Despite a tough first day, Disneyland was an unquestionable success with the public,
and like many of Walt’s ventures, it quickly found itself becoming a part of American culture.
As a result, it was no surprise that filmmakers of the time began to want to use Disneyland
as a backdrop for some of their stories.
Ever the overseer of the image he had created for the Disney name, Walt pretty much shot
them all down.
He wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of filming in Disneyland.
After all, he had shot plenty of episodes of the Disneyland TV series there.
It was more about controlling the content.
Perhaps the most notable example was around 1960 when famous director Alfred Hitchcock
and screenwriter Ernest Lehman worked on an idea for a murder mystery set at Disneyland.
Walt apparently learned about this project in a trade paper and would make a public statement
that Hitchcock, under no conditions, could shoot the murder mystery at his park.
As Walt would say, "people don't get murdered at Disneyland."
A few years later another film proposal would come across Walt’s desk, and this time things
would go differently.
In 1962, Universal Pictures was in the process of putting together a remake of the 1934 comedy,
Little Miss Marker, which starred Shirley Temple.
The remake was called 40 Pounds of Trouble.
It was the story of a casino manager named Steve McCluskey, played by Tony Curtis, who
quickly found himself taking care of a 5 year old girl named Penny Piper who was abandoned
at the casino by a down and out gambler.
Towards the end of the film McCluskey and his love interest, Chris Lockwood take Penny
to Disneyland for a day, where McCluskey finds himself trying to escape a private investigator
who is trying to serve him legal papers.
It sets the stage for a climax in which McCluskey is comically chased all around Disneyland.
The story was far more family friendly than the other film proposals Walt had received
up until that point, and the producers of the film took the extra step of finishing
the script before sending it over to Disney, rather than just pitching the overall concept.
The benefit of getting to see exactly what they wanted to film at the park helped him
in making a decision.
Walt ultimately agreed, marking the first time in the seven years since Disneyland open
that an outside production would be allowed to film at the theme park.
However he had a few changes to make to the script first.
For instance the original script called for a scene in which a young woman at the park
complains to a policeman that a man in the crowd gave her a “affectionate pinch”.
Walt scrapped the idea with the note “Not in Disneyland.
Besides, we don’t have policemen, just security officers.”
Another change involved removing a part in which the private investigator leaps out from
the Skyway buckets to try and catch McClusky.
Walt said there would be “no leaping out of any of the sky rides.
I don’t want the kids who see the film to get any wild ideas.”
Lastly, the movie would originally end with the private investigator catching McClusky
while on the Disneyland Railroad.
Walt instead suggested “Why not let Tony and the girl end their visit, with Tony thinking
he’s safe at last.
Then the private detective grabs him just outside the exit gate.”
The producers, not about to argue with Walt Disney, did just that.
Since they had to close a number of rides, and there was tons of big bulky equipment,
the shooting of the film ended up being pretty disruptive experience for guests at the park and it posed
some challenges for the filmmakers too.
They ended up having to create a custom automatic camera and lighting rig that they mounted
to the front of the Matterhorn Bobsleds to film the characters riding the attraction.
On top of that, once the filming was done, it was pretty much out of Walt’s hands.
The result was a number of inconsistencies.
My personal favorite is the shot of the three leaving Tomorrowland where they pass by a
random phone booth and some guy with a folding table trying to sell… nine hats and a bouquet
of fake flowers.
Beyond that even the marketing for the film had mistakes.
The Baltimore Evening Sun, reporting on the film, teases that “Tony and his companions
take in all the rides and sights, running into the legendary Disney characters ‘The
Mad Hatter’, ‘Bugs Bunny’, ‘Mickey Mouse’, and ‘Alice in Wonderland’”
Between the inconvenience it caused guests at the park and the final product having a
few issues that Disney had no control over, it would be no surprise that Walt wouldn’t
open the floodgates for other studios to shoot their films at Disneyland.
In fact, it would be 34 years before another film would be allowed to shoot at the park,
and that would be Tom Hanks’ “That Thing You Do!” in 1996, which featured a very
very brief montage there.
Of course that wouldn’t be the last time a film was shot at Disney, and it doesn’t
account for the multiple times smaller productions tried to secretly film at the parks without
Disney knowing.
As for 40 Pounds of Trouble?
It premiered to mixed reviews and it didn’t particularly do very well at the box office.
As history would prove, it turned out to be a pretty forgettable movie.
It just goes to show you that the allure of Disneyland can only take you so far.