2004:
Disney releases the animated The Three Musketeers, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, on DVD and video. An adaptation of the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, it features the voices of Wayne Allwine (Mickey), Tony Anselmo (Donald)
and Bill Farmer (Goofy).
1786:
Congressman, frontiersman, soldier and folk hero Davy Crockett is born David
Stern Crockett near the Nolichucky River (in what is now Greene County,
Tennessee). David Crockett was the fifth of nine children of John and Rebecca Hawkins Crockett, and was
named after his paternal grandfather. Commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier," in 1954 Crockett became wildly popular through Disney movies,
television programs and even a hit song!
1882:
Actor Charles Judels, the voice of Stromboli in Disney's classic 1940 release Pinocchio, is born in Amsterdam, Netherlands. During his career, he appeared in over 130 feature films.
1936:
Veteran Disney animator Les Clark (one of Walt's "Nine Old Men") speaks at a studio training course for new animators. Since the departure of Ub Iwerks, Clark has animated Mickey Mouse in numerous films, thus becoming a specialist on the character's personality and movement.
1941:
Walt Disney begins a goodwill tour of Latin America (underwritten by a $70,000
government grant) accompanied by his wife Lillian, studio employees Mary Blair, Frank
Thomas, Bill Cottrell, Ted Sears and 12 other animators and designers. On this day the group
traveling with Walt arrive in Rio de Janeiro via Pan American Airways for the start of their 10-week trip of South America.
1984:
The Walt Disney Company informs it's chairman Ron Miller that they want his
resignation. Disney has fallen to 14th in film box office. Miller's only qualifications to run a conglomerate
other than being Walt's son-in-law was that he was a tight end for the LA Rams. (Within two years of the
Michael Eisner regime taking power, Disney will be number one. Years later Miller will be praised for his
support of Disney's 1982 Tron.)
1992:
Original Mouseketeer Annette Funicello appears
on the cover of People magazine.
1999:
Disney releases Belle's Tales of Friendship direct-to-video. A live action/animated midquel to
Beauty and the Beast, Belle owns and works at her music and bookstore in France, where she entertains children with classic stories. The film stars Lynsey McLeod who portrays Belle in live-action form. It also stars the voices of Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, David Ogden Stiers, and Jerry Orbach who reprise their roles as Belle, Beast, Cogsworth, and Lumiere, respectively, in the animated form.
Airing on television is the hour-long special EPCOT International Flower & Garden Festival.
Attention Please, the sixth studio album and second major label album by the alternative rock band Caroline's Spine, is released through Disney's Hollywood Records.
2001:
The Disney Channel Original Movie Jumping Ship premieres, as does the Lizzie
McGuire episode "Gordo and the Girl". A sequel to the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Horse
Sense, Jumping Ship stars brothers Joey Lawrence, Andrew Lawrence and Matthew Lawrence. Michael
has big plans to show his cousin Tommy a good time aboard a luxury yacht until he discovers that the yacht
he's chartered is actually an old rusted fishing boat.
2002:
The Orlando Rays, the Class AA affiliate of Major League Baseball's
Tampa Bay Devil Rays, take on the Carolina Mudcats (for the first of a
4-game series) at Disney's Wide World of Sports complex in Florida.
Disney's Aida celebrates its 1,000th performance on Broadway at the
Palace Theatre on this evening in New York City.
2006:
Disney announces that Meg Gilbert Crofton, a 27-year veteran,
has been named the new President of Walt Disney World. She is
the fourth executive to lead Disney World since it opened in 1971, and the first female
to ever hold that position in the Florida resort. (Crofton first joined Disney in 1977 as a
marketing manager with Vista-United Telecommunications, a company subsidiary that
provided telecommunication services to the Disney World resort.)
The Simpsons make reference to Hannah Montana in a December 2007 episode.
Bart writes on a blackboard -
"The capital of Montana
is not Hannah."
2007:
Disney Channel debuts the much-anticipated
sequel High School Musical 2. The film follows Troy
Bolton, Gabriella Montez, and the rest of the East High Wildcats
as they go on summer vacation. The returning cast includes
Zac Efron, Vanessa Hudgens, Lucas Grabeel, and Ashley
Tisdale. An amazing 17.2 million viewers tune in, making it the
most-watched cable telecast ever! The film's soundtrack will also enjoy a widespread success; as it will be certified double platinum in its first week and debut at number one in the United States.
Disney Channel follows up the sequel with a sneak peek of a new animated series - Phineas and Ferb with the episode "Rollercoaster." High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale is the voice of Candace. (The show will "officially" debut as a regular series in February 2008.)
Hollywood Records recording artists Jonas Brothers appear on the new Hannah Montana episode "Me and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas and Mr. Jonas."
Disney World releases a commorative pin honoring Kitchen Kabaret as part of its White Glove Remember When series. Kitchen Kabaret, an original Epcot attraction, was an Audio-Animatronic show which closed in 1994.
1990:
The Disney Channel Premiere Film The Little Kidnappers debuts. The film features Leo
Wheatley and Charles Miller (as orphans Harry and Davy), and veteran actor Charlton Heston (as their
grandfather). The film tells the story of two young orphan boys who travel by themselves from the Old country to
join their father's family in Canada. There they encounter their stern disciplinarian grandfather.
