Courtesy of Profiles in History
A detail from blueprints for "Walt Disney's Riverfront Square"
On Saturday, L.A.-based auction house Profiles in History puts a bunch of interesting stuff on the block, including an animatronic Ellen DeGeneres; a life-sized, remote-controlled R2D2; art Keith Haring produced for Sesame Street; and cells from the famous "spaghetti-slurping" scene from Disney's Lady and the Tramp. Also in the mix: the second original set of blueprints for Walt Disney's Riverfront Square, "the Disneyland that never was."
As Channel 11 reported last year, the first set of original blueprints, which went up on the auction block in 2015 and fetched $27,000, were believed to be the only ones in existence. Even Disneyana experts (yes, they exist!) had no idea that it was possible for another set to surface, but surface they did. Mike Fazio, the Animation/Disneyana Director at Profiles in History, says they'd been mothballed at an Orange County woman's home for decades.
"Her father worked at Disney years and years ago," Fazio says. "She had this stuff in the garage, and never thought much of it. She had some other interesting things, too; she had stuff from Disneyland from the same period, the early '60s, and it was an accounting of how much money the park was making every day at that time. That's actually in the auction as well. She also had some interesting drawings dating back to the '60s of some of the Disney characters. So it was just a bunch of stuff that her father had, and she hadn't thought much about it. Then somehow she saw one of our old auctions, and said to herself, 'Wait, St. Louis that sounds really familiar...' and then lo and behold, she found that she had the plans as well, and got in contact with us. In fact, she was so close she drove them over to us."
Courtesy of Profiles in History
Blueprint detail.
If you want to take a really fascinating deep dive into the backstory of "St. Louis Disneyland," including all the grotty political details, read all 10 parts of Todd James Pierce's article for the Disney History Institute. We can give you the short version, though. After demolishing many, many city blocks to make room for the Arch and Busch Stadium, the city wanted to demolish another big chunk of city fabric to create a dining/shopping district on the Mississippi themed around the concept of "Old St. Louis." Part of that complex included a 360-degree theater, and the city approached Walt Disney about creating a St. Louis-themed film for that attraction.
Courtesy of Profiles in History
Blueprint detail.
One of the reasons they approached him was that in 1963, Walt Disney was arguably the most famous person on Earth who hailed from Missouri. Walt still had huge nostalgic feelings for his home state—and for "Old St. Louis"—which meant his interest was piqued. But this was Walt Disney, so his M.O. was go big or go home. What started as your typical chamber of commerce arts and entertainment district eventually mushroomed into "Walt Disney's Riverfront Square," a huge five-floor building containing rides, theaters, shops—basically a theme park contained inside a high-rise (everything was indoors because of St. Louis weather, which is uncomfortable most days of the year, unlike edenic Southern California). One interesting bit of trivia: some of the rides that originated in the plans for the St. Louis park went on to become Disneyland staples, including the Haunted House, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. There were some regionally specific rides, like a Lewis and Clark boat tour, which understandably didn't end up in California.
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Courtesy of Profiles in History
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Courtesy of Profiles in History
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Courtesy of Profiles in History
The going myth is that the plan fizzled because Augie Busch and Walt Disney clashed over alcohol sales. The truth is more mundane, and more predictable—the city didn't want to pony up the money to pay for the shell of the building, which means it didn't make financial sense for the Disney Corporation to go forward with the project, so they moved on....to Florida.
Since this isn't a complete set of prints, they're estimated to bring in between $2,000 and $4,000. But this is an auction, after all! If there are collectors out there who are as nostalgic as Disney himself, they might go for a lot more.
