Progress City, U.S.A.

“California Adventure! Stately home of Paul Pressler’s career! Price? No one should say!”

This was making the rounds on Twitter the other day, but it’s too good not to share here. This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in a long time; in fact, I’m insanely jealous I didn’t make it myself. When I first saw the link to the video I thought it was an amazing idea but prepared myself for disappointment – after all, the faux newsreel is a concept that’s very often done poorly. But this is aces, from the production values to the content.

So well done brave filmmakers! Excelsior!

Herb Ryman at work on EPCOT Center’s Mexico pavilion

Herb Ryman’s work on EPCOT City for Walt Disney ended well before Walt Disney World’s debut in 1971. Ryman departed WED Enterprises that year, and set off on another round of world travels. He returned to the halls of Imagineering in 1976, though, in order to assist in the massive task of making EPCOT Center come to life.

Ryman’s paintings were an essential tool in selling the park’s concept to potential corporate sponsors, as well as in helping Walt Disney Productions figure out exactly what this unprecedented new project was going to be. He worked on ideas for EPCOT’s entrance, on the layout and atmosphere of World Showcase, and on individual pavilions for both Future World and World Showcase. His globetrotting experiences helped in this regard; his fascination with both Africa and the Orient led to his involvement with the China and Equatorial Africa pavilions.

Ryman’s depiction of Spaceship Earth and EPCOT’s entrance plaza from 1978. Note the original, modern design for the American Adventure to the left.

Ryman’s well-known rendering of Horizons

A rendering of EPCOT’s Transportation pavilion from 1979; before it became “World of Motion” the building had a more complicated design as shown here.

An earlier rendering for a “Science & Invention” pavilion; this was a catch-all concept intended to snare corporate sponsors and some of its themes later emerged in Communicore and Horizons

A Ryman sketch for an unknown EPCOT attraction; most likely this is an idea for an exhibit at Communicore

This intriguing rendering shows a concept for an unknown attraction for EPCOT

Famous rendering of Spaceship Earth by Ryman; incidentally, this has served as my desktop background for many years

The artist at work on a concept for World Showcase, 1976

The same rendering from 1976 shows EPCOT in transition; World Showcase pavilions would be located in a semi-circular show building and would be the entrance to the park. The spires depicted were the visual “wienie” that beckoned guests into Future World.

A sketch of World Showcase from circa 1977

This intriguing and rare sketch by Ryman, which I estimate to be from early 1977, shows a little-seen configuration for the park. World Showcase retains its original design concept that dated back to at least 1973 but which would be replaced some time in 1977 by a layout similar to the one we know today. Spaceship Earth has sprouted in Future World, replacing the spires. I’ve never seen any “official” Disney renderings featuring this particular configuration.

Other things of note include the WEDway train passing overhead – it was meant to encircle the lagoon. The “cruise ship” sketched on the lagoon resembles a similar craft that would appear in Harper Goff’s renderings of World Showcase a year later.

This rare sketch shows several concepts for the China pavilion

Ryman’s time spent in China and other Asian nations during the 1930s helped inspire his design work on the China pavilion. Herb would return to the Orient a few years after EPCOT’s debut; he made a special trip to see Tokyo Disneyland, for which he also did design work.

A wonderfully atmospheric concept piece for EPCOT’s unbuilt Israel pavilion, 1982

Concept for unbuilt Equatorial Africa pavilion

Ryman was also enthusiastic about the Equatorial Africa pavilion slated for inclusion in World Showcase. Asking to join Ken Anderson on the design team for the attraction, Ryman painted a number of inspirational paintings for the project. Along the way he befriended Roots author Alex Haley – a consultant on the pavilion. They would remain friends for the rest of Ryman’s life.

The Waterhole – This piece depicts one of the two attractions intended for the Equatorial Africa pavilion, where guests would observe a jungle watering hole as night fell

Herb’s work on the Equatorial Africa pavilion, much like his work on The Good Earth almost fifty years prior, inspired his desire to check out “the real thing” and so, in his early seventies, he set out on safari. This was an artistic safari, however, and Ryman would have a series of high adventures in Africa.

