2004:
"Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" - a collection of Mickey Mouse statues first displayed in Walt Disney World last November 2003 - begins a U.S. tour.
Walt Disney Records releases the "That's So Raven" television soundtrack.
Disney's live-action Miracle is released on DVD and video.
The much anticipated DVD Walt Disney Treasures - Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond is released. The set features the "science factual" space television shows from the 1950s.
1911:
Disney Legend Larry Lansburgh, one of Walt Disney Studio's premier directors, is born in San Francisco, California. He entered the world of motion picture production (in the mid-1930s) as a "gofer’’ for the Disney Studios in Burbank, California. Lansburg worked in and with the studios until the late 1960s, and work personally with Walt Disney, as cameraman, producer, director and in many other capacities. Among the 18 TV and feature productions he directed - the Academy Award-winning The Wetback Hound
and The Horse with the Flying Tail.
1941:
Miriam Margolyes - the voice of the Matchmaker in Disney's 1998 Mulan and The Glowworm/Aunt Sponge in Disney's 1996 James and the Giant Peach - is born in England. (You may recognize her voice from films like Babe: Pig in the City and Cats & Dogs.)
1951:
Disney's Mickey and Pluto cartoon Plutopia, directed by Charles Nichols, is released.
1962:
Actor Nathaniel Parker - who portrayed Master Gracey in Disney's 2003 The Haunted Mansion - is born in London, England.
1989:
Episode 19 of MMC airs on the Disney Channel. Today is Party Day!
1993:
The hit TV series Full House goes to Disney World in part 2 of "The House Meets the Mouse."
1995:
Gene Autry's California Angels baseball club and Disney
reach an agreement for Disney to acquire a 25 percent interest in the team
and to assume the role of managing general partner.
1997:
Today is the last day Epcot guests hear non-classical music accompany Illuminations 25.
King David opens at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City. The show's producers include Disney Theatrical Productions. This musical features the work of Alan Menken and Tim Rice. (A limited run production, it will play for just six performances.)
2001:
Animation design legend Maurice J. Noble, co-director of the Academy Award winning animated short subject Dot and the Line and many other cartoon classics, passes at the age of 91. His work ranged from Disney's Snow White and Dumbo to Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who and many of the classic Bugs Bunny television cartoons.
Disney-MGM hosts the third (of 4) Star Wars Weekends. Celebrity guests include Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett) and Warwick Davis (Wicket & Wald).
2003:
Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo premieres in Hollywood, California. Written by Andrew Stanton
and directed by Stanton and Lee Unkrich, it tells the story of the overly protective clownfish Marlin (voiced by
Albert Brooks) who, along with a regal tang called Dory (voiced by Ellen DeGeneres), searches for his abducted
son Nemo (voiced by Alexander Gould). Finding Nemo will be generally released May 30.
1999:
The soundtrack to Disney's animated Tarzan is released on Walt
Disney Records. The CD features songs by singer Phil Collins and an instrumental score
by Mark Mancina. It is the first Disney soundtrack to be recorded in multiple languages for different markets, by
original singer Collins. One of the songs "You'll Be in My Heart," will win both an Oscar and a Golden Globe
for best original song.
Artist, toy designer &
collector Mel Birnkrant's
home and personal
museum - in upstate New
York - is packed with
thousands of vintage
Mickey Mouse items!
MMC
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2007:
Disney Channel airs the Hannah Montana episode "My Best Friend's Boyfriend" for the first time. Larry David (famous for co-creating Seinfeld and Curb Your
Enthusiasm) appears as himself!
Ten wireless hot spots are opened at Disneyland and Walt Disney World, in the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Users with a Nintendo DS and the game Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End can download extra content at these hot spots not available anywhere else! Premiering the followind day at Disneyland, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End will open in theaters May 25.
1904:
Actor Fred Shields, the narrator of Disney's 1942 Saludos Amigos and 1944
The Three Caballeros, is born in Kansas City, Missouri. The voice of Bambi's father,
the Great Prince of the forest, in Disney's 1942 Bambi, he also narrated such Goofy shorts as How to
Play Golf and How to Play Baseball.
1935:
The Pan-Pacific Auditorium first opens at 7600 West Beverly Boulevard in the
Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. Designed by the Los Angeles architectural firm of
Wurdeman and Becket, it is considered to be one of America's finest examples of Streamline Moderne
architecture (a branch of the Art Deco style). Over the years, the Pan-Pacific will host the Ice Capades, the
Harlem Globetrotters, and even Elvis Presley! Unfortunately a fire will destroy the Pan-Pacific in May 1989.
Today a nearly full-scale and stylized replica of the Pan-Pacific's facade lives on in Florida ... as the main
entrance to the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
"Noble had the confidence and knowledge to create a world where animation could flourish. ... He never showed off, but he did show up every layout man or art director I have ever known. ... Without him, a great many of my films could not have been made." -animator Chuck Jones on Maurice J. Noble
1990:
The Little Mermaid becomes the tenth "Walt Disney Classic" to be released on video.
1992:
Actor and musician Spencer Breslin is born in New York City. His credits include Disney's The Kid, The Santa Clause 2, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, The Shaggy Dog, and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause. Breslin also supplies the voice for Cubby in the 2002 Return to Neverland.
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MAY
MAY 18
Finding Nemo premieres
1910:
Imagineer Dorothea Halt Redmond is born Dorothea Halt in Los Angeles,
Calfornia. An illustrator and production designer, she was hired in the 1960s by Walt Disney to design a
private apartment in Disneyland's New Orleans Square, as well as the interior and exterior settings of many
restaurants and shops. She later designed Fantasyland at Disney World in Florida, as well as portions of Main
Street and the mosaic murals in the archway of Cinderella Castle that were implemented there and in Tokyo
Disneyland. (One of the first woman to work in the male-dominated field of motion-picture production design,
her credits include Gone With the Wind, The Best Years of Our Lives and The Ten Commandments, as well
as seven Alfred Hitchcock productions.)
2009:
Christmas comes to the Cannes Film Festival courtesy of Disney when Jim Carrey and director Robert Zemeckis arrive in a horse-drawn carriage to show off the first footage from their 3-D digital version of A Christmas Carol,
due in theaters November 6.
Disney Legend, voice actor, sound effects editor and foley artist for Walt Disney Studios, Wayne Allwine passes away at age 62. Best known as the official voice of Mickey Mouse for three decades (and only the 3rd person to ever voice the famous mouse full-time) Allwine was married to Russi Taylor, the current voice of Minnie Mouse.
In Memory of Wayne Allwine (1947-2009)
"Wayne not only gave voice to the character of Mickey but gave him a heart and soul as well. He did an incredible job bringing emotion, humor and appeal to the character, and superbly carried on the tradition originated by my Uncle Walt, and later by sound effects wizard Jimmy Macdonald." -Roy E. Disney
"Wayne dedicated his entire professional life to Disney, and
over the last 32 years, gave so much joy, happiness and
comfort to so many around the world by giving voice to our
most beloved, iconic character, Mickey Mouse. Wayne’s great talent,
deep compassion, kindness, and gentle way, all of which shone brightly
through his alter ego, will be greatly missed." -CEO Robert Iger
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MAY 18
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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"I could not be more pleased that the company that bears my friend Walt Disney's name and that is also dedicated to the creation of family entertainment is now a part of the Angels organization." -Gene Autry
2010:
Broadway's Mary Poppins debuts two new Banks children - actors Catherine Missal
and Christopher Flaim (portraying Jane and Michael). They will alternate the roles with two
other sets of young actors - Rachel Resheff and David Gabriel Lerner (who will debut May 25) and Rozi Baker
and Ethan Haberfield (who will begin June 4).
1912:
Singer and television personality Perry Como is born Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1949 Como recorded versions of "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" and "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" (both written for Disney's Cinderella). In December 1979 he narrated Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World. (With a career spanning more than half a century, Como recorded exclusively for the RCA Victor label beginning in 1943 - selling millions of records and pioneering a weekly musical variety television show.)
(1910-2001)
