1955:
The Disney film Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, starring Fess Parker (as
Davy Crockett) and Buddy Ebsen (as Georgie Russel), is released. An edited
compilation of the first three episodes of the Davy Crockett Disney television series, the film will greatly
influence the design of Disneyland's Frontierland. The U.S. is in the midst of a national "Davy Crockett craze," with
hundreds of coonskin caps being sold, as well as a hit record of the theme song "The Ballad of Davy Crockett."
Disney's live-action short Arizona Sheepdog, directed by Larry Lansburgh, is released.
2003:
Mickey's All-American Pin Festival (a 2-month event) kicks off at Disneyland.
1908:
Actress & radio performer Barbara Luddy, the voice of Disney animated characters, is born in Great Falls, Montana. She is the voice of Kanga in many Pooh features including The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Rover in One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Merryweather in Sleeping Beauty and Lady in Lady and the Tramp.
1935:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Cookie Carnival, directed by Ben Sharpsteen, is released.
1936:
The New York Journal prints some outspoken opinions expressed by Jerome Kern (composer of such classics as The Song Is You and
Old Man River). Kern's words include:
"Cartoonist Walt Disney has made the 20th century's only important contribution to music. Disney has made use of music as language."
1944:
Puppeteer, actor and film director Frank Oz is born Richard Frank Oznowicz in Hereford, England. He is the voice of Fungus in the 2001 animated release Monsters, Inc. (Star Wars fans know him as the Jedi Master Yoda while Muppet/Sesame Street fans know him as the voices of Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Bert, and Grover!)
1970:
Actor, producer & writer Jamie Kennedy, the evil ice cream man in Disney's 2001 Max Keeble's Big Move, is born in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. (Fans of TV's Ghost Whisperer know Kennedy from his role of Eli James.)
1975:
David Kater, a member of the 90's TV show The All New Mickey Mouse Club (and the Broadway show "Phantom of the Opera") is born in La Puente, California.
1985:
The first Disney film of the Eisner-Wells regime, Jerry Saved from Drowning begins filming. (It will later be re-titled Down and Out in Beverly Hills.)
1986:
Today is the last day EPCOT guests will hear the original narration of the Spaceship Earth attraction. It will be replaced with a new narration by legendary newsman Walter Cronkite.
1989:
Actor Josh Saviano (of The Wonder Years television series) appears as a special guest on the Disney Channel series MMC. Today is Party Day!
1990:
"Here Come the Muppets," a live action and puppet stage show based
on the Muppets, opens at the Disney-MGM Studios park in Florida. (It
will be replaced by the Voyage of the Little Mermaid in 1992.)
1998:
The newly expanded Disney Orlando Animation Studio opens at Disney World. The new "Magic of Disney Animation" tour includes an expanded viewing area where guests are able to meet Disney animation artists and see the ongoing work on future animated releases.
2000:
Songwriters Tim Rice and Elton John receive an Ivor Novello Award (presented by the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters) for International Achievement in Musical Theatre for Disney's The Lion King.
1981:
The Kindercare Center child-care facility opens at Walt Disney World.
There is a radio studio located in
Disney's Hollywood Studios. It originally
housed the first children's radio
network Radio Aahs - which was
replaced with Radio Disney in 1996.
Disney later moved Radio Disney to new headquarters in Dallas, Texas. The once
bustling Disney Studios Florida radio
studios are now used as remote studios
for radio shows that are visiting Disney
or the Orlando area
and need a
broadcast facility.
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2007:
Radio Disney holds the Planet Premiere of "What Time Is It", the first single from High School Musical 2 (written by Matthew Gerrard and Robbie Nevil).
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End debuts in a
record 4,362 theaters on the day it goes into wide release.
1947:
Emmy Award-winning actress Karen Valentine is born in Sebastopol, California. Her Disney live-action credits include the 1979 The North Avenue Irregulars and the 1978 Hot Lead and Cold Feet. (Fans of classic TV know Valentine as
Alice Johnson on the series Room 222.)
1933:
The Silly Symphony short Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for one week. It is Disney's 36th Silly Symphony and the seventh in Technicolor. (A young man named Milt Kahl will later see this very short and be inspired to become a Disney animator ... and one of Walt's Nine Old Men!)
1983:
Pinocchio's Daring Journey, the last of the Fantasyland dark rides built in Disneyland, officially opens to the general public. (When Disneyland debuted, this location was home to the Mickey Mouse Club Theater.) Based on the animated classic, Jiminy Cricket guides guests through various scenes from the movie. Pinocchio's Daring Journey is the first Disneyland attraction to have first appeared at Tokyo Disneyland.
1968:
Actor Kevin Heffernan, Ron Wilson the bus driver in Disney's 2005 Sky High,
is born in West Haven Connecticut.
1931:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The China Plate,
directed by Wilfred Jackson, is released.
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MAY
MAY 25
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MAY 25
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
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2009:
Today is Memorial Day.
It is reported that Disney is readying a remake of the 1986
sci-fi adventure movie Flight of the Navigator.
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Three Little Pigs premieres
"I haven't got a good voice to carry narration, got a nasal twang, I know. I'm not being immodest, just being practical." -Walt Disney
1973:
Walt Disney World's Country & Western Spectacular kicks off for the first of three
days at the Magic Kingdom. Featuring Anne Murray, Faron Young and Freddie Hart, the special event is
included in Magic Kingdom park admission.
1960:
Cartoonist Walt Kelly writes Walt Disney a friendly letter.
Best known for his classic funny animal comic strip Pogo, Kelly's words include:
Just in case I ever forgot to thank you, I'd like you to know that I, for one, have long appreciated the sort of training and atmosphere that you set up back there in the thirties. There were drawbacks as there are to everything, but it was an astounding experiment and experience as I look back on it. Certainly it was the only education I ever received and I hope of I'm living up to a few of your hopes for other people.
(Kelly worked at the Disney Studios from 1936-1941.)
