1958:
Disneyland's ship Columbia is officially christened on the Rivers of America. Joe Fowler
(Disneyland’s construction supervisor and a former naval admiral) is on hand dressed as a sailing captain of the
1700s, with the Mousketeers appearing as his crew! The attraction will officially open 10 days later.
2005:
The Disney Magic sets sail from California on the second of 12 cruises
to the Mexican Riviera this season.
Key members of Hong Kong's travel industry visit the Hong Kong
Disneyland site to experience first-hand the progress behind the
first Disney theme park in China.
"Disney's First Customer Still Uses His Lifetime Pass" an
article by Tom Wharton appears in The Salt Lake Tribune.
It tells the story of Dave MacPherson, Disneyland's very
first paying customer.
1924:
Actor Dennis Weaver is born in Joplin, Missouri. He was the voice of
Abner in Disney's 2004 animated feature Home on the Range and appeared in The
Wonderful World of Disney's "Gallegher Goes West" 1960s serial as George Tucker.
(TV fans know Weaver best from the hit series Gunsmoke, Gentle Ben, and McCloud. In 1961 he appeared in
an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Shadow Play" where he was trapped inside his own dream!)
1968:
Actor Scott Wolf - the voice of Scamp in Disney's 2001 Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure - is born in Boston, Massachusetts. (TV fans may recognize him from the series Party of Five and Everwood.)
1990:
The Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel (a Starwood-operated hotel) opens at
1800 Epcot Resorts Blvd. between the Disney MGM Studios & the Epcot resort
area. Featuring a twenty-seven story main building and tower with four nine-story wings, the resort offers over 1,500 guest rooms, including luxury suites. Designed by Michael Graves, the hotel is adorned with two iconic
56-foot tall dolphins.
At Disneyland, the Bengal Barbecue a quick service food location in
Adventureland opens.
1992:
Euro Disneyland reports that since opening, 1.2 million people have visited.
1999:
Walt Disney World's newest attraction The Many Adventures of Winnie
the Pooh debuts in the Magic Kingdom. A dark ride based upon the film The Many
Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, it is located on the spot once occupied by
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. It will officially open to guests the following day. (Versions will later open at Disneyland
and Hong Kong Disneyland.)
Instinct, a psychological thriller film, directed by Jon Turteltaub and starring
Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding Jr., George Dzundza, Donald Sutherland and
Maura Tierney, is released by Touchstone Pictures. Years after he goes missing in the jungles of Africa, anthropologist Ethan Powell (Hopkins) resurfaces when it's discovered that he has murdered two poachers who were killing the gorillas he was studying. After spending an extended time living with the primates and without
any human contact, Powell seems to be unhinged, and psychiatrist Theo Caulder (Gooding Jr.) is called in to try
to get through to the withdrawn and angry man -- who may be wiser and saner than he appears.
2000:
Cirque du Soleil, the internationally acclaimed producers of permanent and
touring shows around the world, including La Nouba at Downtown Disney West
Side, hold auditions in Orlando, Florida.
Disney's Broadway musical Aida wins 4 Tony Awards at a ceremony televised from
Radio City Music Hall. Heather Headley wins for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (for
her role of Aida). Elton John and Tim Rice are awarded for Best Original Score Written for the Theatre. Broadway
veteran Bob Crowley is awarded for Best Scenic Design, and Natasha Katz earns a Tony for Best Lighting.
2006:
Disney's All-Star Music Resort at Walt Disney World opens their new family suites. Nearly 400 guestrooms have been converted to 192 family suites.
Disney's Broadway hit The Lion King gives its last performance -
number 3,571 - at the New Amsterdam Theater. It will shut down for one week
and reopen at the Minskoff Theater (on June 13). Beginning this fall, the
New Amsterdam will be home to Mary Poppins.
1991:
At Walt Disney World, the Company D Cast Member store opens in the Team Disney Building. The building, located at 1375 Buena Vista Drive, was designed by architect Arata Isozaki.
