2003:
"La Vida Mickey 2," a Latin dance party CD, is released.
To mark the launch of of Disney's Visa Card by Bank One, Walt Disney
Chairman and CEO Michael Eisner and Bank One Chairman and CEO
Jamie Dimon ring the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
Toy Story is voted #1 in the Top 100 Animated Features of All Time by the
Online Film Critics Society. Other Disney films in the top 10 include Fantasia, Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs, Beauty and the Beast, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Who Framed
Roger Rabbit. (Founded in 1997, the Online Film Critics Society has been the key force in establishing
Internet-based film journalism.)
2005:
Disney's live-action feature The Pacifier (starring Vin Diesel)
is released in theaters.
Disneyland President Matt Ouimet’s "State of the Resort" presentation is held at the Hyperion Theatre in Disney’s California Adventure. Special guests include Art Linkletter, who took part in Disneyland's opening day TV broadcast in 1955.
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1743:
Swiss author Johann Wyss is born. His 1812 novel "The Swiss Family Robinson" was brought to the big screen by Disney as Swiss Family Robinson in 1960.
1914:
Disney animator/director Ward Kimball is born in
Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kimball is best remembered as
one of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and contributed to such
classics as Fantasia, Pinochio, and Dumbo.
1932:
Administrator and Disney Legend Frank Wells is born in Coronado, California. In September 1984, he joined The Walt Disney Company as its President and Chief Operating Officer.
1937:
Disney's short The Country Cousin wins an Oscar (Short Subjects, Cartoon) at the 9th Annual Academy Awards (held at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles).
1943:
Disney's Der Fuehrer's Face wins an Oscar (Short Subjects, Cartoon)
at the 15th Academy Awards (held at the Coconut Grove of the
Ambassador Hotel, Los Angeles). Although Frank Churchill and Edward Plumb are nominated for Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture (for their work in Bambi), Max Steiner takes home the Oscar for his contribution to Now Voyager.
1954:
Actress Catherine O'Hara, the voice of Tina in the 2005 animated Chicken Little, is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She also supplied the voices of Sally for the 1993 The Nightmare Before Christmas and Kata for the 2006 Brother Bear 2. (You will recognize her from such films as Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Mighty Wind, and Home Alone, and the television series SCTV.)
1956:
Walt Disney appears on The Ed Sullivan Show. Walt presents a Look Magazine Award to actor Fess Parker for his Davy Crockett role.
1960:
The ABC-TV series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode
"Texas John Slaughter: Geronimo's Revenge."
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "Carnival Time."
1979:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the 2-hour "Never A Dull Moment."
1994:
Canadian comic actor John Candy dies while on location in Mexico during the filming of Wagons East. A heart attack claims the life of the 44-year-old. The Toronto-born funnyman was the voice of Albatross Wilbur in Disney's 1990 animated film The Rescuers Down Under and co-starred in the 1984 live-action Splash (Touchstone Pictures' first release). Candy had recently recorded a large amount of material for a turkey character named Redfeather, who was to be Pocahontas's sidekick in the Disney feature Pocahontas. Although executives perceived the character to lighten the tone of the film, the turkey was replaced with the characters Meeko and Flit. Candy also appeared in the 1993 comedy Cool Runnings, distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. (Comedy fans will know Candy best from the television series SCTV and such films as Uncle Buck and Spaceballs.)
1999:
In New York City, Sotheby's holds an auction for "The Art of Disney's Mulan."
2004:
It is reported that embattled Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner was stripped of his role as chairman at yesterday's annual shareholders meeting. Disney's board elected former U.S. Senator George Mitchell as the company's new chairman. (Eisner will continues to keep his position as chief executive even though 43 percent of shareholders voted against him in an unprecedented protest.)
The Walt Disney World Resort and Amerada Hess Corp. enter into a multi-year agreement that includes the operation of three Hess Express service stations on property in Florida. Hess also will become the title sponsor of the Sports Fields venue at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.
2006:
An article about Gene Simmons of KISS - "The Outrageous Entrepreneur" by
Josh Friedman - runs in The L.A. Times. A portion of the article reads:
A matinee showing of Walt Disney Co.'s "Pinocchio" helped inspire Simmons to think big, he said."When
Jiminy Cricket sang 'When You Wish Upon a Star,' I thought that little bug was singing to me," he said. "I
walked out of that movie theater, and he had done more for me than any religious figure ever could. I was
empowered. It was electrifying." Simmons also calls himself "Disney without the overhead."
