1865:
British author & poet Rudyard Kipling is born in Bombay, British
India. One of the most popular writers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his best
known work - the 1894 children's novel The Jungle Book, was released as a Disney
animated feature in 1967.
2008:
Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announces the
names of 25 important motion pictures (classics and genres
from every era of American filmmaking) to the National Film
Registry of the Library of Congress. Among the 25 chosen is a
Barstow family (from Connecticut) who were among 25 families to win a free trip to the
newly opened Disneyland as part of a "Scotch Brand Cellophane Tape" contest
sponsored by 3M. (The 25 films were chosen for there cultural, historical or aesthetical
significance - they are not selected as the "best" American films of all time.)
Ironically a few weeks later, actor/director Steve Martin (a self-described "Disneyland
junkie") will discover himself in the film!
2003:
A Holiday Inn replaces the Courtyard by Marriott
at Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney.
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1890:
Raymond Arnold Disney (one of Walt's older brothers and the second child born
to Flora and Elias Disney) is born in Chicago, Illinois. An insurance salesman his entire life,
Raymond actually sold insurance to Disney studio employees.
1928:
Disney's The Gallopin Gaucho premieres at the Mark Strand
Theater in New York City, with synchronized sound. Although
it is the second Mickey Mouse film to be created, The Gallopin Gaucho
(directed by Ub Iweks) is the third Mickey short to be released.
1937:
Donald Duck is published under his Italian name Paolino Paperino for the first time.
Paolino Paperino e il mistero di Marte (later reprinted in the USA as The Mystery of
Mars) by Federico Pedrocchi, is the first to feature Donald in an adventuring rather
than a comedic role. It is also the first of many to portray Donald as a space traveler.
1955:
Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Talent
Round-Up Day and Mouseketeer Paul Petersen's final episode.
1956:
Walt Disney appears on TV's The Ed Sullivan Show (along with Sid Caesar and Edward R. Murrow).
Actress, singer and activist Sheryl Lee Ralph is born in Waterbury, Connecticut.
Her Disney voice credits include the 1988 animated feature Oliver & Company and the series Recess.
1980:
The longest-running series in prime-time television history, The Wonderful World of Disney, is canceled (on NBC) after more than 25 years on the air.
The Selective Service System, in the midst of reminding 18-year-olds to register for
the draft, send a warning to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
The Selective Service says that Mickey is in violation of registration compliance.
Disney releases its 1964 musical feature Mary Poppins to VHS tape for the
very first time.
1997:
As of this day, Disney holds eight of the top ten spots on the All Time Movie Video Sales Chart with The Lion King (1); Aladdin (2); Cinderella (3); Beauty and
The Beast (4); Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (5); Toy Story (7); 101 Dalmatians (8); and Pocahontas (10).
The 2nd Epcot Holidays Around the World comes to an end.
2001:
Animator Ray Patterson passes of natural causes at age 90 at his Encino,
California home. His seven-decade career included Oscar-winning work for MGM, bringing Marvel
Comics superheroes to television, and animation for Disney's Fantasia, Dumbo, and several Pluto shorts (such
as Bone Trouble and Pluto's Playmate). He was also responsible for the classic animation of Jerry Mouse
dancing with Gene Kelly in the 1945 musical Anchors Aweigh.
1917:
Country singer/movie star Wesley Tuttle is born in Lamar, Colorado.
He yodeled as Dopey in Disney's 1937 classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Hidden Mickeys started out as
an inside joke by Disney
Imagineers in the 1980s.
"At age eleven I worked at Disneyland. I sold guidebooks at the park from 1956 to about 1958. I am as positive as one can be that I
appear about 20:20 into your film, low in the frame, dressed in a top hat, vest, and striped pink shirt, moving from left to right,
holding a guidebook out for sale." -Steve Martin
DECEMBER 30
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
DECEMBER 30
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Gallopin Goucho premieres with sound
DEC
"I think the majority of urban legends about Disney aren’t based on him, or hearing his voice. They’re based on
anecdotes other people have told without knowing him personally. As a consequence, it spread this view Walt
Disney as something other than flesh-and-blood. You have Disney lovers and haters who talk about things that
may not connect to the real guy." -Ted Thomas, film director & son of legendary animator Frank Thomas
1993:
New York City Deputy Mayor Barry Sullivan and the Walt Disney Company sign a "memorandum of understanding" for the renovation of the New Amsterdam Theatre
and renewal of the Times Square area.
(The New Amsterdam will officially be unveiled on April 2, 1997.)
Mack David, lyricist and songwriter, best known for his work in film and television, with a career spanning the period between the early 1940s and the early 1970s, passes away at age 81 in California. Born in New York City in 1912, he was particularly well known for his work on the Disney films Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland, and for the mostly-English lyrics through which Édith Piaf's signature song "La Vie en rose" gained much of its familiarity among native speakers of English. Among his 8 Academy Award nominations was the 1950 "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo," which he co-wrote with Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman. (David was the elder brother of American lyricist and songwriter Hal David.)
