1966:
Thursday
Walter Elias Disney passes away at St. Joseph's Hospital of acute circulatory collapse (caused by lung cancer) just ten days after his 65th birthday. When the news of Walt's death reaches Disneyland in Anaheim, consideration is given to closing the park for the day, but instead it is kept open (as Walt would have wanted), but the flags on Main Street USA are lowered to half-mast. Disney will be cremated two days later.
(His 74-year-old brother Roy O. Disney will postpone his planned retirement and start construction in Florida on Walt's latest project, Disney World.)
On the CBS Evening News With Walter Cronkite,
commentator Eric Sevareid states this about Mr. Disney:
"He was a happy accident, one of the happiest this century has experienced. And judging by the way it’s behaving, in spite of all Disney tried to tell it about laughter, love, children, puppies, and sunrises, the century hardly deserved him."
2004:
On the 50th anniversary of his debut as "king of the wild frontier," the man
known to millions of baby-boomers as legendary frontiersman Davy Crockett
receives the highest honor Disneyland bestows, when the Anaheim park
unveils a tribute window on Main Street to actor Fess Parker.
The stage musical Mary Poppins opens at the Prince Edward
Theatre in London, England. (The show had been running at
the Bristol Hippodrome since September.)
1973:
The Pirates of the Caribbean attraction opens in Walt
Disney World. Housed in a golden Spanish fort called
Castillo Del Morro, it is located in the Caribbean Plaza of
Magic Kingdom's Adventureland. Featuring 125 Audio-Anamatronics (65 pirates & villagers and
60 animals), guests ride in flumes through 155,000 gallons of water (which includes one 14-foot drop).
1924:
Disney's Alice Comedy Alice the Piper, starring Virginia Davis, is released.
A take on the story of "The Pied Piper on Hamelin," Alice and Julius are hired to rid the town of rats.
1925:
The Alice Comedy Alice in the Jungle, starring Virginia Davis, is released. While on safari in Africa, Alice gets chased by a lion after playing with a lion cub and Julius has to come to her rescue!
1932:
Disney publishes the last issue of the "Official Bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club."
First published in April 1930, it is one of many club materials sold to theater operators for use in the Mickey
Mouse Club meetings.
1933:
Comedic actor Tim Conway is born Thomas Daniel Conway in Willoughby, Ohio. He will go on to appear in Disney's Apple Dumpling Gang movies, the 1973 The World's Greatest Athlete, the 1987 TV special Walt Disney World Celebrity Circus, and perform the voice of Griff in Disney's Hercules animated TV series. (TV fans will know him best from his appearances on "The Carol Burnett Show" and as the voice of Barnacle Boy on the animated series "SpongeBob SquarePants.")
1934:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Two-Gun Mickey, directed by Ben Sharpsteen,
is released. Cowgirl Minnie (voiced by Marcellite Garner) thinks she can take care of herself on the prairie ... but when she's captured by Pegleg Pete, Mickey must come to her rescue!
1950:
Disney releases the Donald Duck short Out on a Limb.
1954:
Disney's television adventure "Davy Crockett Indian Fighter" - the very first episode of the Davy Crockett trilogy starring Fess Parker as Crockett and Buddy Ebsen as Georgie Russel - airs on the ABC series Disneyland. (This episode, along with future episodes 14 and 18 will be edited together to make the 1955 Walt Disney theatrical release
Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier.)
1955:
The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Circus Day.
1963:
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
airs part 3 of "Pollyanna."
1972:
Construction begins on Space Mountain at Walt Disney World.
1987:
The Walt Disney World 3D presentation Magic Journeys (originally shown at the Magic Eye Theater in the Journey into Imagination Pavilion at Epcot) opens at the Fantasyland Theater in the Magic Kingdom.
1989:
Star Tours opens at the Disney-MGM Park. It is the first attraction to
open in the park's new backlot annex area. Based on the successful Star Wars franchise of movies, it is Disney's 3rd version of the attraction (Disneyland's Star Tours opened in 1986 and Tokyo Disneyland's in July 1989.)
