The foremost product of Disneyland is (and has always been) happiness! Many factors contribute to happiness, including (but not limited to) licensed merchandise inspired by the character of Disneyland or Walt Disney’s Characters.

The Hat Bar was a popular location for guests to find a souvenir hat that suits them (as you will find out if you “go on a-head”).

Now there have always been several merchandise locations around Disneyland to find fashionable and protective headwear. There was the Mad Hatter Store on Main Street and in Fantasyland, as well as the Davy Crockett Museum (in Frontierland).

If you were looking for beanies, bucket hats, paper Disneyland half-hat visors, pith helmets, student caps, coonskin caps, the Peter Pan Hat and Captain Nemo Hat by Elrene, Hardee Hats, Cowboy Hats, Zorro Hat and mask sets, Bikester “Disneyland” Hats (also known as the “Tomorrowland Keppy Kap”), Prince Philip hats, Pinocchio hats, Tyrolean hats, Robin Hood hats, Pirate hats, Mickey Mouse Hats, Donald Duck hats (with a squeaky beak ; personally designed by Walt Disney Productions character merchandiser - Vince Jefferds ), Mary Poppins Hats, and Benay-Albee’s official Mickey Mouse Club Mouse-ke-ears Hats (in Mickey and “Minny” styles), . . . The Hat Bar shop (in Tomorrowland) had what you were looking for (and more)!

Clearly, Disneyland provided an additional major sales outlet for licensed Disney merchandise, while the licensing promoted the park through games, books, toys, and lots of headwear. Disneyland also turned concessionaire Benay-Albee into a licensee that manufactured merchandise featuring properties owned by Walt Disney Productions.

The 1957 TWA brochure “Let’s Talk About… My Visit to Disneyland, Anaheim, California: A Note from Mary Gordon TWA Travel Advisor” mentioned: “We learned that to fully explore Disneyland takes two days, so early next morning we were at the gates of the park again. The second day we spent more time shopping in the 50 inviting shops, and the youngsters bought inexpensive souvenirs to take home to friends.”

Many of these locations were operated by the Benay-Albee Company. The corporate synergy would prove beneficial for both parties. Just a few years later, the commercial lessee Benay-Albee Novelty Company brought much revenue for Disneyland, Inc. For instance (in Tomorrowland alone), the commercial lessee brought revenue of $17,316 for the fiscal year ending September 29, 1957 and $12,985 for the fiscal year ending September 28, 1958. An additional $2,751 was yielded for the fiscal year ending September 28, 1958. By September of 1958, the Benay-Albee Novelty Company was still contributing a routine portion of accounts receivable to Disneyland, Inc.

The Benay-Albee Company (manufacturer of some hats) even occasionally covered percentages of construction and maintenance costs (as when a marquee was constructed and maintained for the front West Plaza entrance of the Mad Hatter Store on Main Street from 1957-1959).

Hats became so associated with the Disneyland experience, that they were often featured in promotional material, like the television commercials filmed at Disneyland July 15th and 16th, 1964.

As a sidelight, when boarding a thrilling adventure, Attractions Hosts and Hostesses informed everyone in the vehicle to hold onto their hats and glasses. If a guest lost an article, Hosts and Hostesses made a sincere effort to locate it and make a positive identification.

Mickey Mouse Hats with names sewn onto them have assisted Cast Members in connecting with guests, calling them by name.

The Mad Hatter shop of Fantasyland was originally a leased by the Benay-Albee Novelty Co. when it opened at Disneyland during June of 1956!

Since the beginning, the 891 square-foot Mad Hatter Shop was a popular location for guests to find a personalized “gay and unusual” novelty hat that suits them (as you will find out if you “go on a-head”). There were some 25 styles to choose from by September of 1956, according to contemporaneous issues of The Disneyland News, page 3. Guests looking for hats of any description would find that The Mad Hatter shop had what they were looking for (and more)! There was a colorful variety of unique Disneyland hats including beanies, bucket hats, paper Disneyland half-hat visors, pith helmets, student caps, coonskin caps, Hardee Hats, Cowboy Hats, Zorro Hat and mask sets, Bikester “Disneyland” Hats (also known as the “Tomorrowland Keppy Kap”), Derbies, Peter Pan Hats (by Elrene Manufacturing Co. of N.Y.), Prince Philip hats, Pinocchio hats, Tyrolean hats, Robin Hood hats, Pirate hats (with sword “through” the head, Benay Albee Novelty Company Mickey Mouse Hats (with the nose that “squeeks”), Donald Duck hats (with a squeaky beak ; personally designed by Walt Disney Productions character merchandiser - Vince Jefferds), Mary Poppins Hats, Benay-Albee’s Cinderella novelty hats (with the ribbons and braids), and Benay-Albee’s official Mickey Mouse Club Mouse-ke-ears Hats (in Mickey and “Minny” styles).

