More "America Sings", September 1983
Hopefully you've seen the first installment of photos (taken by Lou Perry and scanned/shared by Sue B) from "America Sings". They are unusually nice, with some startling closeups that you don't tend to see elsewhere. Great job, Lou!
Here's a disreputable piano-playing pig; Wikipedia says that you'd see him during the "Gay 90s" section during the song "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay". I believe that this animatronic was later repurposed as a female pig for the big showboat finale scene in Splash Mountain.
One of my faint memories from America Sings is these Cancan chickens (again, "Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"?), and their rather slow and arthritic kicks - the limits of technology did them no favors. These gals also appeared in the Splash Mountain finale.
There was a Geese Quartet that performed several songs, including "She May Be Somebody's Mother" / "The Bowery" / "After the Ball" (from "The Gay 90s"), "Ja-Da" / "Darktown Strutters' Ball" / "Singin' in the Rain" (from "Modern Times"), and more.
From the "Headin' West" portion of the show, this "Sombrero-wearing dog" sang (wait for it), "Who Shot The Hole in My Sombrero?".
And finally, another scene from The Gay 90s, with a bird in a gilded cage singing "A Bird in a Gilded Cage". Who could have predicted it!
MANY THANKS to Lou Perry and to Sue B. for sharing these wonderful photos of a long-extinct attraction!
19 comments:
Major-
Once again - great images, all.
Yes, "Who Shot That Hole In My Sombrero-?... who put that bullet through my heeeeead-?" Imagine my surprise many years ago while rummaging through used 78's that I happened across a recording of that song by none other than Rex Allen & His Orchestra. Too bad that version of "... Sombrero" wasn't used in America Sings.
Thanks again to Lou's fine camera work - and Sue, too-!
I saw America Sings in 1975 and... I remember almost none of it. I don't know why. I think I have vague flickerings of the piano-playing pig and the dancing chickens. And the gyrating, long-haired stork(?). Other than that, it's a complete blank.
Like Major said, these really are good, clear, close-up photos that Lou Perry took. Pretty amazing, actually!
Are we sure that's a goose in the third photo? He looks more like a seagull, or an albatross, or some other sea bird.
Major, maybe the dancing chickens had arthritic movements because they weren't 'spring chickens' anymore; old hens who stopped laying eggs long ago. ;-)
Wonderful photos, Mr. Perry! Thanks, Sue and Major.
The piano playing pig was from the MODERN TIMES sequence … his song “Eight to the Bar” was the last song that preceding “rock n roll” the female pig singing “won’t you come home Bill Bailey” was from the GAY 90’s sequence and was performed by Golden Hoeshoe Star Betty Taylor.
Despite all the “advancements” in AA technology… the figures in AMERICA SINGS were some of the most amazingly accurate figures in look to their concept design and their actual motion. Whatever advancements we have today , AA figures just seem to fluidly flail their arms around ….. definitely not programmed by trained animators or people who studied anatomy and movement. I wonder what AA figure technology would have become had they not sold it off to other vendors??
Like the MICKEY MOUSE REVUE was sent to Tokyo Disneyland , AMERICA SINGS was also expected to be sent to Japan . In its place a NEW version of the Carousel of Progress was intended for Disneyland called THE CENTURY OF PROGRESS - once America Sings vacated . If any of you have the WDI Field guide for Walt Disney World , a concept rendering of the final act of CENTURY OF PROGRESS is mistakenly tagged as WDW COP…. Showing cousin Orville on the incoming tv-phone screen giving the family sitting in a circular rotating living room a New Year’s Day greeting . While AMERICA SINGS always seemed an odd fit in Tomorrowland, it beats any of the crap junk things that have gone into former carousel theater …. Talk about an embarrassment to the legacy of WED Imagineering!!
In addition to what Mike said, the piano playing pig from Act 4 did appear in the finale of Splash Mt. and was playing a piano on the showboat. MIKE, what happened to all those America Sings figures? Were they thrown in a dumpster or will they be cannibalized for parts?