Disney's newest feature The Little Mermaid is released in Brazil.
1997:
Lillian Bounds Disney, widow of Walt Disney, suffers a
stroke in the early morning hours of this day.
2000:
Disney's 39th animated film The Emperor's New Groove is released. This animated feature follows the adventures of the arrogant Emperor Kuzco (voiced by David Spade) and a humble peasant named Pacha (voiced by John Goodman).
2002:
The Crystal Palace (located in Disney World's Magic Kingdom) reopens for character meals after a renovation.
Detective Nancy Drew returns to TV for the first time since 1977 when ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney presents "Nancy Drew" (starring Maggie Lawson).
The city of Los Angeles proclaims this day Walt Disney Imagineering Day during a presentation at Walt's Barn in Griffith Park.
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"I'm not Walt Disney anymore.
Walt Disney is a thing. It's grown to
become a whole different meaning than just one man."
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1937:
An extended story session for Bambi takes place at the Disney Studio between producer-director Sidney Franklin and Walt Disney. (It is a week before the debut of Snow White and Bambi is the next scheduled project.) Franklin is eager to get the film into production, but Walt feels the studio isn't ready for such a sensitive re-telling of Felix Salten's novel. Later this day Walt announces to the press that Bambi is being postponed and Pinocchio will be the next feature.
1956:
The fifth of eight installments titled "My Dad, Walt Disney," by Diane Disney Miller as told to Pete Martin (a "celebrity friendly" writer) appears in the Saturday Evening Post.
1970:
A retirement lunch for veteran animator Bob Youngquist takes place. Youngquist, who first came to Disney at age 29, worked on such classics as Fantasia, Bambi, and Sleeping Beauty.
Disney releases the live-action family film The Wild Country to certain cities. Starring
Steve Forrest, Jack Elam, Ron Howard, Vera Miles, and Clint Howard, it will be generally released January 20.
NOW PLAYING
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1957:
Disneyland's third annual holiday festival "Christmas in Many Lands" begins (it will run through December 23).
DECEMBER 15
advertisement
Today is Bill of Rights Day
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
DECEMBER 15
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"Indeed sorry to learn of passing of your husband and want to extend my heartfelt sympathy. I know words are most inadequate to ease your grief, but it is my hope that you will derive consolation from knowing that his outstanding contributions will be a lasting memorial to him. His dedication to the highest standards of moral values and his achievements will always stand as an inspiration to those who were privileged to know him. John Edgar Hoover. Director of Federal Bureau of Investigation." -Western Union Telegram sent to Lillian Disney on December 15, 1966.
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DEC
SEASON 1 EPISODE 8
1935:
The San Antonio Express runs the article "DISNEY HOPEFUL FILMS WILL LIVE - Creator of Mickey Mouse Grateful to the Kiddies And World at Large". An
interview with 34-year-old Walt Disney, readers are informed about his upcoming feature-length picture
Snow White and his personal feelings about being a celebrity.
"As far as I can remember, being a celebrity has never helped me make a good picture, or a good shot at polo, or command the obedience of my daughter, or impress my wife. It doesn't even seem to help me keep fleas off our dogs, and if being a celebrity won't even give one the advantage over a couple of fleas, then I guess there can't be much in being a celebrity at all." -Walt Disney
When Disney was looking for their
"Davy Crockett," they originally
considered actor James Arness
for the title role. But that
changed when Walt Disney saw
actor Fess Parker in a minor
role in the feature
film Them! (which
ironically starred
James Arness).
Yo Ho! Yo Ho! A Pirates Life for Me!
The Ultimate Star Wars Adventure!
"I was in my office at the studio. One of the men whose sister was nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital across the street from the studio called to say that Walt Disney had just died. It was a shocker." -Marc Davis
