1920:
Science-fiction, fantasy, and horror
writer Ray Bradbury, friend to Walt
Disney and a consultant to the
Imagineers who designed Epcot's
Spaceship Earth attraction, is born
in Waukegan, Illinois. Best known for
his stories The Martian Chronicles (1950),
Fahrenheit 451 (1953), and The Halloween
Tree (1972), Bradbury first met Walt Disney in
1963. Disney produced a film in 1983 based on Bradbury's 1962 tale Something Wicked This Way Comes
(written after Walt suggested he pen a story about the dark side of circuses and traveling amusements).
Because of his involvement with the 1964 New York World’s Fair, Bradbury became interested in the Epcot project
at Walt Disney World. (Brabury's 1969 short story "Downwind from Gettysburg" was inspired by Disney's Great
Moments with Mr. Lincoln.) In the original version of Epcot's Journey Into Imagination ride, the words 'Something
Wicked' are printed on the spine of one of the colossal books in the literature scene - a reference to the Disney
film and an ode to Bradbury. A self-professed "Disney nut," Bradbury came to the defense of Disney in 1965 upon
reading an article decrying Disneyland as vulgar entertainment. In response, he penned "The Machine-Tooled
Happyland," for the October 1965 issue of Holiday magazine. He later wrote the forward for Disney's biography
Remembering Walt. A shining moment for Bradbury came on Halloween night 2007, when "the Father of
Halloween" experienced his personal dream come true: the lighting of his very own Halloween Tree at Disneyland.
In celebration of the 35th anniversary of his 1972 novel, The Halloween Tree, Disney honored him by dedicating his own Halloween tree during a tree-lighting ceremony in Frontierland!
1929:
The Silly Symphony cartoon The Skeleton Dance is released. Directed by
Ub Iwerks, it is the very first of the Silly Symphony series. The short is animated by Walt, his
brother Roy, Ub Iwerks, Wilfred Jackson, and a very young Les Clark (who will go on to
become one of Walt's Nine Old Men).
1936:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Toby Tortoise Returns is released. Directed by Wifred
Jackson and animated by Ward Kimball, it is a sequel to Disney's 1935 The Tortoise and the Hare. In this short
Max Hare (a bragging bully) and Toby Tortoise combat each other in a boxing ring!
2002:
The 2002 Disneyana Mystery Event takes place (for 3 days)
at Epcot World ShowPlace.
2003:
The Disney Channel airs the That's So Raven episode
"Psychics Wanted" for the first time.
2006:
It is reported that Celebration, the Florida community Disney
created in Osceola County, will be getting its third hotel (the largest one
to date). Mona Lisa Development, the U.S. affiliate of Mona Lisa Hotels
and Residences of France, is partnering with the Related Group of Florida, one of the state's
biggest condo builders, to build a 450-room condo hotel in the southern part of Celebration.
(The hotel will welcome its first guests in August 2008.)
1905:
Animator Robert W. Youngquist is born in Rockford, Illinois. He spent his entire career at Disney (from 1935-1970) and worked on such features as Fantasia, Bambi, Fun and Fancy Free, Sleeping Beauty, and The Sword in the Stone, and such shorts as Bone Trouble, Canine Casanova, Pluto's Kid Brother, and Figaro and Frankie.
1956:
The Carefree Corner guest registration area opens at Disneyland. A little shop
located at the Hub end of Main Street, guests can sign one of the guestbooks for each U.S. state. (The Carefree Corner will operated until 1985, when it becomes Card Corner.)
2008:
Disney Channel's original movie musical The Cheetah Girls: One World is watched by 6.2 million total primetime viewers. In this third installment, the girls are off to India to star in a Bollywood movie. The final film of "The Cheetah Girls" trilogy, it stars Adrienne Bailon, Sabrina Bryan, and Kiely Williams.
AUGUST 22
THIS DAY
MADE IN
THE USA
AUGUST 22
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First Silly Symphony debuts
In the early days, Walt Disney World's Contemporary Resort
was to be originally called
The Tempo Bay Resort Hotel.
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"I know you've heard it a thousand times before. But it's true - hard work pays off. If you want to be good, you have to practice, practice, practice. If you don't love something, then don't do it." -Ray Bradbury
1927:
Disney's last Alice Comedy Alice in the Big Leagues is released. Alice
attempts to umpire a big league baseball game while the animals take exception to her bad calls!
1947:
Disney's Donald Duck cartoon Bootle Beetle is released. Directed by Jack Hannah, a young
beetle attempts to run away from home, but is stopped by a lesson about the dreaded bug collector - Donald Duck!
