About the Column
In 1955, twelve-year-old Tom Nabbe was selling newspapers at Disneyland. He heard that Walt Disney needed someone to play Tom Sawyer in the park. What happened next was a real-life American dream, the kind that Mark Twain himself could have written: Walt chose Tom to be the Tom, and for the next forty-eight years, Tom Nabbe grew up with Disney. He rubbed shoulders with celebrities, his face appeared on the cover of national magazines, and until he outgrew the role he was indeed the 'luckiest boy in the world'. These are his adventures...
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How Tom Nabbe in 1955 parlayed a paper route into a park pass
It's my honor to welcome Tom Nabbe as the second Disney Legend to write a weekly column for Disney Dispatch. (In case you missed it, Rolly Crump was the first.)
Tom's take is unique because he literally grew up with Disney: Walt hired twelve-year-old Tom to play Tom Sawyer at Disneyland and Tom stayed with Walt for the next five decades.
In Tom's first adventure, we meet him outside the employee gate of Disneyland. He's selling newspapers - though not yet for Disney. Tom used to sit on his bike atop a freeway overpass watching Disneyland being built from the ground-up, and now the new park is nearly ready for its grand opening with young Tom Nabbe on the outside looking in. But that's about to change...
Before Disneyland opened, I had a Sunday newspaper route and I used to sell papers to Disneyland employees and other workers when they left the park.
One morning, I met Joe and Ray Amendt, two brothers who leased space in Disneyland to run the Castle News concession. Their concession was on Main Street, U.S.A. They also had an actual newsstand in front of the park entrance, on the left-hand side, where they'd sell newspapers, magazines, that sort of thing.
Joe saw me selling newspapers and invited me to come work for him. At the time, he had about 20 kids who'd show up in the morning and pick up bundles of newspapers. There were probably 30-40 newspapers in each of those bundles. When I sold my bundle, I'd go back and get another.
That's important because if I (or any of the other kids) were able to sell 100 newspapers, about three bundles, we'd be allowed inside Disneyland and could report to Castle News where we'd pick up copies of the Disneyland News to sell to the guests in the park.
(The Disneyland News cost ten cents - of which I kept three cents for each copy I sold - and featured stories about park events. Marty Sklar wrote a new edition of the paper every month.)
So I was outside Disneyland on opening day July 17th with my mother, who was collecting celebrities' autographs, when actor Danny Thomas gave her two Press Preview tickets which got us inside the park that afternoon.
The next day, July 18, when Disneyland opened to the general public, I stood in line and bought a ticket to enter the park. That is the only ticket I can remember buying to get inside any of the Disney Theme Parks.
On the morning of July 19, I started selling Disneyland News for Joe and Ray Amendt and for the entire summer of that year, I managed to get inside the park every day to sell those papers.
Next Tuesday
The Celebrity Adventures of Tom Nabbe
Tom's adventures with Disney spanned the early days of Disneyland, his special relationship with Walt, and his five decades of work for the company. We're just getting started!
For more, visit the homepage of THE ADVENTURES OF TOM NABBE
Stuff Not to Skip
- Tom's site: Walt Hired Me
http://www.walthiredme.com - Tom Nabbe on Disney Legends
http://legends.disney.go.com/legends/detail?key=Tom+Nabbe