AUG 17 Disney History

2004:

Disney releases the animated The Three Musketeers, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, on DVD and video. An adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, it features the voices of Wayne Allwine (Mickey), Tony Anselmo (Donald) and Bill Farmer (Goofy).

1786:

Congressman, frontiersman, soldier and folk hero Davy Crockett is born David

Stern Crockett near the Nolichucky River (in what is now Greene County,

Tennessee). David Crockett was the fifth of nine children of John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett, and was

named after his paternal grandfather. Commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier," in 1954 Crockett became wildly popular through Disney movies,

television programs and even a hit song!

1882:

Actor Charles Judels, the voice of Stromboli in Disney's classic 1940 release Pinocchio, is born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. During his career, he appeared in over 130 feature films.

1936:

Veteran Disney animator Les Clark (one of Walt's "Nine Old Men") speaks at a studio training course for new animators. Since the departure of Ub Iwerks, Clark has animated Mickey Mouse in numerous films, thus becoming a specialist on the character's personality and movement.

1941:

Walt Disney begins a goodwill tour of Latin America (underwritten by a $70,000 government grant) accompanied by his wife Lillian, studio employees Mary Blair, Frank Thomas, Bill Cottrell, Ted Sears and 12 other animators and designers. On this day the group arrives in Rio de Janeiro via Pan American Airways for the start of their 10-week trip of South America.

1984:

The Walt Disney Company informs it's chairman Ron Miller that they want his

resignation. Disney has fallen to 14th in film box office. Miller's only qualifications to run a conglomerate

other than being Walt's son-in-law was that he was a tight end for the LA Rams. (Within two years of the

Michael Eisner regime taking power, Disney will be number one. Years later Miller will be praised for his

support of Disney's 1982 Tron.)

1992:

Original Mouseketeer Annette Funicello appears on the cover of People magazine.

1999:

Disney releases Belle's Tales of Friendship direct-to-video. A midquel to Beauty and the Beast, Belle owns and works at her music and bookstore in France, where she entertains children with classic stories.

Airing on television is the hour-long special

EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival.

2001:

The Disney Channel Original Movie Jumping Ship premieres, as does the Lizzie

McGuire episode "Gordo and the Girl". A sequel to the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Horse

Sense, Jumping Ship stars brothers Joey Lawrence, Andrew Lawrence and Matthew Lawrence. Michael

has big plans to show his cousin Tommy a good time aboard a luxury yacht until he discovers that the yacht

he's chartered is actually an old rusted fishing boat.

2002:

The Orlando Rays, the Class AA affiliate of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Devil Rays, take on the Carolina Mudcats (for the first of a 4-game series) at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Florida.

Disney's Aida celebrates its 1,000th performance on Broadway at the Palace Theatre on this evening in New York City.

2006:

Disney announces that Meg Gilbert Crofton, a 27-year veteran,

has been named the new President of Walt Disney World. She is

the fourth executive to lead Disney World since it opened in 1971,

and the first female to ever hold that position in the Florida resort.

The Simpsons make reference to Hannah Montana in a December 2007 episode.

Bart writes on a blackboard -

"The capital of Montana

is not Hannah."

2007:

Disney Channel debuts the much-anticipated sequel High School Musical 2.

An amazing 17.2 million viewers tune in, making it the most-watched cable telecast ever!

Disney Channel follows up the sequel with a sneak peek of a new animated series - Phineas and Ferb with the episode "Rollercoaster." High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale is the voice of Candace. (The show will "officially" debut as a regular series in February 2008.)

Hollywood Records recording artists Jonas Brothers appear on the new Hannah Montana episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas."

Disney World releases a commorative pin honoring Kitchen Kabaret as part of its White Glove Remember When series. Kitchen Kabaret, an original Epcot attraction, was an Audio-Animatronic show which closed in 1994.

1990:

The Disney Channel Premiere Film The Little Kidnappers debuts. The film features Leo Wheatley and Charles Miller (as orphans Harry and Davy), and veteran actor Charlton Heston (as their grandfather). The film tells the story of two young orphan boys who travel by themselves from the Old country to join their father's family in Canada. There they encounter their stern disciplinarian grandfather.

Disney's Hollywood Pictures releases its second feature Taking Care of Business, a comedy starring James Belushi and Charles Grodin. A convict and a diehard Chicago Cubs fan, Jimmy Dworski (Belushi) wins tickets to the World Series. Unfortunately, he still has a couple of days left to serve in prison and the warden won't let him leave and come back. But with the help of other inmates, Jimmy sneaks out of prison to see the game. On the way, he finds the filofax of uptight yuppie advertising executive Spencer Barnes (Grodin), which promises a reward if it is found. Over the next day, Jimmy takes on the persona of Barnes.

1920:

Actress/singer Maureen O'Hara is born in Ireland. Fans of Disney's 1961 The Parent Trap will

know her as Margaret 'Maggie' McKendrick (mother of identical twins Susan & Sharon). An icon of Hollywood's

Golden Age, at the height of her career, O'Hara was considered one of the world's most beautiful women and is

often remembered today for her on-screen chemistry with legend John Wayne.

1958:

Singer Belinda Carlisle, best known as the lead singer of the all-female band The Go-

Go's, is born in Hollywood, California. She recorded two promotional versions of "I Won't Say (I'm in Love), for Disney's Hercules (although a version was also released as a single in France & Germany).

1981:

A WEDWay PeopleMover opens at the Houston International Airport in Houston, Texas. The system has been constructed by Disney's Community Transportation Services division and is the first use of a Disney system outside of its theme parks.

1986:

Luxo Jr., the first film produced in 1986 by Pixar Animation Studios (following its establishment as an independent film studio) premieres in Dallas. A computer-animated short film (just two and a half minutes, including credits) it is John Lasseter's second short and the first film from Steve Jobs' newly formed company Pixar. The success of Luxo, Jr. will be followed by a series of shorts (Red's Dream, Tin Toy and Knick Knack) in which the Pixar artists explore and develop their medium, much as Disney had used the Silly Symphonies as stepping stones to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Today Luxo is the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.

Luxo Jr. will be re-released in 1999 along with Toy Story 2.

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