"I came to Disney to help out for two weeks and I ended up staying 29 years."
-Disney Legend Buddy Baker
1921:
Writer, humorist, actor, and National Radio Hall of Famer Jean Shepherd - the voice
of the Father in Disney's Carousel of Progress attraction - is born in Chicago, Illinois.
Rex Allen, the original voice of the Father, was replaced by "Shep" around 1994 when the Carousel was updated to
include the more modern era. Movie fans may recognize his voice as the narrator of the 1983 holiday classic A
Christmas Story - which he co-wrote, based on his own semi-autobiographical stories. Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of
Bliss a 1988 TV movie following the family from A Christmas Story has aired numerous times on Disney Channel.
1951:
Disney's animated Alice in Wonderland has its world premiere
in England, at London's Leicester Square Theatre. It will be released
in the U.S. two days later. Based on Lewis Carroll's books "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the
Looking-Glass," it is the thirteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon.The film will be
nominated for an Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.
1955:
Walt Disney and actor Fess Parker (dressed as Davy Crockett) appear on the cover of LOOK magazine.
1959:
Actor Kevin Spacey, who supplies the voice of Hopper in Disney/Pixar's 1998 A Bug's Life, is born in South Orange, New Jersey.
Disney's live-action feature The Spaceman and King Arthur is released to theaters. A
comedy about an astronaut and his android double who travel back to the time of King Arthur, it features Dennis
Dugan, Jim Dale, Ron Moody, and Kenneth More.
1993:
Marcellite Garner, the original voice of Minnie Mouse in such early
classics as Plane Crazy, The Gallopin' Gaucho, and The Barn Dance,
passes away. She is the mother of organist and Lawrence Welk Show regular Bob Ralston.
2002:
Disney's movie The Country Bears debuts at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California. The film is followed by a live stage show featuring "the greatest bear rock band in history."
The Lizzie McGuire episode "You're a Good Man, Lizzie McGuire" debuts on Disney Channel as does the Disney Channel Original Movie Gotta Kick It Up.
Buddy Baker, composer & arranger for almost 200 Disney feature films, TV shows, and theme park attractions, passes away at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. He is 84. Disney staff composer George Bruns first brought Baker on board to help with the "Davy Crockett" TV series in 1954. When Baker retired from Disney in 1983, he was the last contracted music staff composer still on contract at any major Hollywood studio.
2006:
The role of Bert in the London production of Mary Poppins passes from Gavin Lee
to Gavin Creel. Tony-nominee Creel replaces Lee in the production at the Prince Edward Theatre as Lee
has been cast in the upcoming Broadway staging of Mary Poppins (which will begin performances in October at
the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City).
1986:
The Disney Channel Premiere Film The Parent Trap II, a made-for-TV sequel to The
Parent Trap, debuts. It stars Hayley Mills (the star of the original Parent Trap) as both Sharon and Susan.
"Uncle Orville's taken over the coolest spot in the house and
he's rigged up a real clever contraption. He calls it air cooling."
- Father in Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress
2007:
Disney's newest stage musical The Little Mermaid premieres its workshop run in Denver, Colorado. The show will play at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex through September 9, honing in preparation for its Broadway launch in December.
The Pixar Story, a documentary produced, written & directed by Leslie Iwerks (granddaughter of Disney Legend Ub Iwerks), premieres at the San Diego Comic-Con.
ENCORE! Cast Choir And Orchestra (made up of Disney Cast Members) perform "Hollywood! A Musical Tribute to the Silver Screen" at Epcot's World Showplace Pavilion. The first of a 3-night engagement, the performances will benefit the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Central Florida.
The all-cartoon Musical Wonderfilm!
2008:
Some 5.86 million viewers tune in to watch Disney Channel's 3-D concert film Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert.
JULY
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Disneyland's Germanic-style Sleeping Beauty castle
was designed by Disney Imagineer Herb Ryman and inspired, in part, by Neuschwanstein
Castle
in Bavaria.
The Pixar Story premieres
"He really formed my entire comedic sensibility—I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." -Jerry Seinfeld
1937:
Disney Studios holds an action analysis class led by instructor Don Graham.
(Snow White is in production at this time.) Graham's words of wisdom include:
"The only thing an artist has is the fact that he can do something that can't be done with a machine. He should say to himself, "Am I going to let a machine work me out of a job and a profession?" That is what it is going to do, unless the artist keeps moving. It is up to him. As long as jobs have to be done, and have to be done economically, the rotoscope is the quickest way to do it, the challenge will always be there. So it is up to the artist to deliver. He must do a drawing and say, "See here - my drawing may not be perfect as far as realism is concerned, but it has a spirit the rotoscope can never give you."
(A technique invented by Max Fleischer, rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films.)
