Greetings family, friends and Disney buddies! I literally crossed paths with this memorable character in Disneyland more than sixty years ago. I hope that you enjoy this brief vignette about Don Defore and a bit of park trivia....Bill
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Memorable Character
Don DeFore - Actor, Disneyland Restaurateur
Visitor’s to Disneyland between the summer of 1957 and fall of 1961 were able to eat at a quick service barbecue restaurant in Frontierland tucked against Aunt Jemima’s restaurant and facing Tom Sawyer’s Island. When Casa de Frito’s outgrew it’s original location, Walt Disney approached his friend and popular film, TV and Broadway star Don DeFore, who had appeared in the opening day broadcast of Disneyland’s opening day two years earlier and had just completed the final episode of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, about taking over the available space for a themed barbecue restaurant. After brief consideration and agreement to attend a fortyfive hour business management extension course at UCLA, DeFore eagerly agreed and soon opened Don DeFore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue (reportedly named for his most prized possession). With himself as chef and his brother Verne the manager, rib’s chicken, baked beans, cole slaw, french fries and sandwiches were prepared in a tiny kitchen, served cafeteria style and eaten at a few inside tables or on the outdoor patio overlooking The Rivers of America. The kitchen was so small that DeFore soon purchased a second home a few blocks from the park to provide much needed storage space for restaurant supplies, eliminate his daily commute from L.A., and provide a place to rest between the busy noon and dinner services. I don’t remember eating at the Silver Banjo but I do clearly recall crossing paths with DeFore (“Thorny” Thornberry, the Nelson’s friendly and somewhat pesty neighbor) more than sixty years ago as he was hurrying through the plaza in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. During the four years of operation Don DeFore’s enterprise was the only Disneyland establishment displaying the name of a real non-fictional person and the only business within Disneyland ever owned by an individual. The ultimate closure of Don Defore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue was required by the Orange County Health Department due to space and fire code violations. After six decades theres no trace of Don Defore’s Silver Banjo Barbecue and the former valuable space was folded in to Aunt Jemima’s restaurant and is now occupied by Frontierland’s popular Riverbelle Terrace. -Bill
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