2001:
Grammy Awards are given to Elton John and Tim Rice's "Aida" (Best Musical Show Album) and "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2, written by Randy Newman and performed by Sarah McLachlan (Best Song Written For a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media category).
Riders In The Sky are also presented with a Grammy for their
album "Woody's Roundup Featuring Riders In The Sky"
(a Walt Disney Records release).
Actress Isabella Acres, the voice of Katie, one of the Fireside Girls,
on Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb, is born in Atlanta, Georgia.
2003:
The Lizzie McGuire episode "Bunkies"
debuts on the Disney Channel. Also premiering
for the first time is the That's So Raven episode "Saving Psychic Raven".
1927:
The Alice Comedy Alice at the Rodeo, starring Margie Gay as Alice,
is released. Alice's cat Julius wins a bucking bronco contest at the rodeo! It is the 28th
appearance of Margie Gay; the third actress to play the title role (as Dawn O'Day played Alice for one short in 1925, after Virginia Davis).
1955:
Emmy-award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer, the voice of Stinky Pete
the Prospector in Toy Story 2 and the narrator of both Hand Behind the
Mouse: The Ub Iwerks Story and Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas, is
born in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. His Disney voice credits also include the 1995
short Runaway Brain and the 2004 Teacher's Pet. In 2017, Grammer appeared in an episode of
ABC's Modern Family. (TV fans know Kelsey from both hit sitcoms Cheers and Frasier. Although
not a Disney production, he appeared on the Broadway stage in 2015 playing Charles Frohman/
Captain Hook in the musical Finding Neverland.)
1997:
Club Disney, an interactive children's developmental play center and Disney's first
regional entertainment concept, opens its first unit in Thousand Oaks, California.
The very first Star Wars Weekend ever debuts at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.
They will be held for the next 5 consecutive weekends. (Not "weekend" events as they are known
today, Disney World did stage two Star Wars events back in 1977 and again in 1980.) Although a success in
1997, Star Wars Weekends won't be held again until 2000.
2002:
A sneak preview is held at the Disney Gallery (located in Disneyland) for an
exhibit featuring 100 images of Mickey Mouse by artist and former Disney
Imagineer Eric Robison. The special evening is hosted by original Mouseketeers Sherry Alberoni
and Bobby Burgess. The exhibit will officially open to the public 2 days later.
A Disneyland monorail stalls on a 25-foot high track, briefly stranding 65 passengers.
The guests are led down to the ground by firefighters using ladders!
Adam Vinatieri, who kick-started the New England Patriots' AFC playoff push
with two clutch field goals and then booted his team into the Super Bowl
winner's circle, appears at the Disney-MGM Studios. Surrounded by hundreds of cheering
fans and autograph seekers, Vinatieri presses both his famous feet into a 2-by-3-foot mold filled with wet
cement before signing his name for posterity.
1989:
Actor, singer & dancer Corbin Bleu is born in Brooklyn, New York. First known for his role of Chad Danforth on Disney's hit film series High School Musical, his credits also include the 2007 Disney Channel original Movie Jump In! Bleu's debut album, Another Side, was released in May 2007 on Disney's Hollywood Records.
1904:
Hazel Gilman, the Disney Studio nurse, is born in Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona.
Moving to Los Angeles in 1929, she was hired by the Walt Disney Studio after completing nursing school. Walt Disney
received a fairly serious neck injury in a polo game in 1938 and it was Gilman who helped nurse him back to health. But
under the pseudonym "Gil George," Gilman also co-write over 90 songs (with studio composer Paul Smith) for Disney!
She wrote songs for such films as The Light in the Forest, Perri, Tonka, Westward Ho, the Wagons, Old Yeller and
Pollyanna. She also contributed to television shows including the original Disneyland show, Zorro, and the original
Mickey Mouse Club. Her songwriting career ended when partner Smith retired in 1962, although as a nurse she
continued treating Walt right up until he entered St. Joseph's Hospital in 1966. (Incredibly, her contributions to Disney's
musical heritage are often overlooked.)
