1927:
Disney's Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit short Empty Socks is released.
The silent black & white cartoon - featuring Oswald as Santa - is the first ever Disney
Christmas themed short. Directed by Walt Disney himself, the animation credits include Ub
Iwerks, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton, and Hugh Harman.
1937:
Disney's Sunday color newspaper strip features the first glimpse of the characters
from the upcoming film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The strip, written by Merrill de
Maris and drawn by Hank Porter, features a different storyline from the animated film (set to debut December 21).
1941:
Disney's animated educational short 7 Wise Dwarfs is released.
The short is made for the National Film Board of Canada to promote the purchase of Canadian War Bonds. The film
shows the dwarfs mining for gemstones, and later investing them in Canadian War Savings Certificates, all the while
singing a variant of the song "Heigh-Ho."
1950:
Actress and singer Darleen Carr, the voice of Shanti who sang "My Own Home
(The Jungle Book Theme)" in Disney's 1967 The Jungle Book, is born in Chicago,
Illinois. Her Disney credits also include the series Darkwing Duck, episodes of Gallegher Goes West and the
comedy Monkeys, Go Home. (Carr dubbed the childrens singing voices for the 1965 classic Sound of Music.)
1952:
Disney's Goofy short How to Be a Detective, directed by Jack Kinney, is released. Goofy is "Johnny Eyeball, Private Eye," a detective on a mission to solve a mystery.
1955:
Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Fun With Music Day.
1956:
The Disneyland television series airs the episode "Pluto's Day." Walt Disney looks at
a typical day in the life of Pluto (voiced by Pinto Colvig).
1958:
The television series Walt Disney Presents airs "Elfago Baca: Law and Order,
Incorporated" (the 4th episode about a gunslinger-turned-lawyer played by
Robert Loggia).
2000:
The Disneyland Pacific Hotel re-opens as Disney's
Paradise Pier Hotel. The 502-room hotel has been
brightly painted and decorated to reflect the new beachfront theme,
and offers hotel guests a private entrance into Paradise Pier and the
rest of the new Disney's California Adventure theme park.
Disney's direct-to-video Air Bud World Pup is released.
2005:
It is reported that The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe topped the British box office with the biggest-ever opening weekend receipts for a Disney film.
Radio Disney officially premieres "Five More Days 'Til Christmas" a single by The Cheetah Girls off their current holiday album Cheetah-Licious Christmas.
1949:
Actor & comedian Bill Nighy, who portrayed Davy Jones (Captain of the Flying
Dutchman) in the 2006 Disney feature Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, is
born in Surrey, England. He also provided motion capture & voice acting for the 2007 Pirates of the
Caribbean: At World's End and played Leonard Saber, a former weapons dealer and the head of Saberling Industries,
in the 2009 G-Force.
2006:
Emmy Award-winning actor Peter Boyle passes away at a New York City hospital.
Best known as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Boyle had a role in all
three of Disney's The Santa Clause films. In The Santa Clause, he plays Scott Calvin's boss. In The Santa
Clause 2 and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, he plays Father Time. (Movie fans will forever
remember him as the monster in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy classic Young Frankenstein.)
The International Press Academy announces its official nominations for the 11th
Annual SATELLITE Awards (honoring film television, DVD, and new media). Among
those nominated is the Disney/Pixar feature Cars for Best Motion Picture - Animated or Mixed Media.
Air Buddies is released direct-to-DVD as is the animated sequel The Fox and
the Hound 2.
Several attempts, in the early 1970s, to make a wave machine work at Walt Disney World's Polynesian Village Resort resulted in failure.
The plan was to have
artificial waves crash along the
beach. But the waves
caused massive beach erosion,
and the machine was
switched off only a few
months after the
resort opened.
DECEMBER 12
Today is Poinsettia Day
1946:
Walt and Lillian Disney arrive in New York aboard the ocean liner Queen
Elizabeth. They have been in England and Ireland for the last few weeks.
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
DECEMBER 12
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1931:
The United Artists feature-length documentary Around the World in 80 Minutes with Douglas Fairbanks is released. Mostly comprised of glorified home movies taken by film star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. during a trip to the Orient, it also includes an animated sequence by Disney. A special cartoon scene created just for the Fairbanks film features a dancing Mickey Mouse.