1988:
Tin Toy, a short by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by
John Lasseter, is officially released. The first testing of PhotoRealistic RenderMan,
it will win the 1988 Academy Award for Animated Short Film. Running just 5 minutes,
the film stars Tinny, a tin one-man-band toy, attempting to escape from Billy, a destructive baby.
The third short film produced by the company's small animation division, Tin Toy had premiered
in a partially completed edit at the SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques) convention in August 1988.
1957:
Dave Digs Disney by The Dave Brubeck Quartet is released on Columbia
Records for the first time. It marks the first time a musician (or in this case, a group of musicians)
dedicates an entire series of tunes to interpretations of children's fare - the films of Walt Disney! The Dave
Brubeck Quartet is comprised of Dave Brubeck (piano), Paul Desmond (alto saxophone), Norman Bates
(bass) and Joe Morello (drums). Recorded last summer, the Disney theme was Brubeck's idea ... hatched
after a family trip to Disneyland. (The album will be released digitally in 1994 with two bonus tracks.)
2011:
It is reported that a $5,000 grant has been given to the Appalachian Bear Rescue
(ABR) from The Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) in order to help
assist ABR in feeding the record number of bear cubs staying with the
organization this year.
2012:
Walt Disney World starts their Limited Time Magic promotion early with a week of
New Year's parties in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom. Starting on this day, kids of all
ages can celebrate 2013 as they "Bling in the New Year." The "Bling in the New Year" dance party takes place
on the Rockettower Plaza Stage and offers music, live entertainment, characters dressed in their New Year’s
best and a New Year’s countdown every hour. It will run each day through Jan. 5, 2013.
The Limited Time Magic promotion offers 52 weeks of special experiences, big and small, that will appear,
then disappear as the next surprise debuts. The events will be announced throughout 2013.
1st Limited Time Magic Event
December 30
"Alice In Wonderland" (Sammy Fain / Bob Hilliard) 9:24
"Give A Little Whistle" (Leigh Harline / Ned Washington) 7:32
"Heigh-Ho (The Dwarfs' Marching Song)" (Frank Churchill / Larry Morey) 3:53
"When You Wish Upon A Star" (Leigh Harline / Ned Washington) 4:49
"Some Day My Prince Will Come" (Frank Churchill / Larry Morey) 8:15
"One Song" (Frank Churchill / Larry Morey) 4:56
2016:
Chinese-born American artist Tyrus Wong passes away at age 106 in California.
Wong's career stretched from working as a Hallmark greeting card designer, to being a Warner Bros. film
production illustrator (1942–1968), and an inspirational sketch artist (1938–1941) for Disney. Getting his foot in the
door at Disney as an entry level animator, his big break came with the 1942 Bambi. After hearing about Walt
Disney’s "Bambi" project, Wong put together some paintings of deer in a forest, which impressed Walt enough to
use them as inspiration for the film. In 2001, Wong was named a Disney Legend, and in 2013 he had his artwork featured in the Walt Disney Family Museum.
2018:
Animator and director Don Lusk passes away at age 105 in San Clemente, California.
Hired by Walt Disney in 1933 (at age 20) as an inbetweener, Lusk's first film as an animator was the 1938
Ferdinand the Bull. His long list of Disney credits include Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Song of the South,
Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, and One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Lusk left Disney in 1960,
but continued to work as an animator through the 1970s - including more than 10 Charlie Brown specials for
Bill Melendez. Considered the "last living Disney animator of the golden age", Lusk was honored by ASIFA
Hollywood in 2015 with the Winsor McCay Award for lifetime achievement in the animation industry.
1959:
Actress, comedian, singer, dancer, screenwriter, producer, director, and author Tracey Ullman is born in Slough, England. She emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States where she starred in her own network television comedy series, The Tracey Ullman Show (from 1987 until 1990) which also featured the first appearances of the long-running animated media franchise, The Simpsons. Her Disney voice work includes Sofia the First, Kronk's New Groove, and Onward.
1986:
Actor Jeff Ward is born in Washington, D.C. He's known for his role of Deke Shaw in the ABC series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1968:
Animator Vladimir Peter "Bill" Tytla passes away at age 64 in Connecticut. Known for his work at Walt Disney Animation Studios (as well as Paramount's Famous Studios and Terrytoons) he is particularly noted for his Disney animation of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Saludos Amigos. Animator Fred Moore and Tytla were responsible for much of the design of Snow White and the definition
of the personalities of the seven dwarfs.
1983:
Voice actress Kaitlyn Robrock is born in San Diego, California. First known for her work with Warner Bros. Animation and Marvel Entertainment, she became the voice of Minnie Mouse (making her debut in Mickey Mouse: Mixed-Up Adventures and later The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse) after the death of Russi Taylor. Her Disney voice credits also include Amphibia, Doc McStuffins, and ThunderCats Roar.
1999:
The 4th Epcot Holidays Around the World ends.
2000:
The 5th Epcot Holidays Around the World comes to an end.