From 1955 until 2013, Disneyland's
Market House (on Main Street)
gave free refills on coffee. Visitors purchased a cup of coffee
and saved the receipt. There wasn't
any need to keep the cup - guests
brought back the receipt and
enjoyed free refills all day!
FEBRUARY 21
FEBRUARY 21
THIS
SITE MADE
IN THE USA
Disney wins Grammy Awards
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Corbin Bleu born
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1980:
4017 Disneya, a Main-belt Asteroid is discovered by Soviet and Ukrainian astronomer
Lyudmila Georgievna Karachkina at Nauchnyj. It is named for Walt Disney.
"Fame obviously has become a premium in everybody's life. Everybody thinks they deserve it, everybody thinks they want it and most people really don't enjoy it once they get it."
-Kelsey Grammer
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1965:
The episode "An Otter in the Family Airs" on Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Produced by Roy E. Disney, the hour-long program tells the tale of a young boy who finds an orphaned baby otter and decides to adopt him into the family.
1978:
Academy Award nominations are announced with Disney receiving 3 for:
Pete's Dragon - Music, Original Song Score
"Candle on the Water" (from Pete's Dragon) - Music, Original Song
"Somebody's Waiting for You" (from The Rescuers) - Music, Original Song
The 50th Academy Awards will be presented April 3.
2010:
Walt Disney's Broadway production of The Lion King celebrates another milestone
when it plays its 5,125th performance to become the eighth longest-running
show in Broadway history! With today's performance, the show moves up the top ten list of long runs,
surpassing the musical Rent (with 5,124 performances). In its 13th year, The Lion King first officially opened
Up is twice awarded at the 63rd ceremony of the British Academy Film Awards.
The Pixar animated film wins Best Original Music (Michael Giacchino) and Best Animated Film (Peter Docter).
1956:
Clarence Nash (the voice of Donald Duck), Cliff Edwards (Jiminy Cricket) and José
Oliveira (José Carioca) appear on the ABC-TV series Mickey Mouse Club.
Today is Guest Star Day.
1977:
Episode 26 of The New Mickey Mouse Club airs. Donald Duck and his nephews appear in
the Halloween themed cartoon, Trick or Treat and Nessie, the Loch Ness monster tells the history of
monsters and of the legends that surround Loch Ness.
Animation director, art director, producer and writer of traditional animation films John Hubley passes away at age 62 in Connecticut. First gaining a job as a background and layout artist at Disney in 1935, he worked on such classic films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio,
Dumbo, and Bambi, as well as "The Rite of Spring" segment from Fantasia. He left the company during Disney animators' strike in 1941, and found work directing films for Screen Gems and the Army's First Motion Picture Unit until he joined United Productions of America. In 1949 he created the Mr. Magoo cartoon character, based on an uncle, and directed the first Magoo cartoon. In the early 1970s, Hubley did television work for Sesame Street.
1979:
Actress, producer, television director and one-time singer-songwriter
Jennifer Love Hewitt is born in Waco, Texas. As a child actor, she appeared
in television commercials and the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated (1989-1991). As an
adult, her Disney credits include The Hunchback of Notre Dame II as the voice of Madellaine (the main protagonist's love interest), a choir member in the 1993 Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (a Touchstone production), and the voice of Thumbelina in the 2002 animated fantasy The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina. In 1998 she appeared in an episode of ABC's Boy Meets World. Hewitt starred as Melinda Gordon in the television series Ghost Whisperer (co-produced by Touchstone/ABC) for 5 seasons.
Jordan Haworth Peele, a filmmaker, comedian, and actor, is born in New York City. He is the voice of Bunny in the 2019 Toy Story 4.
Actor and singer Tituss Burgess is born in Athens, Georgia. He has appeared in numerous Broadway musicals including The Little Mermaid as Sebastian (at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in 2007-2008).
FEB
FEB
1970:
Boys' Club Days at Disneyland kicks off for the next two days.
