Monday, June 06, 2011

Vintage Headlines: Keep Running. We're Brothers


The remarkable thing about his performance is not only that it is funny to hick and sophisticate alike. It is amazing that he can make each show seem as if he were auditioning.

Bob Thomas, June 21, 1963

INCIDENTALLY, a funny fellow by the name of Wally Boag ought to take his place one day soon up there with such comic greats as Bob Hope, George Gobel and Jack Benny. Young Wally, a sly ad-libber, absolutely kills the people with his balloon tricks and dancing during the performances daily In Disneyland's Pepsi-Cola Golden Horseshoe Theater.

Syndicated columnist Tedd Thomey, December 10, 1955

WALLY BOAG, the comedian who costars with Betty Taylor and Donald Novis in the Golden Horseshoe frontier show, has been featuring a unique balloon act since the early '40s. Wally always ends his show by giving a youngster in the audience the dog or elephant careicature he has created from the balloons. "After the war," Wally says, "I played for 54 weeks in a musical revue in London. "During my act, I'd call a 12-year-old girl out of the audience—always the same girl—and give her the balloons. I'd ask her if she entertained and  she would say 'Yes, I sing and off she would go into her numbers. "It was 10 years before I saw that girl  again, but I still was doing the balloon act, so I handed her a balloon. It was back stage in New York and Julie Andrews was starring in "My Fair Lady.' "

Syndicated Columnist Vera Williams, September 18, 1958

Wally Boag, who has worked four years in the park's Golden Horseshoe Frontier saloon, made this comment: "He's one of the greatest laughers I've ever played to." The king literally doubled up with laughter at Boag's gag about the two rabbits being chased by a pack of wolves.  One rabbit says: "Shall we keep running or stop and outnumber them? The other rabbit replied: "Keep running. We're brothers."

AP report of Belgium King Baudouin's visit to Disneyland in 1959

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

R.I.P., Wally Boag. We will miss you... :'(