Monday, January 28, 2008

Jan 28: A Legend Retires

On this day in 1982, Wally Boag the original Pecos Bill/Traveling Salesman gave his final performance in The Golden Horseshoe Revue at Disneyland.
Originally written by Wally Boag and Don Novis, The Golden Horseshoe Revue first opened in Frontierland in July 1955. The show featured fast-paced comedy routines featuring slapstick humor, music, dancing, squirting water guns and balloons (known as Boagaloons).
In 1971 Boag took his character to Walt Disney World and re-crafted the saloon show into the Diamond Horseshoe Revue. Three years later he returned to Disneyland and finished his career on January 28, 1982. Wally had done the show almost continuously since 1955, and was later cited in The Guinness Book of World Records for the most number of performances of a show. (The Golden Horseshoe Revue closed by 1986.)
In 1995, Boag was inducted into the ranks of the Disney Legends and even had a Main Street window named after him. He is currently working on his autobiography.

Click HERE for more January 28 Disney history.

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