America Sings 1848291 225714512 2008-07-15T01:19:42Z 24.47.181.111 /* Act 1 - The Deep South */ {{Infobox Disney ride |name=America Sings |image=1974_america_sings.jpg |caption=''America Sings'' cover of LP soundtrack record |park=[[Disneyland]] |land=[[Tomorrowland]] |designer=[[WED Enterprises]] |manufacturer= |type=Rotating Theater |theme=American Musical History |control_system= |propulsion= |soft_opened= |opened=June 29, 1974 |closed=April 10, 1988 |host=Eagle Sam (Burl Ives); Owl (Sam Edwards) |music=Panorama of American music by Norman "Buddy" Baker |vehicle_type= |vehicle_names= |guests_per_vehicle= |cars_per_vehicle= |guests_per_car= |duration= |length= |attraction_height= |track_height= |speed= |height_requirement= |site_area= |lift_count= |audio-animatronics=115 |custom_label_1=Required Ticket |custom_value_1='''E''' (briefly reclassified as '''D''') |custom_label_2=Replaced |custom_value_2=[[Carousel of Progress]] |custom_label_3=Replaced by |custom_value_3=[[Innoventions]] |custom_label_4= |custom_value_4= |custom_label_5= |custom_value_5= |sponsor=[[Del Monte]] |fastpass= |single_rider= |accessible= |transfer_accessible= |assistive_listening= |cc= }} '''America Sings''' was a show at Disneyland in [[Anaheim, California]], from 1974 to 1988. It featured a cast of [[Audio-Animatronic]] animals that entertained the audience by singing songs from various periods in America's musical history, often in a humorous fashion. ==The show== [[Image:AmericaSingsExterior.jpg|left|thumb|200px|''America Sings'' exterior]] America Sings opened in 1974 after replacing the [[Carousel of Progress]] after that latter show moved to the [[Magic Kingdom]] at the [[Walt Disney World Resort]] in 1973. America Sings used the same [[Carousel Theater]] that its predecessor vacated, with its outer ring of six theaters, all connected by divider walls, revolving mechanically about every four minutes around the six fixed stages in the center of the building. Unlike Disneyland's Carousel of Progress, which rotated clockwise, America Sings went counter-clockwise. America Sings was comparable to Disneyland's ''[[Country Bear Jamboree]]'', in that it featured a singing cast of audio-animatronics. The show's [[Master of Ceremonies|Masters of Ceremony]] were an American [[bald eagle]] named Sam (voiced by [[Burl Ives]]) and an unnamed [[owl]] rumored to be named Ollie (voiced by [[Sam Edwards]]). The image of ''Eagle Sam'' was designed by Disney animator [[Marc Davis]], as were the other characters. ''Eagle Sam'' is completely separate from the [[Sam (Olympic Mascot)|Sam the Olympic Eagle]] character designed a decade later by C. Robert Moore (also a Disney employee) for the [[Los Angeles Olympics]] of 1984. Like the Carousel of Progress, the first and the last scenes of America Sings involved the loading and unloading of guests, while the other four scenes, or "acts", depicted a particular era. However, the identical load and unload theaters each featured a small curtained [[gazebo]] with a backdrop showing a park. The curtains would open to reveal Sam and the owl standing on a two-level [[podium]], with Sam standing on the higher level, introducing or closing the show. Between each act, as the theater rotated with the lights blacked out, Sam sang about the next era the audience was about to enter, reprising the chorus of "[[Yankee Doodle]]". <ref> [http://web.archive.org/web/20040624063600/www.disneyphenom.com/site/Disneyland/Tomorrowland/AmericaSings/ride/index.html Complete show script] from [http://web.archive.org/web/20040710144409/www.disneyphenom.com/site/Disneyland/Tomorrowland/AmericaSings/index.html DisneyPhenom.com (via archive.org).] and [http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/set/3799/script3.html complete script] at [http://www.geocities.com/hollywood/set/3799/ Operation Preserve Disneyland]</ref> The characters in America Sings were patterned after the characters from the concept art for an animated movie called Chanticleer, that Walt Disney scrapped back in the 1960's. ==The Songs== [[Buddy Baker (composer)|Norman "Buddy" Baker]] arranged a selection of songs chosen to represent a panoramic view of American music.