Club 55

Benson Myers relates the history of Club 55 and its nametags

- Benson Myers, February 10, 2011

In the beginning, there was an orange grove in Anaheim. And Walt did come, and he saw that the orange grove was good. And he did purchase the land and planned for a magic place called Disneyland. And that was the end of the first day.

And on the second day, Walt said, let there be built here a Disneyland, where all who love magic can come and play. And the bulldozers came and built Disneyland. And that was the end of the second day (give or take three hundred and sixty-four more).

And sometime after lunch on the third day, Walt said, "I have made a park, and I need nice people to come work for me and run the thing." So the word of Walt went forth. Many nice people came from lands far and near, and worked at the park that Walt built.

And it came to pass that many people came and worked for Walt. And those people had names like Steve Martin, Bill Sullivan, Marty Sklar, and John Lasseter. Funny thing is, those nice guys all went on to do many other magical things for Walt Disney and his company.

Club 55

But, remember back to the third day, which was in the year called 1955. Many people worked for Walt in that first year, and in the years that followed.

By the year called 1970, only a small number, around 200, of those original nice folks were still working at Walt's park. So, to honor their hard work, a special organization called Club 55 was established.

You might say to yourself, "Self, doesn't our dear narrator mean Club 33, the swanky members-only restaurant in New Orleans Square?"

Not quite. Club 55 represents the year 1955, the year in which Walt saw that the orange grove was good and built his park.

Each year after 1970, a special banquet was held at a special location to honor the members of the Club still working at Walt's park.

The banquets were held at the famous Balboa Club in Los Angeles, and aboard the cruise liner Queen Mary. And even more exciting, in 1991, Club 55 celebrated its 20th anniversary with a trip to Walt Disney World.

Club 55 Nametags

Not unlike most other organizations and divisions within the Disney Company, Club 55 created special nametags for its members to wear at the special banquets and other activities.

Let's look at two of them.

The first is adapted from the Club 33 nametag and belonged to Disney Legend, Robert C. Allen. He began working at Disneyland as a ride operator, and eventually became Vice President of Walt Disney World. Sadly, Allen passed away in 1987.

Another Disney Legend, Bill Sullivan, also had a Club 55 nametag. This nametag was created for the Club 55 banquet that was held at Disneyland in 1985 during the 30th anniversary of the park. Bill Sullivan, known affectionately as Sully, began as a ticket taker at Disneyland, and eventually became Vice President of the Magic Kingdom.

Sadly, as of 2011, there are less than 20 living members of Club 55, and the last retired from daily work at Disneyland in 1996.

You might wonder: what nametag did the members of Club 55 wear when they started working at Disneyland in 1955? That I can tell you, for sure.

So far, all the nametags I've presented have been plastic, but from 1955 to 1962, Disneyland staff wore elegant metal name badges, such as the one that belongs to Club 55 member James Warrick. Warrick worked for Disney as the Maintenance Department supervisor.

An interesting thing about this metal badge is that Jim Warrick's full name is engraved on it. Regular employees at Disneyland in this era wore a badge that only bore their employee number. Only the supervisors and managers, like Jim Warrick, had their full names on their metal badges.

So there you have it.

A small, if not long-winded, history of a special part of the history of Walt's original park.

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