2004:
Walt Disney Records releases America's Heart & Soul soundtrack from the Buena Vista documentary film (featuring artists such as John Hiatt, George Woodard and Joel McNeely).
Disney's Hollywood Records releases We Are Not Alone, the second studio album by American rock band Breaking Benjamin.
"What's our success formula? Well, it's attention to infinite detail … the little things, the minor picky points that other companies just don't want to take the time, the money, the effort, to do right. As far as our Disney organization is concerned…it's the only way we've ever done it…it's been our success formula in the past and it will be applied to our future projects, as well. We'll probably still be explaining this to outsiders at the end of our next two decades in this business." -Imagineer John Hench
1901:
Singer-actor Nelson Eddy, who can be heard Disney's 1946 film Make Mine
Music, is born in Providence, Rhode Island. He provided all the singing and speaking voices
for the film's final segment, "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," later released as the short, Willie,
the Operatic. (A classically trained baritone, Eddy is best remembered for the eight films in which he
costarred with soprano Jeanette MacDonald. During his 40-year career, he earned three stars on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, left his footprints in the wet cement at Grauman's Chinese Theater and earned
three Gold records.)
1908:
Disney Legend & artist John Hench is born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He made pioneering contributions to such Disney films as Fantasia, Dumbo, and Make Mine Music, and later became senior vice president of Walt Disney Imagineering. One of Hench's most recognizable works is the well known Olympic Torch. Nearly all of the most recent versions were modeled after his design for the 1960 Winter Olympics (which Disney participated in). Hench was also the "official portrait artist" of Mickey Mouse, painting the company's official portraits for Mickey's 25th, 50th, 60th, 70th, and 75th birthdays. It was Hench who originally collaborated with Salvador Dalí in 1946 on the short Destino (which was finally released in 2003).
1915:
Actress Ruth Warrick, who portrays Sally in Disney's 1946 Song of the South, is born in St. Joseph, Missouri. (Long time All My Children fans know her as Phoebe Tyler Wallingford.)
1935:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Who Killed Cock Robin?, directed by David
Hand and featuring the voice of Billy Bletcher, is generally released. A new twist
on an old English nursery rhyme, the criminal bird court attempts to determine who killed Cock Robin as he
wooed his love, Jenny Wren. But Robin, it turns out, is not dead, but merely wounded by Cupid's arrow.
1957:
The Dave Brubeck Quartet record tracks for a Disney-themed record album to be titled Dave Digs Disney. The album, which will be released in December 1957, is inspired by a Brubeck family visit to Disneyland. The first modern jazz group to take Disney music seriously, Dave Digs Disney will later be released to compact disc in 1994.
1966:
Disney's live-action short film Run, Appaloosa, Run is generally released.
1974:
At Disneyland, the America Sings attraction officially opens to the public in
Tomorrowland's Carousel Theater. A special press preview is held with invited guests receiving a
promotional version of the soon-to-be released LP record and a painted casting of Eagle Sam. Sam - voiced by Burl Ives - guides visitors through 4 big musical acts, each with a medley of period tunes. The attraction, featuring over
110 Audio-Animatronics animal characters, replaces the General Electric Carousel of Progress (which has moved to Walt Disney World).
2000:
The renovated Chevron Autopia opens at Disneyland.
Disneyland's Mickey & Friends, a 6-story parking structure off of Disneyland Drive, is completed. One of the largest structures in the United States, it can hold over ten thousand cars!
2001:
The Lizzie McGuire episode "Obsession" debuts on Disney Channel.
2002:
Mickey's Star Spangled Pin Event takes place at
Disney World's Contemporary Resort.
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1965:
Stan Kenton and his orchestra perform at Disneyland for the first of a six-day
engagement. The Stan Kenton Orchestra was one of the most popular big bands of the 1940s and Kenton,
a pianist, arranger and composer, was famous for his experimental "wall of sound."
2007:
Ratatouille, the eighth animated feature film produced by Pixar, is
released by Walt Disney Pictures. The plot follows Remy, a rat who dreams of
becoming a chef. Directed by Brad Bird (creator of The Incredibles), Ratatouille features the voices of
Patton Oswalt (as Remy), Lou Romano (as Linguini), Brian Dennehy (as Django), Brad Garrett (as
Gusteau), Janeane Garofalo (as Colette), and John Ratzenberger (as Mustafa).
Disney Legend & artist
John Hench was an employee of The Walt Disney Company for more than sixty five years.
His exceptionally long tenure (which began in 1939) saw
the rise of nearly every
classic Disney animated
feature and
theme park!
1981:
The Broadway at the Top show opens in the Top of the World at Disney World's Contemporary Resort.
1951:
Comic book writer & illustrator Don Rosa is born Gioachino 'Keno' Don Hugo Rosa in Louisville, Kentucky. He is best known for his stories about Scrooge McDuck, Donald Duck and other Disney characters.
1945:
The Donald Duck short Donald's Crime is released. Donald (voiced by Clarence Nash) raids his nephews' piggy bank ... only to have his guilty conscience catch up with him!
1997:
Grammy Award-winning singing star Kathy Mattea performs at the Disney Institute
Performance Center in Florida. Her show is recorded for "The Big Bang from Walt
Disney World Resort" concert series and airs on the Premier Radio Networks.
JUNE
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JUNE 29
JUNE 29
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
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Ratatouille released
1970:
Musical theater actress and singer Emily Skinner is born in Richmond, Virginia.
Fans of Disney's On The Record will remember her as the pop diva Diane.
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2010:
Disney opens the first of its 300 planned revamped Disney stores in Montebello, California. Inspired by the same team that designed Apple's retail outlets, the 4,800 square foot store features multimedia technology and interactive storytelling.
1919:
Actor Slim Pickens is born Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. in Kingsburg, California. A rodeo performer and film and television actor who epitomized the profane, tough, sardonic cowboy, Pickens' Disney film credits include The Great Locomotive Chase, Never a Dull Moment, and The Apple Dumpling Gang. He also appeared in two Disney TV serials - Swamp Fox and Daniel Boone. (Pickens is best remembered for his comic roles in Dr. Strangelove, 1941, and Blazing Saddles.)
"I think our pleasure comes from survival. The first thing we strive for as an infant is this kind of life experience,
and it's the last thing we want to give up. We strive for the experience of being alive." -John Hench
