Betty Taylor, the longtime female star of Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue has passed away, one day following the passing of her beloved co-star, Wally Boag.
Betty Taylor played Sluefoot Sue, the spunky leader of a troupe of western dance hall girls, in Disneyland.
The spunky leader of a troupe of western dance hall girls, in Disneyland’s popular Golden Horseshoe Revue, Betty Taylor passed away this morning at her home in Washington State. Betty was 91. She became the darling of nearly 10 million guests, who, over the years, visited the saloon to see the world’s longest-running stage show in the history of entertainment.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of a second Disney Legend in just two days — Betty Taylor,” George Kalogridis, president, Disneyland Resort, says. “Betty’s role as leading lady in Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue helped turn it into the longest-running stage show in entertainment history. It is a tragic coincidence that her passing comes just one day after the death of longtime co-star Wally Boag.”
In the nearly 45,000 performances that she appeared in, the charming, vivacious blonde never lost her girlish enthusiasm for playing the role of Pecos Bill’s sweetheart. “Betty Taylor must have been born to become Slue Foot Sue in Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue,” says Disney Legend Marty Sklar, about the way Betty owned the role and perfermored every show as if it were her first. “She knew how to belt out a tune, in the storied tradition an old western saloon, and she held her own on a stage with the wild and wacky antics of Pecos Bill (comedian Wally Boag), the brogue of an Irish tenor (Fulton Burley) and a chorus line of can-can dancers. Imagine doing that five times a day for 31 years and 45,000 performances! Betty was a true trooper who loved playing the part in the show, and loved performing for Disneyland audiences.”
As former Disneyland magic shop cast member, comedian Steve Martin wrote in Betty’s autograph book, “How come I’m the only one who grows old around here (Disneyland)?”
Born in Seattle, Washington, Betty began taking dance lessons at age three and by 12, appeared in her first professional stage production in Vancouver, British Colombia. At 14, she sang and danced in nightclubs across the country, and by 18, led her own band called Betty and Her Beaus, which included 16 male musicians, who appeared regularly at the Trianon Ballroom in Seattle. She went on to perform with a western radio show, Sons of the Pioneers, and traveled with big band leaders Les Brown, Henry Bussey, and Red Nichols. She also played a six-week stint in Las Vegas with “old blue eyes” himself, Frank Sinatra.
In 1956, while living in Los Angeles, Betty was about to hit the road again, performing as a drum player with a musical group, when she heard about auditions for a singing-and-hoofing job in Walt Disney’s new theme park — Disneyland. She threw her garter into the ring, so to speak, and was hired as Slue Foot Sue, whom she described as “not a hard character, but rather like a Mae West or a Kitty on the vintage television series Gunsmoke.
On occasion, Betty, and the 10-member Revue troupe, performed outside of the park. In 1968, for instance, they took their act on a USO tour of Greenland and Newfoundland, and two years later, performed for President Richard Nixon and his family in The White House. Walt Disney also personally, asked Betty to perform a variation of her Golden Horseshoe routine on national television, with comedian Ed Wynn, in an episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.
Betty retired from the Golden Horseshoe Revue in 1987. She continued to appear in special events, such as Walt Disney’s Wild West, a retrospective of Walt’s vision of the American West, which was showcased in 1995, at the Gene Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.