Concept for The American Adventure

Ryman worked for several years on The American Adventure; various designers were asked to do treatments for different aspects of the attraction, and Herb was assigned the task of depicting “the multitudes”. So it was that many of his paintings showed the masses of people that have streamed into America over the years, and evoked the sense of “the melting pot.”

Rendering of The American Adventure; not depicted is the American Gardens Theater, but there is a very nifty sailing ship from the 16th or 17th century

In this rendering of the “mighty Mississippi”, the floating raft isn’t occupied by Frederick Douglass, but rather Huckleberry Finn and Jim

Ben Franklin by Ryman, 1976

Mark Twain, 1976

Humorist Will Rogers was originally intended as a third host of The American Adventure, as seen in this painting from 1976

Ryman seemed to be proud of his work on EPCOT; he speaks fondly of it in A Brush With Disney. But I found this quote fascinating and, looking at the park today, somewhat sad:

These pavilions are all confined as little pieces of pie along the lagoon. I think it’s very interesting to envision that we’ve got room for many other nations to squeeze in between these pieces of the pie. If the imagination is still working, there can be lots of nations along there.

If only, Herb… if only!

In 1965, when Walt Disney moved into active planning for his “city of the future,” he needed artwork to get his vision across. To help sell the project to the Florida legislature and state officials whose permission he needed to create a new type of governmental district to govern his property in central Florida, Walt once again turned to Herb Ryman. Ryman, whose sketch had sold the Disneyland concept to financiers a decade earlier, joined the team that was toiling in secrecy to convert Walt’s dreams into some concrete and relatable vision.

As you can tell by glancing at our masthead, these were events for which we hold some interest here at Progress City.

Rendering of EPCOT/”Progress City”, 1965

Rendering of the approach to EPCOT’s city center, 1965

This concept for one of EPCOT’s outlying neighborhoods shows the satellite communities which would lie outside the city’s greenbelt. Residents would reach the city center via Peoplemover and other means.

A while ago I asked Imagineer George McGinnis if he’d ever worked closely with Ryman, and while they never worked directly together their artistic paths did cross thanks to EPCOT. Says McGinnis:

My first day on the job, 6-6-66, the project given me by Marvin Davis (Sr. Epcot Designer) was to design the modal split access between the Monorail and Walt’s “Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow” WedWay Peoplemovers. (Interesting to note in his film Walt didn’t mention “Monorail” — he use the term “Rapid Transit”. Probably he had in mind GE’s sponsorship.)

Original concept for Walt Disney World Peoplemover by George McGinnis

Walt wanted [McGinnis's original Peoplemover design] enlarged for additional capacity. My immediate boss, Roger Broggie, walked into my office and found me working on the larger WedWay and asked, “Why I are you working on this?” I answered Walt asked me to do it. He quietly walked out. This helped me to understand Walt’s way of working — everyone worked for Walt and people respected this.

In this photo of concept art for EPCOT’s transportation lobby, note the smaller, original Peoplemover design on the turntable to the left. Says McGinnis, “Ryman’s original painting with the small cars I had designed. I don’t remember if I added these — probably did, looks like my work.”

This is the same rendering as above, except that the Peoplemover cars have been altered to resemble McGinnis’s later, larger design that was created at Walt’s request. Also note the monorail’s change from something resembling the later Walt Disney World Mark IV trains to the more traditional Mark III design.

I worked over one of Herb’s concept paintings for Walt’s EPCOT presentation, adding the larger WedWay (PeopleMover) Walt had asked me to design. I also used the larger WedWay in my painting for the same presentation in October 1966 to Florida’s governor.

We never heard from Walt after this on account of his illness that took his life in December.

“Another Ryman painting with the enlarged WedWay cars Walt asked me to design. I selected this painting because it let me show off the cars in a better way.”

While EPCOT city never came to be, some of its ethos rubbed off of the Florida property and on the theme park that bears its name. A few design concepts remained, too; EPCOT’s international shopping district was a revival of the old “International Street” expansion once planned for Disneyland – it would survive, in altered form, as EPCOT Center’s World Showcase.

