1953:
Legendary animator Chuck Jones (already well know for his animation at Warner Brothers) begins working at the Disney Studios. He will only stay for 4 months before returning
to Warner. Despite the fact that his brief tenure at Disney will not be satisfying for either himself or Walt Disney, Jones will still hold the Disney Studios and Walt in the highest regard for the rest of his life.
1955:
Eighteen-year-old Bob Penfield begins working at Disneyland four days before the
park's grand opening. He is attending an orientation for Cast Members. Bob will earn $1.65 an hour. (He
will go on to work for Disneyland for the next 42 years, making him the longest working Cast Member in history!)
2002:
The Beach Boys kick off Disney's Rockin' the Bay (a six-week summer music series featuring 18 famed recording groups) at Disney's California Adventure.
1925:
Walt Disney marries Lillian Marie Bounds (one of his first
employees) at Lewiston's Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Lewiston, Idaho. Since Lillian's father is deceased, her uncle who is chief of the Lewiston Fire Department gives the bride away. Reverend D.J.W. Somerville performs the ceremony with Hazel Sewell and Sydney Bounds (Lillian's sisters) acting as witnesses. (Born in Spalding, Idaho, Lillian grew up in Lapwai, Idaho, on the Nez Perce Indian Reservation, where her father worked as a blacksmith and federal marshal. She moved to Los Angeles in 1923, and got a job at the fledgling Walt Disney Studio as a secretary and "inker" of animated cels.)
1935:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey's Garden is released. Directed by Wilfred Jackson, it is the second Mickey cartoon produced in color and the first color appearance of Pluto. It is also the first short Ollie Johnston (a cleanup artist at this time) has worked on.
1940:
Actor Patrick Stewart, the voice of Mr. Woolensworth in the 2005 animated
feature Chicken Little, is born in England. His Disney credits also include the voice of The
Great Prince in the 2006 Bambi II. (Science fiction fans will recognize him as Captain Jean-Luc Picard from
Star Trek films & television series and as Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men series of films.)
1945:
Disney's Goofy cartoon Californy er Bust is released. In this short, directed
by Jack Kinney, Goofy takes a covered wagon on the overland trail to California.
"The Pre-Opening Report from Disneyland," the final
progress report on Disneyland's construction airs on the ABC series
Disneyland just four days before the theme park's grand opening. Guest stars
include Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, Sammy Davis Jr., Frank Sinatra and Fess Parker (as Davy Crockett).
Walt and Lillian Disney celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary at the
not-yet-open Disneyland. Lillian Disney invites guests to a "Tempus Fugit
Celebration," at six o'clock in the evening. As the guests arrive, they are transported down
Main Street and into Frontierland via horse-drawn surreys. From there, everyone takes a ride around the Rivers
of America aboard the Mark Twain Riverboat while sipping mint juleps. Although they are already engaged, Roy
E. Disney (Walt's nephew) presents a ring to his fiance Patty. Afterwards guests head to the Golden Horseshoe
Saloon for dinner and the very first (although unofficial) performance of a show called the Golden Horseshoe
Revue, created by Wally Boag, the original Pecos Bill. (The record-breaking stage show will play an amazing
47,250 performances through 1986!)
1962:
Comedian-actor Tom Kenny is born in East Syracuse, New York. Best known as the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, Kenny appears in Disney's 2005 Sky High as Mr. Timmerman and supplies the voice for
Mr. Willerstein in the Disney 2007 animated feature Meet the Robinsons. Kenny is also the voice of Rabbit for
Winnie the Pooh - a new traditionally animated feature by Walt Disney Animation Studios - released in 2011.
1975:
Television/stage actor & Mouseketeer Braden Danner, who appeared on the
Disney Channel series MMC (for season 1), is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1992:
Jim Henson Productions and Disney Channel announce a distribution agreement for "Fraggle Rock" and other Henson properties.
1995:
Disney's Pocahontas soundtrack reaches #1 on the Billboard chart, knocking off Michael Jackson's album HIStory.
2001:
The Disney Channel Original Movie The Jennie Project premieres. About a chimpanzee
who knows and uses American Sign Language to communicate, the film features Alex D. Linz and Sheila Kelley.
1928:
Actor Bob Crane is born in Waterbury, Connecticut. Famously known as Colonel Hogan on the classic TV sitcom Hogan's Heroes, Crane appeared in the live-action Disney films Superdad (as Charlie McCready) and Gus (as Pepper). Nominated twice for an Emmy, Crane also appeared in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone.
2006:
Comedian/actor Red Buttons passes away at his home in California at age 87. Disney fans will remember him as the cowardly Hoagy who assisted Doc Terminus in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon. An Academy Award-winning character actor, Buttons enjoyed a career that spanned more than seven decades!
1994:
The soundtrack to Disney's animated The Lion King is released on Walt Disney
Records. Among the 12 tunes featured on the disc is Elton John & Tim Rice's "Can You Feel The Love
Tonight" - which will win an Oscar for Best Song.
The longest lines at the
1964-1965 World's Fair (in New York City) were for the 4 attractions created by Disney. Walt took some of the attractions and elements of others to his Anaheim park when the Fair closed.
