How Sid Krofft’s chance encounter with Walt Disney changed 1970s children’s TV
Sid Krofft — creator of the short-lived World of Sid and Marty Krofft theme park — influenced television and Six Flags thanks to a chance encounter with Walt Disney.
Sid Krofft created and produced such shows as “H.R. Pufnstuf,” “Land of the Lost,” “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “Dr. Shrinker,” and “Horror Hotel,” just to name a few. Krofft also designed attractions for World’s Fairs, Six Flags, and his own short-lived theme park. At age 95, he is still doing a weekly show on Instagram Live (@SidKrofft) and YouTube every Sunday at 3 p.m. PT called “Sundays with Sid.”
Sid Krofft will appear at the Spooky Empire horror fandom convention, held at Hyatt Regency Orlando on Oct 11-13, 2024.
In the interview below, we spoke with Sid about meeting Walt Disney, designing puppet shows for Six Flags, and the short-lived park The World of Sid and Marty Krofft.
How did Walt Disney’s advice influence your career?
[In the early 1960s,] Les Poupées de Paris was a huge success for us. It was an adult puppet show that took three months to install. After it opened at the Seattle World’s Fair, Marty [Krofft] and myself came into town to do Jack Parr [on NBC’s original “Tonight Show”] that was before Johnny Carson. We were having lunch [at] the Polo Lounge, and sitting at the next table was Walt Disney.
Walt Disney came to our table. I was like peeing in my pants, I couldn’t believe it, because I wrote Walt Disney in 1940. I wanted to do a little puppet show in my backyard of “Pinocchio.” The record just came out, and I wrote him, and he said, “You can do it, but you cannot charge any money, and I’ll be watching you.”
Walt Disney said, ”Can I give you guys a little advice? Always put your name above everything that you create, because someday it’ll be worth something.”
So I told [publicist] Bill Waters, [who said,] “Two brothers, that would go through the roof. Let’s say it’s ‘Sid and Marty Krofft Present.'” And from then on, everything you ever saw, our 26 series [used that branding].
How did you begin designing attractions for Six Flags?
I’m a runner; that’s where I create. I’m the creative part of my company. All those shows you know came from my head, and my brother did the business. After I did my nine miles down at the beach, I would go play a little volleyball before I got in my car and came back to work.
One of the players [said,] “Six Flags is opening up a new park in Atlanta. They’re building it right now. Would you be interested?”
I thought I’d never hear from him again, but about two days later I got a call [asking,] “Would you fly to Dallas with me? They want to make a deal!”
And I said, “Wait a minute, for what?”
He said, “A puppet theater.”
I said, “I don’t know, what am I going to do, ‘Pinocchio?’ And in an amusement park? Those are all teenagers; I can’t even use that word ‘puppet.’ No one’s going to come in there to see that.”
I knew I had to do a show [where] teenagers are going to stand in line to see something they’ve never seen before. I’m [about] environmental theater — that, I’m 100% for — so you gotta be in it. It’s gotta come at you.
We made a deal, we opened, [and] we became number one in the park. People waited five hours …
One day, [Six Flags developer] Angus Wynne said to me, “Would you ride the cable car over the park with me?” We got to the jungle ride, and he said, “I just had animatronics, and it’s shit. What would you do? Because I love your imagination. Should we have better animatronics?”
I said, “No, it’s perfect, [but] if you could just look through foliage when that boat comes by, so you just get a flash of what those animals are doing in the water … Just put some trees in there. I’ll help you.” And I did.
Right behind the Burbank Airport, a city block, we had what we called the Show Business Factory, and we had 250 people. It was the most incredible place where we built rides and all kinds of things in there. … We were in all the Six Flag parks [with] a puppet show, and I was the creative head of those parks.
Editor’s note: Sid Krofft’s puppet show left a lasting impression on its audience. Brent Young, founder and creative director of Super 78 Studios, cited the production as his favorite childhood theme park attraction in our 2023 interview with him.
What was The World of Sid and Marty Krofft indoor theme park like?
There was a three-tiered crystal carousel, all mythological [animals] made out of plastic, but it looked like crystal. And the pinball ride was amazing. You know, it was really an adventure.
We did make a huge mistake. The people that were working [on our rides] from Disney— We had people from all the studios. We trusted that they could handle [the engineering]. Because the rides broke down constantly.
The escalator alone was a ride because it was one span. It’ll never be built again; nine stories, there was no stops in it, and it brought you up into the clouds.
There were two big harlequins, they were 30-40 feet tall. You walked under their legs, and there was an old man with a live parrot, the old man of time. Then we painted your face if you wanted a flower, and then these giant curtains opened up when there was a group of 50, and then you went into this world.
It was just way before its time, anybody you talk to that went to it will tell you that. I’m a Renaissance Fair freak, so the concept was everybody that I hired there — all the employees — were performers. Wherever you went, there was a performer, if it was a mime or a slack wire [or] jugglers, puppeteers … There was just a mixture [of] entertainment everywhere … It was really beautiful.
The reason the park failed— There’s always an excuse. It was way downtown Atlanta. It was all crime-infested. … The mayor said they were going to clean it up, [but] we couldn’t hold out. We were only there nine months.
We had a banker; they even spent three extra million dollars because there was a big music machine. It was in the Omni complex, which had a hotel, the biggest ice rink in America, and all these high-end shops and restaurants down below. So we had the money, but people were just frightened to go downtown. It was only some $3.50 or $4 a ticket. It wasn’t a long experience.
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