Harriet (Tapp) Burns was an American artist and designer, who was the first female Disney Imagineer and among those responsible for the design of many Disneyland attractions, such as the Enchanted Tiki Room, Pirates of the Caribbean, It's a Small World, Storybook Land, and The Haunted Mansion.
Born in San Antonio, Texas; she was raised in Segine. After high school, her father told her he would only pay for her college education if she majored in Home Economics. She agreed but then changed her major to art. She attended Southern Methodist University in Dallas and earned her Bachelor's degree and met her future husband, William Burns. She went on to study advanced design for another year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque before marrying him. In 1953, the couple moved to Los Angeles with their newborn daughter, Pam, where she found a job with DICE (Display Industries Cooperative Exchange). There, she designed sets for TV shows, like Colgate Comedy Hour, Las Vegas hotel interiors, and design work for Santa's Village, a Christmas attraction in Lake Arrowhead, CA until the company closed is 1955.
A colleague from DICE helped get a job at Disney where she started off as a painter and set designer for Walt Disney's new show Mickey Mouse Club. She soon began coordinating the show's color styling and even designed and built the famous "Mouse Clubhouse". When Disneyland was in its planning stages, Burns soon became a full employee at WED (Disney Imagineering Department) where she worked in the studio's model shop with workers Fred Joerger and Wathel Rogers. She helped craft various rocket ships that were used the Disneyland anthology episode "Man in Space". Walt loved her enthusiasm and would have her appear in the show's segments when she showcased models for new attractions.
Prior to the park's opening, Burns lent her set design skills to help put finishing touches on Main Street and Fantasyland dark rides where she worked closely with Disney Imagineer Ken Anderson. She also contributed to the various models of Sleeping Beauty Castle and the final designs of New Orleans Square. She also helped finish the stage design for attractions featured at the 1964 New York World's Fair, including Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and the Carousel of Progress.
After working for Walt Disney Imagineering for 31 years, Harriet retired in 1986 and remained an active member of the arts and music community in Santa Barbara. In 1992, she was honored with a window tribute on Main Street, U.S.A. The window reads "The Artisans Loft, Handmade Miniatures by Harriet Burns." Harriet was the first woman to receive a window tribute. It's located on the Emporium building, near the Fire Department and Walt's Apartment. In 2000, Harriet was named a Disney Legend. She passed away in 2008 following heart surgery and is survived by her daughter, Pam and and granddaughter's Chelsea and Haley.
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.jpg "Harriet burns hugging her granddaughter chelsea (2).jpg (22 KB)")
Trivia[]
- Her status at the company earned her the nickname, Walt Disney's First Lady of Imagineering.
- She created the bejeweled book that opens the classic animated film Sleeping Beauty, which she did by hand. When she retired, among the many gifts given to her by her colleagues was a scrapbook made to look like the book.
- Burns assisted with creating animatronic robins for the "Spoonful of Sugar" sequence in Mary Poppins. Julie Andrews wore a ring in the film that could help control the birds.
- Burn's likeness was among those considered for what would become Madame Leota. However, her facial features were too small to read from the ride vehicle's distance. She, however, received her own tribute tombstone at Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion when the queue was expanded to include an interactive experience.
- Her likeness was featured later as the mother for he Carousel of Progress attraction.
- Harriet credited Walt's infamous blue sweater with helping her figure out a challenge she was having with the tiki birds. "And that blue sweater. That's where I got the idea for the breastplates on the tiki birds. I looked at his elbow, and it always came back. And it worked. I had taken old girdle material, and I'd taken baby-suit material and that stuff and glued feathers and tried all these different shingle things. And it would expand, but when it came back it crunched all up and it looked all mangy. I just couldn't figure out how to do a breastplate that expanded and came back and looked decent. Then I saw this brushed wool on his sweater, and it had loose elbows."
- She got her inspiration for one of the pirates on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride from her milkman.
- At her granddaughter's 4th birthday, Burns convinced colleague Jack Boyd to dress as a pink elephant who delivered present which contained Burns inside as a surprise.
- According to legend, Burns was to make a model for a scrapped idea, Candy Mountain. She brought the box of rock candy home and her family decorated their tree with them, creating a family tradition as a result.[2]