Disney World's "The Many
Adventures of Winnie the Pooh"
attraction is built on the former
location of "Mr. Toad's Wild
Ride." It contains a picture of Mr.
Toad presenting the Toad Hall
deed to Owl (look to the left
behind the car immediately
after
the ride
begins).
JUNE
1938:
Walt Disney's Snow White wrap party - also known as Walt's Field Day - is held
at the Norconian Hotel in Norco, California, for the next 2 days. A 7-page program (handed
out to all guests) is notable for an illustration of Mickey Mouse on the cover playing golf. Drawn by Ward Kimball,
it is the first appearance of Mickey with black pupils. Food and activity expenses are on the Disney Studio tab, though guests have to pay for their own alcohol and hotel rooms.
1956:
Actor Keith David - the voice of Apollo in Disney's animated Hercules - is born in New York City. His Disney voice credits also include House of Mouse, The Legend of Tarzan, Gargoyles and The Princess and the Frog (as the voice of Dr. Facilier).
2008:
A U.K. tour of the London production of Mary Poppins begins.
The show is scheduled to play through April 2009, with stops at the Theatre Royal, Plymouth, Birmingham
Hippodrome, Edinburgh Playhouse, Palace Theatre, Manchester, and the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.
JUNE 4
Today is Hug Your Cat Day
JUNE 4
 | ||||
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wins Tony Awards
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
USA
"In 1938, Snow White was a huge hit. You can’t believe how big it was. Walt and Roy announced that they were going to throw this huge, incredible “thank-you” party for everyone who worked for them. Wives, husbands, children, friends…all of them were invited to a weekend at the Norconian Hotel on Lake Norco."
-Animator & Imagineer Bill Justice
| ||||
1993:
Disney's Hollywood Pictures releases Guilty as Sin a thriller starring Don
Johnson and Rebecca De Mornay. An ambitious lawyer begins to have doubts about her latest client, a smooth-talking womaniser accused of murdering his wife. Fearing that he's guilty and that she may be his next target, the lawyer uses a detective to gather evidence against him, triggering a deadly battle of wits.
Life with Mikey, a comedy film starring Michael J. Fox, Christina Vidal, Nathan Lane, Cyndi Lauper and David Krumholtz, is released by Touchstone
Pictures. Mikey Chapman (Fox), a former child star and now a talent agent for child stars, discovers Angie
Vega (Vidal), a girl who pick-pockets for money and lives with her teenage sister and her boyfriend. Together,
they try to hit it big and earn her a role on a series of television commercials.
2004:
Disney-MGM kicks off the start of the fourth of five consecutive Star Wars Weekends. Celebrity guests include Warwick Davis (who was only 11 years old when he donned the furry mask and costume of the inquisitive Ewok, Wicket W. Warrick) and Mike Quinn (a puppeteer from the original saga that assisted in bringing Yoda to life in Return of the Jedi).
2011:
Betty Taylor, who played Slue-Foot Sue in Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue, passes away at the age of 91 at her home in Washington (one day after the death of Wally Boag, her longtime performing partner in the show). Taylor began playing the role in 1956, one year after Boag started, and continued until the show ended almost 31 years later. Born in October 1919, she
was inducted a Disney Legend (alongside Boag and tenor Fulton Burley) in 1995, 8 years after her retirement.
