Alice Davis has a very welcoming spirit. When someone would visit hers and Marc’s home, they would always welcome them with open arms. She loved to love, and made sure that the people in her home felt it too. Salas describes them as, “very hospitable, so wonderful, and more than willing to be accessible for them.” Former high school teacher, Dave Salas, and local artist, Gerald Gaitan, were a few of those lucky people that were to able to experience this. Over the years, Gaitan and Salas became close to Alice Davis. So close in fact that they considered her family, and she felt the same. Gaitan expressed just how grateful he was towards her and how he considered her his grandmother. “I felt like I was going to Grandma’s house… I didn't have a Grandma that I grew up around and you just give me that love,” Gaitan recalls when he first asked Alice if it was okay for him to call her Grandma. To which she gladly accepted that role. Alice has been such a talented artist since she was in highschool. While she originally wanted to study animation, during that time, she was unable to without being on a two-year waiting list. Instead, the Chouinard Art Institute accepted her as a costume designer. She graduated and began her career designing lingerie for Women at the Beverly Vogue & Lingerie House in Los Angeles. Her talents paved the way and made it so that she was able to rise through the ranks at the company and eventually landing the position of head designer. While Alice was extremely loving and caring, she knew her worth and she knew that she was making way less in money than a man who held the same position as her. However, she had chosen to wait it out, she knew that there had to be more, something better. And boy, was she right! Her husband, Marc Davis was already hard at work for Walt Disney and his company. One night in 1960, Alice, Marc, and Walt Disney went out to dinner. Walt was immediately drawn to Alice and her quality of work. Soon after the dinner, Walt offered her a position as a costume designer for Disney. Unfortunately, Alice began to notice the same pattern happening as before with her previous employer. One day, she became fed up with not being appreciated in the same way the men were, so she packed up her stuff and left Disney. It did not take long for Walt and Marc to learn about her actions. Walt confronted her and offered her exactly what she was looking for. He did not want to lose such a talented and skilled designer. The years passed by and both Marc and Alice stayed working at Disney. Alice once said in an interview with D23 (Disney Fan Club), “It was the best job I ever had because there were no class distinctions. Everybody had a job to do. None of us had titles. We all went by first names. 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.” In 1963 Walt Disney approached Alice with a great project. He wanted her to assist artist Mary Blair, in designing all of the costumes for the audio-animatronic children in the attraction “It’s a Small World” She was able to accurately represent and outfit 150 different costumes throughout the attraction. Upon completion of this project she was instilled by Walt to began working on the costumes for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” attraction. Alice stated, “I went from sweet little children, to dirty old men overnight.” Gaitan and Salas were able to recall Alice’s memory of how she wanted to create and design back up costumes for the characters in this attraction. She was denied by a higher up because they claimed that extra costumes were not needed. Alice being Alice, went about her job creating costumes for the ride, as well as the back up costumes. One day during transportation one of the costumes caught on fire. The opening was supposed to happen that day and the higher up was in a panic because that costume was ruined. Thankfully for Alice, she arrived with her back up costume and the show went on as scheduled. Alice continued designing costumes and assisting on movies for Disney as the years went on. Never once losing her kindness and perseverance to provide the audience with a great show. She kept the same qualities about her throughout her life. Her relationship with Salas and Gaitan proves this. Salas had invited Alice to his son’s wedding. Initially she was thrilled and accepted the invitation. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond her control, she had to cancel at the last minute. Feeling horrible, she told Salas that she wanted to make it up to him and his family. So, in order to celebrate his son’s special day with her, she invited Salas, his family, and Gaitan all over to have dinner at the very secluded Club 33 at Disney. Reservations at this hot dinner spot were presumably exclusive to Disney family and legends. Alice had her pull at this special location thanks to her Legendary Disney status and of course being dubbed, “Seamstress to the Stars.” Gaitan and Salas accepted the invitation and joined Alice and their family in a special dinner. Salas and Gaitan both agreed that this act of kindness only proves how big of a heart Alice Davis has. She makes sure that the people in her life know they are cared for and loved by her, in any way she was able to show it. She treated their grandkids like they were her own. (Her and Marc never had and children.) She would invite them over, hold the babies and sing to them throughout the afternoon. Alice’s dream came true when she was awarded with her own special window next to her husband on Main Street at Disneyland. These windows have the names of individuals who were part of contributing their work in helping create Disneyland. She invited Gaitan and Salas to be part of the ceremony, and when a quartet sang the song “ When You Wish Upon a Star,” for her, her face just lit up with this huge smile. It was a beautiful ceremony for her. Now every time the two men visit Disneyland , as they walk down Main Street they look up at her and Marc’s window and say “ Hi Marc, Hi Alice”, and when they leave Disneyland they say “ Bye Marc, Bye Alice." This legendary woman is inspirational not only to women all over, but to artist as well. She made waves and hugely impacted the Disney studio in any way that she could. Davis always claimed, “I tell students to take everything(classes), because you never know: The one thing you think you don’t need could be the one that’s going to get you where you want to go.” When speaking with Gaitan and giving him advice for young artists Alice would tell him, "Tell them to look up once in awhile." Meaning, "they’re so busy looking at their cell phones, they’re missing the world around them.“ Not only did Walt Disney have his Seamstress to the Stars, and his Nine Old Men, he continued to inspire and hire Disney legends. One in particular, Andreas Deja, making a huge impact on Disney as the “King of Villians.” To be continued... In honor of Alice Davis, and Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men, City News group has decided to join forces with Dave Salas and Gerald Gatain in bringing together a special City News Group Drawing Contest! The contest is officially opened for entry and will end on 3-20-19. Check out page three for contest rules and prizes and good luck! May your imagination run wild and your creativity open windows!