Disney's Hollywood Pictures releases its second feature Taking Care of Business, a comedy starring James Belushi and Charles Grodin. A convict and a diehard Chicago Cubs fan,
Jimmy Dworski (Belushi) wins tickets to the World Series. Unfortunately, he still has a couple of days left to serve
in prison and the warden won't let him leave and come back. But with the help of other inmates, Jimmy sneaks out
of prison to see the game. On the way, he finds the filofax of uptight yuppie advertising executive Spencer Barnes
(Grodin), which promises a reward if it is found. Over the next day, Jimmy takes on the persona of Barnes. The cast includes Mako, Héctor Elizondo, John de Lancie, Veronica Hamel, Gates McFadden, and Anne De Salvo.
1920:
Actress/singer Maureen O'Hara is born in Dublin, Ireland. Fans of Disney's 1961 "The Parent Trap" will know her as Margaret 'Maggie' McKendrick (mother of identical twins Susan & Sharon). An icon of Hollywood's
Golden Age, at the height of her career, O'Hara was considered one of the world's most beautiful women and is often remembered today for her on-screen chemistry with such legendary leading men as John Wayne, Tyrone Power, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Known for playing passionate but sensible heroines in western and adventure films, some of her credits include "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1939), "How Green Was My Valley" (1941), "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947), "Father Was a Fullback" (1949) with Fred MacMurray, and "The Deadly Companions" (1961) - which co-starred Brian Keith, her "Parent Trap" colleague. After a 20-year retirement from the film industry, O'Hara returned to the screen in 1991 to star opposite John Candy in the romantic comedy drama "Only the Lonely." The first person to receive the American Ireland Fund Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1982), O'Hara passed at age 95 in her sleep at her home in Boise, Idaho, in 2015.
1958:
Singer Belinda Carlisle, best known as the lead singer of the all-female band The Go-
Go's, is born in Hollywood, California. She recorded two promotional versions of "I Won't Say (I'm in Love),
for Disney's Hercules (although a version was also released as a single in France & Germany).
1981:
A WEDWay PeopleMover opens at the Houston International Airport in Houston, Texas. The system has been constructed by Disney's Community Transportation Services division and is the first use of a Disney system outside of its theme parks.
1986:
Luxo Jr., the first film produced in 1986 by Pixar Animation Studios (following
its establishment as an independent film studio) premieres in Dallas. A computer-animated
short film (just two and a half minutes, including credits) it is John Lasseter's second short and the first film from Steve
Jobs' newly formed company Pixar. The success of Luxo, Jr. will be followed by a series of shorts (Red's Dream, Tin
Toy and Knick Knack) in which the Pixar artists explore and develop their medium, much as Disney had used
the Silly Symphonies as stepping stones to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
Today Luxo is the small hopping desk lamp included in Pixar's corporate logo.
Luxo Jr. will be re-released in 1999 along with Toy Story 2.
AUGUST 17
THIS DAY
MADE IN
THE USA
AUGUST 17
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"Let your tongue speak what your heart thinks." -Davy Crockett (born This Day 1786)
"Always be sure you are right, then go ahead." -Davy Crockett
Luxo Jr. premieres
High School Musical 2 debuts
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2010:
Walt Disney Records releases Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, the 8th studio
album by Beach Boy Brian Wilson. The album consists of covers of ten George and Ira Gershwin songs, bookended by passages from Rhapsody in Blue, along with two new songs completed from unfinished Gershwin fragments by Wilson and band member Scott Bennett. (In the summer of 2009, Walt Disney Records approached Wilson about recording his own arrangements of songs from Disney films; however, Wilson first wanted to record an album of Gershwin covers, which the label agreed to support. In the Key of Disney, the ninth studio album by Wilson, will be released on October 25, 2011.)
Toy Story Playland opens in Walt Disney Studios Park at Disneyland Paris. It is the first
Disney park to have a Toy Story themed area (although at Hong Kong Disneyland, Shanghai Disneyland, and
Disney's Hollywood Studios it will be known as simply Toy Story Land). The Disneyland Paris area features RC Racer, Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin, and Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop.
August 17
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
1975:
Disneyland's Celebration Summer kicks off for the first of 7 days featuring live music, special presentations and fireworks. Bo Donaldson and The Heywoods (who are enjoying success with
their hit "Billy Don't Be a Hero") perform on the Tomorrowland Stage while the all-new "Red, White and Blue" fireworks spectacular fills the sky each evening at 9:00 p.m.
1954:
Film director Luis Mandoki is born in Mexico City. He directed the 1993 Hollywood Pictures comedy Born Yesterday and the 1994 Touchstone Pictures romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman.
1967:
Actor David Conrad, known for his role of Ian Quinn on ABC-TV's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He also co-starred in the series Ghost Whisperer (along with Jennifer Love Hewitt) as Jim Clancy (between 2005-2010).
2018:
Disney's Hollywood Records releases Black Panther: Wakanda Remixed, a five-track EP that features remixes of tracks by DJ Dahi, WondaGurl, Baaba Maal, Michael Uzowuru, and Jeff Kleinman.
2017:
The soundtrack to the web television miniseries The Defenders is released on Disney's Hollywood Records. It features a score by composer John Paesano.
1988:
Animator Jack Cutting passes away at age 80 in California. First joining the Disney Studios at age 21, his credits included such early shorts as Springtime (1929), The Merry Dwarfs (1929), Summer (1930), Autumn
(1930), Winter (1930), Hell's Bells (1930), The Ugly Ducking (1931), and Father Noah's Ark (1933). Cutting left the studio at the end of the 1930s only to return at the beginning of the 1960s, in order to head Disney’s Foreign Department, where he supervised translations and dubbing of Disney’s animated films. He retired in 1975.
