1843:
William McKinley, the twenty-fifth United States President, is born
in Niles, Ohio. The last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to office, he
was also the last President to serve in the 19th century and the first to serve in the 20th.
Visit McKinley and all the U.S. Chief Executives at Disney World’s The Hall of Presidents.
1915:
Author, storyman, illustrator and Disney Legend
Bill Peet is born in Grandview, Indiana. First
joining Disney in 1937, he worked on such classics as
101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Fantasia, Peter Pan,
Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Jungle Book. While still working for Disney Studios, Peet drew pictures for
stories in his spare time. By the time he left Disney in 1964 he already had five of his own books
published, including Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure.
“You really can’t teach people how to draw though except to say
“Draw better!” You can go through all the routines of telling them how to do it, but if they don’t have a feel for it they will never become what you could call an artist or draftsman. You can point things out to them, but as far as taking them by the hand and carrying them along, there’s no way you can do that.” -Bill Peet (1988)
1920:
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks spot an ad in the Kansas City Star calling for artists at the Kansas City Slide Company. At this time the Iwerks-Disney Art Studio is doing okay, but the notion of getting a foot in the door at a place like the Kansas City Slide Company (later called the Kansas City Film Ad Co.) is intriguing. Walt applies on a whim and, to his surprise, is hired – at $40 a month. Disney will work there for more than 2 years helping to produce slides & one-minute films shown as advertisements in movie theaters, while Iwerks continues to run their art studio. (Eventually the Iwerks-Disney Studio will fail and Iwerks will too get a job at the KC Film Ad. It is their that the two young artists decide their future is in making movies.)
1941:
Disney’s 3rd feature film Fantasia has its Hollywood premiere. (The film debuted in New York City in November 1940.) The audience at the Carthay Circle are even more enthusiastic than the ones in New York!
1943:
Disney’s Donald Duck short Donald’s Tire Trouble, directed by Dick Lundy, is released. A flat tire proves to be more than enough to upset impatient Donald!
1951:
Lux Radio Theater presents an adaptation of Disney’s 1950
release Treasure Island (based on the classic novel by Robert Louis
Stevenson). Bobby Driscoll revives his role of Jim Hawkins. Special guest stars include James
Mason (who in 3 years will star in Disney’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) as Long John Silver and Nigel Bruce as Squire Trelawney.
1958:
The Disneyland TV series airs episode 91 – part 2 of “The Littlest Outlaw.”
1959:
Disney’s animated feature film Sleeping Beauty premieres at the Fox
Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles. The story is based on the fairy tale “La Belle au bois
dormant” by Charles Perrault, while much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty.” (It will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Music/Scoring of a
Musical Picture.) The voice cast includes Mary Costa (as Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty), Eleanor Audley (as
Maleficent), Barbara Jo Allen (as Fauna), Verna Felton (as Flora), Bill Shirley (as Prince Phillip) and in his last role –
Taylor Holmes (as Stefan). The film is directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the
supervision of Clyde Geronimi. Sleeping Beauty is also the first animated feature to be photographed in the
Technirama widescreen process (an alternative to CinemaScope) and the last Disney feature to use hand-inked cels.
Also released with Sleeping Beauty is the live-action documentary Grand Canyon, directed by James Algar. First
debuting back on December 17, 1958 Grand Canyon features beautifully shot scenes set to Ferde Grofé’s musical composition “Grand Canyon Suite.”
1960:
The television series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode “Wild Burro of The West.”
1920:
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks spot an ad in the Kansas City Star calling for artists at the Kansas City Slide Company. At this time the Iwerks-Disney Art Studio is doing okay, but the notion of getting a foot in the door at a place like the Kansas City Slide Company (later called the Kansas City Film Ad Co.) is intriguing. Walt applies on a whim and, to his surprise, is hired – at $40 a month. Disney will work there for more than 2 years helping to produce slides & one-minute films shown as advertisements in movie theaters, while Iwerks continues to run their art studio. (Eventually the Iwerks-Disney Studio will fail and Iwerks will too get a job at the KC Film Ad. It is their that the two young artists decide their future is in making movies.)
2002:
Disney’s 2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released on DVD and video.