Actress and producer Cindy Williams is born Cynthia Jane Williams in Van Nuys, California. Her Disney credits include two episodes of The Magical World of Disney in 1986: "The Leftovers" and "Help Wanted: Kids." She also appeared in the 1988 Disney Channel movie Save the Dog. In 1989 she was part of the cast of the Disney Channel series Just Like Family, which was a spin-off of the “Help Wanted: Kids” episode (that ran for only one season). Williams was best known for her role as Shirley Feeney on the television sitcom "Happy Days" (1975–1979), and "Laverne & Shirley" (1976–1982). Her films credits include American Graffiti (1973) and The Conversation (1974).
Sadly she passed in 2023 at age 75.
Disney referred to Tempo Bay
(in the early days) as "the most
contemporary resort hotel."
2009:
Disney Live! Rockin' Road Show premieres in Lakeland, Florida. A touring
stage production, Mickey, Minnie and the gang round up acts for a spontaneous talent show.
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Ray Bradbury born
"But the fact remains that Disney is the first to make a robot that is convincingly real, that looks, speaks
and acts like a man. Disney has set the history of humanized robots on its way toward wider, more fantastic
excursions into the needs of civilization." -Ray Bradbury
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August 22
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
1987:
A milestone in the building of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa takes place
when the resort’s 10,150-pound cupola is hoisted into place.
Under construction since 1986, the resort will open in June 1988.
2017:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is released on Blu-ray, DVD, and 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray.
1997:
G.I. Jane, an action film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Demi Moore, is released. Co-produced by Disney's Hollywood Pictures and distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Pictures,
the film tells the fictional story of the first woman to undergo training in U.S. Navy Special Warfare Group.
1970:
Film producer Darla Kay Anderson is born in Glendale, California. She produced the 2010
film Toy Story 3, which was nominated for the 2011 Academy Award for Best Picture and which won the 2011 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Her Pixar credits include It's Tough to Be a Bug, A Bug's Life,
Monsters, Inc., Cars, Finding Dory, and Cars 3. In March 2018, it was announced that after nearly 25 years,
Anderson left Pixar to pursue other opportunities.
1967:
Actor/comedian Ty Burrell, best known for his role as Phil Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009-2020), is born in Grants Pass, Oregon. His film credits include National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Muppets Most Wanted, and Finding Dory (as the voice of Bailey). He also lent his voice to an episode of Doc McStuffins in 2011.
1977:
Film and television actor Sebastian Cabot passes away at age 59 in Canada.
The London-born actor played the gentleman's gentleman, Giles French, opposite Brian Keith's character, William "Uncle Bill" Davis, in the CBS-TV sitcom Family Affair (1966–1971). But Disney fans know Cabot for his voice contributions to The Sword in the Stone (1963) as both the narrator and Sir Ector, and The Jungle Book (1967) as Bagheera the panther. His live-action Disney credits included Westward Ho the Wagons! (1956) as Bissonette and Johnny Tremain (1957) as Jonathan Lyte. Cabot might be best remembered as the narrator of Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966), Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1968), Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977).
1913:
Animator, artist and actor Milton Quon is born in Los Angeles, California. Winnning a scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute (later called California Institute of the Arts), upon graduation he began working for the Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1939. As the third Chinese-American to be hired there, Quon worked on the "Waltz of the Flowers" and the "Arabian Dance" scenes in Fantasia (1940) and as first assistant animator on Dumbo (1941). He later ran Disney's publicity/promotions department, doing promo artwork for films including the 1946 releases Make Mine Music and Song of the South.
2011:
Voice actress Joan Gerber passes away at age 76 in Los Angeles, California. Best remembered for voicing Freddy the Flute for H.R. Pufnstuf (a popular live-action Saturday morning Sid and Marty Krofft series), her Disney credits included the television movie DuckTales: Treasure of the Golden Suns (1987), the series DuckTales (1987), the TV movie Super DuckTales (1989), the feature film DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990), and the series Goof Troop (1990).
1974:
Actress/singer Jenna Leigh Green is born in West Hills, California. She is best known to Disney fans for her performances as Libby Chessler for 75 episodes on the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
1958:
Ted Sears, an animator/writer during The Golden Age of American animation, passes away at age 58 in California. As the first head of Disney's story department, Sears did significant story work on many Disney features, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella,
Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan (for which he also wrote song lyrics), Lady and the Tramp, and Sleeping Beauty.
1980:
George Rippey Stewart, a novelist and a professor of English at the University of
California, passes away at age 85 in California. His great interest in and knowledge of ecological sciences, led him to write Storm (first published in 1941). The first ever ecological novel, it was dramatized as "A Storm Called Maria" on a 1959 episode of Disney's weekly television series. Stewart's book prompted the National Weather Service to use personal names to designate storms!
