from 2009
STAN JOLLEY
A tour of Stan's home - PART 2

by Scott Wolf

<--- Part 1


The first thing I noticed in Stan's Disney museum is this original artwork
given to Stan for his birthday. It was drawn by Disney artist T. Hee,
accompanied by the signatures of many of the studio's artists.


I've extracted some of the signatures so that you can see them close-up.
Marc Davis, Dick Humer, Ward Kimball, Bill Peet and Ken Anderson were amongst the group.
Yes, the happy names T.Hee, Huemer and Jolley were all working together.

They threw a surprise birthday party for me on May 17, 1954 over at Alfonses, which used to be our big hangout where we all used to get drunk after work or have a couple martinis at lunchtime so we could go back and face the reality. So here’s something I wouldn’t part with for anything (above).

I thought this was so cool! Stan's actual 1955 "Disneyland, Inc." ID!


(left) Cast & crew part for Zorro with art director Marvin Davis, actor Henry Calvin, Stan and actor Armor Goetten
(right) Stan with Robert Loggia, star of Elfego Baca

The entire back wall was filled with early conceptual drawings of Disneyland, primarily Tomorrowland. Below are a few of those images.

Here is a concept for a Martian Wheat Field.


This Metallic Screen Mural would feature fused colored plastic and special night lighting effects.


In this abandoned concept for the entrance to Tomorrowland,
the rocket would actually be a giant sundial!


Interestingly, this Tomorrowland Entrance concept is quite similar to the "new Tomorrowland" of 1998.


This artwork features the Tomorrowland entrance with the familiar "Clock of the World."

Here, Fred Joerger and Wathel Rogers of the model shop, along with Stan, stand in what is now the
Storybook Land canal. When the attraction first opened, there were no miniature scenery or
buildings as there is now. In this image, they are determining the best scale and location for the new scenes.
Stan recalls...
I’d draw up every one of these buildings for Storybook Land over the course of the day, then the next morning we’d all meet in the model shop, Fred Joerger and Harriet Burns and all, I’d take the drawings down… I remember every morning when Walt came in and we were all down there discussing what to do and how to put it together and so forth.

Here's another view of Stan at the Storybook Land test.

Here’s a cut out of Snow White’s cottage. This was to show you the scale. There was nothing there except for the canal and this became Walt’s favorite because we were taking all of his past pictures and creating these sets.

On the wall, Stan has two original invitational press preview passes for Disneyland's official opening day. As I stood in awe, I asked him if he attended, and he told me he did not. His response was quite surprising to me... 

When we first started on Disneyland, we were working in those days a six day week. We were working six days and a couple nights. As the time went on we were working three nights a week and then four nights a week and six days a week.

The pressure was on to finish the park and I had had it by that time, and I knew the park was going to be finished at a certain date. So I told Dick Irvine and Walt and Marvin Davis and Carroll Clark that I was going to take a two week vacation and go to New York because I had bought some tickets and I was entitled to a vacation.

I was told that if I went back east and went on a two week vacation in New York at that time, don’t expect to have my job when I come back. That’s exactly what I was told. I’ve been my own man my whole life, I’ve had my own company prior to that so I didn’t have to be beholden to go back to work at Disney and especially under a threat. So I went back and my wife and I saw a couple Broadway shows and enjoyed it.

I came back to the studio and went in to the studio and was in my office, packing up my stuff. This was two weeks after the park had opened because I left about three days before the park had opened. I think it was Dick Irvine or Marvin who said, “What are you doing, Stan?” I said, “You guys told me I was fired if I went on vacation.” Things had calmed down by that time and he said, “Oh, c’mon!” That’s when Walt said to stay and get into TV and so forth. But I didn’t give a rat’s fanny and my parents went in my place.

(Stan has posted captions on most the photos and artwork throughout his collection, including the image above of Stan and Walt.) It was a joy to be able to share my tour with you. There's no doubt Stan has had an amazing career, he has been a major contributor to many important projects, both Disney and non-Disney, and through it all, as the song goes... he did it his way.

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