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Goodbye, Dolly (-maker)

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When I set this blog up, I figured I'd write my first entry as soon as some story struck my fancy. I didn't expect it to be an obituary, but you can't control the news. We lost another Disney legend this week, when Joyce Carlson passed away Wednesday at the age of 84.

For those unaware, Carlson started out at Disney in 1944 in the traffic department before quickly moving into the Ink and Paint Department, working on such films as Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sleeping Beauty.

But that is not where she earned her Legendary status. In 1960, she moved to Walt Disney Imagineering (then called WED Enterprises). There, she worked on creating miniature prototypes of attraction, including the one which she is most identified with: "it's a small world." Carlson designed the dolls for the attraction's initial installation at the 1964-65 World's Fair. She went to New York to install the attraction, and helped to bring the attraction from New York back to Disneyland.

Now an expert on "it's a small world," Carlson helped to bring the attraction to Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris. After retiring in 2000, she continued to consult with the company, passing along her secrets to the next generation of Imagineers. She also contributed to the development with the upcoming version of "small world" for Hong Kong Disneyland, thereby bringing the attraction to every Disney resort in the world.

She is honored with a window on Main Street, U.S.A. that reads "Dolls by Miss Joyce, Dollmaker for the World. Shops in New York, California, Florida, Japan & Paris. Owner and Founder Joyce Carlson."

Another great light in the Imagineering tent has gone out. She will be missed.

Carlson's family is requesting that - inlieu of flowers - any donations be made to the Hospice of the Redeemer in Altamonte Springs, FL.

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Comments

  1. jMom's Avatar
    Wow, what an amazing lady!