Dick Clark to Michael Eisner: Imagine If The Beatles Took Over Disneyland? Studio pitch video reveals the iconic entertainment mashup between Dick Clark, The Beatles & Disney that never happened.

In a recently-discovered video mailed to Disney CEO Michael Eisner in 2003, late TV host and producer Dick Clark proposes that Disneyland celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ U.S. invasion with a complete retheming of the iconic theme park using themes and music from the band’s beloved song catalog. 

Since the release of Peter Jackson’s 3-part documentary The Beatles: Get Back on Disney+, subscribers to the family streaming platform have been treated to what Variety has called the “most essential rock documentary ever.” With a rotten tomatoes audience score of 93%, the film is an intimate peek into the final days of the world’s most popular band told in lusciously restored film and audio. 

For fans of both The Beatles and Disney, this marriage of two megalithic creative forces is a perfect match and a long time in coming. The 20th century produced few more imaginative giants than Walt Disney and those mop-topped lads from Liverpool. 

For some however, the two brands aren’t the perfect bedfellows. The Disney+ programming lineup can seem strange and disjointed with the faces of John, Paul, George & Ringo side-by-side with Mickey, Donald, Cinderella, Tinker Bell and Dopey. 

Well, maybe not Dopey.

But surely it’s easy to imagine a nostalgic multiverse where Walt Disney and The Beatles come together to create something magnificent to multiply their magic, creativity and dreams for a better world. 

If they were to unite their massive audiences, it would no doubt be a huge entertainment money maker. So it’s no surprise that Hollywood’s top brass would have at least attempted to fuse the legend of the Beatles with the magic of Disney. 

This is the story of the time Dick Clark sent a videotaped proposal to Disney CEO Michael Eisner suggesting he retheme Disneyland for a year-long Beatles tribute – and what Eisner thought of the idea.

Like any good journey (or magical mystery tour), this story takes a few detours and side roads to get where we’re headed. But don’t jump ahead. It’s worth the trip.

(If you must jump ahead, the video is down there. )

Dick Clark – The Deal Broker

Most folks are only familiar with famed TV host and media mogul Dick Clark as the host of American Bandstand and his self-branded New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, but he was known in the entertainment industry as a notorious negotiator, shrewd deal-maker and prolific executive producer with hundreds of shows and live media events bearing his name. 

Here’s just a few of the epic deals that earned Dick his deal-maker reputation:

• Originally just one of dozens of regional dance shows for teens, Dick convinced ABC to take Bandstand nationwide as a syndicated network show. 
• New Year’s Eve has never been the same since Dick grabbed the mic from Big Band era star Guy Lombardo and convinced ABC that the Times Square tradition should be all about new artists and new music.
• He created the American Music Awards to give the fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite artists and recordings, rather than industry insiders.
• In 1983, Dick rescued the Golden Globes from obscurity, polished it up, put it on NBC, and made it the hippest Hollywood awards event in the industry. 

In 2003, Dick was approached by one of his long-time staff members with an idea to commemorate the 40th anniversary of The Beatles’ first visit to the U.S. with a year-long celebration at Disneyland. But Dick was going to need some convincing.

The Pitch – Beatlesland

Jeff James is the world’s foremost expert on the life and career of Dick Clark. With nearly four decades (38 years) at Dick Clark Productions (DCP), the company Dick founded in 1957, Jeff stewards Dick’s massive archive of valuable media assets. He has acquired a near-encyclopedic memory of every show, special guest, performance and historic television moment Dick Clark and his team produced. 

And the one television moment that is conspicuously missing from the Dick Clark Media Archives is one that never happened.

“Dick never managed to get The Beatles on American Bandstand,” Jeff said. “For Dick Clark, the man who was present for nearly every great moment in pop music history, The Beatles were the one that got away.”

Perhaps that’s why Jeff thought in 2003 that Dick would jump at the chance to orchestrate another great moment in Beatles history, this time at the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

“I’m a huge Beatles fan. At any given time, I probably have a Beatles song running through my head,” laughed Jeff in our interview. “At that time, I had begun producing historic ‘look back’ segments for a lot of Dick’s awards shows and I was interacting with him quite a bit. I couldn’t help think of what could have been if the Beatles had appeared on Bandstand.” 

Jeff is also a big Disneyland fan. 

“My kids were still young back then and we had annual passes to Disneyland. Every time we’d visit, I’d find myself daydreaming about ways the Disney experience might feel if it were flavored with songs by The Beatles.”

For Jeff, the daydreaming began with the Submarine Voyage, a ride that takes guests to the depths of the sea in, you guessed it, yellow submarines. 