Concept for the “Spanish district” of EPCOT’s International Shopping Center

Says McGinnis of those days:

I don’t think I ever worked directly with Herb, but our offices were close together and we had many conversations. I was always surprised how freely he spoke his opinions of WED operations.

Last thing he was working on was the Japan [Disneyland] concept and the day he left working at WED — he was in and out for projects — he stopped by my office to bid farewell, not knowing if and when he would be back. He passed away and John Hench remarked, “It is hard to imagine WED without working with Herb.”

Hard to imagine, indeed – and somewhat interesting to hear that from Hench, towards whom many of Ryman’s freely-spoken opinions were directed!

Special thanks to George McGinnis for sharing his memories for this article.

Herbert Ryman was working on Disneyland projects right up to the time of Walt’s death in 1966, doing quite a bit of artwork for both the New Orleans Square and New Tomorrowland expansions. It seems only natural, then, that Herb would begin work on Walt Disney World when development began on the new resort. Much of Walt’s attention before his passing was devoted not to the Magic Kingdom park, but rather to his city of the future – EPCOT. Tragically, Walt seems to have died without seeing much artwork for the Magic Kingdom; this sketch of Cinderella’s Castle from January of 1967 is one of the first pieces of art done specifically for the new project.

Sketch of Cinderella Castle by Herbert Ryman, 1967

It doesn’t seem like Herb did very much art for the Magic Kingdom itself; certainly, it’s hard to find nearly as many renderings for early Walt Disney World as one can find for Disneyland. One section that Ryman worked heavily on, though, was Liberty Square. Based on many of his original designs for the unbuilt Liberty Street at Disneyland in 1956, the area featured the Hall of Presidents – itself based on an attraction originally intended for Disneyland. Herb had presented ideas for this attraction to Walt way back in 1954, and he was pleased to see the concepts take shape decades later in a format very similar to his original design. Ryman’s renderings for Liberty Square are wonderful, full of detail and excitement that makes the actual area seem rather lifeless by comparison.

Rendering of Liberty Square’s “Concord Bridge”, 1969

Ryman did a magnificent rendering of an alternate concept for the Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion which you can find in the art book A Brush With Disney.

Oil painting of the Richard F. Irvine, 1971. This painting might be familiar if you’ve stayed at the Dixie Landings resort at Walt Disney Room; prints of it and other Ryman pieces are featured in various guest rooms.

Sketch of proposed covered bridge in Adventureland, never built

Concept for Tomorrowland Entrance, 1970

Perhaps the most famous piece of art for Cinderella Castle, this was painted in 1969 and was featured prominently in much of the park’s early marketing and on numerous souvenirs

Ryman left WED in 1971; the official story is that he retired, but it seems that instead he was ushered out. He flew to Orlando on his own dime to attend the opening of Walt Disney World, and after that took a long journey in Europe to see how things had changed since his adventures there in the 1930s.

Herb would return to Disney, though, in 1976. This time, he would be working on a project that would utilize all his skills as an artist and draw extensively on his life experiences and far-ranging travels – EPCOT Center.

From the Disney Channel, in 1988:

It’s hard to believe that 1988 was the last time the Disney company publicly celebrated Mickey’s birthday – in this case, his 60th. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, Disney park celebrations were often centered on specific anniversaries or events. In 1981 it was Walt Disney World’s “Tencennial”. In 1984 it was Donald Duck’s 50th birthday. Walt Disney World celebrated its 15th birthday in 1986, and 1987 marked the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. This approach gave the celebrations the feel of a real “event,” and the result was that they were far more distinctive than today’s “Celebrate Dreams”, “Celebrate Wishes”, and “Celebrate Celebrations” approach.

Despite this clip’s justification for the “Happy Birthday from Across the USA” theme of Mickey’s birthday parade, the actual reason for the theme was that it allowed for the re-purposing of 1987’s “All-American Parade.” Not that I can blame the company; this was a massive and lengthy parade with many elaborate floats and set pieces and it was re-used several times in the late 1980s.

Of course, the other in-park recognition of Mickey’s 60th was the all-new Mickey’s Birthdayland, a “temporary” attraction that would eventually turn into today’s Mickey’s Toontown Fair.