2005:
The Broadway Disney hit Beauty and the Beast celebrates its 11th anniversary. The musical, which is the sixth longest-running show in Broadway history, originally opened at the Palace Theatre on this day in 1994.
1882:
Conductor Leopold Anthony Stokowski, who conducts the music and
appears in Disney's 1940 release Fantasia, is born in London, England.
Known as the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra, Stokowski was also the founder of the New York City Symphony. A celebrated transcriber of music originally written in other forms, his version of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, originally for organ, served as the opening item in Disney's Fantasia (which in turn brought the
music to a wider audience).
1927:
Disney's Alice Comedy Alice's Circus Daze is released. This film debuts Lois Hardwick as Alice, the fourth and final actress to play the role.
1946:
Academy Award-winning actress Hayley Mills is born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien
Mills to actor John Mills and novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell in London, England.
Walt Disney's wife will later see Hayley perform in the movie Tiger Bay. She'll arrange for Hayley to meet Walt and
the result will be her American film debut Pollyanna. A Golden Globe Award winner, her Disney credits include The
Parent Trap (as twins Sharon and Susan), In Search of the Castaways, Summer Magic, The Moon-Spinners and
That Darn Cat!. During her six-year run at Disney, Mills was probably the most popular child actress of the era!
1953:
The Mickey Mouse cartoon The Simple Things, featuring the voice of Jim Macdonald as Mickey, is released. (It will be the last Mickey Mouse cartoon until Mickey's Christmas Carol some 30 years later!)
1954:
Actor Rick Moranis, the voice of Tuke in Disney's animated 2003 Brother Bear and Wayne Szalinski in Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, is born Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Movie fans may recognize him from such comedy features as The Flintstones, My Blue Heaven, and Ghost Busters.)
1957:
The Disney Studio holds a screen test for a relatively unknown actor named Guy Williams for their new Zorro TV series. (When Walt sees the results, he will be convinced he has found his Zorro!)
1961:
Actress Jane Leeves - the voice of the Ladybug in Disney's 1996 James and the Giant Peach and the voice of Athena in Disney's 1998 TV series Hercules - is born in London, England. (TV fans may recognize her as Daphne Moon on the comedy series Frasier.)
1964:
"Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" finally arrives at
the World's Fair. (It had been flown to New York the
day before but traffic had prevented the exhibit from being delivered to the Illinois Pavilion.) The WED technicians scramble to install Mr. Lincoln in hopes of having him ready for a special April 20 preview. Due to technical problems, the exhibit will not be ready for the preview nor will it open with the rest of the World's Fair.
1969:
Various musical cues are recorded at the Walt Disney Productions Recording Stage (in California) for Disneyland's much anticipated Haunted Mansion attraction.
1983:
The Disney Channel (a pay TV network) first airs at 7 a.m. with a program titled Good Morning Mickey. Other programs during the day
include a "mommy and me" themed show called You and Me, Kid.
1984:
Actress America Ferrera is born in Los Angeles, California. She appears in Disney Channel's 2002 Gotta Kick It Up (her first TV movie) as Yolanda "Yoli". A Golden Globe winner, television fans know Ferrera as the star of the ABC series Ugly Betty.
1994:
Disney's first stage show, Beauty and the Beast: A New
Musical, officially opens on Broadway at the Palace
Theater with Tom Bosley as Belle's father Maurice,
Terrence Mann as the Beast, and Susan Egan as Belle.
(The show will move to the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in 1999.)
1998:
The Disneyland show "Festival of Fools" gives its last performance.
Toon Disney, a 24-hour cable television channel, debuts.
2002:
An area of Disney World's Animal Kingdom - featuring the new attractions Triceratops Spin and Primeval Whirl - has an official grand opening.
2003:
Walt Disney Pictures' Holes - starring Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Patricia Arquette and Shia LaBeouf - premieres in theaters.
Also released is the Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media feature
Ghosts of the Abyss, a documentary made by filmmaker James Cameron.
2004:
Disney's Beauty and the Beast celebrates its 10th anniversary on Broadway. It ranks as the 4th highest grossing musical of all time (recently passing Miss Saigon).
2006:
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Oriental Land Company's newest project - a permanent Cirque du Soleil theater - takes place at the
Tokyo Disney Resort. The ceremony takes place at the site reserved for the theater next to the Disney Ambassador Hotel. The show is expected to open in 2008.
1941:
Disney's Goofy short Baggage Buster, directed by Jack Kinney and animated by Art Babbitt, is released.
1997:
The Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival begins in Florida.
Leopold Stokowski appeared on
screen - conducting the
Fantasia segments "Toccata
and Fugue in D Minor" and
"Night on Bald Mountain/Ave
Maria" and ... talking to & shaking hands with Mickey Mouse!
1955:
Newsweek runs "A Wonderful World" - an article about Walt Disney's "universe" of new television shows, films and theme park.
2007:
Disney's Beauty and the Beast celebrates its 13th Broadway anniversary.
More than 125 past & present cast members who have performed in the long-
running show gather onstage following this day's matinee performance for a
giant cast photo. A private party follows. (Beauty and the Beast will play its final
performance at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre July 29.)
1958:
Disney composer and orchestrator Edward H. Plumb passes away in California. Originally from Illinois, Plumb's work for Disney began with the 1938 short Mother Goose Goes Hollywood. Over the next 20 years his credits included Bambi (which earned him the first of four Academy Award nominations), The Three Caballeros, Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, and Johnny Tremain.
1950:
Award-winning director, choreographer, and producer Kenny Ortega is born in Palo
Alto, California. His vast Disney credits include Newsies, all the High School Musical films,
The Cheetah Girls 2, and Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. (Initially known
for working with famous dancer/choreographer Gene Kelly - on the Olivia Newton-John film Xanadu, Ortega
went on to choreograph the 1987 classic film Dirty Dancing.)
1951:
Disney Imagineer and writer Bruce Gordon is born in Windsor, Ontario, Canada
(but will grow up in Southern California). An avid collector of Disneyana, Gordon will be hired by
Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980. He will first work on Epcot and later such Disneyland attractions as Splash
Mountain, the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Tarzan's Treehouse and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.
Gordon will also be well-known for editing and writing many feature articles on Disney for both Disney
publications and national magazines.
"A painter paints his pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. We provide the music, and you provide the silence." -Leopold Stokowski
1947:
Actor James Woods - the voice of the villainous Hades in Disney's animated Hercules - is born in Vernel, Utah.
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THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
Stokowski born
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2009:
California Institute of the Arts celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the
late animator and educator Jules Engel at REDCAT at the Walt Disney Concert
Hall in Los Angeles. Engel's career ranged from such Disney classics as Fantasia and Bambi to
creating the characters Mr. Magoo and Gerald McBoing Boing.
As a youngster, Gordon built a miniature replica of Disneyland attractions in his parents' garage!
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Kenny Ortega born
