Friday, May 6, 2016

America Sings Opening & Cast Member Tragedy - 1974



This advertisement (below) for the opening of America Sings is one of the oldest Disneyland newspaper clippings I have. I cut it out of the L.A. Times when I was very young and have saved it all of these years.


America Sings opened on June 29th, 1974. On July 8th, just nine days after the opening, a cast member was crushed to death by the rotating walls inside the attraction. I heard about the incident from kids at school, but I hadn't actually read anything in the paper or seen anything on the news relating to it. I decided to write to Disney News Magazine to ask if the story was true. I received this response back from them. The letter is dated, July 25, 1974, and postmarked the following day.



If you are interested in reading more about this tragic incident, you can click below for a 2010 post from the blog, "Vintage Disneyland Tickets": Vintage Disneyland Tickets - Remembering Deborah