from 2008
SONNY ANDERSON
talks about his start at Disney in 1955

by Scott Wolf

Sonny Anderson is not only an amazing person who truly deserves to be a Disney Legend, but he is one of the nicest, most generous people I know.

Starting at Disneyland in its inaugural year, he went on to arrange numerous record albums for the park, television and radio commercials and in-park tunes. Ultimately, he became one of the busiest talent bookers, traveling the world for theme park talent. Sonny has booked more talent than anyone in the world! Between Disneyland and Walt Disney World he hired performers ranging from full time entertainment Cast Members to special park appearances by some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry. Sonny and I decided to get together at Disneyland for this interview. If there's ever a Sonny Anderson fan club, I'll be the first to sign up! It absolutely thrills me to be able to share our conversation with you!

Scott Wolf: How did you end up getting a job with Disney?

Sonny Anderson: I was playing in Long Beach when I got out of the service. I was playing nights in a club and a friend of mine got me in the Long Beach Concert Band that was already there for maybe thirty, forty years, so I was playing there and then I was playing at a nightclub, too. They had different acts in there and we backed them up. Then in between the two groups I was also teaching in the mid-afternoons. I was teaching vibes and drums and all that kind of stuff.

In the club I was playing in at night, a friend of mine got the job out here (at Disneyland). He called me after he'd been here for maybe six months from when they opened and he was in the regular band they had there and he called me. It was very close to the one year anniversary (of Disneyland), so they were doing a record of the band. He said, "They need you to come over because they need another. They only have two drummers and they need somebody to play percussion and stuff." He said, "Come on out, you'll like it!" I had never been here.

They called me in because they didn't have another guy and they also brought out another guy who played the piccolo and stuff. I came out and did the recording and they offered me a job.

SW: So you were only supposed to be doing a record when you got your job?

SA: Yeah. When they offered me the job I thought, "Oh, I don't know about that," because I'd been playing in that band in Long Beach for about three or four years. I thought, "I don't think I want that, I don't know anything about it." But, when I was here I walked around, looked in and I’d gone in the men's room and I couldn't believe how every single place was so clean.

The leader was giving me, "We really need you. It's time for one of the drummers to leave and we have to have somebody." I didn't think anything about it at that point but later on I sure did. So I took the job and I've been with them ever since.

SW: So you started working at Disneyland in '55?

SA: Yeah, that's when I started and I had fun, and I was still playing at night in Long Beach at the night club which had piano, bass, trumpet and sax players. We would ride together out here in the morning and then ride back there at night. It was all fun.

What happened next was that pretty soon one of the guys that was going in to the Disneyland Hotel said, "Hey, I want to take a trio… will you go with us?" I'm thinking, "I don't know," but he said, "C'mon over!" So I went right across the street and I stayed there for about two or three years. We were playing here (at Disneyland) in the morning and over there at night. I was still teaching, too.

SW: That's a lot!

SA: My wife and I had broken up and then I had the four kids by myself, but I had some ladies who worked for me that helped. Believe it or not, it was wonderful the kids were staying with me!

SW: Where did you go after working in the bands?

SA: Well, I was writing arrangements for the band when I was in the band. The leader, Vesey Walker, was from England and his son (Tommy Walker) was the top Entertainment guy here, but all he had was a library with all the old-style band arrangements so I'd write one and put it in and after two or three of them he was going crazy about it.

Tommy said, "Write some more for the other people," so I was doing that but I was still in the band. Then finally he came to me and said, "How 'bout if I just take you out of the band, and you'll sit full time in your own office and just write things that you want?" and that's what he did.

It was really neat because I had a great secretary. It was also a girl that I had in a rock band that I put together when I was still in the band. I put together the band for at night for the teenage kids. All of them were young except me. We had the regular Big Band and they said, "We want something for the teenagers," so I put together a group of young guys except myself and I had Kay Bell and that was the band. So when Tommy asked me about my own office I said sure, but I would need a good secretary. He said, "Who do you want?" I said, "Kay Bell." He said, "Good. You got it." We were together for a long time. She was a great gal.

SW: Were you in a group here called The Spacemen?

SA: There were about four of five different names that we had through those years.

One thing that I did was something they hadn't been doing before. I put a horn section with the rock groups. Little by little we were getting all the people over there in Tomorrowland and we were pulling more traffic over there than the big bands, the name bands.

They wouldn't let some Guests come in because they all wanted to come in wearing their rock stuff and the girls had their skirts a little bit too short, but that's the way they dressed, it wasn't like they were just doing it to come here.

SW: One of the Monkees said he couldn't go in to Disneyland because his hair was too long.

SA: I don't know, but they were very strict and the guys out front would look in their purses and make sure they had no drinks and things. They were all teenagers, but we packed the place. That's when Walt Disney came out and said, "We're gonna build another stage (in Tomorrowland). This one's not good for the band." He did, I swear to God, and that's what they did. He used to come out every weekend when he was here and he'd always come over there and hang around a little bit. I don't mean he'd sit down or stay but he would come over and smile.

When they were redoing that stage in Tomorrowland we'd go over to this regular big stage in Tomorrowland and we'd play there on the weekends. We had a lot of fun.

NOTE: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in the interviews are solely those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the views of Mouse Clubhouse. Mouse Clubhouse accepts no legal liability or responsibility for any claims made or opinions expressed within.