1939:
Walt Disney receives a special Oscar for his classic 83-minute animated film Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs, at the 11th Academy Awards held at the Biltmore Hotel
in Los Angeles, California. Eleven-year-old child star Shirley Temple presents Walt with one statuette and
seven miniature statuettes for "a significant screen innovation which has charmed millions and pioneered a great new
entertainment field for the motion picture cartoon." (It is film director Frank Capra who has come up with the idea of a
full-sized Oscar statuette with seven smaller ones descending in a row.) Also awarded is the Disney/RKO short
Ferdinand the Bull for Best Short Subject, Cartoon, beating out 4 other animated shorts including Disney's own
Brave Little Tailor! (It is the first Academy Awards show without any official host.)
2004:
"Snow White - An Enchanting Musical" begins running at Disneyland. The
live production is the most elaborate stage show to be produced for the
Fantasyland Theatre.
Fortune magazine reports The Walt Disney Company is
America's most admired entertainment company based on a survey of top
entertainment industry executives, directors and securities analysts.
1927:
A young artist - fresh out of high school - named Leslie James Clark reports
to work at the Disney Studios at 2719 Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood, California. (Les had met Walt while serving him ice cream at a Hollywood confectionary on Vermont Avenue.) Walt warns him "it might be just a temporary job." Les Clark will go on to become the first of Walt's "Nine Old Men" and stay with the Disney Studio for nearly half a century until his retirement in 1975!
1935:
Disney's Mickey Mouse short The Band Concert
is released at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City
(the first Mickey cartoon to be shown at the Music Hall).
Also the first official Mickey cartoon in Technicolor, it is directed by Wilfred
Jackson (who will go on to direct such Disney classics as Peter Pan), and
features the animation of such famous names in Disney history as Les
Clark, Jack Kinney, Wolfgang Reitherman and Dick Huemer. (Huemer will
later regard The Band Concert as the most perfect animated short ever
made.) In The Band Concert, Mickey leads his ensemble through a rendition of "The William Tell Overture"
while Donald Duck and a passing tornado interrupt! (The Band Concert will later be the major theme for the
attraction, Silly Symphony Swings at Disney's California Adventure.)
1940:
Disney's second animated feature Pinocchio (which premiered in
early February) is generally released in the U.S. Unlike Snow White, it
will not initially be a financial success and its release in Europe and Asia will be delayed
because of World War II. Based on the 1883 Italian children's novel "The Adventures of
Pinocchio" by Carlo Collodi, the plot involves an old Italian woodcarver named Geppetto
who carves a wooden puppet named Pinocchio who is brought to life by a blue fairy. The
voice cast features Dick Jones as Pinocchio, Cliff Edwards as Jiminy Cricket (a cheerful,
intelligent, and wisecracking cricket), Christian Rub as Geppetto, and Clarence Nash as
Figaro (Geppeto's spoiled pet cat). The songs in Pinocchio, including "When You Wish
Upon a Star," have been composed by Leigh Harline with lyrics by Ned Washington.
Actor, director and screenwriter Peter Fonda is born in New York City. Son of Henry Fonda, younger brother of Jane Fonda, and father of Bridget Fonda, Peter was a part of the counterculture of the 1960s. Best known for his role in the 1969 film Easy Rider, he played the part of Damien Blade in the 2007 Disney comedy
Wild Hogs. He also supplied voices for 2 episodes of the animated Milo Murphy's Law.
1955:
Disney's 3rd installment of the 5-part Davy Crockett trilogy
"Davy Crockett At the Alamo" airs on ABC-TV's Disneyland series.
1964:
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs the 3rd and final episode of "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh."
2000:
British rocker Phil Collins wins a Grammy for his work on Disney's Tarzan soundtrack. Instrumental Composition for a Motion Picture
or for Television is awarded to A Bug's Life, composed by Randy Newman.
2001:
Mardi Gras at Downtown Disney Pleasure Island begins today in
Florida. (It will run through the 27th.)
Disney Channel airs the Lizzie McGuire episode "Jack of All
Trade" for the first time.
