An early Disneyland designer won over Walt Disney with his rebel reputation.
Now he laments: ‘The park is gone’
Try as he might — and he’s tried countless times — Rolly Crump just can’t quit Disney.
Rolly Crump, who helped design many hallmarks of American pop culture as a Disney Imagineer, talks about his artistry.
Earlier this year Crump had artifacts from nearly all of his life’s work auctioned off, a sale decades in the making that brought in more than $600,000. No surprise the items were in demand. In addition to having a hand as an assistant animator in the Disney films “Lady and the Tramp” and “Sleeping Beauty,” Crump’s resume just so happens to contain work on It’s a Small World, the Enchanted Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion, cornerstones of Anaheim’s Disneyland and pivotal works in American Pop art.
Crump is one the most important designers in the development of early Disneyland — and one of only a few surviving architects of the park who can speak directly to the intentions of its creator, Walt Disney.
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Persons
Rolly Crump (interviewee)Mary Blair (reference)
Claude Coats (reference)
Marc Davis (reference)
Walt Disney (reference)
Blaine Gibson (reference)
Yale Gracey (reference)
John Hench (reference)
Ken Peterson (reference)
Marty Sklar (reference)
Keywords
AnimationDisneyland
Enchanted Tiki Room
EPCOT
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
Museum of the Weird
New York World's Fair 1964/65
Tower of the Four Winds
Walt Disney Imagineering
Walt Disney World