Museum Home
Main Collection
Special Exhibits
Film Theater


Interview with Fess Parker

 

Fess Parker


Fess Parker was the star of the "Davy Crockett" TV series, which held America in thrall in the mid-1950s.

 

Q. Tell us about the first time you met Walt Disney.

A. First time I met Walt in person was in 1954, and I'd just gone out to the studio. I think it was the second or third time that I'd been out to the Disney Studio and first time I was interviewed by Bill Walsh, who was going to produce "Davy Crockett," and Tom Blackburn, who wrote the screenplay. And I read a couple of scenes and then they invited me back, I think for the third time ...

Walt came in and I brought my guitar out and he said, "Let's go down the hall," so we went to a little office, a writer's office, it was just a desk and two chairs, and I answered some of his questions: where I was from and any other thing that he asked me. And it wasn't very much ... And he said, "I see you brought your guitar." And I said, "Yes sir, I wrote this little song, I'll play it for you." So I did and we had a nice visit and then I said it was nice to meet you. And a few days later I got word from the studio that they were going to assign me the role of Davy Crockett. I don't know what I expected but he put me completely at ease. He was like someone I would have encountered, perhaps, in my home town. Very low key. And I must say that almost everyone that I met at the Disney Studio in that era, they were all just excellent people to know. And some have become lifelong friends.

 

Back to top

Q. Did you have any notion of what a phenomenon the show would become?

A. You know, there were many minds who had a greater capacity to anticipate that than I did. To me, it was just an exciting thing to work for Walt Disney ...

 

Back to top

Q. Did Walt make any appearances on the set? Was his presence felt directly or indirectly?

A. I think his presence was felt very strongly when he and his wife and two friends came on the set in North Carolina. We were on the Cherokee Indian Reservation and I'd been fighting all day with a wonderful actor named Pat Hogan, who played Red Stick, and it was exciting to have them on the set. I didn't realize what was happening behind the scenes. I think, behind the scenes, we were so far behind he wanted to see the company in action and perhaps draw a conclusion of his own. But nothing happened, we just continued until we finished.


Back to top

Q. The show sold a huge amount of merchandise. Walt was generous with you in that area, wasn't he?

A. I would say Walt Disney was extremely generous. I just simply one day said, "You know, I'd like to have a percentage of the merchandise" and much to my surprise I was given 10 percent of the Walt Disney Davy Crockett merchandise. I didn't even say it to him in person. I just said, you know, to the agent that I had at that time, I think perhaps there might be an opportunity to participate in the merchandise and that question was asked and answered with the ten percent, which was spectacular in any age.


Back to top

Q. Walt didn't always say yes, though, did he? Tell us the story of "Wringle, Wrangle."

A. Well, at the time, the studio, the Disney Studio did not have a record label so when we had done the record of Davy Crockett and put it out it was, I think, on Columbia. And then shortly thereafter the Buena Vista label came into being, and I was aware of that, and Buddy Ebsen and I had formed a little company called Music Land ... And I had learned from Stan Jones, who had written "Ghost Riders in the Sky" and many other hits, a little song called "Wringle, Wrangle." And we were shooting a picture called "Westward Ho the Wagons" and so I went to Walt and I said, "Here's a cute little song I think might fit in the picture." And he said, "Well, play it for me." And I did and he said, "Yeah, we'll use that." And a little later, on the set, I had a chance to say to him, "You know, is there any chance that Music Land, Buddy and I have this little company that we've started, could we possibly have half of the music publishing rights." And Walt said, " No, I don't think so." And I said, "Why not?" And he said, "Well, company policy." So, just for the fun of it, I said, "Well, who makes company policy?" And he said, "I do." So we didn't get the publishing rights but "Wringle, Wrangle" went out and did about half a million records.

Fess Parker

 

Back to top

Q. Tell us about the opening day of Disneyland.

A. Well, if I may, the opening day of Disneyland was the equivalent of aftershocks that we experience here in Southern California. The first shock was when Buddy Ebsen and I were pulled back from filming the "River Pirates" segment and we appeared two nights in the Hollywood Bowl. And the reason I describe it as an earthquake is because Buddy and I didn't know what we were going to do. It was Walt Disney Night in the Bowl for two nights so we got back late in the afternoon, no rehearsal, and [composer/conductor] George Bruns said, "You're going to sing this little song from "Davy Crockett" called 'Farewell to the Mountains' with the symphony and this chorus." And he said, "Don't worry, I'll tell you where to come in." And that was it. So the next night before 25,000 people Buddy and I rode out on our horses, and the horses almost stole the show, but we sang our little song.


Back to top

Q. And that was followed by the actual Park opening?

A. Yes, that was in preparation for the opening day of Disneyland. Riding in the parade with Walt was the high point but the next high point was not falling down doing the folk dances that we did around the open ditches and so forth. It was an exciting thing. Live television, opening the park, the Bowl all in a short period of time.

Back to top

Q. The park wasn't really ready for opening, was it?

A. People were so thick in the park, they were six and eight deep at every point, so you were always before an audience and cameras were the least of the worries. But it was still a ways before everything was going to be buttoned up and there were ditches and they covered it with plywood. So when you rode in the opening parade you were on Main Street and that was beautiful but behind Main Street much was left to be done. Art Linkletter and I had a chance to visit not long ago and he was telling me about the time that he had laid his microphone down behind some of this construction. When Ronald Reagan passed the show over to Art, he had a hard time finding his microphone. Funny things like that happened.

Back to top

Q. The magnitude of your fame must have been shocking. Was it?

A. To tell you the truth, it was a complete change in life. When I was first sent out by the studio, I couldn't leave my hotel room, I couldn't eat in the restaurant. I became a captive. That's not much fun. Working with the public, I had a schedule that was just incredible. I was in, almost, a city a day. I went to 42 cities, part of it by myself, part of it with Buddy, and then later, I think about 13 countries. That was very, very hard physical work and if I hadn't been a fairly strong young man in those days, I don't think I could have done it. The idea of fame is one of those mysteries. That we make people famous and then they're famous. But what does it mean? I don't know. To me, it was good fortune that I might be able to work again.

Back to top


Use of this site signifies your agreement to the terms of use.
© Disney. All rights reserved.