2003:
Former major league pitcher Jim Morris, the subject of the hit Disney film,
The Rookie and actor Angelo Spizzirri, who portrayed catcher "Joel De La Garza" in the film, both appear at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Adam Pascal (the last original cast member) gives his final performance
as Radames in Disney's Broadway hit Aida. He will later return to Aida in 2004 to close the
run of the show.
2005:
A digitally enhanced version of Disney's 1942 classic animated feature Bambi is screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in California.
1913:
Songwriter, composer and screenwriter Tom Adair is born in Newton, Kansas.
Adair first started working for Disney in 1954 when Charles LeVere approached him to collaborate on a Walt
Disney park project called the Golden Horseshoe Revue. Adair's music can also be heard on Disneyland's Main Street USA, at WDW's Hoop-De-Doo Revue and in the 1959 animated feature Sleeping Beauty. His Disney TV writing credits include the 1978 NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney and the 1977 The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World. (Nominated for an Emmy in 1969, Adair's long list of TV credits include The Munsters, My Three Sons and Maude.)
1917:
Art director, set designer and Disney Legend Bill Martin is born in Marshalltown, Iowa. He helped Walt Disney create such classic Disneyland attractions as Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Snow White's Adventures, and Peter Pan's Flight. In 1971, Martin was named vice president of design at WED Enterprises, overseeing the master layout of the Magic Kingdom for Walt Disney World in Florida. Although he retired in 1977, Martin consulted on such projects as the Mexican and Italian pavilions at EPCOT Center and the master layout of Tokyo Disneyland.
1943:
Mouseketeer Eileen Diamond - a Mouseketeer during the 1956/1957
season of Mickey Mouse Club - is born in Los Angeles, California. After
leaving the show she appeared in small (uncredited) roles in the Disney feature Babes in
Toyland and later the classic The Music Man.
1944:
This day's Disney Studio Labor-Management Commission newsletter notes:
Ward Kimball's Huggajeedy 8 is doing a swell job of entertaining the boys in the hospitals. Next trip will be to the Norconia T.B. Ward, where they'll try a new act, complete with "chalk-talk," skits and jam session.
This is in reference to Kimball's musical group which will eventually turn into The Firehouse Five Plus Two.
1949:
Actor and comedian Jim Varney (famous for his "Ernest" character) is born in Lexington, Kentucky. He supplied the voices for Jebidiah Allardyce 'Cookie' Farnsworth in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Slinky Dog in both Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Varney also starred in a string of live-action comedies for Touchstone Pictures based on the Ernest P. Worrell character.
1957:
At Disneyland, Don DeFore's Silver Banjo Barbecue restaurant
in Frontierland opens. Operated by well-known actor Don DeFore and his
brother Verne, the restaurant is inspired by a silver banjo their father had given them.
Located right next to Aunt Jemima’s restaurant, the Silver Banjo is the only
concession in Disneyland with the name of a real living person. (Although at this time
Art Linkletter owns the Kodak concession - his name is not visible.)
1959:
"Kodak Presents: Disneyland '59" airs on ABC-TV's Walt Disney Presents.
Art Linkletter hosts the 131st (and live) episode, which introduces viewers to the new attractions that had opened the day before - the Monorail, the Submarine Voyage and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The 90-minute show also features Annette Funicello, Ricky Nelson, Fred MacMurray, the cast of Zorro, and of course Walt Disney himself.
1964:
Gavin Greenaway is born in England. He is the composer of "Tapestry of Nations," used for the spectacular parade procession that winds through Disney's Epcot, and "Reflections of Earth" used to accompany Disney's Millennium Fireworks/laser show. For Tokyo DisneySea, he composed the score for "BraviSEAmo!", a pyrotechnics and water nightly show. Greenaway also conducted the score for Touchstone Pictures' Pearl Harbor.
1989:
Today is Party Day on Disney Channel's MMC.
1990:
The Disney short Roller Coaster Rabbit - featuring the voice of Charles Fleischer as Roger Rabbit - is released along with
the Touchstone/Disney feature film Dick Tracy, starring
Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, and Madonna.
Patented Pastimes opens on Disneyland's Main Street.
1994:
The TV special, "The Lion King: A Musical Journey With Elton John" airs on ABC the same day Disney's 32nd animated motion picture The Lion King premieres in select U.S. cities. The film, featuring songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, will become the highest grossing animated film of all time (until the release of Finding Nemo). The all-star voice cast includes Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Moira Kelly, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings. The Lion King will win two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. (The success of the film will lead to several sequels, spin-offs, video games and even a live stage version.)
