Ralph Harper Goff was an American artist, musician, actor, and designer, who worked for The Walt Disney Company primarily through the Imagineering Department, one of the earliest members.
Goff was born in Fort Collins, Colorado where his father owned a newspaper. In his teens, they moved to Santa Ana, California where he studied art at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. Moving again, to New York City, Goff worked as a magazine illustrator, producing artwork for Collier's, Esquire, and National Geographic. He soon moved back to Los Angeles where he accepted a job with Warner Bros. Pictures as a production designer where he assisted with films, such as Captain Blood, Casablanca, Sergeant York, The Vikings, Fantastic Voyage, and Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. During World War II, Goff advised the U.S. Army on how make camouflage paint.
Initially, Walt Disney hired Goff to sketch storyboards for a True-Life Adventures short called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Instead, Harper designed sketches for a potential feature film he envisioned, based on the Jules Verne novel by the same title. Goff made sketch designs for the submarine among other sets for the film which won the Academy Award for art direction and special effects. The award was given to assistant John Meehan due to a bylaw the academy created. Goff did not have a union card and so was not eligible for the acceptance.
In his spare time, when not tinkering with his model trains, Harper played banjo with the "Firehouse Five Plus Two" Dixieland jazz band, made up of Disney artists, including fellow co-workers Ward Kimball and Frank Thomas as their banjo player. Goff also contributed to the early renderings and concept art for Disney's proposed "Mickey Mouse Park", which became the theme park known as Disneyland. Much of his developing concepts included Main Street, U.S.A., The Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, and The Golden Horseshoe Saloon. In the 1970s, he contributed to designs for several pavilions as well as the layout for the World Showcase at Epcot, particularly the Japan, Italy, and United Kingdom Pavilions.
In 1993, Goff passed away from heart failure thirteen days before his 82nd birthday. He was posthumously named a Disney Legend shortly after.
Filmography[]
| Year | Film | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | One Hour in Wonderland | Himself - The Firehouse Five Plus Two |
| 1953 | How to Dance | Musician - The Firehouse Five Plus Two |
| 1954 | 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Art Director - uncredited Production developer Actor: Minister in San Francisco Steam Packet office (uncredited) |
| 1955 | "The Pre-Opening Report from Disneyland" | Himself |
| 1955 | Dateline: Disneyland | Himself |
| 1956 | The Great Locomotive Chase | Production researcher |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Goff taught Kirk Douglas how to play tenor guitar for his part in the song "A Whale of a Tale".
- Goff's design concept for The Golden Horseshoe Saloon was largely influenced by the "Golden Garter" saloon set from the movie Calamity Jane.
- When Tom Sawyer Island opened in 1973 at Magic Kingdom, they named Harper's Mill after him.
- Just above the Adventureland Bazaar shop in Disneyland, there is a window dedicated to Goff reading "Oriental Tattooing by Prof. Harper Goff - Banjo Lessons."
