Though Disneyland was relegated to the space of the Anaheim park back in the 1960s, television navigated that space even before it’s opening with Disneyland (ABC, 1954-1961). Though in 1961 it changed networks and became Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color (NBC), it is clear how television, and new innovations in television were instrumental to marketing the park and promoting its particular aesthetic.

Though Disney was involved with the 1964-1965 World’s Fair in New York, it’s interesting how the “small world” presentation aesthetic could be seen in other television specials, like Electric Showcase (ABC, 1965), which featured Oklahoma! star Gordon MacRae singing “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” to a bunch of little girls outside the pavilion for Denmark. The girls appear to be of different races and ethnicities, and wear different cultures’ and nations’ garb. Though I have to wonder whether they didn’t just gather a bunch young ladies in nearby hoods in Queens and put them in costumes. In any case, the whole segment makes for some creepy awkwardness, a low budget “rival” to Disney on NBC.