Welcome to Extinct Attractions. Today, I’ll be taking a look back at a couple of Disneyland shows that called the Golden Horseshoe Saloon home.
This past week, the first Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party of the year kicked off at Magic Kingdom. I know what you are thinking, yes it is only mid-August, but the Halloween Party has moved earlier and earlier each year, now encompassing almost a quarter of the year in the Magic Kingdom. The Disney Parks have always taken the holidays seriously, but today’s story takes us back to the summer of the first Halloween party at Disneyland (though it does not have anything to do with Halloween itself).
The Golden Horseshoe Saloon has been a fixture at Disneyland since before the park even opened, with Walt Disney hosting a party for his wife Lillian there in the week before Disneyland opened. The saloon was unique in that guests could eat at the saloon while enjoying a show, the first of which was The Golden Horseshoe Revue, starring Disney Legend Wally Boag, which morphed into The Golden Horseshoe Jamboree after thirty great years of the revue.
Via Disney Dreamer
In 1983, an actor and comedian named Dana Daniels started performing magic and puppeteering at Disneyland, generally providing streetmosphere for curious guests looking for a little entertainment. Daniels was quickly a favorite and started expanding his role to also appear a few times a week in The Golden Horseshoe Jamboree as Pecos Bill. Daniels kept working at Disney over the next few years as he developed his act of the psychic parrot on the side. Eventually, he found a perfect place to blend his two jobs when he came up with the idea of a filler show for the two days of the week that Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, the new resident of the Golden Horseshoe Saloon, took off.
The Golden Horseshoe Variety Show was born on June 13, 1995, providing the Billies with a little time off as well as Dana the chance to show off the miraculous psychic parrot act. The show ran concurrently with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies for eight years, with a brief hiatus for Woody’s Roundup in 1999 that was tied to the release of Toy Story 2. There is unfortunately no video of the show, but from what I understand it was a shorter show that primarily consisted of Dana performing comedy and magic for the crowd with his parrot playing a particularly important role.
Via YouTube
In 2001, a third show was added to the mix, Frontierland The Little Town That Could, starring the cast of Laughing Stock and Company in a show all about the “founding of Frontierland.” I have no idea how they managed to have three shows at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon at the same time, but I would have to imagine that there was some kind of seasonality to the shows, with generally two appearing at one point. It’s also possible that Billy Hill and gang moved over to Big Thunder Ranch for some shows as well, so that guests could experience the best of each world.
Frontierland The Little Town That Could followed a similar mold to the Fantasyland Faire shows in Disneyland in that it was a pretty simple story structure that was full of puns. Plus, they both had a piano player who played simple songs throughout the show that the cast could harmonize to.
The central conceit of the characters discussing the “history” of the land was a pretty funny idea that helped lead to a real solid energy amongst the entire cast as they cobbled together a tale that featured all kinds of legendary people from the Old West. But since the show only had three actors, the company needed to add in some members of the audience to play the roles of Davey Crockett, Paul Bunyan and Slue-Foot Sue. The “extras” even got a chance to say a few lines to the delight of their families. But that was honestly about it as the show was not super memorable, but it served its purpose as a nice little diversion in the California heat.
Interestingly enough, both the shows ended up closing in 2003, leaving Billy Hill and the Hillbillies as the only show in town after having to figure out how to balance three shows for a couple of years. With the change, the Hillbillies moved to seven days a week and called Disneyland home for nearly a decade more. The other shows we discussed today were fun, but they couldn’t hold a handle to the rollicking good time that was Billy Hill and the Hillbillies.
Via Memes
As always, don’t forget to check out my interactive maps of the Disney Parks throughout the years where you can watch or learn more about all the attractions from every Disney park around the world.
Thanks for reading and have a magical day!