Waiting to get your own Roy Williams drawing was probably the shortest line ever at Disneyland just because Williams was so lightning quick!
Between drawing assignments at the Disney studio in the late 50's and early 60's, Walt would send some of his artists down to Disneyland to draw for the crowds. Sometimes this would be at the Art Corner in Tomorrowland or you could find them somewhere on Main Street, possibly somewhere near the castle. I know you could occassionally find Disney vet Bob Youngquist also drawing for the crowds.
The only thing I'm not sure of is if they ever charged for the drawings!
Regardless, it sure sounds like it was a great time to go to Disneyland.
6 comments:
They should still do this! Get the animators out into the sunshine away from their computers to draw again. :P
Disneyland in the 50's and early
60's was very connected to the Disney Studios. I mean it's obviously connected to the studio, but back then even more so.
Live action and animation had a more intimate connection to the park, which was in the plans from the inception, with the park to be originally located across the street from the Burbank lot.
When Disney opened the Disney MGM Studios in Florida, even though it was a movie studio with animation and live action production, I still don't believe it was as interactive as the early Disneyland, where you could meet the Mouseketeers or Davy Crockett or hold a Walt Disney cel in your hands for a buck...and on those rare days, meet the creator of the Whole darn thing; Walt Disney himself.
Wow! I have one of these "To Barbara" from Roy. I just decided to look for it on the net and found your site. I think it was '59 when I got it from Roy himself and I don't think my parents paid for it. I think he was just handing them out. I have been carrying it around for about 50 years and thought it might be fun to find out it's value. So funny to find the same drawing but with a different name!
The one I have posted in on ebay now and you can follow it as the auction ends Friday night. Yes, I thought that Roy was pretty much handing these out. I have a couple of pictures of Roy that I found on the internet of him sketching at a table in front of one of the restaurants near the castle at Disneyland. The other picture looks like he's by the Art Corner and all have him in his Mickey Mouse Club outfit. I'm sure these are from the late 50's.
Yes ! I have one too ! It says Hi Penny !! and Roy signed it ! My name is Hennie tho.. Is it worth something ??
These Roy Williams drawings from Disneyland drawings keep popping up on Ebay. A few showed up in February 2015 and they normally start around 20-30 bucks and can work their way up to a couple of hundred dollars. Most of the time, they're just signed 'Roy'. Some of the sellers on Ebay make the leap to believe it was drawn by Roy Disney, Walt's brother!...And then proceed to try to sell the drawing for a couple of thousand dollars!
Of course, it's well known that Roy O Disney was the financial Brain behind Disney and was not an artist by any stretch of the imagination!
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