This week, it was announced that Disney Legend and Imagineer Alice Davis, who was responsible for the costume design of some of the most beloved Disney attractions, will be honored with one of the highest honors that a Disney employee can achieve: her own window on Main Street, USA. In a special ceremony held inside Disneyland’s Club 33, Imagineer Kim Irvine announced that Davis will receive her window on May 10.
Alice Davis originally came to Disney to design costumes during the production of Sleeping Beauty, which provided a reference for animators to see how the characters, fabrics, and other elements would realistically move. Davis stayed on with the Walt Disney Studios until 1963, when she was given the opportunity to design costumes for what would become one of the most well-known theme park attractions in the world: it’s a small world. Davis worked with fellow Imagineer Mary Blair to bring the attraction’s iconic dolls to life, creating more than 150 costumes for the attraction.
Davis was married to fellow Imagineer and animator Marc Davis, who created the characters for such Disneyland attractions as The Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Enchanted Tiki Room. Two years after her work on it’s a small world, Alice Davis was given the chance to translate her husband’s character drawings for Pirates of the Caribbean into designs and patterns for the many costumes worn by the Audio-Animatronics throughout the attraction. In addition to her work on these iconic Disney attractions, Alice Davis was also influential in developing manufacturing, quality control and refurbishment standards for Audio-Animatronic figures created by Walt Disney Imagineering.
Davis’ new window will be one of over 75 windows on Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. that honor the individuals or groups that made significant contributions to the park. The last window dedication was held in 2010, when songwriters Richard and Robert Sherman were honored for the numerous iconic songs that they wrote for Disney.
