1938:
adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." The show is presented live from the Music
Box Theatre in Hollywood, California. Walt himself is interviewed by host Cecil B. DeMille twice during the hour-
long radio presentation. Voice actors from the original film include Roy Atwell (Doc), Billy Gilbert (Sneezy),
Moroni Olsen (Mirror), and Stuart Buchanan (Huntsman). Buchanan also plays the voice of Grumpy for this radio
production. The rest of the radio cast includes Thelma Hubbard (Snow White), James Eagles (Prince), Rolfe
Sedan (Happy), Jack Smart (Bashful), Lou Merrill (Sleepy), Paula Winslowe (Queen) and Gloria Gordon (Witch).
2005:
Toy Story 2: Special Edition, a 2-disc DVD package, is released.
Character actor Vincent Schiavelli passes away in Sicily, Italy at age 57. During his career he made over 120 film and television appearances including the 1995 remake of Disney's Escape to Witch Mountain. He also appeared in a 1987 episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, titled "Bride of Boogedy." (Often described as "the man with the sad eyes," Schiavelli was noted for his numerous and often critically acclaimed cameo appearances in such feature films as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amadeus, and Ghost.)
1923:
Walt Disney receives a telegram from New York cartoon distributor Margaret Winkler stating that she has received his Alice Comedy Alice's Day at Sea.
1927:
Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short Rickety Gin is released.
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1932:
Newsman Dave MacPherson is born in Ithaca, New York. In
July 1955 he made Disneyland history when he became the first paying
customer to enter the Anaheim park!
1955:
Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Fun With Music Day.
1956:
ABC-TV's Disneyland series airs the episode "Searching for Nature's Mysteries."
1995:
Disney's TV pilot "Family Values" airs.
2001:
Julie Andrews (of Disney's Mary Poppins fame) and other actors are
hailed on CBS-TV's "The Kennedy Center Honors."
Sir Nigel Hawthorne, the voice of Professor Porter in Disney's Tarzan,
dies at age 72 after battling cancer for a year-and-a-half.
2002:
Florida Governor Jeb Bush & his parents, former President George Bush & former first lady Barbara Bush, board the Disney Wonder for a 3-night cruise.
2003:
USC and Michigan (who will play the Rose Bowl on January 1)
make their first official pre-Rose Bowl appearance in Disney's
California Adventure park at the Disneyland Resort.
Today is Boxing Day
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2006:
Deborah Lew and Stephen R. Buntrock become Broadway's
newest Belle and Gaston in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.
Mickey Mouse, the Disneyland Band and fans welcome the University of
Southern California and the University of Michigan football teams for a pre-Rose Bowl salute at Disneyland. The Trojans (10-2 overall) and the Wolverines (11-1
overall) will meet in the 93rd Rose Bowl game played in Pasadena on New Year's Day.
Ron & Dawn DeFore, two of the
children of actor Don DeFore (owner of
Don DeFore's Silver Banjo Barbecue
restaurant - at one time located in
Disneyland) once "filled in" for Walt
Disney's grandchildren during the
annual Disneyland Christmas Parade.
2007:
Disneyland welcomes 2008 Rose Bowl contenders Illinois and Southern California football teams for a special celebration.
1953:
Disney's animated Peter Pan is released in Denmark and Norway.
DECEMBER 26
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
DECEMBER 26
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1941:
Disney's Goofy cartoon The Art of Self Defense, directed by Jack Kinney, is
released. The first short in which Goofy is shown to have multiple duplicates, he defends himself through a history of the "manly arts." Starting with scientific conditioning, Goofy, in typical "how to" fashion, demonstrates everything from shadow boxing to jump roping, before a big night in the boxing ring.
1947:
Disney's Pluto short Pluto's Blue Note, directed by Charles Nichols, is released.
Pluto loves to sing ... but no one wants to listen!
DEC
"No matter how good a picture we turn out, I can always see ways to improve it, when it’s too late. So I try to put the idea to work in the next picture. I’m just as amazed at the success of our cartoons as anyone else. Sometimes I pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming." -Walt Disney
1957:
ABC-TV's Zorro series debuts the episode "Zorro, Luckiest Swordsman Alive."
