1969:
For the second night in a row, the new Haunted Mansion in Disneyland opens
to Cast Members only. Located in New Orleans Square, it is built to resemble a mansion in the southern
states of America before the Civil War. The much anticipated attraction will open to the public the next day.
1942:
Disney's 5th animated feature Bambi has its world premiere in London,
England (despite the ongoing World War). Directed by David Hand, it is released by RKO
Pictures and based on the 1923 book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten. Bambi
features a 40-voice choir singing songs (such as "Little April Shower" composed by Frank Churchill and Larry
Morey). In fact, there are just two 18-second silences in Bambi: when man is in the forest and following the
death of Bambi’s mother. (The film will open in U.S. theaters 5 days later.)
2003:
The That's So Raven episode "A Fight at the Opera"
airs for the first time on Disney Channel.
1967:
Filmmaker Lee Unkrich, supervising editor for Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo & A Bug's Life, and co-director of Monsters, Inc., is born in Cleveland, Ohio. A longtime member of the creative team at Pixar (starting in 1994 as a film editor) he co-directed Toy Story 2 and directed Toy Story 3 (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2011).
1976:
Joshua Scott Chasez, a member of Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club, and part of the singing group 'N Sync, is born in Washington, D.C.
2000:
Disney's direct-to-video
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is released.
The voice cast includes Tim Allen (as Buzz), Nicole Sullivan (as Mira Nova),
Larry Miller (as XR), Stephen Furst (as Booster), Wayne Knight (as Evil Emperor Zurg), and Patrick Warburton (as Little Green Men).
Walt Disney World begins offering new sounds around the Magic Kingdom.
The four new musical acts officially debuting on this day include The Main Street Philharmonic (a 12-piece brass and percussion enesemble replacing the Main Street Marching Band), The Tomorrowland Blast (a 12-piece band specializing in rock 'n' roll), The Fantasyland Woodwinds Society (a quartet playing Disney favorites) and The Notorious Banjo Brothers and Bob (a comical traveling trio in Frontierland).
1907:
Publisher and Disney Legend Alkaios Angelopoulos is born in Patra, Greece. He will start Educational Materials Enterprises S.A., a company to represent foreign publication and film companies in Greece. In 1953, Walt Disney Productions will join his roster of prestigious clients.
1952:
Disney's The Little House, narrated by Sterling Holloway and directed by Wilfred
Jackson, is released. The cartoon is an adaptation of Virginia Lee Burton's Caldecott Medal winner "The
Little House" (first published in 1942). Noted for its insights on urban sprawl, the story centers on a little house
built at the top of a small hill, far out in the country and away from the big city. But as the seasons pass, the house wonders about the lights of the city ... which grow ever closer.
originally used Bambi - with limited permission from Disney - as their charismatic
anti-fire mascot ... before the now-famous Smokey the Bear was created.
1953:
Animator Jim Jinkins, the creator of Doug, is born in Virginia. Jinkins and his team at Jumbo
Pictures have produced the PB&J Otter and 101 Dalmatians animated series and the animated feature film
Doug's 1st Movie for Disney.
Walt Disney reviews the site map that Imagineer/art director Marvin Davis has been
working on for the new California theme park. Walt picks up a pencil and draws a triangle
around the plot of land to indicate where he wants his railroad to run. For the next two years, Davis (not to be
confused with Marc Davis - also an Imagineer/animator) will work on more than 100 different versions of the
master plan for Disneyland.
2006:
A deluxe edition of Aly & AJ's 2005 debut album Into the Rush is released on Hollywood Records (a Disney owned label). It features three all new songs and two new mixes of previous songs.
Also released on Hollywood Records is Phobia, the third studio album by American rock band
1995:
The Toronto production of Beauty and the Beast opens at the Princess of
Wales Theatre. The live musical stars Kerry Butler as Belle and Chuck
Wagner as the Beast.
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AUGUST 8
THIS DAY
MADE IN
THE USA
AUGUST 8
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Bambi premieres in London
"Eating greens is a special treat, It makes long ears and great big feet. But it sure
is awful stuff to eat." -Thumper (voiced by Peter Behn from Disney's Bambi)
1939:
A story meeting for "Fantasia - Beethoven's Symphony No. 6" (also known as the Pastoral Symphony) takes place at Disney's sound stage. Leopold Stokowski runs music tracks for Walt, Ham Luske, Otto Englander, Ben Sharpsteen, Webb Smith, and Ed Penner.
"On this Pastoral, I think we have a marvelous idea to fit the music, but of course it is just a rough idea, now.
The pastoral idea is there, except we are doing it with mythological characters. We are doing it with a fantastic
setting--Mount Olympus." -Walt Disney
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The Little House released
1902:
Architect Welton Becket is born in Seattle, Washington. Settling in Los Angeles in 1933, he formed a partnership with his college classmate Walter Wurdeman and architect Charles F. Plummer. Their first major commission was the Pan-Pacific Auditorium in 1935, which would later influence the design of the entrance to Disney-MGM Studios/Disney's Hollywood Studios. After the untimely deaths of both his partners, Becket formed Welton Becket Associates in 1949. Becket’s company designed the Contemporary and Polynesian resorts in Walt Disney World, as well as the General Motors and Ford pavilions for Disney at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. His company also designed three hotels for Walt Disney World that were never built; a Thai-inspired Asian, an exotic Persian-style and a Venetian resort. A good friend of Walt's, Becket was originally hired to design Disneyland, but later told Mr. Disney: "No one can design Disneyland for you, you have to do it yourself."
