1997:
Gibson Guitars holds a demonstration at Disney World's Pleasure Island. Guitarists
have the opportunity to see new models and check out a display of classic guitars.
1924:
Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and the Louis B. Mayer Company merge to form
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer ... or MGM. MGM will become one of the biggest producers and distributors of films and television programs and even team-up with Disney to open a Florida theme park in 1989 called
Disney-MGM Studios (today known as Disney's Hollywood Studios).
1961:
At the 33rd Annual Academy Awards, hosted by Bob Hope,
an Oscar (Documentary, Feature) is won for the Disney film The Horse with the Flying Tail. Fifteen-year-old actress Hayley Mills wins an Oscar (Honorary Award) for most outstanding juvenile performance of 1960 for her role in Disney's live-action Pollyanna. Although Disney's Islands of the Sea is nominated for Short Subjects, Live Action ... it is edged out by Day of the Painter.
1964:
Disney's "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" exhibit is flown from California to New York
for the upcoming World's Fair. Unfortunately once in New York, the truck delivering the exhibit to the
Illinois Pavilion is caught in heavy traffic around the Flushing Meadows area of Queens (one of the 5 boroughs of
New York City). The cause of traffic ... Shea Stadium - a new ballpark and home to the New York Mets - is hosting
their official opening day! The Pittsburgh Pirates defeat the Mets 4-3 and Lincoln never makes it to the fair.
2006:
Two of the stars of Disney/Pixar's new computer-animated feature Cars race straight off the movie screen and into the real world as actual life-sized models for a 40 plus city promotional tour. Disney/Pixar's "CARS Road Trip 06" presented by State Farm kicks off this day in Akron, Ohio. (The movie will premiere May 26.)
The Disneyland Resort 50th anniversary celebration takes to the skies over Fresno, California with a 100-foot tall, Mickey Mouse-shaped hot air balloon dubbed
"The Happiest Balloon On Earth."
1998:
Walt Disney Records/Pony Canyon releases the theme park album Disney Carnivale in honor of Tokyo Disneyland's 15th anniversary.
"I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained." -Walt Disney
2008:
Disney announces a new mobile Web site and texting program. Developed in conjunction with mDisney, part of the Walt Disney Internet Group, the new mobile site allows users with Web-enabled phones to receive Radio Disney information, listen to Radio Disney, view the last 10 songs played on the Radio Disney station, send shout-outs, request songs and take polls.
APRIL 17
APRIL 17
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
"Cars Road Trip '06" kicks off
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A
P
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1958:
Expo 58, also known as the Brussels World’s Fair, opens. It is the first major World's Fair following
World War II. Featured at the Fair, in the American Pavilion, is the first Disneyland-style attraction to ever live outside the Magic Kingdom ... America the Beautiful, a live-action film in Circarama. (The film will open at Disneyland 2 years later.)
1980:
The Watcher in the Woods, a horror film distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, first premieres. The film, about a teenage girl and her little sister who become encompassed in a supernatural mystery regarding a missing girl in the woods surrounding their new home, stars Bette Davis, Carroll Baker, David McCallum, Lynn-Holly Johnson, and Kyle Richards.
1973:
An amazing 73,168 guests visit Walt Disney World on this day! (A large number considering Disney World only consists of the Magic Kingdom at this time.)
The Tip Top Club
"occupies" the top floor
of the Hollywood
Tower Hotel at
Walt Disney
World.
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Hayley Mills wins Oscar
1957:
The Disneyland TV series airs the episode "More About the Silly Symphonies."
This is the second Disneyland episode to trace the development of Disney's elaborate cartoon features from
the studio's earliest Silly Symphony shorts. Among the cartoons featured are The Grasshopper and the
Ants, Who Killed Cock Robin?, Water Babies, Farmyard Symphony, and Wynken, Blinken and Nod.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 23
Epcot Center's The Land exhibits 3 different methods of hydroponic gardening: plastic bags filled with rock wool to hold the roots of the plants steady while they grow, small seedlings in
a foam "raft" that floats on the surface of a tank of nutrient-enriched water, and a technique called "aeroponics" where plants receive a spray of nutrient-laden water every few minutes.
1937:
Disney's Mickey Mouse short Mickey's Amateurs, featuring the animation of Les Clark and Art Babbitt, is released. Mickey hosts an amateur talent show starring Pete, Donald Duck, Goofy, Clarabelle Cow, and Clara Cluck.
2010:
The world premiere of the Disneynature film Oceans takes place at the El Capitan
Theater in Hollywood. The film will be released April 22.
1933:
Ronald William "Ron" Miller is born in California. A professional football player (for the Los Angeles
Rams) and the son-in-law of Walt Disney, Miller initially worked at Walt Disney productions for a few months in 1954 as a
liaison between WED Enterprises and Disneyland, before being drafted into the army. Married to Diane Disney in May
1954, Miller rose up the ranks at Disney to a variety of producer positions and also directed some of the lead-ins for the
popular weekly Disney television show. He became president of Walt Disney Productions in 1980 and CEO in 1983.
Miller is perhaps best known for creating the Touchstone label, which allowed Disney to produce and release adult-oriented films without harming the family-friendly reputation of the Disney name.