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2000:
ABC-TV airs Mickey Mouse Works. The program features the Donald Duck shorts "Donald's Halloween Scare," & "Donald's Lighthouse," and
"How to Take Care of Your Yard" - featuring Goofy.
2007:
Dr. Honeydew and his assistant Beaker - characters from The Muppet Show, and Disney's first roving machines - entertain visitors at California Adventure. Disney's newest "living characters initiative" are free ranging and totally independent!
Mulan was the 1st feature
length production that was
created by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Florida ... at one
time located at Disney World's
Disney-MGM Studios.
2008:
A re-dedication ceremony is held at Epcot for Spaceship Earth
(now presented by Siemens).
Disney releases the animated classic 101 Dalmatians on a two-disc edition DVD, for a limited time.
Comedian/actor Frank Caliendo takes a ride aboard Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The star of Frank TV, Caliendo is in the midst of a Walt Disney World vacation.
1992:
Arthur Harold Babitsky, better known as animator Art Babbitt, passes away at the age of 84. Starting his career in New York City, working for Paul Terry's Terrytoons Studio, in the early 1930s Babbitt moved to Los Angeles and got a job animating for the Walt Disney Studio. Best known for his work at Disney, Babbitt received over 80 awards during his lifetime as an animation director and animator. He is most famous for creating Goofy and animated the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Geppetto in Pinocchio, Zeus, Vulcan, and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, and the stork in Dumbo. Earning Walt Disney's everlasting enmity for leaving the Disney company and joining the "Screen Cartoonists' Guild Local 852," Babbitt actually returned to Disney for a time, following an unfair labor practices suit. In 1991 Disney Company chief Roy E. Disney, the nephew of Walt, contacted Babbitt and ended the long feud. Animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, will give Babbitt a warm and moving eulogy at his funeral service.
1981:
Olivier Award-winning English actress and singer Laura Michelle Kelly is born in England. Kelly's West End musical credits include Beauty and the Beast and Mary Poppins (in the title role).
MARCH 4
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Ward Kimball born
Spaceship Earth re-dedicated
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1980:
Disney releases its very first video tapes to the home VHS market. The 13 titles are licensed for rental to Fotomat (a retail chain of photo development drive-thru kiosks located in shopping center
parking lots) in a four-city test. The titles include the live-action features Pete's Dragon, The Black Hole, The
Love Bug, Escape to Witch Mountain, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The North Avenue Irregulars, The Apple Dumpling Gang, and Hot Lead and Cold
Feet; and three of the compilations of short cartoons previously released by DiscoVision: On Vacation with
Mickey Mouse and Friends, Kids is Kids starring Donald Duck, and Adventures of Chip 'n' Dale.
1955:
Walt Disney, along with cartoons of Minnie Mouse and Donald Duck, grace the cover of this week's issue of TV-Radio Life.
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"I know. I'm lazy. But I made myself a New Years resolution that I would write myself something really special. Which means I have 'til December, right?" -Catherine O'Hara
2010:
Disney's Alice in Wonderland, directed by Tim Burton and starring Mia Wasikowska
and Johnny Depp, is released in Australia.
Disney announces that their program in which volunteers work a shift at accepted
charities and get a free pass to a Disney theme park could end soon. The goal of one
million shifts has nearly been reached, just two months into the promotion. (As of Feb. 18, 600,000 people had
signed up!)
"We are close to our goal of inspiring one-million people to make a difference by volunteering. This spirit of volunteerism
is making a significant impact in communities across the country." -Suzi Brown, Disneyland Resort spokeswoman
1977:
Episode 35 of The New Mickey Mouse Club airs on television. Rowena Givens, a 13-year-old piano prodigy from Wilmington, California, and Jodi Light, a 12-year-old vocalist from Lima, Ohio, are featured guest talent for Showtime Day.
1995:
40 Years of Adventure, a one-hour syndicated television special commemorating
the 40th Anniversary of Disneyland and the opening of the Indiana Jones
Adventure attraction, airs.
(1950-1994)
(1907-1992)
2011:
Dave MacPherson, the first paying customer to visit Disneyland when its doors opened on July 18, 1955, visits the Anaheim park. A renowned author, MacPherson and his wife Wanda visit Disneyland with good friend and fellow author Joe Ortiz and his wife Martha. This is the second time Joe and his wife have joined Dave and his wife on one of MacPherson's many visits to Disneyland.
Jose Feliciano kicks off the Flower Power Concert Series at Epcot with 3 shows at America Gardens Theatre.
Disney Channel debuts the third season of Phineas and Ferb with episode 113 "The Great Indoors."
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