The Wonderful World of Disney - Disneyland Showtime with Kurt Russell & the Osmond Bros (1970)

On his TV show, Walt Disney often took his viewers to Disneyland so the viewers at home could see what was new and going on there. His entire TV show had been established to fund building the park and he had given progress reports from the start. After it was built, these progress reports continued has he kept updating things. For those of us living decades later, these episodes have become a time capsule of what Disneyland looked like in the past. Walt had said on several occasions that he’d build Disneyland to be an eternal world’s fair celebrating American ideals and many of these attractions no longer exist.

This is the first behind the scenes episode of Walt's TV show filmed after his death and the first to not have a host. The premise is the Osmonds explore Disneyland. The occasion was the opening of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion. Comedienne E.J. Peaker also joins in the hijinks and Kurt Russell gives us a behind the scenes look at the creation of the Haunted Mansion attraction. The Haunted Mansion had been in the original plans for Disneyland before it was even built but Walt didn't get around to building it until after the 1964-65 World's Fair. This was the first glimpse many Americans had of Walt Disney's final attraction.

Kurt Russell was a child star who’d started appearing in Walt Disney films when Walt was alive and continued well into his early 20’s. This was really the first time you get the sense of how there was a friendship and respect he had for Walt that's continued to the day. The Osmonds were one of many such music performing family groups that were very popular at the time. Donny Osmond would later return to a Disney project as the singing voice of Shang in 1998's Mulan. In the 1960’s there was a trend to transition these bands into films and TV specials and that’s what this partly was. E.J. Peaker was a well known actress at the time appearing in both TV films and theatrical releases as well as guest starring in TV episodes of the era.

Of special note is the American Indian Village that had been part of Disneyland from the start. In recent years this attraction has been smeared by woke leftists as racist but it was very inclusionary. Dozens of real American Indian Tribes were hired where they taught guests about their customs and traditions. At the time, no one was doing this and many of the American Indians and their tribes expressed gratitude to Walt Disney for allowing them a venue to educate the public that their people were not the constant stock villains often used in westerns of the time. Walt Disney, and his studio after his death, created several films and TV shows where American Indians were treated with respect and dignity; something that often gets ignored today. The American Indian Village was removed shortly after this was filmed to make way for Critter Country.

Original air date March 22, 1970

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.