Two years after the shop opened (by September 28, 1958), Disneyland Inc. opened job number 4062-511 for both the design and development of the Mad Hatters' Shop marquee. The marquee (for the Main Street lessee) was in developmental progress at a total cost of $3,875 (estimated Disneyland Inc. share) and lessee share of $1,500. By October 1958, the “Disneyland Dictionary” described the Mad Hatter Shop operated by Albee Novelty Co. with a scope of sales included selling and sewing names on “novelty and personalized hats.”

The Mad Hatter Shop soon offered the free service of personalizing purchased hats, with sewn, embroidered names. According to Vacationland (Summer, 1960) and “The Disneyland News” (Vol. 1, No. 1, of 1963), “Carl Ritter, Disneyland’s Peter Pan, watched as a man walked up to the Mad Hatter’s Hat Shop with identical twin boys, about eight years old. The man bought two hats and had the boy’s names sewn on them. He told the Mad Hatter : ‘They’re my nephews, and I never can remember which is which.’ As the man walked off, with his back to the twins, they quickly changed hats!” The Mad Hatter Shop was one of Disneyland’s more popular souvenir shops, and a testament to this fact are the number of celebrities that have been photographed there over the years - like child actor Kevin Corcoran (as seen in Jack and Jill, May of 1960) and comedian Jack Benny. On one occasion, “motion picture star Betty Hutton… bought fake eyelashes in Merlin’s Magic Shop and a pirate hat with a special sword that appeared to go right through her head [likely purchased through the Mad Hatter],” after visitors recognized her and asked for autographs. “The disguise worked perfectly. No one recognized Miss Hutton, but people continued to stop her. This time they wanted to know where they could buy ‘a hat like that crazy one you’ve got on!’”

The number hats sold also speaks volumes about the shop’s popularity. In fact, by 1977, an average of 1,500 pairs of Mickey Mouse ears were sold on good days, during peak periods.

Well, The Mad Hatter Shop ultimately joined the Fantasyland Merchandising group, when its lessee departed after nearly two decades of loyal service (during January of 1977). But one of the biggest changes would occur during one Alice in Wonderland refurbishment (that took place during the early 1980s). Then, the Mad Hatter Shop was notably relocated and redesigned to a look similar to its present incarnation. By April 14, 1984, the new Mad Hatter location debuted, with pre-existing elements (like the tree) becoming part of Disneyland history!

The Mad Hatter on Main Street U.S.A. has some architectural elements reminiscent of watercolor “97A” (depicting Alice looking towards a “Mad Hatter” shop) which was created by David Hall (1905-1964; employed at Walt Disney Studios from 1939-1940) during the production of Walt Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

The shop created tangible memories for Guests through Merchandise and Show.

This Mad Hatter Shop fabric sticker was donated to us from the collection of the late Jack Kehoe (of Disneyland Security).

By (April-June) 1981, WED Imagineering surveys of the 891 square-foot Mad Hatter Shop were conducted, in relation to New Fantasyland. Proposals for expansion to a 2,206 facility were made.

All art work, posters, etc. of Disneyland were created by the Walt Disney Studios. A mural was designed and created by Walt Disney Studios artist Bill Justice in 1977. This was not Bill’s first Disneyland contribution. During the 1960s, the team of Walt Disney Studio Character artists Bill Justice and John Hench partnered with Chuck Keehne (Chief of the Walt Disney Studio Wardrobe Department, from 1955-1979) to oversee the creation of 40 new Disneyland Characters that could“stand up to the rigors of every day use among the guests." Now, years after the mural was demolished, a print commemorating Bill’s Mad Hatter Mural was offered through The Disney Gallery.

Beginning in 1956, the Donald Duck Hat by Benay-Albee (complete with squawking bill) was available at many shops where novelty hats were sold, including the Disneyland Hat Bar.

Hats have helped guests express pride for their favorite Walt Disney characters. These Donald Duck Hats by Benay-Albee would perhaps inspire the Goofy Hat (a Disney Character Fashion manufactured during the 1970s and 1980s by Atlas).

(Courtesy of the Keeline Collection)

The “Bikester” and the “Sportster” (also commonly called “Keppy Kaps,” though another model was specifically referred to as such) were both manufactured by the B.F. McDonald Company of Los Angeles, California (and Houston). This particular model (D-500) was a popular seller with Disneyland guests (parents in particular), due being “the only children’s hat with a Life-Guard Protection”, according to contemporaneous advertisements. This is because all Bikesters and Sportsters were “formed of shock-proof Butyrate”, and featured a “scientifically engineered Head-cushion Protecto-Liners” (adjustable, vinyl-covered, foam head-cushion bands). Aesthetically, the Disneyland Bikesters (or, “Disneyland Sports Cap”) were “permanent-decorated in two gay colors”, with “reinforced tubular welded colorful rim bead”. This yellow Disneyland Bikester (Model D-500) branded with the insignia of the five cardinal Disneylands, was available for just a brief period. During this period, the “Disneyland Souvenir Gifts” catalogue (published 1958) offered them as the “Tomorrowland Keppy Kap,” in either White (item HW-1) or Yellow (item HW-2), for $1.00 each.

