Progress City, U.S.A.

In today’s entry in the “How’d that work out for ya?” file, we have this headline from the April, 1979 edition of the Disney Times.

An African Pavilion for EPCOT Center’s World Showcase came a step closer to reality with the recent receipt of a letter of intent from Kenya. Two other African nations, Senegal and Ivory Coast, are expected to send similar letters soon.

Definitive agreements with these nations are still being negotiated by representatives from Disney and the respective governments.

The African Pavilion will promote tourism in the participating nations and will feature authentic food and merchandise of each country. There is a strong possibility that other nations may also participate as co-sponsors of the pavilion, according to Jack Lindquist, Corporate Vice President who’s heading the EPCOT team in seeking out participants for both Future World and World Showcase.

“Map of Africa shows possible participants in the new African Pavilion” (Disney)

Kenya, with 14,340,000 population, is slightly smaller than Texas. Under British control since the 19th Century, it became independent in 1960. Acting President is Daniel Arap Moi. Tourism is the main industry, with coffee, tea and cotton the chief crops. The capital is Nairobi (pop: 736,000).

Ivory Coast is the most prosperous of the tropical African nations. A bit larger than New Mexico, with a population of 5,150,000, Ivory Coast became independent in 1960 after being a French protectorate since 1842. Coffee, cocoa and bananas are chief exports. The president is Felix Houphout-Boigny. Abidjan (pop: 800,000) is the capital.

Senegal, about the size of South Dakota, has a population of slightly more than five million. It, too, became independent in 1960. Peanuts, millet and corn are its chief crops. President is Leopold Senghor and the prime minister is Abdou Diouf. The capital is Dakar (pop: 600,000).

Now, didn’t you just learn so much? Imagine how much you’d have learned had the pavilion actually been built!

Of course, political instability and economic woes kept these nations from sponsoring a pavilion. Kenya’s president Daniel arap Moi became something of a dictator, surviving a coup attempt in 1982. The nation’s page on Wikipedia includes the following phrase: “In rural areas like Kisii District the cases of people being burnt as witches is on the rise.” Well, ok then.

Côte d’Ivoire has had similar issues; President Houphouët-Boigny was another long-serving benign dictator, and following a decade of economic woes in the 1980s and the death of Houphouët-Boigny in 1993 there has been a military coup and a civil war. All of which would make for a very awkward World Showcase experience, and one wonders what missions Kim Possible would assign you in that pavilion. Senegal has fared better by comparison, despite a militant separatist movement, but it remains overall a very poor nation.

A later rendering by Herb Ryman of the proposed Equatorial Africa pavilion

All of this makes these nations’ intended participation in World Showcase that much more ambitious, and I would love to know the details of those negotiations. These nations’ woes are, of course, mostly unfortunate from a humanitarian perspective, but the collapse of these plans are also a shame because this would have been an interesting and unusual pavilion. Its design details remain intriguing today.

Mostly, though, the pavilion’s potential was in introducing a western audience to the cultures of countries that most people couldn’t find on a map. Perhaps it’s an idea worth revisiting.

One of the more fascinating things about digging around in old newsletters and publications from Walt Disney Productions is that even long after Walt had died, the company was still very much a family shop. Reading publications from the 1970s and even well into the 1980s, one is struck by the casual and unpolished tone. Sometime it’s like reading your own goofy office newsletter, or even your high school newspaper. With the company’s only real outposts at the time in Burbank, Anaheim and Orlando, one gets the weird sense that everyone tended to know everyone else. Maintenance staff got prominent retirement notices, intramural ball games were covered extensively, and there were the requisite blood drives and classified ads.

It was a completely different world from the uber-slick, professionally produced PR pieces that Cast Members receive today. Instead of glossy pictures of Hanna Montana or the latest ABC show, the cover story for Burbank’s Disney Newsreel from August 31st, 1979 was a series of caricatures of the studio’s staff. While it is amusing, when you consider how much times have changed and how thoroughly unthinkable something like this would be today, what makes these images newsworthy is their artist – most of them were drawn by John Musker, who would go on to direct The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and The Princess and the Frog with his partner Ron Clements.

For two weeks recently, the Studio has had the opportunity (for the first time in our history) to take a humorous look at ourselves. Those of us who visited the Studio Library were delighted (and amazed!) by the humorous caricatures that were on display there. Drawn by some very talented Studio animators and artists, they depicted some of us the way others see us, the way, perhaps, we see ourselves…

Gale Warren, Mary Jo Terry and Mike Funicello by John Musker

“Big” Walt Ryan by John Musker

“Hound Dog” Mark Greenway by John Musker

Ed Austin by Allen Gonzales

Donna Chambers and Wendy Miller by John Musker

Nancy Beaver and Norm Corey by John Musker

I’d love to know the story of Nancy Beaver and Norm Corey.

A couple of swingers from the 70s

I came across this bit of swankiness and for some reason it has amused me greatly. From 1979, it’s the Walt Disney World Golf Studio! Ditch the wife and kids and hit the links – a panel of professionals is waiting to show you how to improve your own natural style and swing to play better your way!

For no obvious reason, this screams early Walt Disney World to me. Look at that awesome camera! And the giant screen! And orange fringe! I feel like I’m in my Vacation Villa in my jammies watching on Channel 5. I’m glad the pants were slightly less terrifying by my time, though. Then again, in the 80s everyone had tiny upsetting shorts. C’est la vie.

The point is, this is a window into a time when Walt Disney World was truly the Vacation Kingdom of the World. Golf Studio or horseback ride? Bob-A-Round Boat or Eastern Winds? It’s up to you!

How about some more information on Phil Ritson, who developed the idea of the Golf Studio? Look no further…

Science & Invention Pavilion by Herb Ryman, 1979

I can’t say I have a very interesting story for this one, as this is something I don’t really know anything about. In fact, I’m fishing for information. The pavilion you see above, dubbed the “Science & Invention Pavilion,” was under consideration as part of EPCOT’s lineup back in 1979. In fact, it can be seen in the rendering in my previous story, where it occupies the site later meant for Horizons.

That park rendering from the 1979 Disney Annual Report, and this piece from Herb Ryman’s book A Brush With Disney, are the only two images I’ve ever seen of this pavilion. Information about it is even more scarce; the only reference I can find is from a 1979 article in BusinessWeek that refers to G.E. as in negotiations to sponsor a pavilion about “science and invention.” I assume this is a mix-up, though, as G.E. was at the time already involved in Century 3, which would later become FutureProbe and then Horizons.

So, does anyone have any information on this? I see all you folks reading from Southern California – surely someone can sneak into the reference library and see what they can dig up…

Let’s take a look at EPCOT Center in 1979, three years before it would actually open:

Rendering of EPCOT Center, 1979 (Click to Enlarge)

Slightly different, is it not?

Clockwise from the golden Spaceship Earth in Future World, we have the Energy pavilion (Universe of Energy), the Science & Invention Pavilion, the Transportation pavilion (World of Motion), Journey into Imagination, The Land, and Century 3 – the earliest version of Horizons.

In World Showcase we have, clockwise along the lagoon, Mexico, what is either Denmark or Scandinavia, Equatorial Africa, Germany, Italy, the American Adventure, Japan, Costa Rica, France, the United Kingdom (with Crystal Palace in back!) and Canada.