Greetings! My name is Shane Shellenbarger and these are the things which strike my fancy. Areas of expertise and adventure designed to augment our existence.
Roy Disney was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father, Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded. At the time of his death he was a shareholder with over 16 million shares or about 1% and served as a consultant for the company and Director Emeritus for the Board of Directors. He is perhaps best known for organizing the ousting of two top Disney executives: first, Ron Miller in 1984, and then Michael Eisner in 2005
The wonderful thing about the internet is the serendipity of discovery. I was reading Mark Evanier's blog, News From Me, and he had posted a segment of the Hollywood Palace from March 27, 1965. It was Tony Randall introducing Allan Sherman performing his parody of Petula Clark's "Downtown" entitled "Crazy Downtown." I watched and enjoyed that piece, one thing led to another and I came across "Duvid Crockett, King of Delancy Street" by Mickey Katz.
Now I'd never heard of Mickey Katz, but I gather he was a great jewish yiddish entertainer who received his first moments of fame in the 1940s as a member of Spike Jones and His City Slickers. There he was known for his "glugging" vocal sound effects on tunes like "Cocktails for Two" and "Hawaiian War Chant". Katz later went on to perform his own musical review and record highly popular "ethnic" comedy albums on the Capitol label where he would perform English-Yiddish parody songs.
Katz son is Broadway legend, Joel Grey, and his granddaughter is actress Jennifer Grey. The video that follows is Katz parody of the 50's Disney tv theme song to "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier." Have fun!
What follows is a brief excerpt from the film "Back To Neverland." It ran in the Disney-MGM Studios Animation exhibit from 1989 to 2003. The animation is by Frans Vischer with voice by Robin Williams. The live action actors are Walter Cronkite and animator, Bruce Smith.
It is New Years Eve, 1937 and you have been invited to attend a very special party at the Adventurer’s Club, a unique place filled with unique people. You descend the stairs from the Zebra Mezzanine, noting the attendees are world adventurers (or people who claim they are), and the walls of the Main Salon are covered with artifacts and bric-a-brac gathered from locations as diverse as Antarctica to Zanzibar.
You note the bronze statue of Zeus, with his rod and creel. You look up at the stone edifice of Babylonia, goddess of all things fertile and tip your fedora to the Club Gleemeister, Colonel Critchlow Suchbench, who pays you no mind. You jimmy the lock and slip into the Library, moving over to the haunted organ, fish a Liberty half dollar out of the watch pocket of your vest, and drop it into Fingers Zambezi’s over-sized brandy snifter. You hear the sharp crack of knuckles and watch as the keys of the organ seem to move without provocation and the tune, “My Funny Valentine,” fills the Library. You slip out a side door as the main door opens.
Straightening your tie, you walk into the Mask Room and watch for a few minutes as the masks of Arnie and Claude banter back and forth. You feel something brush up against you. You turn and see a maid with auburn tresses who gives you a wink and pops her gum in synchronicity. Graves the butler, standing behind her, clears his throat and she moves off, swishing her feather duster as she goes. Graves addresses you as, “Sir,” and presents a silver tray containing a glass tumbler three quarters filled with a 50-year-old adult beverage. You accept the proffered drink and move on to the Treasure Room as Beezle the genie makes an appearance for the clubs new inductees. He sees you and bows as you incline your head in his direction. Just then, you hear a fanfare coming from the Main Salon and you head back that way. Colonel Suchbench is finishing a song and beginning the official Club Song. You join in.
The Library doors open, initiates, and full members alike enter for the night’s festivities. You take out your pocket watch and note the 10:00 hour. It is just two hours until 1938. You close the watch, replace it in your vest, and follow the crowd into the Library for the evening main entertainment. The preceding is the type of experience and entertainment you could enjoy at the Adventurers Club on Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney while staying at Walt Disney World. Correction, not “could enjoy” but could have enjoyed, because Disney has shuttered the Adventures Club, perhaps forever.
On May 1st, 1989, The Adventures Club opened on Disney’s Pleasure Island along with a number of other clubs, restaurants, and stores at the Walt Disney World Resort. The Disney Imagineers, led by Head Writer, Show Producer, and Show Director, Roger Cox and designer, Joe Rohde (designer of Disney’s Animal Kingdom) styled the interior after a 1937 era private club for explorers and world travelers. The walls of the club were festooned with photographs and artifacts from countless expeditions and explorations. The Adventurers Club featured audio-animatronics, puppets, and a cast of characters and adventurers who performed in scripted shows and improvisational comedy. The shows and cast conversations were often laced with innuendo, while they mingling with the club's patrons who were often referred to as initiates, fellow adventurers, or simply “drunks.”