Ten former Major League Baseball players participate in the
Atlanta Braves Dream Week Fantasy Camp at Disney’s
Wide World of Sports in Florida.
1915:
Author, storyman, illustrator and Disney Legend
Bill Peet is born in Grandview, Indiana. First
joining Disney in 1937, he worked on such classics as
101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Fantasia, Peter Pan,
Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Jungle Book. While still working for Disney Studios, Peet drew pictures for
stories in his spare time. By the time he left Disney in 1964 he already had five of his own books
published, including Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure.
1941:
Disney’s 3rd feature film Fantasia has its Hollywood premiere. (The film debuted in New York City in November 1940.) The audience at the Carthay Circle are even more enthusiastic than the ones in New York!
1958:
The Disneyland TV series airs episode 91 – part 2 of “The Littlest Outlaw.”
1959:
Disney’s animated feature film Sleeping Beauty premieres at the Fox
Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles. The story is based on the fairy tale “La Belle au bois
dormant” by Charles Perrault, while much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty.” (It will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Music/Scoring of a
Musical Picture.) The voice cast includes Mary Costa (as Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty), Eleanor Audley (as
Maleficent), Barbara Jo Allen (as Fauna), Verna Felton (as Flora), Bill Shirley (as Prince Phillip) and in his last role –
Taylor Holmes (as Stefan). The film is directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the
supervision of Clyde Geronimi. Sleeping Beauty is also the first animated feature to be photographed in the
Technirama widescreen process (an alternative to CinemaScope) and the last Disney feature to use hand-inked cels.
Also released with Sleeping Beauty is the live-action documentary Grand Canyon, directed by James Algar. First
debuting back on December 17, 1958 Grand Canyon features beautifully shot scenes set to Ferde Grofé’s musical composition “Grand Canyon Suite.”
1960:
The television series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode “Wild Burro of The West.”
1961:
Mailman Herbert A. Disney (oldest brother of Walt Disney) passes away.
Walt Disney Presents airs “Texas John Slaughter: End of the Trail,” the
14th episode of a mini-series starring Tom Tryon.
1966:
Robert Stevenson, the director of Mary Poppins, is presented with a Blue Ribbon Award for Best Foreign Film. (Blue Ribbon Awards are handed out annually in Tokyo, Japan.)
1967:
NBC-TV airs the Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color episode “Gallegher
Goes West: Tragedy on the Trail.”
1977:
Although nominated for a Golden Globe, the song “I’d Like to Be You for a Day” (written by Joel Hirschhorn & Al Kasha for Disney’s Freaky Friday) is beat out for Best Original Song – Motion Picture by “Evergreen (Love Theme from A Star Is Born)” (written by Barbra Streisand & Paul Williams).
1920:
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks spot an ad in the Kansas City Star calling for artists at the Kansas City Slide Company. At this time the Iwerks-Disney Art Studio is doing okay, but the notion of getting a foot in the door at a place like the Kansas City Slide Company (later called the Kansas City Film Ad Co.) is intriguing. Walt applies on a whim and, to his surprise, is hired – at $40 a month. Disney will work there for more than 2 years helping to produce slides & one-minute films shown as advertisements in movie theaters, while Iwerks continues to run their art studio. (Eventually the Iwerks-Disney Studio will fail and Iwerks will too get a job at the KC Film Ad. It is their that the two young artists decide their future is in making movies.)
2002:
Disney’s 2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released on DVD and video.
Ten former Major League Baseball players participate in the
Atlanta Braves Dream Week Fantasy Camp at Disney’s
Wide World of Sports in Florida.
1915:
Author, storyman, illustrator and Disney Legend
Bill Peet is born in Grandview, Indiana. First
joining Disney in 1937, he worked on such classics as
101 Dalmatians, The Sword in the Stone, Fantasia, Peter Pan,
Pinocchio, Dumbo, and The Jungle Book. While still working for Disney Studios, Peet drew pictures for
stories in his spare time. By the time he left Disney in 1964 he already had five of his own books
published, including Hubert’s Hair-Raising Adventure.
1941:
Disney’s 3rd feature film Fantasia has its Hollywood premiere. (The film debuted in New York City in November 1940.) The audience at the Carthay Circle are even more enthusiastic than the ones in New York!
