The Backstories and Magical Secrets of Walt Disney World
Page 6
The heart-warming film recounts the adventures experienced by the Carey family as they adjust to small-town life in Beulah, including the arrival of the Carey’s cultured and snobby cousin Julia, and the return of Tom Hamilton, the owner of the yellow house who knows nothing of Osh’s dealings with the Careys. Summer Magic’s overarching themes of friendship, love, and optimism perfectly tie in with the theme and story of Main Street, U.S.A.
Affable Burl Ives played the role of Osh Popham. In addition to Summer Magic, Ives also played prominent roles in films such as So Dear to My Heart (1949), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and The Big Country (1958), the latter of which won him an academy award for Best Supporting Actor. He also voiced Sam the Snowman in the classic 1964 animated television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Disney child star Hayley Mills played Nancy Carey. Mills, perhaps the most famous child actor of her era, starred in five additional Disney films, including the title role in Pollyanna (1960) and dual roles for twins Sharon and Susan in The Parent Trap (1961). Dorothy McGuire played Margaret Carey, as well as other notable “mother” roles in Disney films such as Old Yeller (1957) and Swiss Family Robinson (1960).
Osh Popham and the Emporium
Rather than expressly disclosing a backstory for the Emporium, Disney Imagineers instead crafted and incorporated numerous storytelling elements and hidden details into the shop itself that tell the story of a bustling small town shop growing in terms of size and technological advancement under the watchful eye of a beloved proprietor.
This story begins on the southwest corner of the Emporium, near the Car Barn and across the street from Town Square. Here you can see two ground-level windows with gold-leaf inscriptions reading “Osh Popham, Proprietor.” Given the story of Summer Magic, guests familiar with that film will know that any store run by Osh will be warm and inviting, much like the proprietor himself.
The signage for the Emporium makes clear that it was established in 1863. This not only ties in well with the overall time period depicted in the Town Square section of Main Street, but it is also a nod to Summer Magic, which was released in 1963.
The initial portion of the Emporium balances the charm of small-town life with Victorian elegance. A gas chandelier (as opposed to an electric chandelier) hangs from the ceiling, indicating it was installed at or near the 1863 opening date and reflecting the technology of that time period.
As the surrounding town grew, Osh’s Emporium grew with it, expanding its footprint further down Main Street, U.S.A. With more available space, Osh was able to provide his guests with a larger breadth of offerings. To bear this out, a sign for “Dry Goods Notions & Toys” hangs on the exterior façade of the Emporium, and interior signage reads “ALL GOODS GENUINE, NEVER A SUBSTITUTE.”
A gorgeous chandelier hanging from the ceiling has fixtures for both gas and electricity. As electricity was a new development, it was also unreliable at times. Therefore, having a gas lighting backup system insured that Osh’s store would never be in the dark. If you examine the chandelier closely, you will see that the gas fixtures point upwards, while the electrical fixtures point downwards. The reason for this is simple: if the gas fixtures pointed down, they would leak gas and oil onto the floor!
Detailed molding work, stained-glass windows, intricate floor tiles, and other elegant architectural details continue to convey the Victorian theme for the Emporium.
As the success of the Emporium grew, Osh’s need for more space grew with it, but real estate was not available. Being a true entrepreneur, Osh brokered a deal with city officials to buy a portion of Center Street that previously divided the town into four blocks. He closed that street and constructed another expansion to the Emporium known as the Emporium Gallery.
A small sign above the entranceway to the gallery states “Est. 1901,” making it clear that Osh’s new expansion took place right after the turn of the century. The year 1901 also happens to be when Walt Disney was born.
The gallery’s high-end offerings reflect the changing times of the early 1900s, and the new breed of technological conveniences available for purchase. A series of three windows above the Emporium Gallery summarize the store’s offerings.
The middle window reads “OFFERING THE LATEST AND GREATEST.”
The window to the left lists “ELECTRICAL LAMPS—GRAPHOPHONE—TALKING MACHINES—EDISON KINETOSCOPES—IMPORTED GLASSWARE.”
The window to the right lists “LADIE’S WEARING APPAREL—FINEST HOUSE FURNISHINGS—CHILDREN’S TOYS & NOVELTIES.”
Inside the gallery, you will see a magnificent dome from which a large chandelier hangs. Further inside you will see more intricate ceiling work and four additional chandeliers providing light for customers below. The interior is much brighter than the darker tones featured in other parts of the Emporium.
The Chapeau
On the opposite side of Town Square, observant guests will see The Chapeau, the park’s Mickey ears specialty shop. The Chapeau’s façade is powder blue, with an ornate second-story balcony, intricately detailed columns, and octagonal windows, which collectively create a warm and inviting entrance.
Summer Magic is plays a substantial part of the backstory for this shop. An Imagineer who worked on the project told Disney historian Jim Korkis its official backstory:
Bowlers and bonnets are all the rage during ragtime, and it’s getting to the point where it feels like every day is a veritable Easter parade on Main Street, U.S.A. It’s a good time to be a milliner, and no one knows that better than Nancy Carey, proprietress of The Chapeau, the finest hat shop—for both ladies and gentlemen—in town.