Also, that bird with the red-tipped beak isn't one of the barbershop quartet set of geese. He was on the opposite side of the stage, in the clutches of a Police Dog holding a billy club. He was introduced by Eagle Sam as "Blossom Nose Murphy," and he sang "Sweet Adeline" with back up from the barber shop quartet geese. He drunkenly sings his song, and he is holding a liquor bottle in one hand, but at the end of his song, it's the Police Dog character who hiccups.
Thanks you Lou, Sue, and Major, for more America Sings pics!
Upon taking a second look, we can see a couple of the policeman's fingers on the collar of Blossom Nose Murphy's coat. We can also see a portion of his liquor bottle, in the lower left corner of the pic. I suppose Disney would steer clear of having any depiction of a drunk character in an attraction. How long before they take the bottles out of the pirates hands in POTC, and give them Starbuck's coffee cups? Or Zingers?
Unlike JB, I remember every. single. syllable of this attraction. I suppose this is officially an attraction and not a "ride", although you do ride in it. The ride part was the best. It was so wonderfully smooth. A friend of mine wrote a sit com scene that took place in a revolving restaurant: but the revolver was kind of broken so everyone would suddenly jerk around back and forth. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in life. Have no memory what the sit com was: other than we had to sit through multiple retakes. The Disneyland carrousel was like a ride on butter. I've seen photos of the underneath: it's rather simple looking actually. I've told the tales of fighting to stay awake in this show: it was so very painful....it was so wonderfully cool, and towards the tail end of a tour: and it makes sense now that to fall asleep I need to listen to TV shows that I've seen hundreds of times: knowing every line so my brain doesn't really need to "listen" or process it. I'm not sure I could take falling asleep now to America Screams: or perhaps if I give it a try it would be like taking an ambien. I do agree with Mike that at least it was a well constructed show: and so much better than any other occupation since. I remember seeing something with a segway...(?) Such a sad transition to one of the greatest attractions of the 20th century. Thanks Lou and Sue and Major
“… disreputable piano-playing pig… …slow arthritic kicks…”
Hey, I resemble that remark!
I’m with JB, I have very little recall of this attraction. I remember riding it with my high school friends who were laughing uproariously at the music selections. For us at the time, modern 70’s rock and roll was the only thing in town and the tunes here were painfully out of date. I don’t think I ever rode it again. Of course now I regret that, and cannot change the channel fast enough to shut down 70’s rock and roll in favor of Lawrence Welk. In spite of the perspective gained with age, I think this attraction was a clunker, maybe the first ever for Disney as far I was concerned, and nothing in that location since has been any better.
My heartfelt sympathy to Bu for having it memorized.
Lou and Sue, very grateful for these excellent pictures.
Thanks Major!
JG
@ Bu-
"A friend of mine wrote a sitcom scene that took place in a revolving restaurant..."
That sounds like "The Grand Opening" episode from The Larry Sanders Show - one of the most-brilliant shows ever written. Also, one of the shows I use to 'fall asleep' - although uncontrolled laughter becomes a downside...
The piano-playing pig looks to be a caricature of jazz great Fats Waller, including the derby. Imagineer Al Bertino was the model for Big Al in the Country Bear Jamboree, and an admiring (or disgruntled) sculptor must have slipped in a spoof of Walt himself, someplace.
An oddity: on commercial recordings of America Sings, the hole-in-the-sombrero guy has a stereotypical Mexican accent ("Did he shoot me beecoz I keest his wife?") I wonder if that ever played in the attraction, and if criticism from the public or management had it changed pronto.
When Splash Mountain opened articles noted it was by far the most expensive amusement park ride ever built, but for me it had a second-hand feel, with most of the animals from America Sings. Count me among the disgruntled; the critters were better utilized the first time.
Thanks to all for this look at a classic.
Nanook, gosh, with Rex Allen’s involvement with the Carousel of Progress, it seems like they really could have used him in “America Sings”! Maybe he wasn’t interested.
