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Disneyland’s Dumbo goes up for sale,
LOS ANGELES— In what used to be a Sports Authority store, wedged between a PetSmart and a Ross Dress for Less in this city’s busy-by-day Sherman Oaks neighbourhood, stands a sea serpent nearly 15 metres long, a talking macaw with a Mexican accent and a temporarily grounded 350-kilogram flying fibreglass elephant.
These colourful curiosities and hundreds more are part of a temporary exhibition called That’s from Disneyland! All of them (even the Country Bear Jamboree postcard machine and the triangular Tinker Bell parking lot sign) belong to one man, Richard Kraft, who has been amassing large Disneyland-related objects for 25 years.
With the help of his grown son and a local gallery owner, Kraft has turned what was once a big box store into a fairyland. It may not be the Happiest Place on Earth, the actual theme park some 60 kilometres away in Anaheim, but it may well be the second happiest. Which is saying a lot for a place that used to be 40,000 square feet (3,700 square metres) of run-of-the-treadmill sneakers and logo sweatshirts.
Instead, now there’s a refurbished five-metre red neon “D” that used to hang on the Disneyland Hotel, the Davy Crockett Explorer canoe that once navigated the tourist mecca’s Rivers of America, four large macabre portrait paintings from the Haunted Mansion’s “stretching room” and so much more.
If it’s from Disneyland and it was ever for sale, Kraft probably bought it.
“I have met other very dedicated Disneyland collectors, but Richard has out-collected them all, times a hundred,” said Charles Phoenix, a self-described “retro popculture humorist” who wrote the book Addicted to Americana. “Nothing even comes close to the volume and completeness of his collection.”
Although actor John Stamos is perhaps the most famous Disney collector, with a very large “D” of his own that can be found on the internet, Kraft, a talent agent who represents such Disney composers as Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Danny Elfman, is generally considered the king.
“I made it very clear to John that my ‘D’ is bigger than his ‘D,’ ” Kraft said.
Starting Saturday, however, he is abdicating. He is putting his holdings on the auction block, with estimated prices ranging from $50 (U.S.) for a set of Haunted Mansion “hitchhiking ghost” souvenir beanbags to $150,000 for a Dumbo the Flying Elephant ride vehicle.
Aportion of the proceeds from the two-day auction will go to help children with special needs. Kraft’s 4-year-old daughter was born with the genetic disorder Coffin-Siris syndrome, which can cause learning disabilities.
Kraft, who is in his late 50s, began collecting Disneyana, as this genus of collectibles is called, out of nostalgia. Shortly after his older brother died, he visited Disneyland. Memories came rushing back of the fun that his family had on annual vacations to the park from their home in Bakersfield, about three hours away.
Soon after, he bought a vintage attraction poster for the Autopia ride. From there it was a quick swerve into the fast lane of collecting.
“I’m a very obsessive person, so one poster became every poster,” Kraft said. “Every poster became ride vehicles. Ride vehicles became conceptual art.”
This explains how a car from Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in Fantasyland became seating in his home library, how that 14-metre sea serpent from the Submarine Voyage in Tomorrowland began living alongside his swimming pool. Animated It’s a Small World dolls found themselves dancing over the front door of his former residence: a large Tudor home in Encino whose staid exterior belied the wonderment to be found inside.
Most particularly, the former bedroom of Kraft’s son Nicholas, 28, which was decorated to look like Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, as the attraction is officially called, with bamboo walls and a thatched ceiling.
“I think my dad used me as an excuse for collecting,” Nicholas said. He had a childhood roommate: José the audio-animatronic parrot, whom no one knew could still speak until the bird was refurbished for the coming auction.
“Now all I can think of is what a different childhood I would have had if every morning, José had woken me up,” Nicholas said.
Given Kraft’s innate showmanship, he was bound not to simply get rid of his treasure trove, but, as he said, “give it a grand bon voyage party.” Thus this large-scale exhibit overseen by Mike Van Eaton, owner of a gallery also in Sherman Oaks, and a series of special events such as a retro-Disneyland slide show by Phoenix, a signing by midcentury modern artist Josh Agle (known as Shag), a presentation by film critic Leonard Maltin and various concerts.
“Richard is almost manic in his quest that people have a good time,” Agle said. At the exhibit, he added, “Richard walks up to strangers and tells them about a piece they’re looking at, and many times they don’t even know it’s his collection. He’s like Willy Wonka giving a tour of his factory.”
Kraft is treating the exhibit as a chance to walk in the shoes of his idol, Walt Disney. “This is the closest I’m ever going to get to the Walt experience, and I’m really enjoying it,” he said.
“Richard is almost manic in his quest that people have a good time. ... He’s like Willy Wonka giving a tour of his factory.” JOSH AGLE MIDCENTURY MODERN ARTIST