Alice Davis, Disney’s Costume Designer for It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean Rides, Dead at 93
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Alice Estes Davis, a costume designer responsible for Disney theme park attractions including It’s a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean, films, and TV shows has died. She was 93.
Davis died on Thursday at her Loz Feliz home in Los Angeles, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Representatives for Disney did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
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An obituary posted by the Walt Disney Company shares her many accomplishments and lasting mark on the parks and beyond. Known for her work on classic rides at Disneyland, the late designer was also married to one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” — famed animator and Imagineer, Marc Davis, who died in January 2000.
Born on March 26, 1929, in Escalon, California, Alice earned a scholarship to study costume design at L.A.’s Chouinard Art Institute after graduating from high school in Long Beach. There, she attended night classes to study animation that were taught by her future husband, though their romance did not begin until they reacquainted after her graduation.
Alice began her career by designing women’s lingerie and undergarments for the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles. After quickly being promoted to head designer, she eventually earned a reputation as an expert pattern maker and authority on the uses of fabric while managing two factories.
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Alice landed her first job at Disney after receiving a call from Marc in 1954 when he was looking for costume designs to dress actress Helene Stanley, who was appearing in some live-action reference footage filmed to help inspire his animation of the lead character, Briar Rose in Sleeping Beauty.
In 1963, Walt Disney asked Alice to put her skills to use for the characters on the It’s a Small World attraction for the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair where she and Marc collaborated with art designer Mary Blair to research, design, and supervise the project. The attraction was later transported to Disneyland in 1966, where it’s still being enjoyed by visitors today.
In 1965, she translated Marc’s original drawings of the pirates’ attire for the costumes featured on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, another fan favorite. Other attractions she contributed to include General Electric’s Carousel of Progress and the Flight to the Moon.
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Alice called her career as an Imagineer at WED Enterprises, also known as Walt Disney Imagineering where she joined in 1962, “the best job I ever had, because there were no hierarchical distinctions.”
“Everybody had a job to do. None of us had titles. We all went by first names,” she said, per Walt Disney Company. “And we all worked for the same thing: putting on the best show possible. We’d be at work before we had to be, and we’d stay as long as we had to.”
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