JB, yes, my memories are faint, mostly of the annoying “Pop goes the weasel” gag. I was a little bit embarrassed, maybe I was just at that age when I was embarrassed by everything. And yes, the stork, and his hair, are vivid! A sea bird? SEA BIRD? I’ve never heard anything so preposterous in my life! That is clearly an Oxnard Goose! I wish “America Sings” was mostly about the tragedy of older chickens no longer laying eggs. HARD FACTS.
Mike Cozart, Wikipedia strikes again! I’ve seen Marc Davis’s drawings for “America Sings”, and they really did capture the look of his artwork to a surprising degree. I don’t know if Garner Holt does ALL of Disney’s AA figures nowadays? Or are there multiple companies? They generally move quite well, but I agree with you, an animator who has spent his/her whole life observing how things move would be a good person to have on hand. Maybe a gesture could be reduced, but made more believable. I am kind of surprised that America Sings was not moved to another park, but I guess by then they already had a use for the figures in Splash Mountain, which was a pretty cool way to reuse SO MANY figures.
TokyoMagic!, I’ve wondered the same thing! I think there is some sort of big “final scene” in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, did they just use the figures and re-skin some of them? I watched a video, but I think I checked out before they got to that point. I’m so ashamed of getting the info about that “goose” (sorry, JB!) wrong that I can never show my face at high school again. Johnny Gubatoni will tease me mercilessly!
TokyoMagic!, I just want more drunk jokes in all Disney rides. MANY more. And why can we have fart jokes in all of the movies, but not one in the attractions? I’m writing to my representatives.
Bu, this is one case where I can’t say I’m super jealous that you spent so much time viewing an extinct attraction! It’s still sort of cool that you knew it so well, but at some point I became less fond of the “singing critters” shows, including Country Bears. I know, heresy. Gosh, I wonder what sitcom had that scene with the rotating restaurant? It would have required some sort of giant turntable set, which sounds expensive. I’ve only been in one or two rotating restaurants, and a few years back I was up in the Space Needle, it’s fun to look through the “glass” floor at the slowly turning gears. There was no restaurant at the time, though maybe they sometimes have events up there? I would be worried about falling asleep in an attraction, especially while giving a guided tour. What if they caught you snoring??
JG, I did not mean to cast aspersions! I think “Joy To the World” was a pretty recent song, but it’s one of those “rock” songs that you can play for children and grandmas without concern. I wish they’d done “Walk On the Wild Side” instead, now that would have been entertaining. Or “Beat On the Brat” by the Ramones! Lawrence Welk started doing his version of rock (or pop) songs, as I have mentioned with “Windy” by The Association.
Nanook, oh wow, The Larry Sanders Show was awesome!
Stefano, that could definitely be a caricature that was meant to resemble Fats Waller! Interesting about the version of the hole-in-the-sombrero song with the Mexican accent on the record. I would bet that it debuted that way and was quickly changed, as you suggested, but I’d love to know for sure. I was more fond of Spash Mountain than I was of “America Sings”, but I know that I am in the minority.
"Whatever advancements we have today , AA figures just seem to fluidly flail their arms around ….. definitely not programmed by trained animators or people who studied anatomy and movement. I wonder what AA figure technology would have become had they not sold it off to other vendors??"
Amen!!!
Could be wrong, but I faintly recall reading that the sombrero song was re-recorded before opening when there was some noise about it. Also possibly wrong, but I remember the punchline as being "My ex-wife must be back in town". The singer is still Rex Allen, who narrated several Disney animal features and featurettes, like "Charlie the Lonesome Cougar".
Another liquor reference: A sad-looking little mother rabbit, surrounded by her offspring, singing about her wandering boy in the licensed saloon. It was meant to kid the "Father Dear Father" tearjerkers, but the rabbits were so cute and pitiful it almost played straight.
The AMERICA SINGS record album was impossible to find by the time I started collecting those things around 5th grade. Disneyland was always out of it … and the record stores at the time could not place special orders from suppliers until they met a certain quantity of albums … And for some reason the Disney park records were only sold in large Disney record assortments so other stores had to wait till their supplies ran low enough before a new order came in. I used to borrow a neighbors copy of AMERICA SINGS ( the version without the book) then in 6th grade a friend of mine traded me his America Sings album with book for my Star Wars moon synthesizer album . I played that AMERICA SINGS album more than any other record … the “Yankee doodle” sequences always reminded me of the excitement of the theater rotating. I too knew to - and still do know ever part of the attraction to the second.