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DEC
"People say I still have the innocence of a child. Maybe I have. I still look at the world with wonder, and with all living things I have a terrific sympathy. It was the most natural thing in the world for me to imagine that mice and squirrels might have feelings just like mine." -Walt Disney
SEASON 3 EPISODE 12
1957:
Disney airs the 10th Zorro episode "Garcia's Secret Mission" for the first time on
ABC. In a plan to learn Zorro's whereabouts, a dishonorably discharged Sergeant Garcia (played by Henry Calvin)
mingles with the night rider's friends.
2009:
Actor Jonathan Freeman joins the Broadway cast of Disney's Mary Poppins in
the dual role of Admiral Bloom and Bank Chairman. Mary Poppins marks Freeman’s third
Broadway musical with Disney, as he originated the role of Grimsby in The Little Mermaid and appeared as
Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast.
1954:
Clarence C. Nash (the voice of Donald Duck) appears as a guest on the television
game show What's My Line?
1981:
CBS-TV airs the two-hour documentary Walt Disney ... One Man's Dream.
Co-starring Michael Landon and Dick Van Dyke as presenters (at Disneyland and WDW respectively), various entertainers and artists look at Disney's influence through his work.
2010:
The American Film Institute names the Disney/Pixar 3-D feature Toy Story 3 one
of its best 10 movies of 2010 (the only animated feature to crack AFI’s list).
Christmas Cupid, an original movie for ABC Family starring Chad Michael Murray, Christina Milian and Ashley Benson, first airs.
1971:
The following announcement appears in this day's edition of the Orlando Sentinel:
Walt Disney World’s first Christmas will be a spirited two-week holiday full of gaiety, tradition, colorful Disney character parades, and commemorative religious pageantry of the season. Yuletide decorations will bring added sparkle to the already fun-filled Magic Kingdom — ‘decked out’ literally for Christmas with a giant tree and
hundreds of wreaths of hemlock and holly. Special daily Holiday Parades and two mammoth candlelight
processionals are part of the spectacular events scheduled for the holidays.
1975:
Actress Mayim Bialik is born Mayim Chaya Bialik in San Diego, California. Her first feature film was Touchstone's 1988 "Beaches," playing the role of Bette Midler's character as a young girl. Better known as the star of the NBC-TV sitcom "Blossom" (co-produced by Disney's Touchstone Telelvision), her Disney voice credits include "Disney's Recess," "Kim Possible," "Lloyd in Space," and "Star vs. the Forces of Evil." Fans of "The Big Bang Theory" know Bialik best as Amy Farrah Fowler for seasons 4-12.
1998:
The twenty-second episode of Disney's Recess, "Economics of Recess/Omega Kids"
premieres on ABC-TV.
Animator and directror Don Patterson passes away just shy of his 89th birthday in California. Older brother of animator/director Ray Patterson, Don began working at the Walt Disney Animation Studios in the 1940s, contributing to four films: Fantasia, Dumbo, The Three Caballeros and Make Mine Music. He went on to work at MGM, Walter Lantz, and Hanna-Barbera
2012:
On this day (12/12/12) at 12:12 p.m., The Walt Disney Studios unveil an all-new
Digital Studio Center. Designed with the future in mind, the center is a highly flexible, state-of-the-art,
post-production facility that will provide a hub for servicing the technical demands of the digital media workflow.
The Digital Media Center occupies 8,000 square feet and is home to The Walt Disney Studios’ Digital Studio
Services team, which performs over 45 different digital file-based workflow jobs, mostly focused on preparing
films for a variety of traditional and new media distribution platforms.
December 12
2013:
Nominations for the 71st Golden Globe Awards are unveiled on this morning at
the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles. Among the nominations -
-Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama): Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)
-Best Animated Feature Film: Frozen
The Golden Globes will be handed out on Sunday, January 12, 2014.
2016:
Nominations for the 74th Golden Globe Awards are announced. Among the nominations -
-Best Animated Feature Film: Zootopia and Moana
-Best Original Song: "How Far I'll Go" (from Moana)
Winners will be announced January 8, 2017.
2008:
Nominations for the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards are announced.
"Down to Earth" from WALL-E and "I Thought I Lost You" from Bolt are both nominated for Best Original
Song – Motion Picture. Both films are also up for Best Animated Feature Film. Winners will be announced
January 11, 2009.
1965:
Actor Johnny Lee passes away at age 67 in Los Angeles, California. His only role
for Disney was providing the voice for Br'er Rabbit in the 1946 Song of the South.
1993:
Disneyland's Candlelight 93 takes place on this Sunday. Guests have unlimited use of all 55 major attractions and can view a 2:00 pm offering of The Very Merry Christmas Parade. At 6:00 pm a Candlelight Procession is presented in Town Square.