“It was just too perfect,” said Jeff. “I’m always thinking in terms of square pegs in square holes, and there’s no better peg for a Beatles/Disneyland mix than the Yellow Submarines.”

Soon ideas for how other attractions might be given a Beatles flavor began to crowd Jeff’s mind, so he started keeping a journal of “Beatlesland” ideas.

“I always had a yellow pad on my desk where I wrote down the ideas as they came to me,” said Jeff. “Drive My Car would be perfect for Autopia. Paul McCartney’s Jets is perfect for the Rocket Jets in Tomorrowland.”

From there, he worked out ideas for nearly every ride and attraction in the park.

“I Am the Walrus is from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, so what better ride than Alice in Wonderland to bring that song to life,” said Jeff.

Jeff was convinced that Disney would bite at the concept because of the company’s history of adopting nostalgic themes at their theme parks and previous partnerships with major musical acts. 

“I remember in the 80s, Disneyland had a blast-from-the-past promotion where the whole park had 50s decorations and music and a parade with music from Grease and sock hops and everything,” said Jeff. “And of course Captain EO was huge with Michael Jackson getting a prime spot in Tomorrowland.”

Other precedent-setting attractions seemed to support Jeff’s idea at the time including the addition of music to Space Mountain featuring a soundtrack by surf guitar legend Dick Dale, and the opening of Rock’n’Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith at Disney Hollywood Studios theme park in Orlando. 

Jeff’s next move was to convince Dick of the idea and then get him to use his connections and clout to open a door with Disney to explore the idea further. So with his yellow pad notes transposed into a full proposal, Jeff set a pitch meeting with Dick and brought everything he had to the table.

However, Dick was also a businessman. He understood Disney’s commitment to maintaining their established brand and foresaw the company’s reaction to the idea.

“I remember he told me that Disney wouldn’t like the idea,” said Jeff. “He said, ‘Don’t get your hopes up.’ But I was persistent. Besides, we were neighbors,” Jeff said. Dick’s former offices on Olive Avenue in Burbank were just two blocks from the Disney Studios.

Jeff shared that Dick had a gruff demeanor that was often blunt and dismissive. Fellow staffers had a healthy respect for Dick’s temper and knew well not to waste his time.

At the same time, Dick’s employees knew him to be fiercely loyal to those who were loyal to him. This is personified in a note from Michael Jackson written on a patchwork quilt given to Dick for the 50th anniversary of American Bandstand saying “To My Second Dad, I love you always, I love you now and forever.”

“Dick was extremely kind and generous to people who stuck with him through the tough times,” said Jeff. “He was always willing to give us opportunities to try something risky if he thought it would open doors.”

Despite his hesitancy (and accurate prediction of Disney’s response) Dick agreed to record the audio for a seven-minute pitch video, which Jeff directed in the studio’s recording booth.

With Dick’s reluctant blessing, Jeff packaged up the VHS tape with a cover letter from Dick Clark. Dick’s assistant then sent it by courier to the office of Michael Eisner, then CEO of the Walt Disney Company. 

The Beatles & Disney – A Match Never Made

Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy & Dizzy, the hungry vulture “friends” of Mowgli in Disney’s Jungle Book. (Screen capture image: The Disney Wiki)

This wouldn’t be the first time a Disney / Beatles collaboration was attempted. Surely owing to fear of potential market confusion and resulting cultural clashes, matchmakers of the past were unsuccessful. The two entertainment giants would have to satisfy themselves with references to one another in separate works.

In 1967, at the height of Beatlemania, the Disney studio released their animated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. Four hungry vultures show up to “befriend” Mowgli and sing to him one of the most morbid Disney songs ever written. Second only to The Walrus and the Carpenter. Look it up. 

The character design of the vultures is a clear reference to the Fab Four. They wear shaggy hair over their eyes and speak with Liverpool accents. Artist James C Mulligan has chatted with friend and Disney Legend Richard Sherman, who wrote the song. Mr. Sherman confirmed that Disney had indeed hoped to get the lads from Liverpool to voice the vultures. Unofficial legend says John Lennon declined singing the sinister song, citing the band’s busy schedule. 

Yellow Submarine, The Beatles 1968 animated motion-picture musical was a modern-day fairy tale marketed to the emergent hippie audience. The film’s focus on illuminating the music rather than story was reminiscent of Walt Disney’s 1940 experimental concert film, Fantasia.