2002:
As part of Walt Disney's 100th birthday celebration,
The Disney Gallery (located in New Orleans Square in Disneyland) opens its doors to reveal a special art exhibit featuring 100 images of Mickey Mouse created by former Disney Imagineer Eric Robison.
The exhibit will remain on display through September 8th.
At Walt Disney World, one of the park's longest running shows, Legend of the Lion King, has its final curtain call after more than 75,000 performances.
(A new 20-minute 3-D film called Mickey's PhilharMagic will replace it.)
The premiere screening of Disney's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True is held at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. (It will premiere exclusively on DVD and video on February 26.) Voice-over actresses Jennifer Hale and Russi Taylor and recording artist Brooke Allison are all on hand for the event.
2003:
At the 45th Grammy Awards (held in New York City) "If I Didn't Have You" - from Disney's Monster, Inc. written by Randy Newman - wins
Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media. Also Monsters, Inc. - Scream Factory Favorites (by Riders in the Sky) wins for Best Musical Album for Children.
2008:
Comedy legend Don Rickles (the voice of Toy Story's Mr. Potato Head) visits Walt
Disney Imagineering in Los Angeles. Disney Imagineers have created a sophisticated Audio-
Animatronics figure featuring the voice of Rickles for 'Toy Story Mania!'; an interactive ride-through attraction
that combines 3-D technology and interaction with Disney-Pixar characters. The new attraction is scheduled
to open late in 2008 at Disney World and Disneyland Resort.
1956:
The Disneyland episode "Davy Crockett" wins a Golden Globe Award for Best TV Show.
"When he was inside the whale and he sneezed Geppetto out, Walt came up with the line, "Gesundheit."
One of the biggest laughs from the picture; it's that spontaneous stuff that makes all the difference."
-Joe Grant
FEBRUARY 23
FEBRUARY 23
THIS
SITE MADE
IN THE USA
Snow White awarded Oscar
Randy Newman wins Grammy
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1990:
Where the Heart Is, a comedy featuring Dabney Coleman, Uma Thurman, David
Hewlett, and Suzy Amis is released by Touchstone Pictures. Hard-driving businessman Stewart
McBain (Coleman) demolishes old buildings to make room for the new. But, when he tries to blow up a Brooklyn
tenement, his redevelopment plans get him into trouble with a group of civic activists -- and also earn the criticism of
his coddled adult children, Daphne (Thurman), Jimmy (Hewlett) and Chloe (Amis). In retaliation, Stewart throws
them out, and they find themselves all forced to live in the dilapidated building.
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SEASON 1 EPISODE 18
1959:
Academy Award nominations are announced with Disney receiving 5:
White Wilderness - Documentary, Features
White Wilderness - Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture
Paul Bunyan - Short Subjects, Cartoons
Grand Canyon - Short Subjects, Live-Action Subjects
Ama Girls - Documentary, Short Subjects
Winners will be announced April 6.
2010:
The line for the Michael Jackson film, Captain EO, swells to about 70 people as the sun comes up on the movie’s first day back at Disneyland. About 35 fans had already been in line by 6 a.m. on this day, about 4 hours before the first showing of the return of the 3-D movie at the Tomorrowland theater (where it originally played from 1986 to 1997). Although the park opens at 9:30 a.m., Disney officials allow Jackson fans to line up early on the west side of Disneyland’s main entrance.
1977:
Mouseka-alumni Darlene Gillespie and Cubby O'Brien make a special Surprise
Day appearance on episode 28 of The New Mickey Mouse Club. Cubby is featured on
the drums and Darlene sings "Silver Threads and Golden Needles." The new Mouseketeers join the original
"Mice" in the production number "Sing and Dance."
2011:
Bill Nye The Science Guy is on hand at Epcot to give presentations in the midst
of Engineers Week (which shines the spotlight on math, science and
engineering, from February 21 to 25).
FEB
FEB
"I am sure the boys and girls in the whole world are going to be very happy when they find out that the daddy of Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey Mouse, Ferdinand, and all the others is going to get this beautiful statue!" -Shirley Temple
Walt Disney's Oscars, including the special
statuettes presented on this day in 1939, are today displayed at The Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California.