Nancy moved to Main Street after spending many happy years with her family in the “yellow house” in beautiful Beulah, Maine. She had set out to seek her fortune, but she wanted to do something artistic, something that would bring happiness to people. And at the height of ragtime and hometown Easter parades, nothing could compare to fine headwear! So Nancy enlisted her notoriously fashion-conscious cousin, Julia Carey, and opened a small millinery and hat shop, where together they would design, make, and sell hats of all sorts for the ladies and gentlemen of Main Street. They dubbed their new venture The Chapeau, a suitably highbrow name reflecting the time Julia spent in the fashion capital of the world, Paris.
Nancy and Julia found a quaint Victorian house located right on Town Square and set up their millinery and shop on the first floor. A tasteful brass plaque in front of the house announces the address: “N. Carey, Milliner, No. 63 Main Street.” A small sign hangs above the front door, “The Chapeau,” identifying the residence as a place of business. Inside, it’s clear that what was once a foyer and sitting room has been converted into a workshop and display space. Patrons browse through the headwear, and workers can often be found in the workshop, embroidering names onto hats. And lest anyone forget that this is also a residence—and a family-run business to boot—Carey family photographs cover the walls and mementos line the shelves.
The Chapeau was such a success that the Careys had to expand into the building next door, converting the entire first floor into their main showroom. The cousins have tried to further ease the transition between the two spaces by connecting them with a slight ramp that takes patrons through an archway that has been cut into the shared wall. And it all seems to work. Patrons can easily pass from the showroom into the adjacent workshop and back again.
It’s all to keep up with the hustle and bustle of ragtime and a seemingly endless supply of small town parades and pageants, all of which call for the Carey cousins’ finest. With their expansion of The Chapeau, the Careys have proved themselves to be “thoroughly modern merchants” with a commitment to providing their patrons with the very latest in fashionable headwear. But no matter how much it may have to expand or change to keep up with the rapidly changing times, The Chapeau will always lay at the heart of Main Street, U.S.A.
Storytelling Elements
In addition to the storytelling props and features used to
convey the backstory for the Emporium discussed above, both shops feature numerous other magical secrets that convey the story and theming of their respective shops and for Main Street as a whole.
The windows on the ground level of the Emporium are true works of art, and feature scenes from classic Disney animated films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella (1950), Beauty and the Beast (1991), and Aladdin (1992).
A fancy electronic cash register would certainly not fit in well with a turn-of-the-last-century shop. However, behind the theme of the Emporium is a real store that needs to sell goods and, not surprisingly, make money. In order to address this issue, Disney placed partitions to somewhat block the views of the registers from guests.
A large, colorful mural in the Emporium Gallery features many happy customers looking upon the interior of the store and the numerous goodies available for guests to purchase. The mural reads “Shopping in the Grand Style—Personal Luxuries—Finest Fashions.” In reality, the mural provides a nod to Imagineers who worked on the expansion project, with depictions of those Imagineers included thereon.
Joyce Carlton is one of the more notable Imagineers depicted. Carlton had a long career with the Disney company spanning more than five decades. She notably worked on animated classic films such as Cinderella (1950), Peter Pan (1953), and Sleeping Beauty (1959). She also played an instrumental role in developing “it’s a small world” for the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
A vintage telephone hangs on a wall beside an entrance to The Chapeau. If you pick up the receiver, you will hear a conversation between a mother and daughter, who talk about such topics as the price of hamburgers and men (go figure).
The sign for The Chapeau is, appropriately, in the shape of a hat box. This is also a tribute to the 1955 Disney animated film Lady and Tramp. In that film, the husband brings home a puppy in a hatbox. The sign identifies the shop’s address as “No. 63,” a nod to 1963, the year Summer Magic was released. Unfortunately, the plaque reading “N. Carey, Milliner, No. 63 Main Street” is no longer present.
Three songs from Summer Magic are played on the Main Street, U.S.A. background loop: “Flitterin’,” “Summer Magic,” and “Beautiful Beulah.”
Real History
When the Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971, Main Street did include an emporium. However, the shop was much smaller in scope than it is today, and the story of Osh Popham’s expansion of the Emporium is grounded in real world truth.
On opening day, Center Street intersected Main Street to create four separate blocks. Guests can see this area where East Center Street still exists today. However, the area across from East Center Street, where the Emporium Gallery now stands, was previously home to West Center Street. This extinct thoroughfare included the Greenhouse Flower Shop, which featured gorgeous flower carts that added to the color and vibrancy of Main Street. West Center Street also included the New Century Clock Shop, the Hallmark Card Shop, and the original home of the Harmony Barber Shop, as well as building façades for a Chinese hand laundry, a livery, and Champion Cyclery.