The film’s villains are the Blue Meanies, an army of ne’er-do-wells intent on silencing the spread of The Beatles music throughout “Pepperland,” a psychedelic utopia. The rank and file Blue Meanies all wore what appear to Mickey Mouse ears, an apparent dig on the compliant masses and the squares in big business. Disneyland’s America Sings, the successor to the Carousel of Progress attraction, was an all animatronics show that took guests on a journey through the history of American music. The show’s finale featured a rock band led by a long haired hippie stork modeled after John Lennon. His hair was literally a mop, a clear reference to the most popular musical act to ever invade America.

Perhaps the most notable and notorious moment when Disney and Beatles history crossed paths was when John Lennon signed the papers dissolving The Beatles at the Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World in Florida.

So in 2003, against that backdrop of arms-length tributes and near misses, Michael Eisner opened a package from Dick Clark containing a VHS video tape proposing the ultimate Disney / Beatles collaboration.

(Check out a fun list of other Disney / Beatles collaboration close calls at factsandfigments.com)

The Video Proposal

The video opens with Ed Sullivan introducing The Beatles to America for their first ever stateside TV performance. Then the familiar harmonies of She Loves You gives the video its driving rhythm.

That’s when Dick’s voice comes in.

The first time his voice is heard, one may be struck by how familiar and comforting it is. There was a time not long ago when Dick’s voice was heard on television nearly every single day. But it has been a decade since Dick passed away on April 18, 2012, so to hear him again, strong of voice and full of character, rings an unexpected nostalgic bell. 

Jeff James said of the recording session, “Even though Dick wasn’t 100% behind the idea, he still gave a full measure of his talent and it really shows in the record. That’s Dick being Dick.” 

Dick then suggests a year-long celebration of the Beatles’ 40th anniversary of their American debut with a total re-theming of Disneyland park. narrates a ride-by-ride tour of Disneyland describing how each attraction, show and themed land could be re-themed and reimagined with Beatles music as their soundtracks. 

Some musical matchups hit quite well. Drive My Car, for instance, sounds great playing over images of riders on the Autopia raceway, Free as a Bird gives flight to Dumbo, and The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill takes that song’s tiger hunter protagonist on a boat ride through The Jungle Cruise. Of course the most on-the-nose blend of Beatles song and Disneyland ride is the overlay of Yellow Submarine onto the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, which is a ride on, you guessed it, yellow submarines. 

Other matchups are fun because the energy of the music matches the energy of the ride, like Help! on the Matterhorn Bobsleds or Revolution on Space Mountain. Still others trigger instant laughter due to the silliness of the suggestions. “Great Moments with Mr. Lennon” and “Ringo’s Starr Tours” generate giggles every time.

Still other song suggestions don’t hit the mark quite like the others. For instance Critter Country, a land populated by toddler favorites Winnie the Pooh and friends, is rethemed to Norwegian Wood, a Beatles song about a jilted lover with pyromaniacal tendencies. 

The video itself was pulled from a 20 year-old VHS tape giving it that distinctive retro glow, and the resolution is low. The video clips show their age also as the editor clearly utilized clips from early 90s Disneyland souvenir videos along with some self-shot home video footage. Contrasted with today’s social media video clips of the park, there is a simplicity and innocence to the older video clips as they recall a younger Disneyland with far fewer guests crowding the walkways.The video proposal ends with Dick Clark suggesting an inspired blend of Beatles imagination and Disney magic; retheming the musical boat ride It’s a Small World with the words and music of All You Need Is Love. These two anthems of friendship, peace and understanding were both made popular during a time of great civil unrest, and the message of the two seems to ring even truer today. 

One can almost hear the combined refrain: There’s so much that we share that it’s time we’re aware, Love is all we need.

With the video over, Michael Eisner and his team of Disney executives were left to consider the question posed in Dick Clark’s video: Would a Beatles retheme of Disneyland be a marketing boom or a total bust?

Disney’s Response

The answer came in the form of a letter from Christopher N. Curtin, Disney lobbyist and Special Assistant to Michael Eisner, addressed to Mr. Dick Clark, who walked it into Jeff’s office, slapped it on his desk and said, “Better luck next time, kid.”

The letter explains that, although the idea is “clever and novel,” the Walt Disney Company would be unlikely to undertake it as a promotional effort. Preparations for the park’s own 50th anniversary would be their priority in the coming years. “I saw that word ‘unlikely’ and thought of that line in Dumb and Dumber, ‘So there’s a chance,” laughed Jeff. 

The letter goes on to explain that Disney does have an ongoing relationship with The Beatles through other company divisions.

As rejection letters go, this one is quite impressive. A letter like this should almost be considered a rousing success owing to the sheer magnitude of show business power listed in the carbon copies, each one provided a copy of the VHS tape to review. 

