In the heart of Main Street, U.S.A., in Disneyland park, the charmingly quaint Silhouette Studio offers something you can’t get anywhere else at the Disneyland Resort: Hand-cut custom silhouettes produced by a silhouette artist.
Located between Crystal Arts and China Closet, this cozy jewel opened on July 18, 1955, just one day after the grand opening of Disneyland. In its 61-year history, this iconic location has allowed guests from around the world to have their profile turned into a treasured memento from the Happiest Place on Earth. Former cast member Harry Brice – known in the mid-1970s as “the fastest snip in the West” – left his legacy in this location by perfecting the craft, and allowing the skills and training of the art to live on in today’s cast members whom are trained in the art of silhouette cutting.
These hand-cut silhouettes, which take about one minute to cut, are a product of a rare trade dating back to the salons of France in the 1700s. If you peek in the window you can even watch the silhouette artist hard at work creating beautiful profiles of our guests, sometimes even cutting multiple profiles at a time. These large windows were a common feature of small-town shops during the turn of the century. Have you ever heard of window shopping? This is a term inspired by these simpler times.
In December 2013, we were lucky enough to learn more about this location and the special craft that occurs here from our cast member Bonnie Elliott:
