This summer’s Be the Artist series asks the question: “Who Made That?”
Who Designed the Small World Clock?
It’s a Small World is a Disneyland mainstay, and although it is known for the overbearingly cutesy song, it is also known for a really cool, mid-century stylized exterior with that big grinning clock face!
The clock that introduces a parade of children with happy pageantry every 15 minutes is about as famous as anything inside the ride… but who designed it?
That honor goes to one of Disney’s quirkiest Imagineers, Rolly Crump.
Crump was born in California in 1930 and wanted to be part of Disney’s work for as long as he could remember. When he first got hired by the Walt Disney Company in 1952, he worked as an in-between artist and then later assistant animator on films like Lady and the Tramp and Sleeping Beauty. The pay wasn’t the best. When started he had to work weekends building manholes for additional income.
He finally made it to the Imagineering team in 1959 and was a key designer in the mid-’60s for Disney’s attractions at the New York World’s Fair (where It’s a Small World originated), including the creation of the famous Tower of the Four Winds. He also worked on rides like the Haunted Mansion and Enchanted Tiki Room. The clock for It’s a Small World came straight from his imagination in 1966.
Here’s Crump talking a little about the work he did at the fair and the attraction:
Crump is one of the creators of the original Haunted Mansion wallpaper design that preceded the beautiful pattern done by fellow Imagineer Tania McKnight Norris. He worked with several Disney attractions worldwide, and although he officially retired in 1996, he kept on contributing his imagination to Disney projects.
He didn’t exclusively work with Disney. Crump created a series of satirical psychedelic posters, designed guitar string packages for Ernie Ball, helped with attractions at Busch Gardens and Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus World, and even worked on the well-loved Knott’s Bear-y Tales at Knott’s Berry Farm. Through his own business, Mariposa Design Group, he worked on design projects around the globe.
Crump passed away in 2023 at age 93 in his home state of California. His light-hearted treatment of things was one of the appeals of Crump’s work, as Walt Disney Imagineering Executive Director Kim Irvine said of him:
“Of all the original art directors of the 1970s,” she said, “Crump was the fun guy.'”
The Project: Your Own Museum of the Weird
When Crump was designing items like the clock face for It’s a Small World, as well as for the Haunted Mansion predecessor, Museum of the Weird, he turned normal items and furniture pieces into whimsical, otherworldly, and trippy objects that might have a life of their own.
You can still see many of the designs today that made it from the museum to the mansion in at least one of the Disney parks worldwide or on Disney cruise ships, including the “arm torch” sconces, man-eating plants, haunted fortune-teller cart, and ghost fish aquarium.
For today’s project, we are going to simply grab a piece of paper and any drawing implements of your choice and add your own set piece or two to this never-realized museum. Crump had a way of bringing nonliving things to life in colorful, stylized, and weird ways. Chairs, clocks, and wallpaper could have faces. Candles can become the shape of a human. He could look at something plain and bring out a personality.
First, pick your model. Look around your own home or get inspiration from a magazine or ad. What plain item seems to be looking back at you with a hidden face, body, or personality?
Does it seem like it would be a hero or villain? Or an animal? Does it remind you of anyone you know, or is it an entirely original character? Think about these things, then look at some of Crump’s style—very mid-century with emphasis on color and shape, but he also had his own ‘toon style that gave everything he did a spark of humor.
Now, just begin doodling. Draw the item you want pretty simply and straightforwardly. If it is a table, draw a table. Now, add the magic. Give it a reason to come to life and be a little different. A little goofy. A little… weird.
Find a face hidden in the pattern, or make the table legs into real legs. This is where the best part happens… the fun, creative storytelling you can achieve through a simple object. Try more than one idea, too. Maybe your item can be a playful monster or a sinister ghost. Some good places to “visit” in your imagination may be Wonderland or Oz, where nothing is as it seems.
Once you get your idea, add some color and detail. Make it ready to tell its story. There it is, your weird museum piece. Easy enough to do in a sitting, but hopefully using enough imagination to take you to another world during the process.
Whatever you decide to create, have a good time doing it. It doesn’t matter if it can’t or won’t be brought to life as an actual three-dimensional piece, it is for the pleasure and joy of putting your weird and cool idea on paper.
Don’t be afraid to borrow from his designs. Even Crump himself was open about gathering inspiration from other creative minds. The “t’s a Small World clock even took some influence from beloved Disney imagineer Mary Blair, not to mention the many influences he had for the Haunted Mansion.
“Those wall sconces of arms holding torches are right out of my designs.” He said in his biography, It’s Kind of a Cute Story. “No, actually, they’re right out of (Jean) Cocteau. Still, steal from the best.”
