1953:
Composer James Horner, whose music can be heard in Disney theme parks, is
born in Los Angeles, California. He has also wrtten music for Walt Disney
Pictures' The Rocketeer, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Mighty Joe Young.
(Horner is most notably known for his critically-acclaimed score to Titanic.)
Walt and Lillian Disney along with animator Bill Cottrell (the first president of
what is today known as Walt Disney Imagineering) and his wife Hazel, arrive in
Bennington, Vermont. They are driving through New England on an informal week-long research
trip for Disneyland. They will stay 2 nights at the Walloomsac Inn before heading off to Sturbridge,
Massachusetts to visit Old Sturbridge Village. It is during their stay in Vermont that they visit Walt's friend
painter/illustrator Norman Rockwell (who is living in Arlington).
2004:
Due to the impact of Hurricane Charley, Walt Disney World adjusts this day's schedule of operations. All theme parks with the exception of Animal Kingdom reopen to guests.
Disney in Concert – A Magical Night of Music and Film comes to Roundhay Park in Leeds (a city in West Yorkshire, England). The Disney Philharmonic Orchestra performs along with a large screen feature film animation for 2 nights.
1942:
Disney's Pluto cartoon T-Bone for Two, directed by Clyde Geronimi, is released. In this short, Pluto finds a bone ... but also finds Butch the bulldog, who claims it for himself!
The day after the U.S. debut of Bambi at the Radio City Music Hall, The New York Times runs a review titled "Bambi a Musical Cartoon in Technicolor Produced by Walt Disney From the Story by Felix Salten, at the Music Hall." The positive review includes a one column photo of Bambi.
1945:
Comedy writer, stand-up comedian, actor & director Steve
Martin is born in Waco, Texas. In 1950, his family moved to California
and Martin from the age of 10 till 18, worked at Disneyland after school, on
weekends and during the summers. His jobs included working in Merlin's Magic Shop
on Main Street and selling guidebooks at the gate. He was greatly influenced by legendary
Martin today can be seen in Disney's Fantasia 2000 and the Disney/Buena Vista feature
Father of the Bride. He also appeared in the special attraction "Disneyland: The First 50
Magical Years" which was shown (from 2005-2009) at the Disneyland Main Street
Opera House in Town Square. In 2005 he starred in Touchstone Pictures' romantic drama Shopgril (based on his bestselling 2000 novella of the same name). Martin can also be spotted in the "home movie" Disneyland Dream (a film shot in July 1956 and later chosen by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry). A 10-year-old Martin briefly appears about 20 minutes into the film ... selling guidebooks at the entrance to Disneyland!
1995:
Michael Ovitz is appointed president of the Walt Disney Company under Michael Eisner. (Although his contract is for 5 years, he will leave after trying for 14 months to share power with Eisner.)
1998:
The Recording Association of America certifies Disney's Mulan soundtrack, gold. (It has sold 500,000 units.)
Disney's direct-to-video Air Bud: Golden Receiver is released. (The film is a sequel to the 1997 Air Bud.)
"I watched Wally Boag’s show many, many times - he was the first live performer I ever saw. I mostly remember Wally’s performing style. It was fresh, sassy, and very clean.
Watching his comic timing was a very big influence on my own career."
-Steve Martin (born This Day in Disney History 1945)
2006:
Actor Bruno Kirby, who portrayed Stanley in Disney's 1973 live-action comedy Superdad, passes away at age 57 in Los Angeles, California. (The veteran actor appeared in such classics features as Good Morning, Vietnam, The Godfather Part II, When Harry Met Sally, and City Slickers.)
Walt Disney World's
Liberty Belle riverboat,
which cruises around
Tom Sawyer Island,
runs on a track!
1958:
The grand opening of Disneyland's Alice in Wonderland dark ride takes place with a ceremony hosted by Walt Disney himself and Mouseketeer Karen Pendleton - dressed as Alice.
