On the evening of Wednesday, October 27, 1954, at 7:30 p.m., most people watching television tuned into ABC to catch the premiere of a new program hosted by famed producer Walt Disney called Disneyland. It was during the first 15 minutes or so that they learned in detail of a new kind of amusement park: a clean, family-friendly park consisting of different themed areas. Not coincidentally this "theme park" would also go by the name of Disneyland. Walt first had the idea for such a park in the 1940s. It has often been told that on Sundays he would take his daughters Diane and Sharon to small amusement parks. Watching them play, he would ponder the idea of a clean and safe place where children and their parents could have fun together. He eventually looked into developing such a park on a small parcel of land next to his Burbank, California, studios. Walt's ideas continued to grow and eventually went beyond the perimeters of that initial spot in Burbank. He later bought 160 acres of orange groves in Anaheim, 30 miles south of Los Angeles. To build the park itself would require millions of dollars. Walt found the answer for a significant amount of the funding in television. In exchange for a weekly one-hour show on ABC, the network would put up $500,000 in cash and guarantee $4.5 million in loans. Additionally, ABC would have one-third ownership in the park. Walt would eventually buy out their share and the Disney company would wholly own Disneyland.

By the time of the October 1954 premiere, work in Anaheim was fully underway. Over the course of the following 10 months, Walt would provide periodic updates on construction and planned attractions. The final report, which aired on July 13, 1955, showed work going literally at a breakneck pace, courtesy of special stop-motion photography. But would the park be completed in time for the scheduled Sunday, July 17th opening and a live coast-to-coast telecast? As it would turn out, yes and no.

"Black Sunday" would be the term used by Walt and others to describe Disneyland’s first day. Rides broke down. Women lost their high heel shoes in fresh asphalt. There were too few water fountains and restrooms. Thousands of uninvited guests came through the turnstiles, thanks to counterfeited tickets. In due course these problems would be dealt upon. But for at least 90 minutes that hot afternoon, there was a live special to broadcast.

Keeping with the Disney tradition of innovation, Dateline: Disneyland was the most ambitious remote broadcast of a major event todate. Walt chose three popular celebrities to serve as emcees: Art Linkletter, host of CBS's long-running daytime variety show House Party; Bob Cummings, star of several silly situation comedies during the 1950s and '60s including Love That Bob and My Living Doll; and movie actor Ronald Reagan, who would achieve his greatest success as the 1980s host of Presidential Press Conferences and The State of the Union Address. All three would rotate hosting chores in various segments. The program opens with the Walt Disney’s Disneyland title, as it fades into a smoke-filled press room and brief remarks by a reporter named Hank Weaver: "This afternoon, Disneyland, the world's most fabulous kingdom, will be unveiled before an invitational world premiere and you are guests. Art Linkletter will be your host and with ABC crews and cameras on the spot, will guide you through this truly magic land." In the kinescope film of the special (as high-quality videotape for network use was still a year away from availability), there is a sudden cutaway to Linkletter, who sets the tone for the festivities: "This job for the next hour-and-a-half will be a delight. I feel like Santa Claus with a $17 million bundle of gifts all wrapped in whimsy and sent your way over television with the help of 29 cameras, dozens of crews and literally miles and miles of cable. Now of course this is not so much a show as it is a special event. The rehearsal went about the way you would expect a rehearsal to go if you were covering three volcanoes all erupting at the same time and you didn’t expect any of them! So from time to time if I say we take you now by camera to the snapping crocodiles in Adventureland and instead someone pushes the wrong button and we catch [movie actress] Irene Dunne adjusting her bustle, don’t be too surprised." Remarkably there were few technical glitches, but as you read on, you’ll learn that not everything went smoothly.

As everyone awaits Walt’s arrival on the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad, there are a few moments to introduce co-hosts Bob Cummings and Ronald Reagan. Cummings is particularly overly excited and his extra enthusiasm actually does become something of an annoyance, particularly when he re-introduces himself in nearly all of his segments. At the other end of the spectrum is the much more serious and professional Reagan, and in the middle is the affable easy-going and good-humored Linkletter, who has the most experience in working with the unpredictable elements of live TV. After sending his co-hosts off to their respective first posts, he provides a quick overview of "the eighth wonder of the world":

ADVENTURELAND - a visit by boat to remote and adventurous regions of the world.
TOMMOROWLAND - the time is 1986 there. The place is the city of the future where a trip to the moon is an everyday thing.
FRONTIERLAND - a visit to America’s historic past and Davy Crockett himself there. A legendary land made real.
FANTASYLAND - this is really the theme symbol of the whole Disneyland and the thing nearest and dearest to Walt Disney’s heart.

The helicopter port and the large parking lot are pointed out as a steady stream ofguests - invited and uninvited - enter through the tunnel beneath the railroad station and onto Main Street U.S.A., a representation of small town America circa 1900. The camera pans around buildings housing City Hall, Fire Station, Emporium, the Main Street Cinema, the Grand Opera House, as well as the town square where the Disneyland Band is performing. Then its back to the outside perimeter of the park as the E.P. Ripley steam train arrives driven by Engineer Walt along with California Governor Goodwin Knight and then-President of the Santa Fe Railroad, Fred Gurley.

After a quick commercial break, it’s back to the town square where in Reagan’s words, "all activity on Main Street has ceased. And now Walt Disney will step forward to read the dedication of Disneyland." There are cheers and applause as a beaming Walt steps to the microphone:

To all who come to this happy place, Welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.
( Click to hear the dedication - 288 K)

Continued ...

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