Things You're Just Supposed to Know

Most of the time, Long-Forgotten assumes that readers are already familiar with basic facts
about the Haunted Mansion. If you wanna keep up with the big boys, I suggest you check out
first of all the website, Doombuggies.com. After that, the best place to go is Jason Surrell's book,
The Haunted Mansion: Imagineering a Disney Classic (NY: Disney Editions; 2015). That's the
re-named third edition of The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies (NY:
Disney Editions, 2003; 2nd ed. 2009). Also essential reading is Jeff Baham's The Unauthorized
Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion (USA: Theme Park Press, 2014; 2nd ed. 2016).

This site is not affiliated in any way with any Walt Disney company. It is an independent
fan site dedicated to critical examination and historical review of the Haunted Mansions.
All images that are © Disney are posted under commonly understood guidelines of Fair Use.

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Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Long-Forgotten Turns 14, and We Ask: "Has the Inspiration for the Tightrope Walker Been Found?"

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Hard to believe, but it's been 14 years, and we're still rolling along. Again, thanks to all you Forgottenistas out there for coming along for the ride! And on this one, go ahead and stick your hands, feet, legs, and arms any damn place you please, and your kids are on their own.

As you know, we ALWAYS have a treat included in these Anny posts, and today it's a doozy. Full credit for this discovery goes to Eddie Sotto, who posted the pertinent information on X.


Rope Walk

According to Eddie, Walt Disney had a personal collection of the artwork of German illustrator Heinrich Kley (1863—1945). In fact, when Club 33 first opened in 1967 some of this collection was put on display, including this one:

As it happens, this particular piece was iconic enough to grace the cover of a modern book on Kley:


It's from 1907, and it's called Seiltanz, or "Rope Walk." It's rather amazing that no one seems to have noticed this one before. Marc Davis must have seen this artwork earlier, either independently or perhaps shown to him by Walt from his private collection. In any event, there is little doubt in my mind that this served as an inspiration when Davis came up with the Tightrope Gal stretching portrait in 1964. The combination of elements is just too coincidental.


Club 33

People often ask how Club 33 got its name. Well, club 34 is too heavy, and with club 32 you sometimes have to hit them three or four times in order to finish the job. Club 33 seems to be just about right.


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