2004:
Sam McKim, the legendary Disney Imagineer who drew the first souvenir
maps of Disneyland in 1954, passes away of heart failure at age 79.
McKim joined WED Enterprises (now Walt Disney Imagineering) as an
illustrator, six months before the opening of Disneyland. He created
many of the sketches used in the original design of Disneyland, including Main Street and Frontierland. McKim also worked on Great Moments with
Mr. Lincoln and the Haunted Mansion.
The seventh Phil of the Future episode "My Way" first airs
on Disney Channel.
1894:
Disney Legend Joseph Fowler is born Lewiston, Maine.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy, he will go on to oversee construction of Disneyland, and as Chairman of the Board of WED and Director of Buena Vista Construction Company - help build Walt Disney World. Disney World's original steam ship (which opened October 2, 1971) was named the Admiral Joe Fowler Riverboat.
1928:
Disney's 24th Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short Tall Timber is released.
1932:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Bears and the Bees is released.
1934:
Architect-designer (and one of the leaders of the postmodernist movement)
Michael Graves is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. He and his firm will go on to design the
Dolphin and Swan Hotels for Walt Disney World, the post office for Disney's Florida community Celebration,
and the Team Disney Building in Burbank, California - which feature the seven dwarfs.
1956:
Actor Tom Hanks, the voice of Sherrif Woody for Disney/Pixar's Toy Story movies, is born in Concord, California. He also appears on the 1994 TV special The Wonderful World of Disney: 40 Years of Television Magic. Hanks co-starred in the 1984 fantasy/comedy feature Splash, the very first film released by Disney's Touchstone Films.
1982:
Walt Disney's Tron, one of the first films from a major studio to use computer graphics extensively, premieres. It stars Jeff Bridges as Kevin Flynn (and his counterpart inside the electronic world, Clu), Bruce Boxleitner as Alan Bradley (and Tron), Cindy Morgan as Lora Baines (and Yori) and Dan Shor as Ram. Tron features the music of Wendy Carlos and Journey. (Despite earning $33 million in North America on its original release, it's "poor box office performance" will earn Ron Miller, then Disney CEO and Walt's son-in-law, the unaffectionate nickname of "Tron" Miller.)
1998:
Walt Disney World auctions off a limousine, 2 costume sewing machines, a sofa from the Empress Lilly riverboat, and a 4-foot tall beer stein. Four times a year since 1985, Walt Disney World has been holding auctions to unload items it no longer wants.
1999:
At Walt Disney World, Discovery Island (an 11-acre zoo whose attendance has been hurt by the 1998 opening of Disney's 500-acre Animal Kingdom) closes 25 years after it opened. The closure of Discovery Island means an end to Disney's second-oldest Central Florida attraction and marks the first time the company has closed one of its ticketed attractions.
The one hundredth sailing of the Disney Magic is celebrated!
2003:
The Disney Gallery (located in Disneyland) celebrates the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl with a special event.
Marita Giovanni and Bruce Graham win the HUMANITAS Prize for writing the 2002 Disney Channel Original Movie A Ring of Endless Light. (The HUMANITAS Prize is an annual screenwriter's award founded in 1974 to encourage, stimulate and sustain the nation's screenwriters in their humanizing task, and to give them the recognition they deserve.)
2006:
Bell, appears at the Oakland Museum of California's exhibit on
Disneyland's 50-year history.
1986:
Kiely Williams, a member of Disney's The Cheetah Girls, is
born in Alexandria, Virginia.
1938:
Tony Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy, the voice of Django in Disney/Pixar's 2007 Ratatouille, is born in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
A letter/article (dated April 26, 1938) penned by Walt Disney appears in The Arizona Daily Star. Under the title "Yesterday's Newspaper Boys Are Today's Leaders," Walt's words include: I was an old man of nine when I tackled my first business venture. You guessed it - I had a paper route in Kansas City. To say the least, it kept me out of mischief, because my brothers and I had to get up every morning, deliver papers, have breakfast and then go off to school. After school we started out all over again.
Pianist Richard Carpenter and
guitarist John Bettis performed music
at Coke Corner on Disneyland’s Main
Street U.S.A. during the summer of
1967. Because they routinely
deviated from the selections of turn-
of-the-century tunes they were asked
to perform ... the pair were sacked
after four months. Richard went on
to have great success with his sister
Karen - as The Carpenters. Many of
their biggest hits were written by
Richard and John Bettis!
1955:
Business Week runs the article "Mouse That Turned To Gold."
It tells readers - "In some ways, the $17-million Disneyland amusement park that opens in Anaheim, Calif.,
July 18, is a far cry from the little rodent that first scampered accross the movie screen in 1927."
The New York Times runs "Disneyland Gets Its Last Touches" - an article
about the new Anaheim park, which will open in 8 days.
1989:
The Disney Channel Premiere Film Great Expectations, based on Charles Dickens' classic novel, debuts.
2007:
Deconstruction of the 50-ton Mickey Mouse arm and wand, leaning on Epcot's Spaceship Earth, begins. Also coming down are the 36-foot-high "Epcot" letters and colored stars splashing across the sphere.
1991:
Actor/singer Mitchel Musso - Oliver Oken on Disney Channel's Hanna Montana - is born in Garland, Texas. He's also the voice of Jeremy for Disney Channel's animated series
Phineas and Ferb and starred in the 2005 Disney Channel Original Movie Life Is Ruff. In 2009 Musso released
his debut album on Walt Disney Records.
1976:
Actor-director-producer Fred Savage, best known for his role as Kevin Arnold on the long-running TV series The Wonder Years, is born in Chicago, Illinois. He lent his voice
to Disney Channel's Kim Possible and is the narrator of the 1998 The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story. Savage has
also directed episodes of Phil of the Future, That's So Raven, and Hannah Montana.
"Yeehaw! Come on, partner! We've got to get this wagon train a'movin'!" -Sheriff Woody's pullstring quote
1975:
Disney's One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing a British comedy film is released. Based on the 1970 novel The Great Dinosaur Robbery by David Forrest, the film was made entirely on location in England at Elstree Studios and Pinewood Studios, along with some location shoots around Windsor, Berkshir.
1992:
Disney's Beauty and the Beast is widely released in theaters in Argentina and Peru.
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