(Courtesy of the Keeline Collection)

The rare yellow Disneyland Bikester (Model D-500) was also branded with the insignia of the five cardinal Disneylands, and was available for just a brief period.

(Courtesy of the Keeline Collection)

The rare yellow “Disneyland” (also branded with the insignia of the five cardinal Disneylands) was available for just a brief period.

(Courtesy of the Keeline Collection)

The rare yellow “Disneyland” (also branded with the insignia of the five cardinal Disneylands) was available for just a brief period.

One other model of the “Disneyland” featured the Disneyland name across the front, with Mickey Mouse on top. Still another Keppy Kap featured the Matterhorn prominently displayed on the front of the Kap.

The Keppy Kap (depicted above), according to one catalogue, was described in the following way: “shatterproof sports helmet is tops with boys and girls. White with colorful montage of Main Street, Fantasyland, Frontierland, Adventureland, Tomorrowland. Helmet has expandable band to fit all head sizes.” The Keppy Kap originally retailed for $1.00.

Pith helmets like the one pictured above were available to guests heading into the wilds of Adventureland (both at Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World).

This 100% wool Super Western Hat was manufactured by the Benay-Albee Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn, New York.

Both of these hats were very popular around Frontierland parts (as well as Fantasyland parts) of Disneyland.

You might be familiar with his famous “coonskin” cap and that's really no surprise since Disneyland sold $300 million worth of the caps and other Davy Crockett souvenirs.

These Benay-Albee originals were 100% felt (60% wool, 40% rayon), quality crafted, Union made in the U.S.A., and originally retailed for $1.29 each! These hats were still popular by 1967, as attested to by the various Guests wearing them in the pages of the souvenir "Disneyland, U.S.A.: Summer '67" ".

Magic Kingdom Club members were invited to see Zorro in person at Disneyland, on Thanksgiving Weekend (November 26th, 27th, 28th, and 29th). Needless to say, the Benay Albee Original Zorro Hat & Mask Sets were very popular with visitors during this event proven by “the littlest outlaws” pictured above.

Other events where special hats were offered included New Year’s Eve Celebrations at Disneyland. For instance, hats provided by the Jacobson Hat Company provided decorative hats for guests during the New Year’s Eve celebration of 1967.

Of course, if you were a kid in the 1950s, if you weren't wearing a coonskin, you were wearing Mouse Ears. Mickey Mouse Hats have proven to be popular with both television and Disney Parks audiences “through the years wherever we may be.” Even wandering adventurers in the vicinity of the Temple of the Forbidden Eye have been known to wear a pair of Mouse-ke-ears (or, Mickey Mouse Hats).

Now that the Mickey Mouse Club was back on television (and the Mickey Mouse Club was Headquartered at Disneyland) the was the perfect opportunity for the Benay-Albee Novelty Company, Inc. to bring their popular Mouseketeer Cap to Disneyland!

As early as 1969, Mickey Mouse Hats were further developed (by individuals like Bob Davis, Sue Elwart, Jack Olsen of the Disneyland Merchandising Department) for Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. These were developed by the Disneyland Merchandise Division which (around c.1974) under the direction of Paul Brewer became the Creative Services Department who later created merchandise and promotional art, Emporium window displays, park merchandise and food packaging, souvenir, promotional, and interior design ideas.

Mickey Mouse Hats have continued to be popular with audiences in recent decades. The hats have come to incorporate the character of popular Disney characters, park attractions, and events (like the Golden Ears produced in honor of the 50th anniversary of Disneyland). In the present, hats help Disneyland audiences participate in the magic like never before! “Glow with the Show” Mouse Ears change colors in harmony with the nighttime spectaculars.

The MOD HATTER (1967) offered comfortable, decorative, “way-out” hats of every description; souvenir and decorative hats including Mickey Mouse Ears. The Hatmosphere (1988-2006) was an updated incarnation of that Walt-era Tomorrowland shop. By 1998, the Hatmosphere offered headgear of the future, popular Character hats, and Guest of Honor name badges.

Desiree (former Hatmosphere employee) remembers : “I really enjoyed the hat shop because I loved the looks on kids faces when you handed them the hats with their names on [them], but some days were really boring because it was slow and that shop was so small. You could clean, stock, and organize when it was slow. There was nowhere to go and not much to do…I liked to keep busy, so I preferred other shops.”