There was two musical changes done to AMERICA SINGS attraction prior to the grand opening to the public. The press and Disney employee preview version of the show ( included on the press preview giveaway record album) featured the Dog on the pack Mule singing in a heavy exaggerated Mexican accent “who shot that hole in my sombrero “ with the ending of “hey mister … I’m not the man who just yer sister …!” . After some input from Disneyland employees this was quickly changed to a “Gunsmoke - Festis “ sounding dog and the tail end of the song being changed to “you don’t reckon my old wife is back in town ..”
The songs for AMERICA SINGS were picked out by animator's/designers Marc Davis and Al Bertino …. And all the songs had to be actually written by AMERICANS …. They could not be war songs …. They could not be about drugs …. Or obscene things. They also needed to be evocative of the selected scenes.
Another change that took place was early during the attraction previews guests were taking a long time to exit and enter the theaters and often caused a delay in starting the show …. Which caused delays in all the individual theaters … so an instrumental version of COLUMBIA THE GEM OF THE OCEAN was recorded to use as “over run / hold “ music . As time went on these delays didn’t happen and that track wasn’t needed.
If you look at my blog TOMORROWLOUNGE I show photos of the below stage of AMERICA SINGS as well as the stages days before the theaters were gutted.
@ MIKE-
There's another [or maybe the same-?] version of "Who Shot the Hole In My Sombrero?" - from America Sings, sung in a 'heavily-Mexican accented' voice, ending with "Was it Pancho, from the rancho-? Did he do this because I kissed his wife-?" This is an original lyric from the song. Many sources give singing credit to Rex Allen, but the accent sounds nothing like his 1949 recording of the song - which may mean nothing, of course. If there originally was a verse used in America Sings with the word 'sister', that's not a part of the song's original lyrics - same with the tag line: "You don't reckon my ex-wife is back in town-??"
NANOOK : yes that was the Mexican accent version I mentioned that played during the press and employee preview only . It was replaced with the “gunsmoke - Festus Kincaid “ sound alike version prior to the grand opening.
"A friend of mine wrote a sit com scene that took place in a revolving restaurant: but the revolver was kind of broken so everyone would suddenly jerk around back and forth. It was one of the funniest things I've seen in life. Have no memory what the sit com was: other than we had to sit through multiple retakes."
Bu, am I reading that right?! You were in it?? If yes, I'm going to have to find a clip of it!
Thanks, all, for the kind words and fun comments.
I currently am chuckling, thinking that while my dad was snapping these pictures, Bu may have been a couple seats over, dozing off [and maybe even snoring a bit]. :o)
I know we've seen several posts with photos of America Sings, but this is the first time I noticed the backgrounds. They have a simplified cartoonish look, almost like backgrounds from Schoolhouse Rock.
Mike, you answered a question I have had for almost 30 years. In the 1990s, someone gave me a bunch of "bootleg" soundtracks for many DL attractions, spanning several decades. That version of America Sings was one of the audio tracks, but this person didn't know if that heavily accented dog ever made it into the final attraction, and if so, how long it lasted. Thanks for answering those questions! I guess that is sort of an audio equivalent of the Haunted Mansion's "Hat Box Ghost." There for such a very short time, but did exist. I guess in the case of America Sings, the general public never got to hear that bit of audio. It's just as well, since it was found to be offensive.
I remember buying the soundtrack to America Sings in the Character Shop, the summer that Space Mountain opened. I was hesitant, because I wasn't sure if Disney would actually release a soundtrack to one of their attractions, in it's entirety. I was hoping that it wasn't someone "narrating" the experience, with just snippets of the attraction audio. I was very pleased to have it be the entire show, including the entrance and exit music. On my next couple visits to the park, I picked up the Enchanted Tiki Room and Country Bear Jamboree soundtracks, and was equally as pleased.
Post a Comment