2003:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the television movie
Sounder (a remake of the 1972 classic).
1942:
Award winning star of stage and screen Michael Crawford, whose CD The Disney
Album was released in September 2001, is born in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England.
1949:
The Disney film So Dear to My Heart, starring Bobby Driscoll, Luana Patten, and Burl Ives is released. The combination live- action and animated film tells the
story of Jeremiah a determined country boy who adopts a mischievous black
lamb named Danny. (It is one of only two films to be released by the Disney
Studios in 1949.) One of the film's song "Lavender Blue" (written by Eliot Daniel & Larry Morey) will be nominated for an Academy Award. Another titled "County Fair" has been written by Mel Tormé.
1955:
The Disneyland television series presents "Monsters of the Deep." Walt
Disney takes a look at the history of legendary monsters which include
the giant octopus from his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea film.
1964:
Teacher-turned-major league baseball pitcher Jim Morris is born in Brownwood, Texas. His story will be the subject of Disney's
2002 release The Rookie (starring Dennis Quaid).
1971:
Recreacres, Incorporated (which was formed to help buy up property
for the Walt Disney World Resort) changes its name to Buena Vista
Land Company, Incorporated. (It will eventually be known as Walt Disney World Hospitality and Recreation Corporation.)
1997:
Disney Legend Adriana Caselotti, who supplied the voice and personality to Walt Disney's first feature-length cartoon heroine, Snow White, dies at her home in Los Angeles, California, following a battle with cancer. She is 80.
2001:
A special celebration and preview of Disney's California Adventure park
is held from 4:00 p.m. to midnight. The event includes a scavenger
hunt through Disney's newest park and a panel discussion with Imagineers and artists who created Disney's California Adventure. (The park will officially open February 8, 2001.)
Lizzie McGuire, a half-hour series mixing live-action and animation starring
Hilary Duff, debuts on the Disney Channel with the episode "Picture Day."
(Disney's on-air promos identifies this episode as the premiere of a new series, even though a
sneak preview of the episode "Rumors" has been aired the week before.)
2002:
Disney's Saturday Morning Movies continues at the Disney-owned El Capitan Theater
(in Hollywood) with the showing of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. Also featured are Disney shorts,
sing-a-longs, contests, and live organ music. Guests are invited to dress up as their favorite Disney character from
the film.
1951:
Disney's Chip 'n Dale short Chicken in the Rough, featuring the voices of James Macdonald and Dessie Flynn, is released.
"I know my voice will never die."
-Adriana Caselotti, the voice of Snow White
1924:
Lillian Bounds from Idaho (future wife of Walt Disney) starts working at the
Disney Studio in Hollywood. She will work for Disney as an ink & paint girl making fifteen dollars
a week. Lillian has been recommended by her sister's friend - who is also an employee. She has taken the
job because it is within walking distance of her older sister Hazel's house (where she is currently living) and doesn't require her to spend bus fare!
The only other noted film work Adriana Caselotti did following her premiere as Snow White was an uncredited role in The Wizard of Oz, as the voice of Juliet during the Tin-Man's song,
"If I Only had a Heart".
2007:
Disney Channel airs the Hannah Montana episode "School Bully" for the first time.
2008:
Actress Suzanne Pleshette, the husky-voiced star best known for her role as Bob Newhart's sardonic wife on television's long-running "The Bob Newhart Show,"
passes away at age 70 in Los Angeles, California. Her Disney credits included the live-
action features The Shaggy D.A., The Ugly Dachshund, Blackbeard's Ghost, and The Adventures of Bullwhip
Griffin. Pleshette also supplied the voice for Zira in the animated The Lion King II: Simba's Pride.
"Lip Service" the 25th episode of Cory in the House debuts on Disney Channel.
Disney Channel's Lizzie McGuire debuts
So Dear to My Heart generally released
2009:
Disney Legend Robert C. "Bob" Broughton passes at the age of 91. He was a camera effects artist for Disney whose career began with the 1937 Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs. Broughton worked on nearly every Disney motion picture until 1979's The Black Hole. (On the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds, he provided the effects of the fluttering, menacing birds when Hitchcock contracted out the special effects work to Disney!)
1933:
The Mid-Winter Snow Carnival - dedicated to Mickey Mouse - is held at
Lake Arrowhead, California. Walt Disney himself attends and awards a Mickey Mouse doll to young Mildred Chanter, winner of the "Mickey Mouse" snowman building contest! Some 50,000 children attend the snowy event. (Years later Disney's The Parent Trap will be filmed in Lake Arrowhead.)
"I didn't have enough money to pay her, so I married her instead." -Walt Disney
2010:
Eleven-year-old Adam Carr of Tampa, Florida is announced the winner of the Walt
Disney Company's "Mission Patch Design Challenge." The contest (a partnership between
NASA and Disney) invited elementary school students to design an emblem for the 12-inch Buzz Lightyear's 468-
day stay aboard the orbiting International Space Station in 2008. Carr's blue and yellow design features a hand-
drawn and colored depiction of the cartoon character soaring forward from the space station as the trail from the
STS-124 and STS-128 orbiters that took him to and from space create the patch's border.
It is reported that Disney’s first resort in Hawaii has been named Aulani, a Disney
Resort & Spa. The 21-acre resort, which is scheduled to open in fall of 2011, will have 360 hotel rooms and
481 Disney Vacation Club villas. Aulani means "the place that speaks for the great ones" or "the place that speaks
with deep messages."
The Visual Effects Society announces the nominees for the 8th Annual VES Awards
ceremony recognizing outstanding visual effects artistry in over twenty categories of
film, animation, television, commercials and video games. Among the nominations -
Disney/Pixar's Up for Outstanding Animation in an Animated Feature Motion Picture and Disney's Prep and Landing for Outstanding Visual Effects in a Broadcast Miniseries, Movie or a Special.