<ref>{{cite web | year = 2006 | url = http://dlib.nyu.edu/eadapp/transform?source=fales/baker_4.xml&style=fales/fales_bb_25.xsl&part=body | title = Guide to the Norman "Buddy" Baker Collection | work = Fales Library and Special Collections | publisher = New York University Libraries | accessmonthday=7 February | accessyear = 2007}}</ref> ====Intro==== * ''[[Yankee Doodle]]'' - Eagle Sam * ''[[Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair]]'' - Eagle Sam * ''[[Pop Goes the Weasel]]'' - Ollie and the weasel ====Act 1 - The Deep South==== [[Image:GeeseQuartet.jpg|right|thumb|240 px|'''Act 1, The Deep South''' -- The Geese Quartet sings a Dixie medley]] [[Image:SwampBoys.jpg|right|thumb|240 px|'''Act 1, The Deep South''' -- The Swamp Boys sing ''Polly Wolly Doodle'']] * ''[[Dixie (song)|Dixie]]'' / ''L'il Liza Jane'' / ''[[Camptown Races]]'' - Geese Quartet * ''[[My Old Kentucky Home]]'' - Colonel Houndstoothe (Bassett hound in rocking chair) * ''[[Polly Wolly Doodle]]'' - The Swamp Boys (gator trio, frogs and harmonica-playing raccoon) * ''Single Girl'' - Mother Possum * ''Down in the Valley'' - [[Coyote]] * ''Down By The Riverside'' - Hens, Foxes, Swamp Boy Frogs ====Act 2 - Headin' West==== [[Image:BoothillBoys.jpg|right|thumb|240 px|'''Act 2, The Old West''' -- The Boothill Boys sing ''The End of Billy the Kid'']] * ''[[Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill]]'' / ''[[I've Been Working on the Railroad]]'' / ''Fireball Mail'' - Geese Quartet * ''The Old Chisholm Trail'' - [[Saddlesore Swanson]] * ''Who Shot That Hole in My Sombrero?'' - Sombrero-wearing dog * ''Billy, the Bad Guy'' - The Boothill Boys (vulture duo) * ''[[Home on the Range (song)|Home on the Range]]'' - Tex Ranger (dog) ====Act 3 - The Gay '(18)90s==== [[Image:BlossomNoseMurphy.jpg|right|thumb|240 px|'''Act 3, The Gay '90s''' -- Blossom-Nose Murphy sings ''Sweet Adeline'']] * ''She May Be Somebody's Mother'' / ''The Bowery'' / ''After the Ball is Over'' - Geese Quartet * ''Where is my Wandering Boy Tonight?'' - Geese Quartet & Mother Rabbit * ''[[Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey]]'' - Showgirl Pig * ''[[Sweet Adeline]]'' - Blossom-Nose Murphy (goose) & Geese Quartet * ''[[The Old Grey Mare]]'' - The Old Gray Mare & Geese Quartet * ''[[Birdcage Theatre|Bird in a Gilded Cage]]'' - Bird in a Gilded Cage and Fox * ''[[Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay]]'' - Storks, Geese Quartets (male and female), Pig, Bird in a Gilded Cage and Fox ====Act 4 - Modern Times==== * ''[[Ja-Da]]'' / ''At the Darktown Strutters' Ball'' / ''[[Singin' in the Rain (song)|Singin' in the Rain]]'' - Geese Quartet * ''[[A-Tisket, A-Tasket]]'' / ''Boo-Hoo'' - College Quartet (male wolf, male fox and two female cats) * ''[[Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar]]'' - Piano Pig * ''[[Hound Dog (song)|Hound Dog]]'' / ''[[See You Later Alligator]]'' - Rooster, Stork, Porcupine, Hound Dog and Alligator * ''[[Shake, Rattle and Roll]]'' - Rooster and Frog * ''Twistin' U.S.A.'' - Motorcycle storks * ''[[Joy to the World (Hoyt Axton song)|Joy to the World]]'' - Modern Times cast (except Piano Pig and College Quartet) ====Epilogue==== * ''Yankee Doodle'' (reprise) - Eagle Sam * ''[[Auld Lang Syne]]'' - Sam and Ollie * Exit Music: ''[[Stars and Stripes Forever]]'' ==Incident== {{see also|Incidents at Disney parks}} On [[July 8]], [[1974]], just two weeks after the attraction opened, 18-year-old Disneyland cast member Deborah Gail Stone was killed when she was crushed between the building's rotating wall and a stationary wall. Stone approached too close to the area between the rotating wall and the non-moving stage wall and was caught between them. According to witnesses, she was playfully darting in and out between the walls while the building rotated. At one point she miss-judged the rotation speed and was decapitated. The Attraction was stopped when guests in the adjacent theater heard her screams. Her family sued the Disney corporation but lost because it was determined that she was not following the proper safety protocols. Afterwards, America Sings was closed for two days while safety lights were installed, and for one year, management closed the theater in which Deborah was killed. Eventually, the walls were remodeled so that they would breakaway if a similar incident occurred.