Wednesday, August 17, 2022

The Leader of the Band



This recently acquired April 1976 image may not seem like anything special to you, but for us OCD vintage Disneyland collectors, it sure is! The band leader shown is completely unfamiliar to me. Admittedly, once Vesey Walker left his post, I lost track of who was running the show!



From February 1971 comes this older gent conducting the band in Town Square:





Looks like he was still around in October 1972:





Also the same guy, but in Tomorrowland, circa October 1972:





Anyone know the identity of these two band leaders?

See more Disneyland Town Square photos at my main website.

2 comments:

Nathan said...

Hey Dave! The guy at the top is Stan Freese, leader from 1974 to 1982. And I believe that the gent in the rest of the photos is either Jim Barngrover or Warren Gale…most likely the former. He was more than likely subbing for Jim Christensen at that time while Jim was getting WDW ready.

Bryan said...

Thanks Nathan. So that's what Stan Freese looked like? I knew about his son Josh Freese who went on to be a famous drummer ( Devo, Vandals, Guns n Roses, Nine Inch Nails ) and vaguely recall one of Josh's earliest jobs was drumming at Disneyland at the Tomorrowland stage. I don't think I'd ever seen anything about Stan until now. Thank you!