Disney legends die within a day of each other

Disney legends die within a day of each other

CHRISTOPHER WEBER, Associated Press
For more than 31 years, Betty Taylor played Sluefoot Sue, the spunky leader of a troupe of western dance hall girls, in Disneyland's popular Golden Horseshoe Revue. Betty became the darling of nearly ten million guests, who, over the years, visited the saloon to see the world's longest-running stage show in the history of entertainment. In the nearly 45,000 performances that she appeared in, the charming, vivacious blonde never lost her girlish enthusiasm for playing the role of Pecos Bill's sweetheart.

As former Disneyland magic shop cast member, comedian Steve Martin wrote in Betty's autograph book, "How come I'm the only one who grows old around here (Disneyland)?"

Born in Seattle, Washington, Betty began taking dance lessons at age three and by 12, appeared in her first professional stage production in Vancouver, British Colombia. At 14, she sang and danced in nightclubs across the country, and by 18, led her own band called Betty and Her Beaus, which included 16 male musicians, who appeared regularly at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle. She went on to perform with a western radio show, "Sons of the Pioneers," and traveled with big band leaders Les Brown, Henry Bussey, and Red Nichols. She also played a six-week stint in Las Vegas with "old blue eyes" himself, Frank Sinatra.

In 1956, while living in Los Angeles, Betty was about to hit the road again, performing as a drum player with a musical group, when she heard about auditions for a singing-and-hoofing job in Walt Disney's new theme park - Disneyland. She threw her garter into the ring, so to speak, and was hired as Slue Foot Sue, whom she described as "not a hard character, but rather like a Mae West or a Kitty on the vintage television series 'Gunsmoke.'"

On occasion, Betty, and the ten-member Revue troupe, performed outside of the Park. In 1968, for instance, they took their act on a USO tour of Greenland and Newfoundland, and two years later, performed for President Richard Nixon and his family in The White House. Walt Disney also personally, asked Betty to perform a variation of her Golden Horseshoe routine on national television, with comedian Ed Wynn, in an episode of "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

Betty retired from the Golden Horseshoe Revue in 1987. She continues to appear in special events, such as "Walt Disney's Wild West," a retrospective of Walt's vision of the American West, which was showcased in 1995, at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.

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