1904:
Actor James Baskett, Uncle Remus in Disney's Song of the South, is born in
Indianapolis, Indiana. In 1945, he auditioned for a bit part dubbing one of the animals for a new
Disney feature based on the Uncle Remus stories. Walt was so impressed with Baskett's talent, that he hired him on the spot for the lead role of Uncle Remus. As such, he was be the first live actor hired by Disney to
play in a feature film. The crowning achievement of his career, Baskett won an honorary Academy Award in
1948 for his role of Uncle Remus. This made Baskett not only the first black male to ever win an Oscar, but
also the first actor to win an Academy Award (although an honorary one) for a performance in a
Walt Disney film.
2003:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs
"Meredith Wilson's The Music Man" starring Matthew Broderick
(a 3-hour new presentation of the classic musical).
1903:
Ventriloquist, actor & radio performer Edgar Bergen (famous for his wooden puppet sidekick Charlie McCarthy) is born in Chicago, Illinois. His Disney credits include the TV shows Disneyland '59 and One Hour in Wonderland. Bergen also portrayed himself in the 1947 Fun and Fancy Free (narrating the "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment). That same year Walt Disney himself was a guest on Bergen's popular radio show. Just prior to his death in 1978, Bergen filmed scenes for the 1979 release The Muppet Movie. (Edgar is the father of actress Candice Bergen.)
1953:
Newsweek features an article on the Disney Studios and their latest hit
Peter Pan. At the end of the article, it is announced that after the next animated
feature, Lady and the Tramp, that Beauty and the Beast and Walt Kelly's Pogo
the Possum are possibilities for future Disney animated features.
1955:
The Disneyland television series presents "Cavalcade of Songs," a look at Disney music and its importance in film. Guests include singer/songwriter Peggy Lee, songwriter Sonny Burke, the Mellomen (a vocal group featuring Thurl Ravenscroft), and the Firehouse Five (a musical group made up of Disney Studio employees led by animator Ward Kimball).
1960:
Annette Funicello sings "O Dio Mio" (written by Al Hoffman and Dick Manning) on TV's American Bandstand. Disney's most popular cast member of the 1950s Mickey Mouse Club, Funicello is still under contract. Although uncomfortable being thought of as a singer, she has had a string of hit records.
1964:
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 2 of "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh," starring Patrick McGoohan. A three-part miniseries, McGoohan plays Dr. Syn, an 18th century country priest who leads a rebel band against the King's naval press gangs.
1984:
Disney's Mickey's Christmas Carol is nominated for an Academy Award (Short
Film, Animated). It will be edged out by Sundae in New York, a clay-animated film.
1993:
Sharon M. Disney Lund, the second daughter of the late Walt Disney, passes away of complications from cancer at age 56. She had been a director of The Walt Disney Company since 1984 and an officer of Retlaw Enterprises Inc., a successor to the corporation her father organized in 1952 for certain personal business ventures. (California Institute of the Arts will later rename its school of dance THE SHARON DISNEY LUND SCHOOL OF DANCE following a gift of $11 million from the Sharon D. Lund Foundation.)
1994:
Disney commits $500,000 to create GOALS, a program designed to offer organized athletics, supplementary education and community service to local underprivileged youths.
2000:
Under a drizzly afternoon sky, Mickey Mouse, President of the Disneyland Resort Cynthia Harriss, the Disneyland Resort Millennium Ambassador Team of Dorell Mitter and Jennifer Simis, over 600 school children and Disneyland cast members all gather in front of the Disneyland Main Street Train Station to begin Disneyland's 45th Anniversary celebration. As part of the festivities inaugurating a yearlong celebration of "45 Years of Magic" at Disneyland, singer-songwriter Kenny Logins makes a special appearance performing his new song "Your Heart Will Lead You Home" from The Tigger Movie.
2001:
Disney's Recess: School's Out (based on the cartoon series) is released in theaters.
TJ (voiced by Andrew Lawrence) and his friends must save summer vacation from disappearing forever!
