University of Texas at Austin

Posts Tagged ‘Circus Queen & Tinker Bell’


Monday, December 1, 2008

Circus Queen and Tinker Bell

Did you know the first person to play the role of Tinker Bell in live performances at Disneyland was a 70-year-old Hungarian Jewish immigrant burlesque dancer?

Dangling from a harness attached to a wire at the top of the 146-foot Matterhorn, the 4-foot-10-inch woman slid 784 feet to Sleeping Beauty’s castle, where she initiated the park’s nightly fireworks display.

This remarkably agile woman was Tiny Kline, and her life story provides a fascinating window into U.S. popular culture during the 20th century,
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