Sunday, June 5, 2011

Wally Boag

Comic performer -- via the Beverly Hills Courier. A legendary and world-record-holding presence at Disneyland, Boag's act is a classic, and inspired among many others Steve Martin.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Brad,

    I just saw your comments on one of Wally’s sites and am pleased you posted them. However, he never appeared in the TV show “Dastardly...” I was
    Wally’s co-author on his biog “Wally Boag Clown Prince of Disneyland.” The book was published by Disney in 2009 and is replete with a lot of photos
    a narrative of his life from the time he learned to tap dance as a child in Portland, OR, through his days at Disneyland and his retirement years after
    Disneyland. Many do not know he had a substantial amount of experience under his belt before he ever auditioned for Walt Disney in in 1955 for
    “The Golden Horseshoe Revue.”

    All good wishes,

    Gene Sands

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  2. Editor's note: Here's some more great info from Gene Sands on Wally Boag --

    "Brad,

    He was indeed, one of a kind. I had known Wally for more than 50 years – I started as a balloon seller in Disneyland in 1957 and discovered him
    and The Golden Horseshoe Revue one Sunday morning when I had wondered over to Aunt Jemima’s in Frontierland. After the show, I found
    his dressing room and introduced myself. He was such a kind gentle soul. When I MC’d a show at my junior high school, he gave me some gags
    and I was off and running. From then on, after I got off work selling balloons, I would go over to his dressing room to hang out. And, the wonderful
    thing about that was – he let me! He always made me feel welcome. That led to a long-term friendship with his son, Laurence, who was a few years
    young than me – – and we’re still friends today. Those were interesting days because you never knew who was going to show up at Wally’s dressing
    room— from Walt to Julie Andrews to Peter Sellers to Michael Bentine (a terrific performer like Wally who had appeared with him when he was doing
    shows in London). When I got old enough to drive, Wally would pay me $5.00 to haul his props around when he was playing club dates outside the
    Park. It was during this period that Steve Martin showed up and he also became a big fan (and has always referred to Wally as his mentor). During my
    senior year of high school, Wally produced and starred in a benefit performance called “Vaudeville Re-Visited.” I was fortunate enough to appear in
    a couple of the show’s skits. After high school, I moved to Oklahoma to attend Oklahoma University. After graduation, I stayed in contact with Wally
    and his wife, Ellen, over the years . When I started attending an annual conference in Anaheim, I would always work in a couple of days to visit them
    in Santa Monica. During those visits, I heard so many wondeerful stories and him and his life before he ever got to Disneyland. These were stories that
    most of us who knew him and Ellen had never heard. So, in 2001 I suggested to Wally that it would be a good idea for me to videotape
    him talking about his life and career so his heirs would know what he had done. We shot 2 hours and it was immediately apparent that this could become
    an interesting book. So, over the next 8 years he and I wrote it. I would interview him , transcribe the tapes and start putting the narrative together.
    We then brought Bruce Gordon, an Imagineer at the time, on board to do our design work. The was book was intended to document Wally’s
    life (and, as it turned out, Disneyland’s earliest days from someone who was there). It was also written and designed to be “fun.” How could a book about
    him not be fun? Because Wally was a “Disney Legend," we had access to the Disney photo archives and literally went through around 1,000 photos
    to find those which would best illustrate his days at The Horseshoe. Toward the end as we were getting ready to send the book to press, Wally’s health was
    deteriorating so we had to work at “warp speed”to get it out in time so he could see it and know that we had completed it.

    There’s a not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Wally. And, I feel especially honored that I had this opportunity to work with him to tell his
    incredible story.

    So, there you have it – probably much more than you bargained for, but I hope you found this interesting.

    All good wishes,

    Gene"

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