1974:
is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
1946:
Actor/comedian Cheech Marin (best known as half the comedic duo of Cheech and Chong) is born in Los Angeles, California. His Disney voice credits include Cars and Cars 2 as Ramone, The Lion King as Banzai the Hyena, Oliver & Company as Tito, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua as
Manuel. (Fans of TV's Nash Bridges may remember Marin for his role of Joe Dominguez.)
2007:
Disney-MGM's 13-story Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction marks its
13th anniversary on this Friday the 13th! (Actually the popular attraction
first debuted thirteen years ago on July 22.)
Disney Channel ranks number 1 in the Nielsen Media Research ranking
for this evening's broadcast between 8:00-9:30. Disney beats all of the
cable as well as broadcast stations, snaring 5.1 million total viewers! Original episodes of the
comedies Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and Cory in the House are shown.
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2004:
A Cinderella Story: Original Soundtrack (featuring music from the movie A
Cinderella Story) is released in the U.S. by Hollywood Records. The CD features five
songs from Hilary Duff, including the hit collaboration with her sister Haylie, "Our Lips Are Sealed" (a cover song
originally recorded by The Go-Go's).
2008:
The official trailer for High School Musical 3 premieres on Disney Channel, ABC Family and Disney.com.
JULY
JULY 13
Today is Barbershop
Music Appreciation Day
JULY 13
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
USA
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Ginny Tyler (1925-2012)
"I remember the first day, seeing Walt walking down Main Street. I'm an 18-year-old Iowa farm boy, and I'm watching Walt Disney walk down the street. That's one thing I'll always remember." -Bob Penfield
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"Disney was not a good animator, he didn't draw well at all, but he was always a great idea man, and a good writer." -Chuck Jones
SEASON 1 EPISODE 21
2009:
Evie Coats, one of the unsung heroines of animation’s past and the wife of Disney Legend Claude Coats, passes away at age 99. First hired by Disney as an “inker” to trace animators’ drawings of cartoon characters onto clear sheets of celluloid, Evelyn Henry joined the small staff in 1932 at the Hyperion Avenue studio in East Hollywood. (More than mere tracing, inkers like Evie were true artists whose work required an ability to translate the emotion and movement of the animators’ characters.)
She worked on the Silly Symphony shorts before being promoted to department head during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. During a brief break in the Snow White schedule, she married studio background painter Claude Coats.
1957:
A petrified tree stump is installed at Disneyland on the Rivers of America riverbank in Frontierland. Walt Disney had bought the 5-ton, 10-foot high stump himself last year during a trip to Pike's Petrified Forest in Colorado.
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"I think my dad fell in love with her almost
immediately ... she was an independent little
lady." -Diane Disney Miller
2010:
Disneyland Resort is a featured locale in the MLB All-Star Game parade, which kicks off on this day at 11:30 a.m. The parade route moves along Convention Way and Harbor Blvd. to Disney Way, where the parade’s public portion ends. The parade then continues, through Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland theme park, allowing guests an opportunity to watch the parade from a close viewing spot. Later that evening, the National League beats the American League 3-1 at the 81st MLB All-Star Game played at Angel Stadium.
"Disneyland Resort is thrilled to participate in the MLB All-Star Game festivities, and help shine the spotlight on the entire Anaheim Resort
Area. With the Midsummer Classic here in our own backyard, I can't imagine a more perfect All-Star Game parade route than one that
concludes on Main Street U.S.A. in Disneyland park and allows our guests to join in the celebration." -George A. Kalogridis, President,
Disneyland Resort
1942:
Actor and producer Harrison Ford, famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series, is
born in Chicago, Illinois. Ford portrayed Solo (a reckless smuggler with a sarcastic wit) in the
George Lucas 1977 feature Star Wars as well as The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the
Jedi (1983). Ford's status as a leading actor was solidified when he starred as Indiana Jones in the
George Lucas/Steven Spielberg 1981 collaboration Raiders of the Lost Ark. He reprised the role for the
prequel Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), the sequel Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade (1989) and the fourth film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). Star
Wars and Indian Jones have been turned into some of the most popular attractions in Disney theme parks
all over the world. Ford also starred in the Touchstone Pictures film Six Days Seven Nights.
2012:
Disney Legend Ginny Tyler, most often remembered as the beloved "Disneyland
storyteller," passes away at age 86 in Issaquah, Washington. Born in 1925, she grew up in
Seattle and graduated from the University of Washington drama school. Tyler's first job with Disney was as
narrator on phonograph records for Disneyland Records in the 1960s. Tyler narrated beloved vinyl recordings of
Bambi, Babes in Toyland, Hans Brinker, and More Mother Goose. When the original Mickey Mouse Club was re-
edited and repackaged for syndication in 1962, Tyler was appointed Head Mouseketeer, live from Disneyland
where she hosted a live 15-minute daily segment of the program. (Tyler also gave voice to Polynesia the Parrot,
who helped teach Rex Harrison to talk to the animals in the 1967 film Dr. Dolittle.)
July 13
In Memory Of
