2006:
Disney releases High School Musical Encore Edition on DVD.
The release contains two versions of the Disney Channel movie - Original Version and
Sing Along Version. High School Musical is the highest-rated original programming in the history of the network.
A one-of-a-kind 100-foot high Mickey Mouse hot-air balloon makes
an appearance in downtown Salt Lake City during an 11-week North
American tour to promote Disneyland's 50th anniversary.
1989:
Today is Guest Day on Disney Channel's MMC.
Singer-actress Reba McEntire appears as herself.
2005:
The Alex Theatre in Glendale, California presents the documentary Dream
On Silly Dreamer (which features the story of artists who were affected
most by Disney's decision to close its animation facility in Florida).
The beta version of Disney's Virtual Magic Kingdom opens to the public.
Also known as VMK, it is a free massive multiplayer online game run by Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Online. Launched as part of the Happiest Celebration on Earth (the promotional campaign to
commemorated fifty years of Disney theme parks) VMK is a representation of the actual Disneyland and
Magic Kingdom theme parks.
1910:
Character actor, singer & dancer Scatman Crothers - the voice of Scat Cat in Disney's 1970 release The Aristocats - is born in Terre Haute, Indiana. (Fans of the 1970s sitcom Chico and the Man remember him for his role of Louie.
Cartoon fans know Crothers as the voices of Meadowlark Lemon in The Harlem Globetrotters, Jazz the Autobot in The Transformers and the title character in Hong Kong Phooey.)
1922:
Walt Disney incorporates his Kansas City cartoon company, Laugh-O-Gram
Films, Inc. It is located on the upper floor of the McConahy Building located at 1127 East 31st Street.
(This is the same building that today is the focus of a grass roots restoration and urban renewal effort, the
details of which can be found at Thank You Walt Disney.) Unfortunately, Disney will sell his one-reel
cartoons for less than it cost to produce them, and Laugh-O-Grams will go belly-up.
1931:
Actress & author Barbara Barrie - the voice of Alcmene in Disney's animated Hercules - is born in Chicago, Illinois. Her Disney credits also include the 1978 TV episode
"Child of Glass" as Emily Armsworth.
Disney's Silly Symphony short The China Plate, directed by Wilfred Jackson,
is released.
1955:
Fourteen-year-old actor Tim Considine is signed to a $400-a-week
contract to play Spin in Disney's Spin and Marty TV serial.
1958:
Comedian, actor, photographer and game show host
Drew Carey, star of Disney's 2000 TV film Gepetto and
the Disney theme park attraction Sounds Dangerous,
is born in Cleveland, Ohio. Sounds Dangerous, a 12-minute film
attraction, first debuted at Disney-MGM in 1999. Carey, who also had a
small role in Disney's 1995 TV version of Freaky Friday, is best known for
his ABC-TV sitcom The Drew Carey Show and as host of the U.S. version of ABC-TV's Whose Line Is It Anyway? - which debuted in 1998. (Carey can sometimes be spotted on the sidelines of U.S. National Team soccer games as a press photographer!)
1983:
Disneyland continues with the grand re-opening of the new Fantasyland.
The children of the original kids that first crossed the drawbridge in 1955 are the first to re-enter twenty
eight years later. In the presence of Mrs. Walt Disney, the drawbridge of Sleeping Beauty Castle is lowered for only the second time in the park's history! New attractions include Pinocchio's Daring Journey.
Tokyo Disneyland welcomes its 1-millionth guest.
(The park has only been opened for less than 2 months!)
Composer & Disney Legend George Bruns passes away in
Portland, Oregon at age 68. Among his musical accomplishments -
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me) co-written with Xavier Atencio & used in the
Disney theme park attraction Pirates of the Caribbean and the movies based
on that ride, The Ballad of Davy Crockett co-written with Thomas Blackburn,
and Love for the Disney animated film Robin Hood.
1996:
Disney joins McDonald's in a 10-year multinational marketing alliance linking McDonald's restaurants to Disney theatrical releases, theme parks and home video releases.
1997:
The Disneyland parade Light Magic debuts.
2001:
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin soar to life at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
2002:
It is reported that Home Depot and the Walt Disney Co. have agreed in principle on a three-year, $100 million cross-platform deal. It includes ad spending across assorted Disney media properties ABC, ESPN & Lifetime. Part of the deal will also include the development of The Disney Paint Program, an exclusive room decorating program featuring a line of Disney-brand children's paint.
2003:
Herman's Hermits featuring Peter Noone perform at
Epcot as part of the Flower Power concert series. They will
play 3 shows a day throughout the Memorial Day weekend at America
Gardens Theatre - a large outdoor waterfront venue opposite the American
Adventure Pavilion. (Playing keyboards as a member of Noone's road
Hermits is the webmaster of This Day in Disney History.)
Winnie-the-Pooh's name was hyphenated in the A.A. Milne books, but lost its hyphens in the Disney incarnation!
1936:
Actor Charles Kimbrough is born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He supplies the voice of Victor, one of the three gargoyles in Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (TV fans know Kimbrough for playing the straight-faced anchor Jim Dial on Murphy Brown.)
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MAY
MAY 23
Drew Carey born
1982:
The television special Computers Are People Too! airs. Exploring the
possibilities of interaction between man and computer, the show features
techniques introduced in the 1982 Walt Disney movie Tron.
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MAY 23
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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"This is my Ear-Force One." -Mickey Mouse hot-air balloon co-pilot Scott Spencer
In memory of George Bruns (1914-1983)
Interestingly, Milne didn't write the Pooh stories and poems for
children, but instead intended
them for the child within us.
selected Disney music credits:
The AbsentMinded Professor (1961)
Son of Flubber (1963)
The Sword in the Stone (1963)
The Ugly Dachshund (1966)
The Jungle Book (1967)
The AristoCats (1970)
Herbie Rides Again (1974)
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2010:
The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra presents the 21st Silent Film Gala at Royce Hall. Among the evening's presentations - the 1924 Walt Disney short, Alice’s Wild West Show, starring Virginia Davis. The film is presented in honor of the late Roy E. Disney, who had been a great supporter of the silent gala over the years.
2009:
A Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique themed shop opens as My Little Princess at the
Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel.
Meanwhile over at Disney-MGM, the second (of 5) Star Wars Weekends takes
place with celebrity guests Andy Secombe (Watto) and Warwick Davis (Wicket).
