2005:
Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, presents "Behind the Magic: 50 Years of Disneyland." The exhibit (in partnership with Walt Disney Imagineering) features 250 items, including artwork, hand-crafted models and marketing materials.
Ghost Whisperer, a new supernatural drama co-produced by Touchstone Television/ABC Studios, debuts on CBS. Starring Jennifer Love Hewitt as a woman who has the ability to see and communicate with ghosts, the series will run for 5 seasons.
"Mickey actually reminds me of a simpler time to be a kid. Before MTV, double entendres, and a wink at the audience, there was this little mouse that seemed to make children pretty darn happy. So, I confess, I still feel a soft spot for the ole guy."
-Actor Jason Alexander (born on This Day in Disney History)
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1920:
Actor Mickey Rooney, the voices of Sparky in the 2001 animated release Lady and the
Tramp II: Scamps' Adventure, and Adult Tod in the 1981 The Fox and the Hound, is born Joe Yule, Jr. in Brooklyn, New York. He also portrayed Lampie in the 1977 live action/animated musical Pete's Dragon and was even caricatured in the 1939 Donald Duck short The Autograph Hound.
(During his career, Rooney has won multiple awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and an Emmy. Best known for his work as the Andy Hardy character, Rooney has one of the longest movie careers of any actor - entering the Guinness Book of Records as the actor with longest career on both stage and screen!)
1938:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Brave Little Tailor is released. Mickey, the
tailor, kills "seven flies with one blow." The king, thinking that Mickey is talking about giants, sends him
out to kill one, and offers him the hand of the Princess Minnie in return. The most elaborate and expensive Mickey Mouse cartoon ever produced to date, it will be nominated for an Academy Award.
1945:
Original Mouseketeer Paul Petersen is born in Glendale, California.
Besides appearing on Mickey Mouse Club, he portrayed Jeff Stone on The Donna Reed Show. Today he is an author (in 1977 his autobiography, Walt, Mickey and Me: Confessions of the First Ex-Mouseketeer was published) spokesman, and child rights activist.
1949:
Disney's Goofy cartoon Goofy Gymnastics, directed by Jack Kinney, is released.
Goofy tries a gymnastics course in order to beat fatigue at the end of the work day. (A short clip of this will
later be used in the 1988 Who Framed Roger Rabbit, during the scene where Roger and Eddie hide in a cinema.)
1955:
The LP record Firehouse Five Plus Two Plays for Lovers is released on the Good Time Jazz label. The group (made up of Disney Studio employees) is led by animator and trombonist Ward Kimball. The 12 tracks include such love songs as "What Is This Thing Called Love?," I Can't Give You Anything But Love," and "I Love You Truly."
1959:
Actor Jason Alexander, the voice of Hugo in Disney's 1996 release The Hunchback
of Notre Dame and its sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, is born Jay Scott
Greenspan in Newark, New Jersey. He is also the voice of Abis Mal, a clumsy thief who accidentally
frees Jafar from his lamp, in The Return of Jafar - a 1994 animated direct-to-video sequel to the 1992 film Aladdin.
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, a direct-to-video sequel to the animated One Hundred and One
Dalmatians, features Alexander as the voice of Lil' Lightning. (A star of stage, film, and television, Alexander is
probably best known to TV fans for his role of George Costanza on the hit sitcom Seinfeld.)
1961:
Actress Elizabeth Peña, the voice of Mirage in the 2004 Disney-Pixar animated feature The Incredibles, is born in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "The Golden
Horseshoe Revue" (it is the first episode of Disney's ninth season on television).
The program features the 10,000th show of Disneyland's famous stage show!
1971:
The Dapper Dans (a barbershop quartet soon to be a staple at Disney World) perform their first set at the GAF Photo Shop on Main Street. Jerry Siggins, Bob Mathis, Dick Kneeland, and Bub Thomas sing for Cast Members and their families a week before the grand opening of Walt Disney World in Florida.
1980:
The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction debuts at Walt
Disney World with a soft opening. Designed by Imagineer Tony
Baxter and ride design engineer Bill Watkins, it has been manufactured by Arrow Dynamics (a roller coaster
design company based in Clearfield, Utah). Nearly a mirror image of the Disneyland version, Florida's Big
Thunder Mountain Railroad will have its official opening in November.
1983:
All That Jazz (a 3-day event featuring a variety of jazz artists) takes place on the Castle Forecourt Stage at Tokyo Disneyland.
1984:
Michael Eisner and Frank Wells officially become Chairman and President of
Walt Disney Productions when they take a tour of the Disney studio in
Burbank, with Roy Disney.
Actress Anneliese van der Pol, who played Chelsea Daniels on Disney Channel's
That's So Raven and was the last actress to play Belle in Disney's Broadway
musical Beauty and the Beast, is born in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
1990:
The Magical World of Disney presents "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"
on Disney Channel.
