David A Bossert - Claude Coats: Walt Disneys Imagineer: The Making of Disneyland From Toad Hall to the Haunted Mansion and Beyond

Text Copyright 2021 David A. Bossert

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Cover and interior design & layout by Nancy Levey-Bossert

Cover photo, Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Castle October 1968, Davelandweb.com.

End Pages, detail from Windmills and Sky of La Mancha, Spain, 1964, Acrylic, 12.5 x 25 by Claude Coats

Claude Coats portrait front cover and , and back cover image, Coats Family Collection.

Edited by Michele Orwin

Copy Edited by Diane Hodges

Index by Connie Binder

Set in Futura PT, Athelas and Fredericka the Greatest used courtesy of Adobe Typekit, New Press Eroded by Galdino Otten

Printed in Korea

First Edition, November 16, 2021

eBook ISBN: 978-1-7357691-4-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021936375

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Claude Coats: Walt Disneys Imagineer, The Making of Disneyland: From Toad Hall to the Haunted Mansion and Beyond and The Old Mill Press, Inc. are not endorsed by or associated with The Walt Disney Company, Disney Enterprises, Inc., or any of its corporate sponsors or affiliates. For the purposes of information, commentary, and history, this book references various Disney copyrighted characters, trademarks, and registered marks owned by The Walt Disney Company and Disney Enterprises. Copyrighted titles and terms, including film titles, attractions, images on , and other names, are used in this book solely for editorial, scholarship, and information purposes under the Fair Use Doctrine. Neither the author nor the publisher makes any commercial claim to their use, and neither is affiliated with The Walt Disney Company or any of its associated companies. All photographic images shown in this book are individual works of art and are not sold by the author or publisher. See the associated photo credits for all applicable attributions. All non-Disney trademarks referred to or depicted in this book including, but not limited to, Day-Glo Color Corp.; Academy Awards ; Monsanto Acrilan, Cumuloft, Wear Dated clothes; Ford Motor Company, Ford Times; Pepsi-Cola; Coca-Cola; G.E.; General Motors, Chevrolet; United States Steel, and Laserium are the property of their respective owners and are used or noted solely for editorial, scholarship, and information purposes.

Claude Coats 1913-1992

Dedication

With Sincere thanks to the following:

Benjamin Breitbart Beci Mahnken

Ann Arens Lynn Bodell Karen Coates

Mark Gorog Daniel Martin Nancy Staffins

David Krebs Holly Coats

Patricia Eisenbeis

Kathleen Dowdey Wayne W. Gracey

Alan Coats with his parents, Evelyn and Claude Coats, in front of Cinderellas Castle at the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World, Florida, in 1971. Coats Family Collection.

When I was five years old, it snowed in Burbank for the first time in many years. I was making a tiny snowman with a milk bottle cap for a hat when my father, Claude Coats, said he didnt want to ride his bicycle to work that day, so my mother drove him the short distance to the studio. I knew in my young mind that the studio was the Walt Disney Studios, where Mickey Mouse lived. Thats where my father worked!

Dads career in animation at that studio is legendary, literally, because he was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991. While his background paintings are considered among the finest in the classic Disney films, his new creative direction as an Imagineer, initiated by Walt himself, sent him into the dimensional world of immersive theme park design, for which he is most remembered today. When fans and historians alike speak of the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of the Caribbean, Dads name is mentioned as one of the creators of those iconic attractions.

And yet, even with the acclaim he continues to receive in print, social media, and television, I always felt he was never given the full recognition that many of his colleagues received. It may have been partly his fault, being one never to seek the spotlight but rather to focus on the job at hand and get it done. Having grown up in a Disney family and with a career of my own as an Imagineer, I reached out to many I knew with a not so subtle suggestion that, Hey, isnt it time for a book on the significant accomplishments of Claude Coats?

The answer was yes; it was time. That response came from Dave Bossert, who, during his years with Disney, knew my father and expressed enthusiasm for the project. With several books on Disney subjects to his credit, Dave was a perfect fit to tell Dads story.

This book cannot tell the whole story of a career that spanned fifty-four and a half years. That would take volumes. However, the pages that follow will showcase key elements of that vast career -- not only Claudes working side by side with Walt in creating Disneyland and the fabled attractions that followed but much more that happened, well beyond the Disneyland railroad tracks.

You will discover Dads contributions to the four Disney attractions at the New York Worlds Fair in the book. You will travel with Claude to Japan when he was selected to create beautiful paintings for the United States Air Force Art Program. You will join the visit to NASA facilities with Claude and Walt to meet Wernher von Braun and be immersed in Americas space program to land on the moon.

In the last section of this book, The Art of Claude Coats, youre invited to enjoy an exhibit of some of Dads finest personal work, from early watercolors to later acrylics and mixed-media pieces, many inspired by his extensive world travels.

Twenty years after making that tiny snowman, I built bigger things next to my father in creating Walt Disney World in Florida. I learned first-hand how he worked on-site. He could be a stern taskmaster if necessary, but he allowed plenty of room for the input of others. We learned never to say No, that wont work. You said, Heres another idea; maybe this will work. When he liked something, youd hear his favorite expression, Hey, thats keen! His example of a positive attitude carried over to us. He was a mentor to many and passed on his positive, creative passion in his tall shadow that still falls across the landscape of Walt Disney Imagineering.