"We are deeply saddened by the loss of a second Disney Legend in just two days – Betty Taylor. Betty’s role as leading lady in Disneyland’s Golden Horseshoe Revue helped turn it into the longest-running stage show in entertainment history. It is a tragic coincidence that her
passing comes just one day after the death of longtime co-star Wally Boag." -Disneyland Resort President George A. Kalogridis
"In order to have Mickey’s head addressing the ball and at the same time smiling at the audience, I said, what the hell, I’ll use our regular
eyes…we’re using on the Dwarfs, Snow White, Goofy, Pluto…and put black pupils in them. This really caused a riot in the comic-strip
department. Fred Moore agreed that it gave Mickey more personality…[and] Walt bought it." -Ward Kimball
2012:
Stan Jolley, one of Disneyland's original designers, passes away at age 86 in
California. Born in 1926, he first came to Disney in 1953 working alongside artist friend Herb Ryman. As part of
the Disneyland design team, Jolley worked on projects that included the Golden Horseshoe saloon in Frontierland,
the Autopia ride in Tomorrowland, and the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction and interiors of Sleeping Beauty
Castle in Fantasyland. After the park opened, he designed the studio-office set that Walt Disney appeared in on his
weekly TV anthology series, "Disneyland." Jolley was also the art director for the Oscar-nominated 1959 cartoon
short "Donald in MathMagic Land" and an art director on the 1960 movie "Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a
Circus." After leaving Disney in 1960, he worked as an art director on numerous television series and feature films.
June 4
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
1971:
The first Grad Night of the season takes place at Disneyland.
This special event for high school seniors will also take place on June 10, 11, 15, 16, 17 and 18.
1975:
Actress Angelina Jolie is born in Los Angeles, California. Her Disney credits include
Maleficent and the sequel Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.
1964:
The Three Lives of Thomasina, an American-British fantasy film directed by Don
Chaffey, is released by Walt Disney Productions to U.S. theaters. About a cat and her
influence on a family, the film stars Patrick McGoohan, Susan Hampshire, child actor Matthew Garber and
child actress Karen Dotrice. (The film had premiered in New York last December.)
2019:
The world premiere of Dark Phoenix is held in Hollywood. A superhero film based on the Marvel
Comics X-Men characters, it is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. Starring James McAvoy, Michael
Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, and Sophie Turner, Dark Phoenix will be generally released to U.S. theaters June 7.
1981:
Actor, stand-up comedian, social critic, producer and writer T. J. Miller is born Todd Joseph Miller in Denver, Colorado. He voiced Fred, a comic-book fan and slacker, in the 2014 animated film Big Hero 6. His Disney television credits include episodes of Gravity Falls as the voice of Robbie Valentino.
1995:
The 2nd Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival comes to an end. This year's festival debuted a new miniature train and town display next to the Germany pavilion. Officially named the Epcot Garden Railway, the display showcased flowers amid the train tracks and buildings.
2002:
Bad Company: Music from the Motion Picture, the original soundtrack to Joel Schumacher's 2002 action comedy film Bad Company, is released via Hollywood Records.
1994:
The very first Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival comes to an end.
1976:
Disneyland's Grad Nite 76 takes place from 11:00 PM to 5:00 AM.
2021:
Actor Clarence Williams III passes at age 81 in California. First known for his role as Linc Hayes in the ABC series The Mod Squad (1968-1973), for Disney, he voiced the recurring role of Councilor Andam on
American Dragon: Jake Long (2005-2007) and Kobe in The Legend of Tarzan. Fans of Prince will remember Williams for his role in the 1984 blockbuster "Purple Rain," which led to appearances in such films as "52 Pick-Up," "Tales from the Hood," "Hoodlum," "Half Baked," "Life," "American Gangster" and "Reindeer Games," and such television shows as "Twin Peaks," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," and the "Mystery Woman" film series on the Hallmark Channel.
1969:
Actor/comedian Horatio Sanz is born in Santiago, Chile. A cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006, he later supplied the voice for Duncan in both Wreck-It Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet. His television voice credits include episodes of Fillmore!, Gravity Falls, Elena of Avalor, and Big Hero 6: The Series. In 2015, Sanz appeared in an episode of ABC's Modern Family and in 2019, 2 episodes of The Mandalorian as Mythrol.
1952:
Television writer, director, producer, consultant, story editor, author, composer and actor Mitchell Kriegman is born in Richmond, Virginia. He is the creator of Bear in the Big Blue House (1997) and The Book of Pooh (2001) for Disney Channel. Kriegman holds patents for a method of hybrid animation, known as Shadowmation, which combines high-definition virtual-environments with puppets and animatronics, composited and rendered in real time.
