This Day in Disney History: APR 20

2004:

Disney's 2003 live-action film The Haunted Mansion

is released on DVD and VHS.

1914:

Disney Legend Betty Lou Gerson - the narrator of Disney's 1950 classic Cinderella and the voice of Cruella De Vil in the 1961 One Hundred and One Dalmations - is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

1935:

Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Robber Kitten is released.

1937:

Actor George Takei - the voice of First Ancestor in Disney's Mulan

and Mulan II - is born in Los Angeles, California.

(Star Trek fans know him best as Mr. Sulu.)

1946:

Disney's 8th animated feature Make Mine Music premieres in New York. It will have its national release the following August. The film's 10 segments include "A Rustic Ballad," a tale of feuding hillbillies; "A Tone Poem," a mood piece set on a blue bayou; "A Jazz Interlude," about a booby-soxer who goes jitterbugging with her date at the malt shop; "A Ballad In Blue," where rain and somber landscapes illustrate the loss of a lover; "A Musical Recitation," which tells the famous tale of Casey at the Bat; "Ballade Ballet," where ballet dancers perform in silhouette; "A Fairy Tale with Music," which tells the story of Peter and the Wolf; "After You've Gone," in which 4 musical instruments chase through a surreal landscape; "A Love Story," about the romance between a fedora and a bonnet, and "Opera Pathetique," the story of Willie the Whale.

1959:

Actor Clint Howard, the voice of Roo in Disney's 1968 classic Winnie the

Pooh and the Blustery Day, is born in Burbank, California. Younger brother

of actor-turned-director Ron Howard, Clint was also the voice of the

elephant Hathi's son Hathi, Jr. in the 1967 The Jungle Book. (Film and TV

fans may recognize him as Whobris in How the Grinch Stole Christmas and

by his appearances in My Dog Skip, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged

Me, HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, and of course as the little boy on

the 1967-1969 TV series Gentle Ben.)

1996:

Christopher Robin Milne, the son of writer A.A. Milne

(creator of Winnie the Pooh) passes away at age 75.

2000:

Al Weiss (President of Walt Disney World) and Michael Capellas (CEO of Compaq) announce plans for Disney World's newest Epcot attraction, Mission: SPACE (on the site once occupied by Horizons).

Singer Robert Plant appears at Disney's Theatre of the Stars in Orlando, Florida to leave his handprints outside the theatre.

2001:

The 2001 Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival kicks off

six weeks of events and displays at the Disney World park.

A rare collection of photographs, books, papers and other personal items that belonged to the real Alice In Wonderland, Alice Pleasance Liddell Hargreaves is previewed at Sotheby's in New York. (The collection will be auctioned by Sotheby's in London on June 6.) The archive of materials include photographs that Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) took of young Alice and her sisters in the mid 1800s, silver hairbrushes used by Alice, her wedding ring, and a copy of Alice's Adventure's Under Ground that the author personally inscribed "to her whose namesake one happy summer day" inspired his story.

The Disney Channel airs the Lizzie McGuire episode "Election" for the first time.

2002:

After 7 months at sea as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, U.S.

military personnel aboard the USS Shreveport are welcomed to their home port in Norfolk, Virginia, by Mickey Mouse and Disneyland Resort representatives. Cast Members "adopted" the Shreveport as part of the Resort's Operation Uplift program through which Disney employees send messages of support & thanks to United States servicemen and women on active duty outside the U.S.

2006:

Mickey Mouse unveils a new Creativity Center designed by Disney Imagineers at the Roy W. Roberts, II - Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles (as part of Disney's continuing support of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America). The festivities also include the interactive Disney Channel stage show "Imagineer That!" and a special guest appearance by Kyle Massey of Disney Channel's original comedy series That's So Raven.

1991:

The Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant opens in the Disney-MGM Studios.

APRIL 20 is Volunteer Recognition Day

Get your Disney tickets at Maple Leaf Tickets!

2005:

Salvatore "Tutti" Camarata, who established and ran Disneyland Records for nearly 20 years, passes away in Burbank, California. He played an important role in building up the studio's already well-known library of original music and provided some significant additions to the studio's casts. Camarata introduced Sterling Holloway, who became the voice of Winnie the Pooh, and helped convince Louis Prima and Phil Harris to provide the voices for King Louie the Ape and Baloo the Bear in The Jungle Book. Over the course of his time with Disney, Camarata's recordings earned a total of 8 Grammy Award nominations.

Disney Legend

Salvator Camarata (who played the trumpet) was given his nickname "Tutti" by bandleader

Jimmy Dorsey.