The Greenhouse Flower Shop closed in 1984, although its storefront remained intact. In 2001, the entirety of West Center Street was closed to make way for an expansion of the Emporium. The Harmony Barber Shop was relocated to its current location in Town Square, and the façades for the Chinese laundry, livery, and Champion Cyclery were shuttered, as was the Hallmark Card Shop.
Today, the Emporium consists of one large building where guests can travel from the Town Square end of Main Street through Casey’s Corner near the central hub. This can be quite confusing for some guests, as the exterior façades advertise separate businesses such as Main Street Fashion and Apparel, Hall of Champions, and Disney Clothiers.
Although The Chapeau was not included on Main Street when the park opened, it did open soon thereafter in 1972. Throughout the years, various modifications to the interior and exterior façade of The Chapeau have occurred. Unfortunately, many of these modifications have taken away thematic props that contributed to its backstory.
chapter three
Casey’s Corner
The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Mudville Nine that day; the score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play. And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same, a sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.
—Ernest L. Thayer, “Casey At the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888.”
The game of baseball, affectionately known as “America’s pastime,” and juicy ballpark hot dogs are both synonymous with American culture. As Main Street, U.S.A. is the ideal representation of hometown America, it should come as no surprise that Imagineers incorporated both baseball and hot dogs into this picturesque boulevard. Sitting at the north end of Main Street is Casey’s Corner, a quick-service restaurant that celebrates America’s pastime and serves up classic ballpark foods such as hot dogs, french fries, and cracker jacks.
Casey’s Corner is popular with guests due to its ideal location and family-friendly fare. Because of this popularity and the limited seating area, Casey’s is normally very crowded during lunch and dinner hours. As such, most guests who enter the restaurant are usually focused on ordering their food and finding a place to sit down. Unfortunately, because of this rush, most guests do not realize that Casey’s is filled with vintage storytelling details. These details draw inspiration from a famous nineteenth century poem and a World War II-era Disney animated film. So if you are hungry (for either hot dogs or delicious Walt Disney World backstories), then you are in luck…because Casey is at the bat!
Backstory
Ernest L. Thayer and “Casey at the Bat”
Casey is a fictional baseball character created by Ernest L. Thayer in his famous poem “Casey at the Bat: A Ballad of the Republic Sung in the Year 1888.” The poem was first published on June 3, 1888, in the San Francisco Examiner, and tells the story of a baseball team from the fictional town of Mudville called the Mudville Nine. Casey is the star of the Mudville Nine, but the team is losing a baseball game by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Although the situation is dire, the hometown crowd knows that Mudville can win the game if only their hero, mighty Casey, can make it to the plate:
A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
they thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that—
they’d put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
Casey’s chances of making it to the plate are unlikely. Thayer describes the batters who precede Casey, Flynn and Jimmy Blake, as a “lulu” and a “cake.” To the surprise of all, however, Flynn hits a single, and Blake “tore the cover off the ball.” The Mudville crowd was very happy at what they saw next:
Then from five thousand throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
it rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
it knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
for Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.
As the comedic poem makes clear, Casey is a superstar in Mudville, a bastion of strength and skill on the baseball diamond. Although not specifically stated in the poem, the crowd’s reaction to Casey reaching the plate implies that the legendary slugger has pulled the Mudville Nine out of many precarious late-game situations in the past.
Although blessed with unmatched skill and ability, Thayer makes clear that Casey is not without faults. In particular, Casey appears to be even more arrogant than he is athletic, which is shown when the slugger refuses to swing at the first pitch because “[t]hat ain’t my style.” Casey also arrogantly ignores the second pitch, another strike, setting up the penultimate moment of the poem. When Casey does finally swing the bat, with only one strike to spare, it is with a mighty force that shatters the air. The entire town of Mudville is shocked and devastated with the result:
Oh, somewhere in th
is favored land the sun is shining bright;
the band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
and somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
but there is no joy in Mudville—mighty Casey has struck out.
“Casey at the Bat” has become on of the most well-known poems in all of American literature. It has served as the basis for numerous recitations and adaptions in newspapers, magazines, books, radio, theatrical and vaudeville performances, and television shorts and films, including a segment in a little-known Disney animated film from the 1940s.
Make Mine Music
During World War II, the Disney company faced numerous challenges. Like many other businesses during that era, Disney had many of its employees drafted into military service, leaving the company short-handed. This employee shortage combined with corporate financial constraints and pressures to force Disney to temporarily back away from production of the full-length animated films that it had become famous for, as these features were both labor and cost intensive. In order to address these problems, Disney began releasing “package” films in the early 1940s that combined multiple short animation features into a single film. These package films required less money and fewer artists to create.
It was during this “package film” era that Disney made its first connection with Thayer’s famous poem. In 1946, Disney released its eighth animated film and third package film, Make Mine Music. That film followed Disney’s initial package films Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1945), and was followed by three more package films, Fun and Fancy Free (1947), Melody Time (1948), and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).