2013:
The Atlanta Braves' 2013 spring training home season kicks off at Champion Stadium
within Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The start of a 17-game home schedule, the Braves lose on this day to the New York Yankees, 8-3.
February 23
2014:
Three-time Olympian Kim Smith wins the Disney Princess Half Marathon at Walt
Disney World. Smith sets a course record, shattering the previous mark by nearly six minutes, and crosses
the finish line nearly 15 minutes ahead of everyone else. She runs the 13.1-miles through Epcot and Magic
Kingdom Park in 1:11:49.
FEBRUARY IS DCA MONTH
1975:
Songwriter Robert Lopez is born in New York City. Best known for such musicals as "The Book of
Mormon" and "Avenue Q," he penned the songs featured in the Disney animated feature film, "Frozen." He and his
wife Kristen wrote "Let It Go," which was awarded a Grammy, Oscar, Critic's Choice and Golden Globe! The
songwriting team also wrote seven songs for Disney's 2011 animated release "Winnie the Pooh."
2016:
Phil Smith, Walt Disney World's first permanent employee, passes away at age 83. He was just a few years out of law school when he started working for a mysterious entity acquiring land for what would become the world's most popular theme-park resort. Lured to the job by Paul Helliwell, of Disney's Miami law firm in 1965, Smith helped pave the legal path for much of Walt Disney World's development. He retired in the early 1990s as Disney World's senior vice president of administration and support.
The Good Dinosaur is released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray
(2D and 3D), DVD, and digital download in the U.S. Blu-ray bonus features include Sanjay's Super
Team, audio commentary, behind-the-scenes featurettes, deleted scenes, and the "Hide and Seek" short promotional clip.
"Phil played a significant role in the development of Walt Disney World and his contributions will long be remembered." -Disney World president George Kalogridis
1981:
Actor, voice actor, comedian and singer Joshua Gad is born in Hollywood, Florida.
Disney fans know him best as the voice of Olaf the snowman in the 2013 animated Frozen. He also played the
role of LeFou in Disney's 2017 live-action version of Beauty and the Beast.
1976:
Actress Kelly Macdonald is born in Glasgow, Scotland. Disney fans know her
best as the voice of Princess Merida in both the 2012 Brave and the 2018 Ralph Breaks the Internet.
She also had a role in the 2005 live-action The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, co-produced by Disney's
Touchstone Pictures and distributed by Disney's Buena Vista Pictures.
1983:
Actress Emily Blunt is born in Wandsworth, London, England. Her Disney credits include
a cameo in the 2011 comedy film The Muppets (as Miss Piggy's French receptionist), the 2018 musical fantasy Mary Poppins Returns (as Mary), and the eccentric Dr. Lily Houghton in the 2021 Jungle Cruise.
1996:
Before and After, a crime drama mystery starring Meryl Streep as Dr. Carolyn Ryan,
and Liam Neeson as Ben Ryan, is released through Hollywood Pictures and Caravan Pictures. The lives of Carolyn, a small-town doctor, and her artist husband, Ben, are shaken up when their son,
Jacob (played by Edward Furlong), becomes the prime suspect in the death of a local teen girl. Based on the 1992
novel of the same title by American writer Rosellen Brown, the film is distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.
The soundtrack for Before and After, featuring music by Howard Shore, is also released.
2017:
Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films premieres the musical romantic fantasy
Beauty and the Beast at Spencer House in London, England. A live-action reimagining of
Disney's 1991 animated film of the same name, the cast includes Emma Watson and Dan Stevens. An arrogant
prince is cursed to live as a terrifying beast until he finds true love.
2019:
Katherine Marie Helmond, a film, theater, and television actress and director, passes
away at age 89 in Los Angeles, California. She voiced Lizzie in the Cars film trilogy by Disney/Pixar
between 2006 and 2017. Over her five decades of television acting, Helmond was known for her roles on the sitcoms Soap (1977-1981), Who's the Boss? (1984–1992), and 14 episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.
1951:
Actress Patricia Richardson is born in Bethesda, Maryland. Best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement, she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical. Richardson also portrayed Cassie McGuire in Disney's 1989 television movie Parent Trap III.
1994:
Actress Dakota Fanning is born in Conyers, Georgia. She voiced Lilo Pelekai in the 2005 direct-to-video animated Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch (filling in for Daveigh Chase). Her Disney voice credits also include the television movie Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time, as Preschool Kim, and Disney's 2005 English version of My Neighbor Tortoro (a 1988 Japanese film).
Actor James Paxton is born in California. The son of the late actor Bill Paxton, he played a younger version of his father's character John Garrett in ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
1965:
Nominations are announced for the 37th Academy Awards (honoring film achievements of 1964). Disney's Mary Poppins is nominated in 13 categories:
-Best Picture: Walt Disney and Bill Walsh, producers
-Best Director: Robert Stevenson
-Best Actress: Julie Andrews
-Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium: Bill Walsh & Don DaGradi from a book by P. L. Travers
-Best Song: "Chim Chim Cher-ee" – Music & Lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
-Best Music Score - Substantially Original: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
-Best Scoring of Music - Adaptation or Treatment: Irwin Kostal
-Best Sound: Robert O. Cook
-Best Art Direction, Color: Art Direction - Carroll Clark & William H. Tuntke; Set Decoration - Emile Kuri & Hal Gausman
-Best Cinematography, Color: Edward Colman
-Best Costume Design, Color: Tony Walton
-Best Film Editing: Cotton Warburton
-Best Special Visual Effects: Peter Ellenshaw, Eustace Lycett and Hamilton Luske
The Oscars will be handed out April 5.
1950:
Actress Mary Pat Gleason is born in Lake City, Minnesota. Her Disney/ABC credits include You Lucky Dog, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Desperate Housewives, Good Luck Charlie, The Middle,
Grey's Anatomy, Dog with a Blog, and How to Get Away with Murder.
2020:
Disney Fam Jam, a family dance competition series, premieres on Disney Channel and DisneyNOW. Each episode features two families who hit the floor to win the most votes from the studio audience and win a $10,000 prize.
2018:
Aurora (stylized in all lowercase), the second studio album by singer Bea Miller, is released by Disney's Hollywood Records. Coming in ninth place on season two of The X Factor when she was 13 years old, Miller was signed to Syco Music and Hollywood Records in 2013.
Walt Disney Records releases Disney Junior Music: Muppet Babies.
1916:
Retta Scott, the first woman to receive screen credit as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, is born in Omak, Washington. First hired in 1938 and assigned to the Story Department, her stunning sketches caught the eye of Walt Disney who moved her to the Animation Department. Scott's Bambi credits include the vicious hunting dogs in the sequence where the dogs pursue Faline and fight with Bambi. She also contributed to Fantasia, Dumbo, and The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad and appeared on-screen in the Disney live-action studio tour film The Reluctant Dragon. She was laid-off from Disney during a periodic studio downsizing in late 1941, (partially as a result of the infamous Disney animators' strike in the summer of 1941) but was rehired by the Disney Studio in 1942 to once again work in the Story Department. Scott left Disney in 1946 and moved to the East Coast, where she continued to freelance, illustrating Disney publications such as the Big Golden Book edition of Disney's Cinderella. She will be named a Disney Legend in 2000.
2021:
Disney Books releases "Gravity Falls: Tales of the Strange and Unexplained" and
"The Owl House: Hex-cellent Tales from The Boiling Isles."
The collection of Gravity Falls stories shares Dipper and Mabel’s recollections of the adventures they shared visiting their Uncle Stan’s Mystery Shack. "The Owl House" book features a hilarious retelling based on two favorite episodes ("I Was a Teenage Abomination" and "Adventures in the Elements") of the hit Disney Channel animated series.
Disney+ is launched in Singapore.
1998:
Philip Abbott, a character actor in films and TV series, passes away at age 73 in California. He appeared in Disney's Miracle of the White Stallions (1963) as Col. Reed and Those Calloways (1965) as Dell Fraser. Abbott's Disney television credits include Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, as Ed Barrett in the 4-part episode "Kilroy" (1965).
