Eyes Of A Generation Exclusive! ABC’s Disneyland Opening Behind The Scenes


An Ultra Rare, Eyes Of A Generation Exclusive! Please SHARE!

Disneyland Opening Day…Behind The Scenes Of The ABC Coverage

First, this is an upload and not a link, so please share this as it is the only way to let others see this rare look at ABC’s preparation and coverage of the July 18, 1955 opening day ceremonies at Disneyland. The network brought in 29 cameras, 85,000 feet of cable and audio equipment and engineers from ABC Radio. There was enough equipment to furnish 12 television stations. Most of the equipment was theirs, but some had to be rented from NBC so don’t be surprised when you see that logo.

This is the in house documentary ABC made for use at their affiliates and sponsor meeting in the fall of 1955. The next post today will be the full broadcast of the program produced by this assemblage of men and machines.

At the time, this was the largest remote ever done by anyone. As you’ll see, rehearsal was a mammoth task in itself with last minute construction making it nearly impossible, but…they pulled it off, and in grand style! Enjoy!

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17 Comments

  1. Melody Babcock July 19, 2016

    Wonderful! I watched all of these. Rare, indeed! Thanks for sharing!

  2. Jeoff C. Bristow May 8, 2015

    Film Chain. Started my career in 1981 in TV being a projectionist.

  3. Lennard Young May 8, 2015

    Hosted by Art Linkletter, Bob Cummings, Ronald Reagan:)

  4. Steve Orlandella May 7, 2015

    Two words I haven’t heard in thirty years: Film Chain.

  5. Jim Cox March 12, 2015

    Over the years I worked with John Rich from time and he led me to
    Believe that he was the only director.

  6. Bill Cotter March 11, 2015

    Great stuff!

  7. Fred Sciarratta March 11, 2015

    Narrated by Paul Frees.

  8. Vintage Los Angeles June 6, 2014

    This is absolutely amazing!

  9. Steven Bradford June 1, 2014

    At 2:08 you can see where the cameraman filming this left the leather case for his Bell & Howell 70dr on top of the gear cases.

  10. Zach Camerino June 1, 2014

    Found a great page from a camera operator from the Disneyland shoot. http://www.pharis-video.com/p5099.htm

  11. Zach Camerino June 1, 2014

    Is this on YouTube?

  12. Mark Yancey June 1, 2014

    Back when live TV engineering was really a new and difficult idea… Everything had tubes, no transistors!

  13. Bob Huntsman June 1, 2014

    My dad was the TD on that shoot!!

  14. Thomas Turner June 1, 2014

    How do you access this to see it?

  15. Bruce A Johnson June 1, 2014

    All those guys on lifts and man-buckets with no restraints at all? It was a different time for sure.

  16. Valentin Alanis June 1, 2014

    A true gem here!