2007:
The names of the towers at the Disneyland Hotel are changed. As of this day, the Marina Tower is known as the Magic Tower, the Sierra Tower is called the Dreams Tower, and the Bonita Tower (named for the wife of Jack Wrather - the hotel's original owner) is now the Wonder Tower.
In addition, Marina Sundries is renamed Donald’s Gifts and Sundries.
The world premiere of Disney Channel's highly-anticipated High School Musical 2 is hosted at AMC Theatres in Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort the same day the video game High School Musical: Makin' the Cut! for Nintendo DS and the soundtrack for the film are both released in the U.S.
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1907:
Director and animator Dick Lundy is born Richard James Lundy in Sault Sainte Marie,
Michigan (on the eastern tip of Lake Superior at the Canadian border). He began at the
Disney Studio on Hyperion in the summer of 1929. Lundy's Disney credits include such early shorts as Steamboat
Willie, Midnight in a Toy Shop, The Ugly Duckling, and Three Little Pigs as well as the feature Snow White and
the Seven Dwarfs. In 1943 Lundy left Disney and went to work for Walter Lantz and then in 1950 MGM.
1765:
In colonial America, a group of men calling themselves the Sons of Liberty gather in Boston under a large elm tree at the corner of Essex Street and Orange Street near Hanover Square to protest the hated Stamp Act. In 1765 the British government imposed a Stamp Act requiring all legal documents, permits, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards in the American colonies to carry a tax stamp. The Sons of Liberty conclude their protest by hanging two tax collectors in effigy from the tree! From that day forward, the tree will become known as the "Liberty Tree." In Disney World's Liberty Square, a replica of the Liberty Tree stands opposite The Hall of Presidents. The replica is an actual 100-year-old oak found on the Florida property and transplanted, with a younger oak grafted into the base.
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AUGUST 14
THIS DAY
MADE IN
THE USA
AUGUST 14
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1987:
Disney's Touchstone Pictures releases the teen comedy feature Can't Buy Me Love.
The film features Patrick Dempsey and Amanda Peterson in a story about a nerd who buys a cheerleader's
company for a month.
2008:
The third new Mark VII monorail, Orange, is delivered to Disneyland.
Steve Martin born
The Magic Kingdom's
original boat was an
authentic sternwheeler
steamboat called the
Admiral Joe Fowler. It
was retired in 1980.
Dick Lundy born
"The arrow-through-the-head was a thing we used to sell at Disneyland. It was just so silly. It was like anti-comedy." -Steve Martin
"We were traveling in New England and stopped for lunch in a little tea room with (paintings by) Norman Rockwell all over the walls. Walt asked the waitress if Norman Rockwell lived around there. She told him to go back three miles down the road and turn left at the covered bridge. Walt ended up spending a couple of hours with Rockwell. We just dropped in on him - it was nothing formal. He was mowing the grass when we drove up. He told us how he photographed people of the village and used them in his painting as he needed. He showed us The Saturday Evening Post covers and several other paintings." -Bill Cottrell
2010:
The Last Tour to Endor special-ticket event is held at Disney's Hollywood Studios as part of the Star Wars Celebration V convention. The event allows attendees a chance to ride Star Tours before it closes September 8, 2010. In attendance is Star Wars creator George Lucas!
1939:
Today is Donald Duck Day at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Donald has been flown in from Hollywood to attend the premiere of his latest cartoon Donald's Penguin, playing at the National Biscuit Theatre in the Food Pavilion. Donald hands out gifts to five hundred lucky children and even takes part in a special parade. Afterwards Donald is presented with an honorary degree of Doctor of International Friendship from Dr. Frank Monaghan (a professor of American History at Yale University) during a ceremony held in Carnivaland. (The World's Fair has been running since April 30 in Flushing Meadows - the same location that the 1964-65 World' Fair will take place.)
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2011:
After months of closure and years of "Under New Management," birds and flowers once again spring to life at Walt Disney World when Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room has a soft opening. The Adventureland staple will officially reopen tomorrow.
