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View Full Version : Disneyland's Grand Opening in 1955 and Bobby Driscoll



bkohatl
04-23-2003, 10:33 AM
I am writing a book about Anissa Jones, "Buffy" on Family Affair(CBS 1966-1971) and intend to include a chapter about Bobby Driscoll, probably the best child star ever: he won an Oscar at age 12, for the great film noir, "The Window"(1949). Of course, most people remember him from the Disney Movies: "So Dear To My Heart", "Treasure Island" and "Peter Pan". The fact that he was once was the best child actor in Hollywood and now hardly anyone remembers him at all, bothers me. Certainly his tragic fate warrants attention too.
I ran across a website which discussed the grand opening of Disneyland and how Bobby was one of the Hosts. It had a link to this messageboard, and here I am.
I went to California in 1976 and had the pleasure of experiencing the original Disneyland. I intend to go again this summer and do research on the Grand Opening and the 1955 TV Special: Dateline Disneyland. I've already ordered the video of the Grand Opening, but was wondering if anyone knew if their was any memorialization like Grauman's Chinese Theater, whether footprints or anything like it?
Bobby lies buried in anonymous Pauper's grave in Potter Field in New York City. His family unable to get New York City to help identify his grave, placed a gravestone with his name on it over an empty grave in the family plot at Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside, California. Someday I hope to help bring him home to his family.
http://www.geocities.com/bkohatl2001/Anissaandherbestfriend.html

RStar
04-23-2003, 11:59 AM
Welcome to the board!

And what a great project, I hope you succede in getting Bobby returned to his family.

As for a history of the opening day being found on stage at DL, I don't know of much to be found. Back stage may have more to offer, I don't know.

Of course, the best source is the Disney archives, but I wouldn't know how to get much info from it. You could contact Dave Smith directly, but there are numerous publications with a weath of information that you could get the info quicker, many of which (if still in print) can be purchased from MouseShoppe, from the MousePlanet home page.

merlinjones
04-23-2003, 12:09 PM
I'm a huge fan of Bobby Driscoll myself.

The supression of "Song of the South" (the movie that kept his memory most alive through the 80's) from the current marketplace and Disney's discomfort with Bobby's fate have contributed to a lack of publicity in recent years. There was a show on E! or some similar outlet (could have been the AJ Benza scandal show, or maybe just a True Hollywood story on tragic child stars in general) a few years back with pal Russ Tamblin talking alot about Bobby, and of course, his story is prominently mentioned in the book, "Hollywood Babylon II" - - and then there is the movie "Crumb", in which the underground artist reveals his boyhood crush on Bobby in "Treasure Island".

Bobby is indeed up on the pirate ship in "Dateline: Disneyland" (available in edited form on the "Disneyland USA" DVD set), but you don't get that many good glimpses of him. A better show from the period that captures Bobby as Peter Pan is "The Walt Disney Christmas Show", a TV special hyping Peter Pan that predates Walt's regular Disneyland series (not available on home video either). He can also be seen in "The Peter Pan Story", a short film hyping the movie's original release (which I think is on the Special Edition DVD of PP).

I read an interview with Tommy Kirk not too long ago (maybe in print... or it could also have been part of the recent DVD extras on Swiss Family or Old Yeller) where Tommy briefly talked about working with Bobby at Pasadena Playhouse when he was getting started. The Playhouse may have some interesting backround materials on Bobby along with Dave Smith at Disney Archives. You might also pay a visit to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Library and see what they have on him.

And if you can get ahold of Russ Tamblyn...

I've never seen "The Window" and can't seem to locate a video of it anywhere (at least when I'm thinking of it). Maybe they have it on Amazon...

I didn't know about the Oceanside grave marker. I'll check that out the next time I'm down there. Thanks for that info.

Are there actually any records indicating which site he's buried at in NYC? Or would they have to exhume a few to find him?

merlinjones
04-23-2003, 12:57 PM
Bobby Driscoll has a Motion Picture Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1560 Vine St.

bkohatl
04-23-2003, 01:13 PM
I went to LA in 1976 to check out UCLA. It was a close call, but decided to stay in Atlanta and go to college because of family reasons.
Funny thing, I can remember walking up and down Hollywood looking for "Hollywood Stars"(Bogey, Marilyn, Lou Costello, etc) and finding Bobby Driscoll. I remembered who he was and thought that was kind of neat, and totally appropriate. I can also remember reading the paper when they discovered what had happened to him. I just remember how sad I felt. From my research, it had to be late 1969, or early 1970. I was only 13 at the time, but remember thinking "Sic transit gloria mundi". He wasn't my reason for looking, but I remember that the second I ran across his star that I would look at Grauman's Chinese Theater to see if he was in the courtyard. He wasn't.
Some pictures from Find a Grave, including one I found of Bobby shortly before his death:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pif&GRid=9272&PIgrid=9272&PIcrid=7954&PIpi=223786&ShowCemPhotos=Y&

The Memorial Page for Bobby is located at:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=9272&PIgrid=9272&PIpi=223786&

Feel free to add your memories, I know one of his children had gone there and would greatly appreciate any loving memories of their Dad.

Dean Higgins
04-24-2003, 11:15 AM
More specifically, in 1968, some children found his body in a trash-filled, deserted tenement building in Greenwich Village_ in New York City. No one could identify his body, so he was buried in a pauper's grave in "Potter's Field"_on Hart Island in off Long Island Sound._ A year later, his mother enlisted the FBI and Disney studios to find him. Fingerprints eventually led to the discovery of his fate.

MLK and RFK's deaths hijacked the headlines that year, but how many knew that their beloved little "Jim Hawkins" died tragically too.