Disney's Mars and Beyond is released as a 49-minute "mini-feature" to theaters.
First televised on ABC on December 4, it is directed by animator Ward Kimball.
1973:
Paul and Linda McCartney host an episode of Disney Time. Disney Time is a UK holiday
television series running on the BBC since 1970.
1939:
Disney staff begin the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake to a new one in Burbank. The success of the 1937 Snow White has allowed Disney to build the new modern campus on some 51 acres of land. It is designed around the animation process, with the large animation building in the center of the campus, and adjacent buildings for the story department, the music department, the ink-and-paint departments, and the other various functions of the studio. (The move will take a little over a week.)
1967:
The United States Federal Bureau of the Budget announces that California will be granted a right-of-way through Sequoia National Park for improved road access to Disney's proposed Mineral King ski resort. (The resort will never be built.)
1892:
Comic & character actor Don Barclay, the voice of the Doorman in Disney's 1950 animated classic Cinderella, is born in Ashland, Oregon. Barclay's Disney credits include Mary Poppins, One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Peter Pan, and Alice in Wonderland. Aside from being a talented comic/character actor, Barclay was also a cartoonist who enjoyed drawing caractures.
1998:
The twenty-third episode of Disney's Recess, "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave"
premieres on ABC-TV. Originally scheduled to air earlier in the month, this holiday episode centers
around Mikey ... the only fourth grader who still believes in Santa Claus.
December 26
2015:
The No. 5 CFP-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes (champions of the Big Ten West Division) and
No. 6 CFP-ranked Stanford Cardinal (champions of the Pac-12 Conference) make
their first official appearances of the Rose Bowl Game week during a ceremony at
Disney California Adventure Park. The football teams and their coaches are joined by Tournament of
Roses President, Mike Matthiessen, Mickey Mouse, and Disneyland Resort President Michael Colglazier.
The teams will play in the 102nd Rose Bowl Game on Friday, January 1, 2016.
1968:
Byron P. Howard, film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, and story artist
is born in Misawa, Japan (he will be raised in Washington state). Beginning his career at
Disney in 1994, he first worked as an animator on films including Pocahontas, Mulan, Lilo & Stitch and Brother
Bear. Today he is best known as the co-director of Bolt, Tangled, and Zootopia.
1980:
David Lowery, filmmaker, director, writer and editor, is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 2016, he directed the Disney film Pete's Dragon, a live-action film which he had co-written. It was a new work
loosely based on the same original story as the Disney 1977 musical of the same name.
1991:
Actress Eden Sher, best known for her role as Sue Heck on the ABC comedy
series The Middle, is born in Los Angeles, California. She is also the voice of Princess Star
Butterfly on the Disney XD/Disney Channel original animated series Star vs. the Forces of Evil.
1960:
Actor Temuera Morrison is born in the town of Rotorua, in the North Island of New Zealand. He portrayed Jango Fett and was the voice of the clone troopers in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). Morrison also voiced Chief Tui, the father of the title character in Disney's Moana (2016).
2019:
Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, known for his work in Broadway musical theater, passes away at age 88 in Miami, Florida. Best known for the hit musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La Cage aux Folles, many of Herman's show tunes have become pop standards. Two of his tunes - "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" can be heard in the Disney/Pixar 2008 release Wall-E.
"I immediately said yes (when Disney asked for the rights to use these two songs in the film), but I had no idea
that (‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’ and ‘It Only Takes a Moment’) were going to be that instrumental in the
message of the (movie). So I'm absolutely thrilled." -Jerry Herman
1986:
Actress Elsa Lanchester passes away at age 84 in Los Angeles, California. Her Disney credits include the live-action features Rascal, Blackbeard's Ghost, That Darn Cat!, and Mary Poppins (as the departing nanny, Katie Nanna). Lanchester also appeared as Mrs. Formby in My Dog, The Thief (a 2-part episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1969). A character actress with a long career in theatre, film and television, Lanchester may be best remembered as the Monster's mate in the 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein.
1909:
Animator and directror Don Patterson is born in Chicago, Illinois. 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.
