APR 10 Disney History

1915:

Actor Harry Morgan is born in Detroit, Michigan. His Disney film credits include The Barefoot

Executive (1971), Scandalous John (1971), Snowball Express (1972), The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), The

Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) and The Cat From Outer Space (1978). TV fans will recognize him from

both the classic series Dragnet (as Officer Bill Gannon) and M*A*S*H (as Col. Sherman T. Potter).

2003:

Regis Philbin, the daytime co-host of Live with Regis and Kelly

and former host of ABC's game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, receives the 2,222nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Disney chairman Michael Eisner is among the celebrities in attendance.

1924:

Actress Jane Kean, Miss Taylor in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon, is born in Hartford, Connecticut. (TV fans may recall her role of Trixie Norton and other various characters on the 1960s variety hit The Jackie Gleason Show.)

1927:

Walt Disney delivers the first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Poor Papa, to distributor Charles Mintz in New York.

1957:

The Disneyland television series airs "People of the Desert."

1959:

Singer-guitarist & songwriter Brian Setzer (famously known as the

leader of The Stray Cats) is born in Massapequa, New York. Besides

performing at Walt Disney World with his big band - The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Setzer's

musical credits include a version of "Everybody Wants To Be A Cat" for the 1996 soundtrack to The Aristocats, the

song "I'm Only In It For The Honey" for the 2002 The Country Bears, and "Rockin' at the House of Mouse," the

theme for the animated television series House of Mouse. Disney's 2006 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause

features Setzer's tune "Santa Drives a Hot Rod," and Setzer & his 17-piece big band performed in the 2005

broadcast of Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade.

1964:

Walt Disney arrives in New York City to oversee

his four exhibits at the upcoming World's Fair.

1972:

At the 44th Academy Awards, Alan Maley, Eustace Lycett and Danny Lee win

for Special Visual Effects for their work on Disney's live-action

Bedknobs and Broomsticks. The Sherman Brothers' tune "The Age of Not Believing"

(from Disney's Bedknobs and Broomsticks) is beat out by Isaac Hayes' "Theme from Shaft."

Although Bedknobs is also nominated for Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score, John Williams' Fiddler on the Roof takes home the Oscar.

1988:

Disneyland's America Sings closes in Tomorrowland at the end of this day. A 24-minute production that included over 100 characters (the biggest Audio Animatronics cast ever assembled for a Disneyland attraction) it had been in operation since June 1974. Many of the America Sing characters will be placed in Critter Country.

1992:

Disney's live-action feature film musical Newsies is released in theaters.

1997:

The campaign to build the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, takes another major step forward with a combined $15 million gift from Ron Burkle and The Ralphs/Food 4 Less Foundation. The donation is announced at a morning press conference on the roof terrace of The Museum of Contemporary Art, overlooking the future site of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. (Disney Hall will serve as the winter residence of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.)

1999:

The Disney Channel Original Movie Can of Worms premieres.

2001:

The official groundbreaking ceremony for Walt Disney's original

Laugh-O-gram Studio Building in downtown Kansas City takes place. The two-story brick building (located at 31st and Forest Streets) was the site of Disney's first film studio, Laugh-O-gram, which he incorporated in 1922. The studio (which operated out of five rooms and was occupied by as many as eleven employees) is where Walt Disney befriended a very special mouse. With it's collapsing roof and boarded up windows, the building which housed the studio hardly looks like the birthplace of the world's biggest entertainment empire. Disney enthusiasts hope to preserve and restore the building, and establish a museum on the site.

Armored trucks loaded with collectible prizes, Mickey Mouse and Regis Philbin arrive at Disney-MGM Studios to launch the opening of the "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire-Play It!" - a live-show attraction at Disney World. The show will run continuously throughout the day in a 600-seat studio located in Soundstages 2 and 3 at the Disney-MGM Studios. (The attraction had opened to the public on the 7th.)

2006:

Building a Thrill Ride - Expedition Everest airs on the Science Channel. The special gives a behind-the-scenes look at Animal Kingdom's newest attraction Expedtion Everest.

1994:

At Epcot, the Stargate fast-food facility (opened since 1982) closes.

The voice of Scat Cat

in Disney's 1970

The Aristocats

was performed by

Scatman Crothers.

It was originally to

be voiced by

jazz great

Louis Armstrong.

1991:

Actress-singer Amanda Michalka, of the sister pop group Aly & AJ, is born in Torrance, California.

1968:

Although "The Bare Necessities" from Disney's The Jungle Book (written by Terry Gilkyson) is nominated for Best Song at the 1967 Academy Awards ... "Talk to the Animals" from Doctor Dolittle takes home Oscar.

"Just remember, there's a right way and a wrong way to do everything and the wrong way is to keep trying to make everybody else do it the right way." -Harry Morgan

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