Beanyland

From Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles' Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier by Christopher Merritt and Dominic Priore


"Likely the strangest concept that Morehart considered was a collaboration with famed animator Bob Clampett and his characters "Beany & Cecil," who had originated on local television station KTLA in 1949 with Time for Beany, featuring Stan Freberg and Dave Butler behind the scenes.

In early '62, Bob had aired an episode of his Beany & Cecil show with a plot centered on a scathing parody of Disneyland. The characters visited a very similar park on the moon, known as "Beanyland." Clampett had actually wanted to bring his version of "Beanyland" to fruition earlier, with plans in the mid-1950's to locate it at a park with a swimming pool in Burbank, albeit much smaller in scale than what was planned for P.O.P. (Pacific Ocean Park).

Producer Ken Stack recalls briefly discussing the concept with Bob in the 1980s. "He mentioned it being a joint venture with a major television network," related Stack, "And I remember him pulling the papers from a file drawer and talking about contracts and such but it all fell apart..."

In a rough sketch that survives, Clampett began assigning names to the various "lands" at P.O.P. he would rename - Jingle Jangle Jungle Land, Fun T' See Land, Pre-Hysterical Land, Boo Hoo Bay, and Dizzy-Land (with an appearance by "Mickey Moose") were all on the boards. The deal was never consummated."


Note: I spoke to Rob Clampett, Bob Clampett's son, on the phone 3/16/16 and confimed the information above. When I asked about the location in Burbank with the swimming pool (Beany and Cecil, you will recall, have a sort of watery setting, Cecil being a sea serpent), he added that it was also in conjunction with a drive-in movie theater. So this could have been Pickwick. Rob didn't know what the "major television network" mentioned above was. NBC is in Burbank, so maybe it was that one. - Wes


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