1960:
Joseph Henry "Joe" Ranft, an animator, storyboard artist, and voice actor,
is born in Pasadena, California. Upon graduating from the California Institute of
the Arts, Ranft will start his career at Disney where he will work on such features as The Lion King, Beauty
and the Beast, The Rescuers Down Under, and Oliver & Company. In 1992 he will join Pixar and work on both Toy Story films, as well as A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, and Cars.
(Sadly a car accident in 2005 will cut short his life.)
1969:
Disney's film The Love Bug, starring Dean Jones, Michele Lee,
Buddy Hackett, and Joe Flynn is released. (It will be the
highest grossing film in the U.S. during 1969, and lead to three sequels and a limited
TV series. The movie will also enhance the Volkswagen Beetle's image.)
2005:
Walt Disney Company directors choose President Robert A. Iger to succeed Chief Executive Michael Eisner
(who will remain at the post until September 30).
Walt Disney World's Typhoon Lagoon reopens with the new attraction the Crush 'n' Gusher water coaster.
1928:
On a train ride back to California from New York City (with his wife Lillian) Walt Disney sends his brother and business partner Roy a Western Union telegram that reads: LEAVING TONITE STOPPING OVER KC ARRIVE HOME SUNDAY MORNING SEVEN THIRTY DON'T WORRY EVERYTHING OK WILL GIVE DETAILS WHEN ARRIVE WALT. This is in reference to the fact that although the Disney brothers have probably lost their animated creation Oswald the Rabbit to Charles Mintz (a ruthless producer who Walt had been in negotiations with while in NY City) ... Walt has a new idea for an animated mouse character.
1936:
The Tulsa Tribune quotes writer Thornton Wilder as telling a lecture audience, "The two presiding geniuses of the movies are Walt Disney and Charlie Chaplin."
1937:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Woodland Cafe is released.
The first cels for Snow White and Seven Dwarfs are sent to the camera department.
1947:
At the 19th Annual Academy Awards (held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles),
the Walt Disney Studio Sound Department wins an Oscar for innovations in locating
noise in sound tracks. Although nominated for Short Subjects, Cartoon - Disney's Squatter's Rights loses to
MGM's The Cat Concerto. (It is the first time the awards are opened to the general public.)
1959:
The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs "Highway to Trouble."
2001:
A 1,500-acre spread of the Disney Wilderness Preserve in Polk County, Florida continues to burn after a power line falls and ignites some brush. The fire affects land donated by the Walt Disney Company to The Nature Conservancy, a non-profit environmental group that is attempting to return some of the pastureland there to its original swamp condition.
2002:
Disney's Broadway show Beauty and the Beast gives its
3,225th performance, making it the tenth longest-running
Broadway show of all time.
2000:
The Omnimover vehicles are removed from the closed Horizons attraction in Epcot.
Since the beginning of this month, the building has been emptied in preparation for demolition. (Mission: SPACE
will take its place.)
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1900:
Writer & animator Ted Sears is born in Massachusetts (though raised
in New York City). In 1931, Walt Disney hired Sears (away from the Max Fleischer organization) to a
long term contract not as an animator but as a senior writer - the Disney company's first. In the twenty-seven
years that followed, Sears' credits included Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty, and the
Disneyland television series. He also co-wrote narration for many of Disney's nature films, such as The
Vanishing Prairie and The Living Desert, with Winston Hibler.
2007:
Hannah Montana kicks off the new D*Concert Series on
Disney XD. The three month concert series will feature
artists such as High School Musical and the Cheetah Girls.
President Harry S Truman
refused to ride Dumbo the
Flying Elephant at
Disneyland because
elephants are a Republican
Party symbol ... and Truman was a Democrat.
1940:
Disney's Pinocchio is released in Argentina.
1930:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Cannibal Capers, directed by Burt Gillett,
is released.
MARCH 13
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MARCH 13
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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Joe Ranft born
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2009:
Disney's live-action Race to Witch Mountain (a "modern re-imagining" of the 1975 Escape to Witch Mountain) is released. Directed by Andy Fickman, the film stars Dwayne Johnson, Anna Sophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, and Carla Gugino. Making a cameo appearance as a train driver whose locomotive crashes after it gets caught in "alien crossfire" is Disney chairman Dick Cook. The role is a nod to the fact that Cook started his career with the company as a monorail and steam locomotive driver at Disneyland in 1970!
A new illuminated "Paradise Pier" sign on the California Screamin' roller coaster greets guests of Disney's California Adventure for the first time. The sign, installed last night, reflects the "vintage Disney" themeing that is part of the park's makeover.
The Love Bug released
Mr. Thorndyke: "What part of Ireland did you say your mother came from?"
Tennessee Steinmetz: "Coney, Ireland."
-The Love Bug
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"Perhaps Ted's greatest talent was his own unique brand of humor. It was warm, gentle humor; there was never a barb in it. And his was the key, to Ted's whole personality. He was the kindest man I ever knew. He lived with laughter and without malice." -Winston Hibler
1953:
Writer Ridley Pearson is born in Glen Cove, New York. Raised in in Riverside, Connecticut,
he began writing suspense and thriller novels for an adult audience but later branched out by writing adventure
books for children. After his daughter asked him how Peter Pan met Captain Hook, Pearson teamed up with his
long-time friend humorist Dave Barry to co-author Peter and the Starcatchers, a prequel to Peter Pan. They later produced two further prequels – Peter and the Shadow Thieves and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon. Pearson
has also written four novels set inside the Magic Kingdom theme park in Florida - The Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark, The Kingdom Keepers II: Disney at Dawn, Kingdom Keepers III: Disney in Shadow, and Kingdom
Keepers IV: Power Play.
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