1915:
Actor Harry Morgan is born in Detroit, Michigan. His Disney film credits include The Barefoot
Executive (1971), Scandalous John (1971), Snowball Express (1972), Charly and the Angel (1973), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) and The Cat From Outer Space (1978). TV fans will recognize him from both the classic series Dragnet (as Officer Bill Gannon) and M*A*S*H (as Col. Sherman T. Potter).
2003:
Regis Philbin, the daytime co-host of Live with Regis and Kelly
and former host of ABC's game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, receives the 2,222nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Disney chairman Michael Eisner is among the celebrities in attendance.
1924:
Actress Jane Kean, Miss Taylor in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon, is born in Hartford, Connecticut. (TV fans may recall her role of Trixie Norton and other various characters on the 1960s variety hit The Jackie Gleason Show.)
1927:
Walt Disney delivers the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Poor Papa, to distributor Charles Mintz in New York.
1957:
The Disneyland television series airs "People of the Desert."
1959:
Singer-guitarist & songwriter Brian Setzer (famously known as the
leader of The Stray Cats) is born in Massapequa, New York. Besides
performing at Walt Disney World with his big band - The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Setzer's
musical credits include a version of "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" for the 1996 soundtrack to The Aristocats, the
song "I'm Only In It For The Honey" for the 2002 The Country Bears, and "Rockin' at the House of Mouse," the
theme for the animated television series House of Mouse. Disney's 2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
featured Setzer's tune "Santa Drives a Hot Rod," and he & his 17-piece big band performed in the 2005
broadcast of Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.
1964:
Walt Disney arrives in New York City to oversee
1972:
At the 44th Academy Awards, Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett and Danny Lee win
for Special Visual Effects for their work on Disney's live-action Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The Sherman Brothers' tune "The Age of Not Believing" (from Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks) is beat out by Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft." Although Bedknobs is also nominated for Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score, John Williams' Fiddler on the Roof takes home the Oscar. Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction both go to Nicholas and Alexandra beating out Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
1988:
Disneyland's America Sings closes in Tomorrowland at the end of this day. A 24-minute production that included over 100 characters (the biggest Audio Animatronics cast ever assembled for a Disneyland attraction) it had been in operation since June 1974. Many of the America Sing characters will be placed in Critter Country.
1992:
Disney's live-action feature film musical Newsies is released in theaters. Directed by
choreographer Kenny Ortega (his directorial debut), the films stars Christian Bale, David Moscow, and Bill Pullman
with appearances by Robert Duvall and Ann-Margret. Based on the true story of the Newsboys Strike of 1899 in
New York City (a youth-led campaign to force change in the way that Joseph Pulitzer's and William Randolph
Hearst's newspapers compensated their child labor force), Newsies features the music of Alan Menken.
1997:
The campaign to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, takes another major step forward with a combined $15 million gift from Ron Burkle and The Ralphs/Food 4 Less Foundation. The donation is announced at a morning press conference on the roof terrace of The Museum of Contemporary Art, overlooking the future site of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. (Disney Hall will serve as the winter residence of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.)
1999:
The Disney Channel Original Movie Can of Worms premieres.
A teen is visited by aliens after he broadcasts a message into space!
2001:
The official groundbreaking ceremony for Walt Disney's original
Laugh-O-Gram Studio Building in downtown Kansas City takes place. The two-story brick building (located at 31st and Forest Streets) was the site of Disney's first film studio, Laugh-O-Gram, which he incorporated in 1922. The studio (which operated out of five rooms and was occupied by as many as eleven employees) is where Walt Disney befriended a very special mouse. With it's collapsing roof and boarded up windows, the building which housed the studio hardly looks like the birthplace of the world's biggest entertainment empire. Disney enthusiasts hope to preserve and restore the building, and establish a museum on the site.
Armored trucks loaded with collectible prizes, Mickey Mouse and Regis Philbin arrive at Disney-MGM Studios to launch the opening of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-Play It!" - a live-show attraction at Disney World. The show will run continuously throughout the day in a 600-seat studio located in Soundstages 2 and 3 at the Disney-MGM Studios. (The attraction had opened to the public on the 7th.)
2006:
Building a Thrill Ride - Expedition Everest airs on the Science Channel. The special gives a behind-the-scenes look at Animal Kingdom's newest attraction Expedtion Everest.
1994:
At Epcot, the Stargate fast-food facility (opened since 1982) closes.
The voice of Scat Cat
in Disney's 1970
The Aristocats
was performed by
Scatman Crothers.
It was originally to
be voiced by
jazz great
Louis Armstrong.
1991:
Actress-singer Amanda Joy Michalka, of the sister pop group Aly & AJ (also known as 78violet), is born in Torrance, California. In March 2006, she made her Disney Channel debut in the Disney Channel Original Movie Cow Belles (playing the role of Courtney Callum) along with sister Aly.
"Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way." -Harry Morgan
2008:
The second new Mark VII monorail, Blue, is delivered to Disneyland.
Approximately half of the 30,000 acres at The Walt Disney World Resort are conservation lands, water bodies, and other green spaces that will never be developed. Over 7,500 acres were
originally set aside by Walt Disney himself, and are now known as the
Wildlife Management Conservation Area.
1968:
The 40th Academy Awards honoring film achievements of 1967 takes place at the
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. (Originally scheduled for
April 8, the awards were postponed because of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"The Bare Necessities" written by Terry Gilkyson (from The Jungle Book) loses out to "Talk to the Animals" (from Doctor Dolittle) for Best Music, Original Song. Although nominated for Best Costume Design, Disney's The Happiest Millionaire is edged out by Camelot.
1942:
Disney's Donald Duck short Donald's Snow Fight, directed by Jack King, is released. After getting Donald aggravated in a sledding "accident," it's all out snow-war between Donald and his nephews!
2009:
Walt Disney Pictures releases Hannah Montana: The Movie, starring Miley Cyrus. Rascal Flatts
(whose albums are released through Disney's Lyric Street) appear as themselves singing their songs "Backwards" during
the scene of Miley's grandma's birthday party and then "Bless the Broken Road" in an evening scene on the front porch.
1984:
Singer-songwriter, actress and fashion designer Mandy Moore is born Amanda
Leigh Moore in Nashua, New Hampshire. Her Disney film credits include the 2010 Tangled
(as the voice of Rapunzel) and the 2006 Brother Bear 2 (as the voice of Nita).