Walt Disney Makes the Rounds, Pt. 2

You might recall a few months ago I posted this photo of actor John Derek at an unidentified amusement center (now identified by Daveland reader Beachgal as The Pike/Nu Pike Amusement Park in Long Beach, California) from November 1953. Today, I present another photo from that same day, showing Walt & John shooting guns at the park's arcade:



Yup, that's Walt.



I still have no idea how the two happened to be together, but here are two more shots of Derek enjoying the "Skooter" bumper car ride:



and a slide:



If you know anything about these photos, I sure would love it if you'd share!

Derek is probably best remembered for the role of Joshua in "The Ten Commandments":



and for being the husband of Bo Derek:



Meanwhile, back in Orlando...my niece is there with her friends, visiting Walt Disney World and Universal.



Her dark sense of humor (a family trait!) was shining yesterday as she sent me this photo from the Haunted Mansion:



See more John Derek photos on my John Derek web page.

Walt Disney Makes The Rounds

It is fairly common knowledge that Walt Disney looked at a number of amusement parks to see what would (and wouldn't) work at his own. He didn't want Disneyland to be just another copy of what existed, even though the bean counters encouraged him to use off-the-shelf attractions that had already been created and tested. Today's photo shows Walt in November 1953, checking out a 3-D Movie viewer with actor John Derek at The Pike/Nu Pike amusement arcade/pier/park in Long Beach, California. I do not know if the two were out and about together or if they just happened to run into each other at some event. Perhaps Walt enjoyed Derek's performance as the son of Robin Hood in "Rogues of Sherwood Forest" (1950).



Or maybe there was no connection at all.

See more vintage & current Disneyland photos on my Disneyland web pages.