This famous trio helped put the world’s most novel show on the road, in a manner of speaking, July 17, and if you can’t identify each, and name the show in the toot of a whistle you just don’t read the papers or watch TV, Buster. That’s President Gurley of the Nation’s No. 1 RR in the cab; the man in the Hawaiian hat is Walt Disney, and the character in the middle is Mickey Mouse who helped launch Disney to fame. The show? Why, Disneyland, Walt’s magic kingdom of fun at Anaheim, 22 miles from Los Angeles.
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[image]Center of attention is the unique station of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad which forms entrance to Disneyland, (60-acre amusement site created by Walt Disney at Anaheim, Cal., 22 miles from Los Angeles. It is along this track that the Santa Fe Disneyland Limited operates and where elaborate dedication ceremonies were held July 17.[/image]
WITH President Gurley and a tiny (5/8 ths scale) 4-4-0 steam locomotive in co-starring roles, Disneyland, 22 miles from Los Angeles, Cal., opened July 17 with a press, radio and TV fanfare seldom if ever equalled.
Arrival of the first “steam-liner” of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, Walt Disney at the throttle, signaled the start of elaborate dedication ceremonies. With Disney on the locomotive as it steamed to a stop were President Gurley and Governor Goodwin J. Knight of California.
Thousands of invited guests including stars of radio, television, stage and screen cheered lustily as the trio alighted, to be met with out-stretched TV microphone by Art Linkletter, star of the television hit, “People are Funny”, who was master of ceremonies.
As the crowd waited for the train and its celebrated passengers to make its entrance from “’round the bend” in time-honored fashion, Linkletter launched a 90-minute nationwide TV program by describing the approaching event, interviewing members of his family and others.
[image]No historic development was marked with more intense interest than was arrival of the first train of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad to signal opening of Disneyland.[/image]
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