2001:
The National Lum and Abner Society (an organization formed to preserve and document the history of Lum & Abner - two radio comedians of the 1930s & 40s) host four special Disney guests at their 2001 convention in Mena, Arkansas.
The guests; Sam Edwards (known for the long line of albums he made on the Disneyland Records label during the 1960s and early 1970s), Rhoda Williams (the voice of Drizella in Cinderella), Robie Lester (who performed countless characters for the Disneyland Records label), and Dick Beals (who played the parts of Huey, Dewey and Louie in several of the 1960s Disney productions) are honored at the Lime Tree Inn Motel.
Disney's 40th animated creation Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released nationwide.
The voice cast includes Michael J. Fox, Claudia Christian, Leonard Nimoy, James Gardner, Corey Burton and Jim Varney (who celebrates his 52nd birthday). Set in the year 1914, the film tells the story of a young linguist who gains possession of a sacred book which he believes will guide him to the Lost city of Atlantis. It is Disney's first 70mm animated film since 1985s The Black Cauldron.
2002:
SHOCKWAVE (a new musical show from the creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit BLAST) debuts at Epcot. Just like BLAST, SHOCKWAVE has no storyline but is a musical journey that combines music, movement and color.
1991:
The Studio Pizzeria restaurant opens at the Disney-MGM Studios.
The Lion King originally started as a project called
"King of
the Jungle."
1967:
The Club 33 restaurant (for members-only) opens at
33 Royal Street, in New Orleans Square at Disneyland.
It is comprised of two dining rooms and several adjoining areas, all of which hold
a wide array of magnificent antiques and original works of art. A secret feature of the theme park, the entrance of the private club is located next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant at "33 Royal Street" with the entrance recognizable by an ornate address plate with the number 33 engraved on it.
1961:
The very first Disneyland Grad Night Party is held. About 8,500 students from 28 Los
Angeles area high schools attend, making it the largest high school grad party to be held in the U.S.
Film and television actor and voice-over artist Jim Hanks is born in Shasta,
California. Youngest brother of film star Tom Hanks, Jim has supplied the voice of Woody (originated by
Tom) for such Toy Story spin-offs as Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins and Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command. It is also Jim's voice you hear as Woody in the theme park attraction Toy Story
Midway Mania and all three versions of the Buzz Lightyear attractions.
2007:
The 34th Daytime Emmy Awards are held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program is given to Eartha Kitt for her role of Yzma in The Emperor's New School.
Disney-MGM Studios celebrates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars with the
third of four Star Wars Weekends. Celebrity guests for the next 3 days include Jeremy Bulloch (best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett ) and Peter Mayhew (known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca).
Life's greatest adventure is finding your place in the Circle of Life.
JUNE
2008:
At the Shanghai International Film Festival, Walt Disney Studios together with Chinese filmmakers Castle Hero Pictures and Ying Dong Media announce that they are combining creative forces to make a movie tentatively titled Touch of the Panda. The film, shot in Sichuan, China with cooperation and supervision from the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, features Giant Pandas bred and nurtured in one of the world’s foremost research and preservation facilities for the endangered species. (The film will be released in 2009 under the title Trail of the Panda.)
Alexis Smith wins The Disneyland Danskin 2008 Women's Triathlon with a time of 48:03. (The Danskin Triathlon Series has been inspiring female athletes, novice and expert, for over 20 years.) Racers swam in Paradise Bay at Disney’s California Adventure, cycled 11 miles through the city and ran two miles through Disney’s California Adventure!
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JUNE 15
JUNE 15
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
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Club 33 opens
1978:
Millard Jones, 86, of Lakeland, Florida makes his 500th visit to Walt Disney World!
An amazing feat considering WDW has only been opened since October 1971.
The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on an already-existing story.
"Life's just a bus stop to somewhere infinitely better." -Jim Varney
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2009:
The new comedy series Zeke and Luther premieres on Disney XD. About two teenage best friends who are on a quest to become world-famous skateboarders, it stars Hutch Dano - (the grandson of Royal Dano - the original voice for Abraham Lincoln in many Disney park attractions) and Adam Hicks.
2010:
Toy Story 3 Soundtrack is released on Walt Disney Records. It features the music of Randy Newman and a Spanish version of "You've Got a Friend in Me" (performed by the Gipsy Kings).
Pixar's Toy Story 3 will open in U.S. theaters June 18.
