AUG 08 Disney History

1969:

For the second night in a row, the new Haunted Mansion in Disneyland opens

to Cast Members only. Located in New Orleans Square, it is built to resemble a mansion in the southern

states of America before the Civil War. The much anticipated attraction will open to the public the next day.

1942:

Disney's 5th animated feature Bambi has its world premiere in

London, England. (It will be released in the U.S. 5 days later.) Directed by David Hand, it is released

by RKO Pictures and based on the 1923 book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten.

2003:

The That's So Raven episode "A Fight at the Opera"

airs for the first time on Disney Channel.

1967

Lee Unkrich - supervising editor for Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo & A Bug's Life, and co-director of Monsters, Inc. - is born in Cleveland, Ohio. A longtime member of the creative team at Pixar, he started there in 1994 as a film editor.

1976:

Joshua Scott Chasez, a member of Disney Channel's The All New Mickey Mouse Club, and part of the singing group 'N Sync, is born in Washington, D.C.

2000:

Disney's direct-to-video

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins is released. The voice cast includes Tim Allen (as Buzz), Nicole Sullivan (as Mira Nova), Larry Miller (as XR), Stephen Furst (as Booster), Wayne Knight (as Evil Emperor Zurg), and Patrick Warburton (as Little Green Men).

1907:

Publisher and Disney Legend Alkaios Angelopoulos is born in Patra, Greece. He will start Educational Materials Enterprises S.A., a company to represent foreign publication and film companies in Greece. In 1953, Walt Disney Productions will join his roster of prestigious clients.

1952:

Disney's The Little House, narrated by Sterling Holloway and directed by Wilfred

Jackson, is released. The cartoon is an adaptation of Virginia Lee Burton's Caldecott Medal winner "The

Little House" (first published in 1942). Noted for its insights on urban sprawl, the story centers on a little house

built at the top of a small hill, far out in the country.

The U.S. Forest Service

originally used Bambi - with limited permission from Disney - as their charismatic

anti-fire mascot ... before they developed the now-

famous Smokey the Bear!

1953:

Animator Jim Jinkins, the creator of Doug, is born in Virginia. Jinkins and his team at Jumbo

Pictures have produced the PB&J Otter and 101 Dalmatians animated series and featue film Doug's 1st Movie

for Disney.

Walt Disney reviews the site map that Imagineer/art director Marvin Davis has been

working on for the new California theme park. Walt picks up a pencil and draws a triangle

around the plot of land to indicate where he wants his railroad to run. For the next two years, Davis (not to be

confused with Marc Davis - also an Imagineer/animator) will work on more than 100 different versions of the

master plan for Disneyland.

2006:

A deluxe edition of Aly & AJ's 2005 debut album Into the Rush is released on Hollywood Records (a Disney owned label). It features three all new songs and two new mixes of previous songs.