was still the best-dressed employee in the department.

Photo Credit Disney Enterprises Inc. 

“It was the 1950s,” she later explained. “I wore color-coordinated dresses, high heels, and gloves to work. Girls didn’t wear slacks back then, although I carried a pair in a little sack, just in case I had to climb into high places.”  Harriet’s career started after she received her bachelor’s degree in art from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She went on to study advanced design for another year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.

In 1953, she moved to Los Angeles with her husband and small daughter. There, she accepted a part-time position at Dice Display Industries Cooperative Exchange, where she helped design and produce props for television’s Colgate Comedy Hour along with interiors and sets for Las Vegas hotels, including the Dunes. Adept at her work, she was asked to spearhead the creation of the fanciful Southern California tourist destination Santa’s Village, located near Lake Arrowhead.

When Dice went out of business in 1955, a co-employee who had once worked at Disney beat tracks back to the Studio and invited Harriet to come along. She was subsequently hired to paint sets and props for the new Mickey Mouse Club television show. Harriet soon began coordinating the show’s color styling and even designed and built the famous “Mouse Clubhouse.”

She later joined Walt Disney Imagineering, formerly called WED Enterprises, where she helped create Sleeping Beauty Castle, New Orleans Square, the Haunted Mansion, and more. She also helped construct Storybook Land, which features miniature villages inspired by Disney animated movies such as Pinocchio, and designed all of the “singing birds” in the Enchanted Tiki Room, the first Audi- Animatronics^® attraction at Disneyland.

Harriet worked on everything from figure finishing to stage design for attractions featured at the New York World’s Fair in 1964, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress. On occasion, when Walt would introduce new theme park attractions to television audiences, she would appear on segments of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.

After retirement, Harriet remained an active member of the arts and music community in Santa Barbara, California.

 Sadly Harriet Burns passed away on July 25, 2008, in Los Angeles, California but her legacy will live on in the Happiest Place on Earth throughout the generations to come.  And that’s what happened today in Disneyland’s history.  

#Disneyland60.....Today In Disneyland History.....August 9 - 12, 1969

Haunted Mansion Opens

August 9, 1969

“Welcome Foolish Mortals to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host, your ghost host.  Kindly step all the way in to the dead center of the room and make room for everyone. There’s no turning back now and consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out! Of course, there's always my way...”

 On August 9, 1969 The Haunted Mansion opened in New Orleans Square at Disneyland although because of cast and other previews that started on August 7 when the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland opened to Cast Members only, from 7:00 PM to midnight. The attraction would open to the public 2 days later, with the official grand opening taking place on August 12 making it more of an opening weekend extravaganza.

The public opening of the attraction was heralded by a promotional blitz that included the "I Scream" Sundaes sold at Disneyland's Carnation Plaza. Originally conceived in the mid-1950s by Walt Disney as a walk-through ghost house, artist Harper Goff was tapped to conceptually design the attraction. The house originally had a rural American design and was intended to be at the end of a crooked path that led away from Disneyland's "Main Street" area. Eventually the decision was made to place it in the New Orleans Square section of the park.

The Haunted Mansion's design went through many changes before its facade was completed in 1963, six years before it would open to the public, delayed by Disney's involvement in the New York World's Fair in 1964 and 1965. At one point Disney's concept was to be entirely walk-through and empty out at a restaurant with a theme of "The Museum of the Weird." (This would be similar to other rides like Pirates of the Caribbean, which is paired with The Blue Bayou restaurant.) Plans were designed for this concept, but then abandoned.  In what might be considered to be a strange twist to a supposedly abandoned structure, the exterior appears new and the surrounding grounds meticulously maintained. Designers wanted to make the exterior of The Haunted Mansion look like the stereotypical haunted house but Disney himself overrode the idea, claiming, "We'll let the ghosts take care of the inside. We'll take care of the outside."  Did you know that Madame Leota, the medium in the séance room and the tiny talking figure at the end of the ride, is modeled after Imagineer Leota Toombs?

On August 9, 1969, the Disneyland version of the attraction was completed and has remained essentially unchanged, with the exception of the yearly conversion to the "Haunted Mansion Holiday."  45 years later, foolish mortals are still being enticed on a spirited tour via Doom Buggy of this home and estate of a prosperous yet departed sea captain whose elegant 19th-century mansion in the New Orleans Square was once the setting for some of the most prominent social gatherings this side of the Mississippi where several prominent ghosts have retired here from creepy old crypts all over the world. Your Ghost Host is happy to show you their humble abode. Your Doom Buggy will whisk you into the darkest reaches of this mysterious abode packed which is packed by happy haunts and grim grinning ghosts. At the séance in progress, the medium Madame Leota invokes the 999 ghosts, ghouls and goblins that are just dying to meet you! They're looking to fill the 1000th spot in the mansion. “There’s always room for one more.”  And that’s what happened today in Disneyland’s history.

#Disneyland60.....Today In Disneyland History........July 24, 1966

New Orleans Square Opens

July 24, 1966

On July 24, 1966, New Orleans Square opened at Disneyland. New Orleans Square is a themed land based on 19th-century New Orleans. It was the first new land to be added to Disneyland after the park's opening, at a cost of $18 million and covering roughly three acres. It is exclusive to Disneyland, though a similarly themed area can be found within Tokyo Disneyland's Adventureland.

The name is a bit of a misnomer, since the area does not resemble a square so much as an intricate series of "streets" that weave around shops, restaurants, and the  Pirates of the Caribbean,the home of 999 Happy Haunts, The Haunted Mansion and the exclusive, members only Club 33  New Orleans Square was opened to the public on July 24, 1966 with New Orleans Mayor Victor H. Schiro  participating in the dedication ceremony. Schiro announced Walt Disney had been made an honorary citizen of New Orleans; Disney joked the addition cost as much as the original Louisiana Purchase. Sadly, this was to be Walt Disney's last major public appearance at Disneyland before his death in December 1966. And that’s what happened today in Disneyland’s history.