R.I.P. Disney Imagineer Alice Davis

Today we lost one of the best and most important Disney Imagineers, Alice Davis. Wife to legendary Imagineer Mark Davis and Disney's top seamstress. 

Alice attempted to get into the Chouinard Art Institute to learn how to be an animator since her passion was drawing; but, the Art Institute didn’t accept girls. They did, however, accept her to teach her to be a costume designer. Her first class was Fine Art, where they taught her about human anatomy and how muscles worked. The class instructor was Marc Davis. Alice began her career designing women’s lingerie and undergarments for the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles. It wasn’t until after she graduated and began working that she started up a friendship with Marc, whom she ended up marrying in 1956 at the age of 27. She quickly became the head designer. In the mid-1950s, Alice got a call from Marc requesting her to design a dress for Helene Stanley to wear as the live-action model for Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty (1959). Walt was impressed with her work and brought Alice on full-time to work on the costumes for Toby Tyler (1960) and other Disney television shows. Later in 1963, Walt had her working on the costumes for it’s a small world for the World’s Fair. She worked alongside Imagineer Mary Blair and studied all the different cultures to come up with 150 outfits. She also made all the period clothing for the characters in the Carousel of Progress, which can still be seen in Magic Kingdom. During the small world project, Alice established an audio-animatronic costume manufacturing area, refurbishing techniques, and a quality control system which are still in use by Imagineers today. Alice had said that she "went from sweet little children to dirty old men overnight" with the wardrobe creations for Pirates of the Caribbean, for which she designed 47 different period costumes that date back to the late1700s. She had to convert her 295 husband’s animated pirate sketches to real life. Walt visited her in the studio and was able to see The Auctioneer pirate in full attire. Then the following day or two he went into the hospital before passing away. He never got to see any of the other pirates. Along with the Pirates project, she worked on the costumes for the refurbishment of Flight to the Moon in Tomorrowland. Alice retired with Marc in 1978 but was still contacted for consulting purposes, like for the film Up (2009). She has a window dedicated to her right next to Marc’s on Main Street, USA, and she became a Disney Legend in 2004. 

Walt asked Alice Davis to come in and design the wardrobe for the pirates on the new Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. She last worked on the “it’s a small world” attraction for the World’s Fair. She had said, “I went from sweet little children to dirty old men overnight.” The pirates were a challenge for her because they did not move like people in order to put clothing on. She used a lot of Velcro so that the clothing could be taken off and replaced quickly. She also learned from her small world experience that the fabric wears down in certain areas from constant rubbing, and leaking hydraulic fluid and oil is also a problem. 

Alice Davis received her honorary window on Main Street in 2012.

(Excerpts from Discovering the Magic Kingdom)

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