2004:
PAX TV premieres Night of Joy: A Holiday Celebration of Faith and Family, a one-hour special hosted by actor Kirk Cameron. The program chronicles the creation and execution of the Night of Joy event at Magic Kingdom (an annual tradition at Walt Disney World Resort since 1983).
A Merry Mancini Christmas is presented at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall in California. The concert features the Henry Mancini Institute Alumni Orchestra. (Legendary composer Henry Mancini wrote the music for Disney's 1986 The Great Mouse Detective.)
1990:
The Magical World of Disney's "A Christmas Visitor"
airs on the Disney Channel.
Actress, model, and singer Anna Maria Francesca Enriquez Perez de Tagle is born in San Francisco, California. Disney Channel fans know her as Ashley Dewitt on Hannah Montana and Ella on Camp Rock.
1887:
Comic actor Eric Blore - the voice of Mr. Toad in Disney's 1949 The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad - is born in London, England.
1931:
Comedian-actor Ronnie Schell is born in Richmond, California. His Disney credits include the 1981 The Devil and Max Devlin, the 1978 The Cat From Outer Space as the voice of Jake the cat, the 1977 TV special The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World, the 1976 feature The Shaggy D.A., and even an episode of Disney Channel's Phil of the Future. (Schell will always be best remembered for playing Private Duke Slater on the series Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C..)
1938:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, directed by
Wilfred Jackson, is released. This animated short puts Hollywood stars of the 1930's into roles from
Mother Goose stories. Among the stars are W.C. Fields as Humpty Dumpty, Laurel and Hardy as Simple Simon
and the Pieman, Katherine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep, and the Marx Brothers as Old King Cole's fidlers three.
The short will be nominated for an Academy Award.
1942:
Mouseketeer John Lee Johann is born in Madison, Wisconsin. Known simply as Lee, he will be hired for ABC-TV's The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955 - as a replacement for his brother Dallas.
1943:
Actor-writer Harry Shearer, the voice of Dog Announcer in the 2005 animated feature Chicken Little, is born Los Angeles, California. His Disney credits also include the 1987 TV "duckumentary" Down and out with Donald Duck. (A Saturday Night Live alumni, Shearer provides many of the voices for TV's The Simpsons and appears in such features as A Mighty Wind, The Truman Show, and This Is Spinal Tap.)
1954:
The Disney live-action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (based on the
classic story by Jules Verne) starring Kirk Douglas, James Mason, & Peter
Lorre, is released. It is only the sixth film to ever be shot in CinemaScope (a widescreen movie
format) and the first science fiction feature produced by Disney. The film will be enormously popular at the
box-office, grossing $6.8 million on its first release. It however will not make a profit ... because it is one of
the most expensive movies produced up to this time, costing over $9 million! The film will also be highly
praised for the performances of the leading actors ... the first time that major Hollywood stars have
appeared in a Disney film.
1955:
Today is Talent Round-Up Day on ABC-TV's The Mickey Mouse Club.
1962:
The television series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "Holiday Time at Disneyland."
1973:
The NBC-TV series The Wonderful World of Disney airs
a re-edited version of "From All of Us to All of You."
1982:
Electronic Forum (an attraction where guests view film clips focusing on current events) debuts at EPCOT's Future World.
2000:
Refurbishment of Walt Disney World's Grand Floridian Resort wraps
up. All guestrooms and suites in the hotel have been redone, and all
of the public areas have received a face-lift.
1966:
TIME magazine features the article "Walt Disney: Images of Innocence"
(volume 88 no. 26). The article includes these words:
"When he died last week of cancer at 65, Disney was no longer simply the fundamental primitive imagist (the psychedelic merchants preempted that role), but a giant corporation whose vast assembly lines produced ever slicker products to dream by." A portrait of actress Julie Andrews graces the cover.
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DEC
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Season's
Greetings
The Mightiest Motion Picture of Them All!
DECEMBER 23
advertisement
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THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
DECEMBER 23
The giant squid in Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea movie was constructed of rubber, steel spring, flexible tubing, glass cloth, lucite, and plastic. It had tentacles measuring 40
feet with 2 feelers of 50
feet & took a staff of 28
to operate its intricate
remote controls!
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1987:
Disney's Touchstone Pictures releases the comedy-drama Good Morning
Vietnam starring Robin Williams.
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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea released