The cast of live characters were large: Aviator and ladies’ man, Hathaway Browne. Club Treasurer and ichthyologist, Otis T. Wren. Befuddled Club Curator, Fletcher Hodges. Club President and socialite, Pamela Perkins. Explorer and cabaret singer, Samantha Sterling. Junior Adventurer and contender for the Balderdash Cup, Emil Bleehall. The mysterious rarely seen and gypsy, Madame Zarkov, Club Butler and trumpeter of announcements, Graves, along with too many maids to name.
The group of faux cast members included: Club Gleemeister and cable-controlled puppet, Colonel Critchlow Suchbench. The stone-faced goddess of women and all things fertile, Babylonia who would sometimes speak to the mounted animal head of the Yakoose. These three could be found in the Main Salon. In the Mask Room were Arnie and Claude, who were (as you might have guessed) talking masks. The Treasure Room contained the disembodied head of Beezle, a genie. The Library is the domain of the disembodied "Fingers" Zambezi and his haunted organ. Each of these characters is a combination of mechanical magic and human actor.
Lastly, there was the cast of characters who were either only referred to, but never seen, or those who appeared in the early or closing days of the clubs existence: Sutter Bestwick, Emil Bleehall, Sr, Sheila Griffin, Chilton Thompson, and Marcel, a man in an ape suit who appeared in the early days of the club and in the final Hoopla on September 27, 2008, the clubs closing night. Marcel would invite the clubs permanent members to join him on a yearlong safari.
On June 17th, 2008, Disney announced they would be “. . . taking the Downtown Disney experience to the next level. We are doing this through enhancements to existing Downtown Disney locations. Extraordinary new shopping, dining and other experiences including a completely re-imagined Pleasure Island, and enhanced theming and story telling brought to life by Disney Imagineers.” Disney also released the statement that “. . . it’s consistent with our commitment to regularly evaluating and refreshing our product to ensure it is relevant to our Guests and providing them with new and exciting experiences they can only have at Walt Disney World Resort. In addition, our Guests are telling us that they want additional shopping and dining experiences at Downtown Disney and we want to position Downtown Disney for long-term success.”
My interpretation of those statements is the operating costs of the Pleasure Island clubs - 8 Trax, The Adventurer's Club, BET Sound-Stage Club, Mannequins Dance Palace, Motion, and The Comedy Warehouse (my personal favorite) – were too high or the revenues generated were too low and Disney wanted a bigger profit. I believe that they have removed several reasons for going to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island and they may well see a loss of revenue for some time to come. Over 8,200 people signed the on-line petition to save the Adventurers Club and I share their hope that Disney will reconsider and perhaps resurrect the AC in a fitting venue, perhaps the new Animal Kingdom Lodge. It would indeed be a shame to lose this unique and eclectic entertainment venue forever.
In closing, I give you the Adventurer's Club Creed:
We climb the highest mountains, just to get a better view. We plumb the deepest oceans, because we're daring through and through. We cross the scorching desert, martinis in our hand. We ski the polar ice caps, in tuxedos looking grand. We are reckless, brave, and loyal, and valiant to the end. If you come in here a stranger, you will exit as a friend.
In today's videos, lets look back at an under-rated actor who is fondly remembered - Guy Williams was born on January 14, 1924, as Armand Joseph Catalano by his family) of Italian parentage, at the Fort George area in New York City.
On May 7th, 1989 the local police found his body in his apartment in La Recoleta, Argentina. finding his dead body. He had suffered a brain aneurysm a week before that day. He was still wearing the characteristic Zorro's sideburns and mustache when they found him.
While best known for his roles in "Zorro" (1957-1959) and "Lost in Space" (1965-1968), Williams career might have taken a completely different path if Pernell Roberts had left "Bonanza" in 1964. Williams returned to Hollywood to resume his career, and was added to the cast of the NBC's hit TV series "Bonanza" (1959-1973) as Ben's nephew, Will Cartwright. Pernell Roberts (Adam Cartwright), planned to leave the show at the end of the 1964 season, overlapping with Williams for five episodes, with Williams replacing Roberts' in the four-Cartwright format. Instead, Roberts decided late in the season to stay for one more year before departing. The episode in which the woman "Adam" was originally going to marry was rewritten so that she wound up unexpectedly choosing to leave with "Will Cartwright" instead, with Adam's selfless blessing. The popular series ran for nine more years.
The following are some of what we remember best about Guy Williams, his charm, his athleticism, his love of life.
