Part III: TV Saves Disneyland
Our Story So Far: A site has been selected for Disneyland and we now know what the place is going to look like. Depsite his best efforts, Walt Disney has been unable to secure enough financing to begin serious construction of Disneyland. Now, help will come from an unlikely source.
Walt Disney was in trouble. His funds for the building of Disneyland were quickly dwindiling away. Unless he came up with some serious backing, his park would never see the light of day. The banks had all refused to help Walt so where was he going to get it? Luckily for him there was one company that was just dying to get into business with Disney and would do just about anything to do it.
The ABC Network had long been after Walt Disney to produce programs for its network. Desperate to win ratings, ABC offered to help with the costs of the park in exchange for a weekly program. Keep in mind that in this era, TV was still a relatively new technology.The networks were all looking for some sort of outstanding content and programs to keep people watching. Many Hollywood filmmakers were strongly opposed to television because they feared it would keep people from going out to the movies and watching their films. However, Walt was the first producer to see the possiblities in television as far as adverstising and creating public awareness. Walt quickly agreed to the deal and he would soon have some serious funds at his disposal.
In exchange for the weekly program, ABC agreed to invest $500,000 for a 34.5% interest in the park. The company also agreed to loan Walt up to $4.5 million to cover costs of the park. Each television show would be one hour and would be hosted by Walt Disney himself. The first show put out was all about creating awareness for Disneyland. The episodes would be built around providing a different story from one of the themed lands in Disneyland (Adventureland,Tommorrowland, Fantasyland and Frontierland). Naturally the show was titled "Walt Disney's Disneyland".
The premier episode of "Disneyland" debuted on ABC Sunday, October 27, 1954. This was the public's first real look at Disneyland the place. People around Southern California had been hearing for months how Walt Disney was planning on building an "amusment park" in Anahiem, but now they would actually get to see the place. Walt was about to take them on a little journey.
The show opened with Walt in the "Disneyland Planning Room" at the Disney Studio's in Burbank. After a brief intro, Walt Disney unvieled Disneyland to the American public. Using a beautifly drawn map of Disneyland by Disney artist Peter Ellenshaw, Walt described what the park was to be.
Walt Disney presents Disneyland to the world
Aerial footage of the Anahiem site was shown along with a huge model of Disneyland that Walt used to describe the layouts of the park.
Walt describes the different lands in Disneyland
The show also included a promise by Walt that the park would be open in approximatley one year. Pretty bold statement, considering that much of the park was still just orange groves.
Reaction to the show was overwhelmingly positive and the public wanted more.
Meanwhile, down in Anahiem, construction of the park was proving to be more difficult and costly than they thought it would. No one had ever attempted anything quite like Disneyland before and crews were begining to realize why. Would Walt's team of construction men and artists be able to pull this project off? The story continues..
Up Next: Building the Dream
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