By Steve CrumOn my first trip to Disneyland in 1956 or ’57, I could not wait to go inside this Davy Crockett Frontier Museum, located in–surprise–Frontierland. All I remember is the Davy Crockett shooting gallery…and hundreds of Davy Crockett toy flintlock pistols for sale. Sadly, my parents would not buy one for me. Hey, we were in no way wealthy. Just paying for Disneyland strapped us. No surprise that coonskin caps and miniature toy flintlock rifles were also being sold.
The Crockett Museum is now long gone. Today’s kids (or adults under 50 or so) just don’t know him. However, for us Baby Boomers, the 1950’s Davy Crockett phenomenon is remembered in Frontierland. On the window above Bonanza Outfitters’ store, there is this inscription: “Davy Crockett, Coonskin Cap Co., Fess Parker—Proprietor.”———-
And that’s yours truly in my Davy Crockett outfit, a beloved birthday gift in 1957.