"Disneyland, the Park/Pecos Bill" is the twenty-first episode of the third season of Disneyland, and the sixty-ninth episode overall. It aired on April 3, 1957.
Plot[]
Walt opens the show by mentioning the importance of American folklore, and promises to the story of the legendary Pecos Bill. First, however, he treats the audience to a helicopter ride to Anaheim and the Park. The remainder of the episode is the story of Pecos Bill, first seen in Melody Time and released as a short subject in 1954.
Walt treats the audience to a tour of Disneyland, followed by the Pecos Bill segment of Melody Time (1948), which had been re-edited for television presentation.
The first portion of this Disneyland episode brings viewers up to date on construction of the Disneyland theme park as of the spring of 1957. Somehow or other, this segues into an illustrated history of American folklore. The episode's final segment consists of the "Pecos Bill" segment from the animated feature Melody Time, with Roy Rogers and The Sons of the Pioneers musically narrating the saga of the "toughest critter west of the Alamo" (remember how Pecos Bill rolled his own cigarettes in those pre-censored prints?) and his ill-fated romance with the haughty Slue-Foot Sue, "a heck of a cowgirl". Also appearing in this segment are Roy's horse Trigger and child actors Luana Patten and Bobby Driscoll.
Walt Disney reviews the creation of Disneyland; the story of Pecos Bill.