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DISNEYLAND AT 70: Charlie Ridgway Found His Niche Covering Disneyland’s Opening

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
Charlie Ridgway, who capped his wide-ranging professional career by being named a Disney Legend in 1999, was among the thousands of overheated people in attendance for Disneyland’s opening day. He was on assignment, covering the event for the Los Angeles Times-Mirror newspaper. “It was hot,” Charlie remembered during an interview I had with him in 2014, “and there were way too many people in the park. And not only that, but many of the attractions kept breaking down.” The day became known as Black Sunday for a reason.
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DISNEYLAND AT 70: Marty Sklar Went From Media Go-Fer To Emergency Horse-Whisperer

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
When July 17, 1955, dawned, Marty Sklar was very much behind the scenes, assisting the throngs of media members on hand for the big event. “My assignment for the morning was actually in our PR offices in the original administration building – part of which had come from Ron Dominguez’s home on the site,” Marty told me. “Our offices had been turned into a press facility, and of course, as the ‘kid’ – I had been working ‘professionally’ all of one month by then! – I was basically a go-fer for the media.”
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DISNEYLAND AT 70: ‘Native Disneylander’ Ron Dominguez Witnessed The Opening Day Chaos

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
In the months leading up to Disneyland's opening day on July 17, 1955, cast members and construction workers were putting in 14-to-16-hour days, seven days a week. Many were spending so much time on The Site, as it was known, that they often said they felt as if they were living there. Ron Dominguez could empathize. In an odd twist, Dominguez and his family did live on a section of the Disneyland property for the first 18 years of Ron’s life.
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Disney Dollars Were The Brainchild Of Disney Marketing Guru Jack Lindquist

Posted on by Chuck Schmidt
The Disney Dollars initiative was the brainchild of Disney Legend Jack Lindquist, who was among other things, a marketing genius. He joined the Disney fold in 1955, working in Disneyland’s marketing department, where he dreamed up some of the park’s most famous promotions, including Grad Nites, Vacationland Magazine, The Magic Kingdom Club and the Disneyland Ambassador Program. “I got the idea for Disney Dollars by reading the financial pages,” Lindquist said. "It dawned on me that Disneyland was big enough to have its own currency."
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