FROM: The Adventures of Tom Nabbe Published Every Other Tuesday

Young Tom Rubs Shoulders with the Stars

Tom, say hello to Milton and Jerry...

- Tom Nabbe, March 8, 2011

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I had developed a good rapport with Eddie Meck, the manager of publicity at Disneyland. He was around the park all the time. Eddie was a small man, maybe 5 feet, 2 inches, if that, and like many people in those days, he went around in a hat, coat, and suspenders.

Whenever Eddie had a photo shoot, or some other event which called for the All-American Boy, he'd come looking for me.

(Bob's Background: Eddie Meck became a Disney Legend in 1995, twenty-two years after his death at the age of 74 in 1973. Before working for Disney, Meck promoted A-list motion pictures for Columbia, including Frank Capra's It Happened One Night. Walt hired Meck in 1955. Meck's method for promoting Disneyland: let the park sell itself. And it worked!)

One day in August 1955, Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis visited Disneyland. I was out-front selling newspapers for Castle News, and Eddie Meck came looking for me because he wanted to do a photo shoot with Berle and Lewis.

Back then, Castle News included a print shop and guests could pay for Castle to print their names in the headline of the Disneyland News. They could also get wanted posters and other printed novelties. That day, Castle printed a special edition of the paper with the headline: 'Welcome Milton and Jerry to Disneyland'.

Eddie had me stand between them, holding up the paper. The photo was reprinted in quite a few newspapers across the country and has become one of the more famous Disney publicity shots.

(Bob's Background: Many folks today think of Milton Berle as merely a stand-up comic, but back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he was one of the biggest, best-known stars in the world, with his television show grabbing 80% of the viewing audience. Berle was on the decline in 1955, but having him appear at Disneyland - with Jerry Lewis! - was still a coup.)

I also met the DeFore Brothers, especially Don DeFore. They owned a restaurant in Frontierland called the Silver Banjo. I'd see Don quite a bit there.

I did publicity shots with Annette Funicello (one of the original Mouseketeers).

Later, when I was working as a ride operator, I helped out on a few of the movies filmed in Disneyland. One of those movies, 40 Pounds of Trouble, starred Tony Curtis and featured the Tom Sawyer raft sequence.

Of course, before any of that happened, there was Danny Thomas, and that came about through my mother, who was an autograph hound. She'd take me with her to the Hollywood movie premieres and we'd stand out front so she could get autographs from any of the stars who passed by.

She was doing that outside Disneyland on opening day. I was around the corner, near the Tomorrowland area, looking through the fence at the Autopia Cars.

As Mother tells it, she went up to Danny Thomas and asked for his autograph. He was happy to give it to her, and then he asked whether she had been in the park.

"No, we weren't invited," she told him.

Danny said, "Well, I have a ticket, would you like to go in?"

"Yes, absolutely, and my son's around here somewhere, too."

So Danny told her, "Well, I have two tickets." And he gave them to her.

She found me by the fence near Tomorrowland and took me into the park that afternoon. I ran immediately over to Tomorrowland to ride the Autopia cars, but by the time I got there, they were all broken down. In fact, most of the rides weren't operational, and most of the food and beverages had been sold out, too.

But it was still my first day in the park - the first day of many, many more.

Next Tuesday
Walt shows an interest in Tom's education

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!

More: THE ADVENTURES OF TOM NABBE