• Bob Chapek, then President of Distribution and current CEO of the Walt Disney Company
• Tari Garza, then Director, Synergy, Partnership Marketing, Promotions, Disneyland Resort
• Cynthia Harris, then Senior VP, Park Operations, Disneyland Resort
• Gordon Ho, then Senior VP, Marketing & Business Development, Walt Disney Company 
• Howard Pickett, Senior VP, Marketing, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
• Jay Rasulo, then President of the theme park division, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
• Lori Sale, then Senior VP, Worldwide Promotion, Miramax Films
• Marty Sklar, Disney Legend and then President of Walt Disney Imagineering
• Bryan Wittman, then Corporate Vice President, Global Special Events, Walt Disney Company

With Michael Eisner, Marty Sklar, the long-time and beloved leader of Imagineering, and Bob Chapek, the embattled current CEO of Disney, all having received the “Beatlesland” Video, Jeff felt accomplished knowing the best of the best had heard his idea out.

“This is the best kind of rejection letter you could ever get,” said Jeff.

Did Beatlesland end there?

So did the idea of re-theming Disney with The Beatles die with that letter? Would these weird and wacky ideas, and sometimes beautiful ideas fade away as nothing but ideas? Don’t give up so fast. 

“Great ideas never die,” is a phrase used often inside the walls of Walt Disney Imagineering. Some of the most exciting modern Disney attractions had been germinating as ideas for years, even decades before finally being brought to life. 

In recent years, Disney has become quite good at laying new themes over their classic attractions to draw fresh attention and breathe new life into older rides. Holiday theming of rides like the Haunted Mansion and Jungle Cruise are wildly popular. 

Recent re-theming of Hollywood Tower of Terror to Guardians of the Galaxy Mission: Breakout at Disney California Adventure and Maelstorm to Frozen Ever After at Epcot have been both celebrated and controversial. Still the vast majority of guests are thrilled with the changes, especially with the randomized popular music soundtracks that keep Guardians riders rocking all day long. 

One particular Disneyland re-theming stands out as a possible result of the Dick Clark video proposal. During the short-lived Rockin’ the Parks promotion in 2007, entertainment offerings were turned up to eleven with high energy rock shows and events in the park. 

But the real thrills came when the roller coasters Space Mountain at Disneyland and California Screamin’ at California Adventure were both re-themed and their musical soundtracks changed to feature the music of California band, Red Hot Chili Peppers. 

Although the Beatles didn’t get their shot to retheme the rides at Disneyland in the way Dick Clark described, the spirit of the idea has emerged, and perhaps continues to inspire new and exciting theme park experiences. 

Thanks

I want to thank Jeff James for coming up with the idea and opening up his personal archive to tell this unheard story that will keep Disney and Beatles fans talking for some time. 

Thanks to Tyler Davis, a young actor and illustrator who created the incredible Beatlesland attraction poster parodies above. Follow more of his theme park retheming ideas @tylerdavisdesign.

Thanks to my wife Charif for supporting the late night work sessions. 

Finally, thanks to the artists, sculptors, costumers, musicians, podcasters, YouTubers and storytellers who are my co-conspirators sharing this story through their creative work online. Follow #Beatlesland on the socials to see more beautiful and hilarious tributes to this amazing idea. 

They are, in no particular order: Tyler Davis (@retheme_disney), Trevor Kelly (@the_tikay_room), Jessica Kelly (@jesstasmic), Alex Stewart (@the_backside_of_water), Brooklyn (@superretrogal), Hula Girls Shave Ice (@hulagirlsshaveice), James C Mulligan (@mulliganjimmy), Joey Hanson (@motleykingdom), Scarlett Rose (@scarlett.rose.barreto), Brian Lynch and Skipper Chuck (@skipperchuck), Lauren Kurtz (@coppertop.ink), Shawna Marie Tice (@thepleatedpeacock), Banyan (@banyansadventures), Eugene Shin (@lostdeltaoutpost), Chris Bonomo (@christopherbonomo), Mike Mulligan (@mikemulliganofficial), Monica (@afrolectic), Kenzie Palm (@talktothepalm), MICAH (@worldofmicah), Frank & Cristina Grau (@lady_grau), Richard Wallace (@skipper_richard), Shaun Peeze (@allaboutlosangeles), Stewart Marshall (@charlesthatcheradv), Penny Martin (@talltink), Daniel Martin (@harryfiasco), Tony Sherg (@tsherg), Disneyland News Today (@disneylandnewstoday), Isaac Martin (@stealawaynorth), Boblseds & Banthas Podcast (@bobsledsandbanthas), The Disney Universe Podcast (@disneyuniversepodcast) and Tiki Tony Murphy (@tikitony)