Magic Behind the Music: Disneyland – Frontierland – Golden Horse Shoe Revue
Lasso some old west fixin’s while you listen to some music from Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue on the D-COT Jukebox!
Hello everybody, we’re mighty glad to meet you, here at the Golden Horseshoe! This track was added to the D-COT Jukebox on February 5, 2009, but if you take a stroll back into the Old West at Disneyland, you’ll find that the fine establishment has been around since the park opened on July 17, 1955. Don’t confuse this with the Diamond Horseshoe at Walt Disney World though. This place has a far more distinguished history. In fact, this may be the only attraction at Disneyland that debuted before the park opened! You see, just a few days prior, Walt and Lillian Disney celebrated their 30th Wedding Anniversary with invited guests as Slue Foot Sue put on the show for the first time!
Of course, though, it wasn’t just a show. It was, and still is, a restaurant. The show was changed over the decades since the venue’s opening, but as recently as last year was cancelled altogether. The Golden Horseshoe remains a locale where passers by can grab a quick bite to eat. The original show, from which our feature track was taken, was the longest running at the venue. This segment has enjoyed 1,872 performances with 4 so far this week on the D-COT Jukebox. The full show ran until 1986 having had 39,000 performances. It continues to be the holder of the Longest Running Musical of All-Time in the Guinness Book of Records.
The talented performers in the show were so good, that to celebrate the show’s 10,000th performance, they filmed a special performance with notable guest stars, Ed Wynn (most famous as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins), Gene Sheldon (from Disney’s Zorro), and Annette Funicello (Mickey Mouse Club and multiple feature films) and made it an episode of the Wonderful World of Color in 1962. Walt Disney introduced the show to the television audience, of course. The episode can currently be viewed today on YouTube if you’re a fan of retro Disney entertainment. If you watch it, you’ll notice the particular talent in one of the show’s regular performers, Wally Boag – the traveling salesman. Walt saw so much talent in him that he put him in small parts in some of Disney’s theatrically released films. He also voiced José in the Enchanted Tiki Room, a voice track that remains a part of the attraction on both coasts.
Over the course of this track’s run on the Jukebox, 13 members have made it a favorite with supporters having added it to 4 custom playlists. It gets a 4.2/5 average rating with 26 votes. Along with this opening track, there are a few other tracks from the original show on the Jukebox as well as the full version of a later rendition with Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. So sit a spell, hang your hat, and rest your spurs as you listen to these tracks from a bygone Disney era.
