Roy Meets Girl

Today's post is brought to you by my mom, Marilyn, who recounts a memorable trip to Disneyland when she was just 14 years old.  On October 11, 1958 she with her little brother Ray and my grandparents Chet and Margie, attended an Apex Steel employee picnic at the Holidayland area outside the Park...and met a celebrity!

There were horseshoes to throw, a sack race - which my grandfather won! - and a water balloon toss across the grass.  Following an outdoor barbecue lunch, everybody was ushered into the big circus tent for a live performance by a few famous Mouseketeers from television. Doreen, Cheryl, Sharon, and Tommy were there - and maybe Bobby, Mom thinks.  After a couple of songs and dances, Roy Williams, the show's "Big Mooseketeer" entered the stage with a pad of paper. All the kids in the audience lined up for a free sketch of a favorite Disney character to take home. 

Mom's impression of Roy was "a very friendly fat man, in kind of a Santa Claus sort of way." As Roy chatted amiably with each kid, he effortlessly conjured up mice, ducks, dogs - and even Zorro for one kid - with a stick of charcoal.  Besides being a familiar face on TV, Roy Williams was a longtime story artist for the studio's animated shorts, and he could draw Mickey's grinning visage in ten seconds or less!

Roy asked Mom if she was having a good time at the picnic, and what character would she like.  In a sudden moment of teenage shyness, she couldn't think of anything, so Roy made the decision for her...

It's Pluto!  Arf!!

Cute drawing, huh? Of course, once she got home - and for years afterward -  Mom wished she had asked for one of Cinderella's mice!

And now... See Roy sketch Mickey in ten seconds! From the "Disneyland" TV show, 1956.