Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

[Aladdin]

Of all the various entertainment at Disneyland,
there are hardly any women in this area.

Dapper Dans
DL Band and it's various offshoots
Piano Players on Main Street

Billy Hill and Hillbillies

Entertainment in New Orleans Square
- Jazz Bands, new singing group

Trash Can Bangers in Tomorrowland

Now, for most of those, it would be rather
strange to see a women in the group ~

But it might be fun to female Billie with the
rest of her bro's.

Or how about a female jazz singer in New Orleans.

In the past, Aladdin's Oasis had the Three Wishes.
Harem girls should be welcomed back! and how
about the predecessor's at that location, the
Tahitian Terrace Hula Gals! And across the way
in Frontierland, the Dance Hall Can Can Gals
have been Gone Gone way too Long Long!

Add: ok at Christmas time, you will see some
female in the Carollers on Main Street, but
that seems to be about it.

[scorsese]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

Well, there's the all-female Mariachi group that performs in DCA, and of course all of the princesses and female villains. I agree with you about the Can-Can girls though! They need to be brought back!

[Aladdin]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

The Mariachi group is just a DCA, and we all know
THAT doesn't really count for much!

And I don't count the Princesses or other characters,
because those are primarily just meet and greets,
What I'm talking about is real entertainment.
(so yeah, the female mariachi thingy counts
I did see them at Frontierland once, and it struck
me as odd because I had only see men in a
mariachi band, before.)

[aerinpegadrak]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

The Mariachi Divas also perform on Big Thunder Trail, I've seen them there. I'm almost positive that they're not actually part of the Entertainment department, but are actually an independent band that performs regularly at the resort.

[Loomis]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

In fact, I DEMAND the inclusion of more combinations of redheads and clamshell bikinis.

Ok, I just want more Ariels.

I have a problem and I'm dealing with it.

[wolfy]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

The Pirate Show in NOS has a female in it......

[filmfreak11]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

Snow White and animal dancers & Starla in Buzz show (although cancelled), performers in parades...

[hollywood1939]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

At least half of the performers in Aladdin were female.

[disneyhound]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

Of all the various entertainment at Disneyland,
there are hardly any women in this area...

Hey! Disneyland is Disneyland, not Vegas! What are you thinking?

[Mac Daddy]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

Harem girls....hmmmmm.....

Where was I? :blush:

I think the reason you don't see that many female street performers in Mainstreet, Frontierland, and NOS would be for the sake of authenticity. If you're going for an authentic 1890's atmosphere, barbershop singers were typically male. The same could be said for jazz combo performers and band members from the 20's through the 60's. Even now, the International Association of Jazz Educators has an annual event to showcase female talent called "Sisters of Jazz", and they are always amazing. But the reason they sponsor such an event is due to the paucity of female jazz instrumentalists today.

So....were there female barbershoppers back in the day? Probably, but they were rare. Female jazz musicians in the 1920'S? Of course! Louis Armstrong's wife, Lil Hardin played in King Oliver's band, and Mary Lou Williams was one of the greatest arrangers to come out of the 1930's and 40's. But unfortunately, they were the exception and not the rule.

As for the Disneyland band, the last time I saw them perform, they were indeed all male. I hadn't given it a second thought until you brought it up, Aladdin. But again, how many female band members were there in 1890? And yet, I can't imagine that Disney doesn't hire band members simply because they are female. Do female instrumentalists audition?

And where are the female ragtime piano players? I don't remember reading about ANY during the late 1800's, and yet there may have been one or two young ladies who hung out in bars putting down some mean ragtime or stride.

So...to summarize, if I saw the "Dapper Dannettes" or a female ragtime player, it wouldn't have the same effect for me. Somehow, I feel this is in a different category than a female train conductor but I'm not sure why. For one thing, a female barbershop quartet (a la "Sweet Adelines") wouldn't have quite the same timbre as a male quartet. You need those low F's and E's to really get a good quartet sound off of the ground. And secondly, the image is just plain wrong. Or is it? :blink:

The Disney band, though...hmmmm. Not sure about that one. I probably wouldn't lift much of an eyebrow if they had female players. All I know is last year, all I saw were guys. And a female would also work very well in one of those instrumental jazz quintets up in New Orleans, but not so well in the "Delta Daddyos" for obvious reasons. Again, I think the reason we're not seeing the female jazz players is because they're pretty tough to find nowadays. If you think of all of the top jazz players out there today (Joshua Redman, the Breker Brothers, Nicholas Payton, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, et al) there ARE some noteworthy female instrumentalists, but again...they probably account for less than 10% of the general jazz population. Jazz singers...well, there the pendulum swings in the other direction.

