September 13, 1920 – Performer and Disney Legend Wally Boag is Born
“My longest job before the Golden Horseshoe Revue was 54 weeks. And to think it all began with a two-week contract I signed with Walt Disney when the park opened.”
On September 13, 1920, longtime Disneyland performer Wallace Vincent Boag was born in Portland, Oregon. A trained dancer, Boag was teaching his own dance classes at 16, but had turned his attention to honing his comedic skills at age 19. Boag performed at prestigious venues at a young age, including Radio City Music Hall, the Palladium in London, and the Tivoli Theater in Australia. In 1945, Boag was signed with MGM Studios, appearing in such films as Without Love and The Thrill of Romance.
His chance to work with the Disney Studios began in 1955, when a friend told him about auditions for a routine in the new Disneyland Park known as the “Golden Horseshoe Revue.” Boag won a role in the show, and soon became a favorite of Walt’s. While performing the Revue, Boag would also make appearances on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “Disneyland,” and “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color,” particularly in an episode of the latter program celebrating the Revue’s 10,000th performance in 1962. Boag also appeared in Disney films, including The Absent-Minded Professor and The Love Bug; in addition to these, Boag provided the voice of Jose the parrot in the Enchanted Tiki Room. In 1971, Boag left California to open the Diamond Horseshoe Revue at Walt Disney World, but returned to Disneyland where he remained until his retirement on January 28, 1982. He was inducted as a Disney Legend in 1995, and passed away on June 3, 2011.
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