<ref> {{cite web|url=http://www.mouseplanet.com/david/dk040708.htm |title=Why we'll never forget the tragedy of 30 years ago today |accessdate=2007-07-24 |last=Koenig |first=David |work=MousePlanet }}</ref> == Closure == America Sings closed on Sunday, [[April 10]], [[1988]]. According to Alice Davis, wife of the late Marc Davis, production of Disneyland's [[Splash Mountain]] had gone way over budget and the only way to recover was to close down America Sings and use the characters from that attraction.<ref>[http://www.songofthesouth.net/splashmtn/history/index.html Song of the South.net - Splash Mountain: History<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Show sponsor Del Monte had already ended its sponsorship. The Carousel Theater sat empty and motionless for ten years. During this time, the carousel theater's external appearance was unchanged. A large sign in front of the building showed [[Sorcerer Mickey]] alongside text reading, "Sorry, we're closed. We're [[imagineering]] a brand new attraction." For many years guests wondered what the new attraction was going to be. For a few years, during the planned 'Disney Decade' started by [[Michael Eisner]], a new audio-animatronic show called ''[[Plectu's Fantastic Intergalactic Revue]]'' was to open. It was to have been an [[outer space]]-themed musical-variety revue featuring a troupe of Audio-Animatronics itinerant alien musicians whose spaceship has landed in Tomorrowland. However, the idea, which was part of the original "[[Tomorrowland 2055]]" plan, eventually was scrapped due to budget considerations. America Sings was finally replaced by [[Innoventions (Disneyland)|Innoventions]], a version of the [[Epcot]] attraction of the same name, in [[1998]]. Most of the Audio-Animatronic animals were moved to Disneyland's Splash Mountain log flume, which opened on Disneyland's 34th anniversary on [[July 17]], [[1989]]. Two goose Audio-Animatronics were taken out before America Sings even closed. In [[1986]], they had their "skin" removed, which left only a robotic skeleton, and had their heads replaced, and were used as two talkative G2 droids in the queue to [[Star Tours]], which would open in early [[1987]].<ref>[http://01508f4.netsolstores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2| America Sings Historical DVD] from [http://www.extinct-attractions-club.com/about.html Extinct Attractions Club]</ref> The rock and roll stork in the finale is now used by Imagineers for training new Animatronics programmers, acting as a final exam of sorts. The remainder of the show's Audio-Animatronics were recycled. ==References == <div class="references-small"> <references/> </div> ==External links== * [http://www.yesterland.com/amersings.html Yesterland entry on the show] * [http://www.snopes.com/disney/parks/amersing.htm Deborah Gail Stone on snopes.com] * [http://01508f4.netsolstores.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2 America Sings Historical DVD] (Narrated documentary with complete history & interviews with creators, from Extinct Attractions Club.) * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1GuVelpDQs America Sings Farewell Part 1] (You Tube video documenting final performance of America Sings) -- accessed 6 July 2008 * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lssN5C0fOo America Sings Farewell Part 2] (You Tube video documenting final performance of America Sings) -- accessed 6 July 2008 {{disneyrides}} {{Amusement park accidents}} [[Category:Disney attractions]] [[Category:Disneyland Park]] [[fr:America Sings]] [[he:אמריקה שרה]]