1958:
The Disneyland TV series airs episode 91 – part 2 of “The Littlest Outlaw.”
1959:
Disney’s animated feature film Sleeping Beauty premieres at the Fox
Wilshire Theater in Los Angeles. The story is based on the fairy tale “La Belle au bois
dormant” by Charles Perrault, while much of the musical score is based on Pyotr Ilyich
Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Sleeping Beauty.” (It will be nominated for an Oscar for Best Music/Scoring of a
Musical Picture.) The voice cast includes Mary Costa (as Princess Aurora/Sleeping Beauty), Eleanor Audley (as
Maleficent), Barbara Jo Allen (as Fauna), Verna Felton (as Flora), Bill Shirley (as Prince Phillip) and in his last role –
Taylor Holmes (as Stefan). The film is directed by Les Clark, Eric Larson, and Wolfgang Reitherman, under the
supervision of Clyde Geronimi. Sleeping Beauty is also the first animated feature to be photographed in the
Technirama widescreen process (an alternative to CinemaScope) and the last Disney feature to use hand-inked cels.
Also released with Sleeping Beauty is the live-action documentary Grand Canyon, directed by James Algar. First
debuting back on December 17, 1958 Grand Canyon features beautifully shot scenes set to Ferde Grofé’s musical composition “Grand Canyon Suite.”
1960:
The television series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode “Wild Burro of The West.”
1961:
Mailman Herbert A. Disney (oldest brother of Walt Disney) passes away.
Walt Disney Presents airs “Texas John Slaughter: End of the Trail,” the
14th episode of a mini-series starring Tom Tryon.
1987:
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs parade onto the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, in celebration of Disney’s highest-ever first quarter revenues.
1995:
Super Bowl XXIX is played at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida. The
halftime show is a Disney production called “Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.”
It features Indiana Jones & Marion, Patti LaBelle, Tony Bennett, Arturo Sandoval, and Miami Sound
Machine. Jerry Rice and Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers shout “We’re going to Disney World!” after their team defeats the San Diego Chargers, 49–26.
1996:
At the 23rd American Music Awards, The Lion King wins Favorite Soundtrack.
2002:
Disney’s 2001 Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released on DVD and video.
Ten former Major League Baseball players participate in the
Atlanta Braves Dream Week Fantasy Camp at Disney’s
Wide World of Sports in Florida.
2008:
Walt Disney Records releases a 26-track digital album containing the music of Paul Smith’s original soundtrack score to the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
2010:
At Epcot, the redesigned IBM exhibit “Smarter Planet” opens.
Located in the Innoventions pavilion, it offers park guests a peek at an energy efficient IBM data center.
Disney’s Touchstone Pictures releases the romantic comedy When in Rome (in association with Krasnoff Foster Productions), starring Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel.
2011:
The Disney Dream visits Castaway Cay (Disney’s private island) for the very first time. The ship will head back to Florida the next day, ending her four-night maiden voyage.
2012:
Kellie Nickerson, sporting fairy wings and a green tutu, flies away from the field to win the inaugural Tinker Bell Half Marathon at the Disneyland Resort. Nickerson, from Albuquerque, New Mexico, captures her first win at a runDisney race with a finish time of 1:27:52, just ahead of Sharon Wilkinson of Winnetka, California, (1:28:18) and Stacy Schafer from Carlsbad, California (1:28:54). Hosted by the city of Anaheim and the Disneyland Resort, the Tinker Bell Half Marathon led participants on a 13.1-mile trek through Disneyland and Disney California Adventure parks, as well as by several Anaheim landmarks.
2016:
The thriller motion picture The Finest Hours, produced by Walt Disney Pictures,
is released. The screenplay, written by Eric Johnson, Scott Silver, and Paul Tamasy, is based on “The Finest
Hours: The True Story of the U.S. Coast Guard’s Most Daring Sea Rescue” by Michael J. Tougias and Casey Sherman.
Starring Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Holliday Grainger, John Ortiz, and Eric Bana, the film chronicles the true
account of the 1952 United States Coast Guard rescue of the SS Pendleton, after it split apart during a nor’easter off the
New England coast.
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