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Andres Guanipa's List: Deborah Gail Stone Myth

    • Remembering Deborah - July 8, 1974 

       
       
       
       
       It was 36 year ago today that Deborah Gail Stone lost her life while working on America Sings. This seems like such a senseless death, didn't anyone anticipate this could happen? Thanks Jim for sending us this article and making sure we remember Deborah. Please note this article incorrectly states the date Deborah died as July 9, 1974, it occured on July 8th, 1974.




    • In Memoriam
    • The Cast Members who have died working at Disney

       

      In 1974, eighteen year old Deborah Gail Stone was a new Cast Member at Disneyland. She had recently graduated from the nearby Santa Ana High and was working over the summer as an attractions hostess at "America Sings" to earn money in preparation for her departure to college in the fall. To her friends she is remembered as an outstanding student and athlete, a member of the high school yearbook. To the rest of the world she is remembered as the first Cast Member to die whilst working at Disney.

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    • Deborah Gail Stone
    • Deborah Gail Stone (1956 ¬タモ July 8, 1974) was a cast member at the America Sings attraction at Disneyland. She is one of almost a dozen deaths in the park's history, and is to this day only one of two cast members to die on the job . Her death remains of considerable interest, even more than thirty years later. Upon entry, cast members would usher guests into a rotating stage, one of several. Cast members would use intermissions to move between stages as they rotated into place for the next act. During one such rotation Stone, a novice to the attraction that at the time had only been open for three weeks, ended up caught between an interior wall and that of the moving platform. It is not known whether this was a result of inadequate training or a simple misstep on her part. Trapped by the rotating stage, she was crushed to death. The ride was halted when other cast members were alerted of her screams by guests. Her death led to the closure of the attraction for two days while new warning lights were installed. The stage on which she died remained closed for a year. Breakaway safety walls were one of several features installed in an attempt to increase safety.
    • America Sings
    • Think of Carousel of Progress meets Country Bear Jamboree meets American Adventure.  It was hosted by an eagle named Sam, voiced by the great Burl Ives, and co-hosted by Ollie Owl.  Shows ran from 1974-1988 in Tomorrowland's Carousel Theater, Disneyland.  It replaced The Carousel of Progress which was moved to The Magic Kingdom in 1975.  The empty round building with it's rotating outer ring of seating and stationary set of inner stages was a perfect fit for such an idea.  Though I've always thought the Tomorrowland setting was not entirely fitting, America Sings was a really swell! 

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