The voice cast includes James Woods, Pamela Segall, Melissa Joan Hart and April Winchell.
The Disney Channel Original Movie Motocrossed, about a girl named Andrea
Carson (played by Alana Austin) who loves motocross, debuts.
1991:
The live stage show "Dick Tracy Starring in Diamond Double-Cross" gives its final performance at Disney-MGM Studios' amphitheater. The show has been running since May 1990. (A Disneyland version had run from June to December of 1990.)
2007:
Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media's live-action feature Bridge to Terabithia, based on the Katherine Paterson novel, is released. Directed by Gabor Csupo, a preteen's life is changed after befriending the new girl at school.
Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life
is 145 feet tall. It has 45
secondary branches that lead to
756 tertiary branches. With 7,891
end branches, the entire
structure is covered with 102,583
manmade leaves, each of which is more than a foot long!
2008:
Disney's President's Day Fastpitch Open kicks off at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Florida. The 3-day tournament is sanctioned by the
Amateur Softball Association of America.
1978:
Actor, singer, puppeteer, and dancer John Tartaglia - the last to play the role of Lumiere in Disney's Broadway musical Beauty and the Beast - is born in Maple Shade, New Jersey. He is also the creator, executive producer, and star of his own television show for Playhouse Disney entitled Johnny and the Sprites. (Ironically, Tartaglia also portrayed Pinocchio ... but for the Broadway show Shrek, The Musical.)
FEBRUARY 16
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FEBRUARY 16
THIS
SITE MADE
IN THE USA
Disneyland's 45th Anniversary begins
2009:
Disney Channel debuts their newest original TV movie Dadnapped to 4.6 million viewers. Melissa (played by Emily Osment) has a bad case of sibling rivalry, only her competition is a fictional character in her father's best-selling novel about a teenage super spy. When her father is "dadnapped" by a group of overzealous fans, it's up to Melissa to help him by tapping her inner superhero!
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SEASON 1 EPISODE 17
"Certainly Edgar Bergen's work with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd was magic, magic in the real sense. Something happened when Edgar spoke through Charlie, things were said that couldn't be said by ordinary people. It's a way of looking at ourselves and our world in a fresh perspective. That's what theater does and what humor does and what Edgar Bergen did. He left this world a happier place because he was here, and I think that's about the finest thing a person can do with his life." -Muppet creator Jim Henson
1970:
Disney's It's Tough To Be A Bird is nominated for an Academy Award in
the Short Subjects, Cartoons category. Directed by Ward Kimball, the film offers a humorous
look at birds and the ways people perceive them. The 42nd Academy Awards will be presented April 7.
2010:
Upon California Adventure closing for the day, nearly 300 Cast Members representing
the two parks and the resort hotels participate in the 12th annual Flashback, a
Broadway-style musical at Hyperion Theatre. In honor of the resort’s 55th anniversary, the theme of
this year’s production is "Class of 55." The show (performed over 2 nights) is composed of four mini musicals
themed to Fantasyland, Adventureland, Frontierland and Tomorrowland. (The annual Cast event will raise about
$10,000 for charities that support children.)
1918:
Patty Andrews, one-third of the popular singing trio
The Andrews Sisters, is born in Mound, Minnesota. Aside from
frequently playing themselves in movies, the sisters sold over 60 million records
and lent their singing voices to Disney's Make Mine Music (1946) and Melody Time (1948). The trio also cut a version of "I've Got No Strings" (a song first heard in Pinocchio) with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1940.
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1977:
Episode 23 of The New Mickey Mouse Club airs. Mouseketeers Allison and Pop visit the KMPC radio station in Hollywood, where Gary Owens gives them a tour of the KMPC record library and newsroom, and invites them to participate in his afternoon radio show. The Mouseka-Movie Special features Baloo the bear, singing "Bare Necessities" from the animated film Jungle Book.
1972:
Comedian Phyllis Diller hosts this day's episode of The Mickey Mouse Factory.
"Spooks and Magic" finds Mickey, Donald and Goofy trying to rid Diller's house of unwanted ghosts!
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