The Disney-produced series Hull High debuts on NBC-TV. A teen drama centering on Cordell Hull High School, a hip, racially integrated school in an urban area, the series features Will Lyman and Nancy Valen. Nominated for an Emmy, Golden Reel Award and a Young Artist Award, Hull High will be canceled after just 8 episodes.
1999:
The large and small Horizons signs are removed from the
closed Epcot attraction at Walt Disney World.
The Disney Stores begin to sell a series of pins counting
down the last 101 days until the millenium.
2001:
President George W. Bush orders American Flags to be raised full staff on this day around the country for the first time since the tragedy of September 11th. A ceremony is held at noon at Disneyland's Time Square to raise the flag. Disneyland Resort President Cynthia Harriss and the CEO of the Walt Disney Company Michael Eisner are in attendance. Fifty white doves are released while the flag is raised.
Robert Abel, the computer animation and graphics guru who used multimedia to create award-winning commercials, films and classroom educational materials, dies at age 64 in Los Angeles. Abel used his techniques to create special effects for many motion pictures, including Disney's Tron.
A new attraction "Walt Disney: One Man's Dream," showing memorabilia about Walt Disney's career and heritage to the public for the first time, officially opens at Disney-MGM in Florida. The attraction has been in soft-openings for the last few days and will officially be dedicated October 1 for the start of Walt Disney World's 100 Years of Magic celebration.
2004:
Hong Kong Disneyland holds a ceremony to celebrate the "topping off" of Sleeping Beauty Castle. A 'Topping Off' ceremony is traditionally celebrated when the last structural element is placed on a building.
(The park is scheduled to open in late 2005 or early 2006.)
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Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt,
the star of Ghost
Whisperer
(co-produced by Touchstone/ABC),
also voiced
Madellaine in the
2002 Disney animated film, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.
2007:
The world premiere of Walt Disney Pictures' The Game Plan takes place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California.
2008:
Don't Forget, the debut album from Demi Lovato, is released on Disney's
Hollywood Records label. An actor, singer and songwriter, Lovato is - at this time - best
known for her role as Mitchie Torres in the Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock.
Also released on Hollywood Records is Big Bad World, Plain White T's fifth album (but their second for Disney's label).
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SEPTEMBER 23
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
SEPTEMBER 23
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Anneliese van der Pol born
Jason Alexander born
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1994:
King of the Beach Volleyball Invitational is taped at Disney's Grand Floridian Beach Resort in Florida.
Buena Vista Pictures releases the Hollywood Pictures live-action feature film Terminal Velocity to theaters. Starring Charlie Sheen as a daredevil skydiver who becomes mixed up with Russian spies, it features the music of Joel McNeely (whose Disney credits will later include Mulan II, Peter Pan: Return to Neverland, and Pooh's Heffalump Movie.)
"When I think back on Walt Disney, I think of the wonderful times I had making pictures at the Disney Studio, such as Pete's Dragon."
1989:
The Disney Channel airs the Disney Channel Premiere Film Not Quite Human II. Featuring Alan Thicke as a doctor who has created an android who looks like a human 17-year-old boy, it is the second of what will be a series of three films (Not Quite Human first aired in 1987 and Still Not Quite Human
will debut in 1992).
2010:
At a press conference in New York City, Disney announces next year's marketing campaign that will focus on vacation memories and images of family scenes at the theme parks. Starting in January 2011 "Let the Memories Begin" will feature projected images nightly of Disney guests on the facade of the It's a Small World ride at Disneyland and on Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World in Florida. Images shot by Disney photographers at the park will be displayed each night on the building facades, accompanied by a new song written for the campaign.
Disney also launches a new website with the sole purpose of showcasing photos, videos and other user-generated content from park visitors and fans. The site goes live on this day at noon.
- LET THE MEMORIES BEGIN -
2003:
The Touchstone/ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules kicks off its second season on the air with the episode "Premiere". Although the show's star John Ritter passed away suddenly on September 11, 2003, the first 3 episodes of the new season had already been filmed. Following his untimely death, ABC announced that the show will continue (in November) after a short hiatus.
2011:
Blue Sky Cellar at Disney California Adventure re-opens on this morning with a behind-the-scenes look at the construction of Buena Vista Street and other parts of the theme park’s $1-billion expansion. Blue Sky Cellar, a mock architect’s studio, offers previews of upcoming attractions at California Adventure.
ABC-TV airs the final episode of its long-running soap opera All My Children.
"I think we're making a valuable contribution to the subject.
If Romeo and Juliet had heard this album I feel sure their story would have had a different ending."
-record producer Lester Koenig
The Disney short Up a Tree, featuring Donald Duck and Chip 'n' Dale, is released. It is the 3rd and final short release of 1955.