February 21
FEBRUARY IS DCA MONTH
2016:
ABC-TV airs the "Wonderful World of Disney: Disneyland 60." A 2-hours special
celebrating the park's 60th anniversary, it features such celebrities as Harrison Ford, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dick Van Dyke, John Stamos, Hilary Duff, and Elton John. Indina Menzel sings
"Let It Go" from the animated Frozen and Disney reveals details about the Star Wars-themed lands planned for Disneyland and Walt Disney World Resorts.
2014:
The Wind Rises, a 2013 Japanese animated historical drama film written and directed
by Hayao Miyazaki, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network,
Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and
KDDI and distributed by Toho, is released in North America under Disney's
Touchstone Pictures. A fictionalized biopic of Jiro Horikoshi (1903–1982), designer of the Mitsubishi A5M
fighter aircraft and its successor, the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, used by the Empire of Japan during World War II, it was
the highest-grossing Japanese film in Japan in 2013. The English voice cast includes Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emily
Blunt, John Krasinski, and Martin Short.
1946:
Actor and director Alan Rickman is born in Hammersmith, London, England.
His Touchstone & Disney credits include The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005),
Alice in Wonderland (2010), and Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).
(Harry Potter film fans know him best for his role of Professor Severus Snape.)
1958:
Actor and screenwriter Jack Coleman is born in Easton, Pennsylvania. He is the voice of Dr. Strange on both the animated series Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. and Avengers Assemble. He also portrayed
United States Senator William Bracken on the ABC series Castle (2012–2015) and appeared in a 2003 episode of the
ABC sitcom According to Jim. (Coleman is perhaps best known for playing the role of Steven Carrington in the 1980s
prime time soap opera Dynasty, and for portraying Noah Bennet in the science-fiction drama series Heroes as well
as his recurring roles as State Senator Robert Lipton on The Office.)
2020:
Onward, an upcoming computer-animated urban fantasy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures, premieres at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. The film, about two teenage elf brothers in search of magic, will open in limited release in the United States on February 29.
Walt Disney Records releases Disney Junior Music: Puppy Dog Pals - Pup-tastic Party.
The Call of the Wild, an adventure film based on the Jack London 1903 novel of the same name, is released by 20th Century Fox (a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios). Starring Harrison Ford, a domesticated St. Bernard/Scotch Collie dog named Buck is stolen from his Santa Clara, California home and sold to freight haulers in Yukon. Crossing paths with a man named John Thornton (Harrison), the two embark on an adventure where Buck finds his true place in the world.
Also released is The Call of the Wild (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) featuring English composer John Powell.
1994:
Actress and singer/songwriter Hayley Orrantia is born in Arlington, Texas. Best known for portraying Erica Goldberg on the ABC comedy series The Goldbergs, she was a member of Lakoda Rayne, a country pop girl group assembled by Paula Abdul during the first season of The X Factor. In April 2017, Orrantia
attended the Radio Disney Music Awards in California.
2006:
The Melody and the Energetic Nature of Volume, the debut studio album by Canadian rock band Evans Blue, is released on Disney's Hollywood Records.
The album will spawn two singles, "Cold (But I'm Still Here)" and "Over," and sell more than 200,000 copies.
1924:
Actress Rue McClanahan is born in Healdton, Oklahoma. Best known for her role as Blanche Devereaux on The Golden Girls (1985–92), she and the other principal cast members were named Disney Legends in 2009. The wildly popular Touchstone Television series aired on NBC. In 1992, she starred in The Golden Palace, again for Touchstone Television, in which she reprised the role of "man-happy" Blanche.
1961:
Actress Martha Hackett is born in Boston, Massachusetts. She portrayed Mrs. Gibson in the 2014 comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Best known for her portrayal of Seska in thirteen episodes of the television series Star Trek: Voyager, she is married to filmmaker Tim Disney (a son of Roy E. Disney).
2017:
Disney's Moana is released on Digital HD/3D and Disney Movies Anywhere.