[DisneyFunGuy]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

Believe me, I enjoy watching female entertainers too. But speaking solely as a gay person, I certainly don't mind seeing ALL the male entertainers out there! =)

[pineapplewhipaddict]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

In the past, Aladdin's Oasis had the Three Wishes.
Harem girls should be welcomed back! and how
about the predecessor's at that location, the
Tahitian Terrace Hula Gals! And across the way
in Frontierland, the Dance Hall Can Can Gals
have been Gone Gone way too Long Long!

Note how the majority of the ideas you listed were to objectify women...I'm all for reality and non-PC stuff, but there needs to be a balance.

I'm all for an even amount of opposite gender performers, but history has represented women for the most part as sexual objects-and anything else is hard to find or is often dismissed. Women haven't had "freedom" very long, and even today it's still questionable, but that's another thread altogether.

In any case, era-appropriateness is what we're dealing with here. Disney could easily do some research to be more inclusive towards women, but that actually requires real research, which most people don't do nowadays. I'm happy that there's a female pirate in the band-yes, there's only one of her, but that is era-appropriate, as there were far more male pirates, and women usually had to hide the fact that they were female.

A female jazz singer would be great-I'd imagine one could have backup singers, too. A female could croon in the old west, too...I could see a Billy sister being thrown in, but Disney probably wouldn't, as the aim would probably be to depict a hick of a woman, and female femininity is a major priority for Disney-they want pretty things. A man can be ugly or unattractive, but a female? Heaven forbid! This just reflects our society in general.

For Frontierland, the tall tales could easily be tapped into, for an attraction or a wonderful show. There are plenty of wonderful female stories of the old west-Bess Call, Annie Oakley, etc. I think Disney would do well to look to these women and add in men such as Pecos Bill as role models for our children-most don't know these stories and because of it America's famed stories are dying and kids look up to people like Brad Pitt and Brittney Spears...

Hmm, going back to Main Steet, I just remembered-women's suffrage movement. This would also tie in with Mary Poppins, after all. I know women in America didn't win the fight until 1920, but there was certainly activity on the issue going on. Disneyland could do a female march/parade for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Heck, Spongebob is turning pink for it.

Here's another difficult thing-there were plenty of females activiely participating in assorted things throughout history, but most of them weren't recorded, simply because they were female, men didn't think it was important to record.

[aerinpegadrak]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

But again, how many female band members were there in 1890?

*cough*1910*cough*

I think a Women's Suffrage parade would be a fantastic and wonderfully themed addition to Main Street. You could totally go Mary Poppins with it if you wanted: "Votes for women, step in time!" It would be most excellent.

[Orpheus]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

There is at least one female in the Disneyland Band from time to time. She plays with the Pearly Band in the afternoons as well. I think she's a reed player, but my memory could be faulty on that score.

[Lore]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

I don't think the Mermaids in the sub lagoon objectified women because they were clearly there to lure ships to their doom. Quite smart of Walt to keep them away from the Columbia.

I should add, that even though the Golden Horseshoe Review might have used a lot of hot chicks, I never once thought of them as objects. I was too busy looking at their knickers.

[3rdshiftCM]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

One word for you, Fantasmic!


Also, just about every parade in the Co.

[tcsnwhite]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

^that's true, I think the bulk of the female performers are in the characters dept. and parades dept. Female auditions for parades and such get up to 600 girls showing up, while the the most I have seen at mens auditions is around 150 or so.

[Melonballer]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

I totally support more female pirates, can can dancers, and live mermaids.

[Alpine]

Re: Why Doesn't DL have more females in entertainment?

As for ragtime piano, the piano in general was a very "girly" instrument in the 1800's, and very popular among adolescent girls and women with enough economic standing to not be scrubbing things all day. A young woman playing piano, even ragtime piano, was supposedly a fairly common sight in small American town storefronts around the turn of the century as a customer draw.

There are also quite a few female composers/players of the ragtime era, they just get lost along with everyone else whose name isn't Joplin. And probably didn't play in the original ragtime venues, unless um, ladies of the night did so on their breaks. So as for the main street piano deal I'd be more prone to say it's just interpreted as a "boy's club" for now, and none of the I'm sure many talented lady pianists of the area have gone for the position.