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2006:
In observance with the Tournament of Roses “Never on Sunday”
tradition, the 117th Rose Parade in Pasadena, California takes
place on a Monday. Disney takes part in the event with a float
featuring recreations of all 5 castles from each of its theme parks.
1963:
Julie Piekarski is born in St. Louis, Missouri. A member of Disney's 70s TV
series The New Mickey Mouse Club, Piekarski also appeared on such hit
shows as The Facts of Life, Diff'rent Strokes, and Three's Company.
Actor Jack Carson passes away at age 52 in California. His only Disney credit (and his final appearance) was Sammy the Way Out Seal, a 1962 episode of Disney's anthology TV series. Often playing the role of "comedic friend" through the 1940s and 1950s, Carson's best known film credits include The Strawberry Blonde (1941), Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), A Star is Born (1954), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).
1898:
Animator, story director, writer & Disney Legend Dick Huemer
is born in New York City. He first began his career in animation at the Raoul Barré cartoon studio in 1916, before joining the Fleischer Studio in 1923 where he developed the Koko clown character. Later he moved to Hollywood as an animator and director for the Charles Mintz studio, and then to the Disney Studio, where he remained for the duration of his career. His vast Disney credits include The Wise Little Hen,
The Reluctant Dragon, Peter and the Wolf, Dumbo, Fantasia, Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom and
Alice in Wonderland.
1937:
Disney's Mickey Mouse film The Worm Turns - featuring the voices of Walt Disney as Mickey and Billy Bletcher as the dog catcher - is released.
1938:
The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air debuts coast-to-coast on the NBC
radio network. Sponsored by Pepsodent Toothpaste, the series stars Walt Disney as the voice of
Mickey Mouse, Thelma Boardman as Minnie, Stuart Buchanan as Goofy and Clarence Nash as Donald
Duck. Mickey and the gang travel through time - thanks to the Magic Mirror (from Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs) - and meet up with Robin Hood. (After a few weeks, the studio will be inundated with
requests for tickets to the live broadcasts! Originally scheduled for 13 programs, the series will be
extended to 20.)
Conductor Leopold Stokowski arrives in Los Angeles for a
session for Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
1941:
Original Mouseketeer Bonni Lou Kern - who appeared for the entire first season of Mickey Mouse Club - is born in Los Angeles, California.
1967:
Actress Tia Carrere - the voice of Nani in Disney's 2002 Lilo & Stitch - is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
1977:
At Disneyland's Frontierland, the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland attraction closes. (It will later be replaced by Big Thunder Mountain.)
1979:
Disney World's Dumbo's Circus Parade kicks off down Main Street, USA.
1984:
The Astuter Computer Revue, a show in EPCOT Center's CommunCore East, closes. The attraction took place on a second-floor terraced theater that overlooked a large room housing some of the computers used to operate the park. It was hosted by a projected host who sang and danced his way across computer banks in the foreground of the room in an attempt to explain the role of computers at Walt Disney World. The Astuter Computer Revue will be the first attraction ever to be removed from EPCOT. It will be replaced in February 1984 by Backstage Magic.
1996:
attraction, visitors traveled on Omniover vehicles through humorous technology-themed scenes. (Test Track will eventually take its place.)
2001:
Disney unveils its Grand Californian Hotel, offering a
few hundred guests a preview of the high-end rooms
and service the company hopes will transform the
updated Anaheim vacation spot. The hotel is the first in the
U.S. to be located inside a Disney theme park. The Grand Californian
Hotel features 2 full-service restaurants (Storytellers Cafe & Napa Rose)
and a snack bar (Whitewater Snacks). Although its grand opening will
be in February, the first paying guests are welcomed on this day.
2002:
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa tape their TV program Live! With
Regis and Kelly from Disney's California Adventure.
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The work Disney did for the
1964 New York World's Fair was
of tremendous use to him for
planning a second theme park.
The fair proved that people on
the East Coast were receptive
to Disney-style attractions.
JANUARY 2
2008:
Disney Legend & Imagineer Joyce Carlson passes away in Florida. She is 84. Retired since February 2000, Carlson helped create the original It's A Small World attraction (for the 1964-65 World's Fair & later for its Disneyland refitting). She also helped create a new version of the attraction for Disney World in 1971 and Tokyo Disneyland in 1983.
"I always wanted to be in the creative end and I got my dream." -Joyce Carlson
Sadly on this same day, Brice Harvey Mack, who painted backgrounds for such classic Disney features as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Pinocchio, passes away in Hollywood, California at the age of 90. Spanning the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, Mack’s career at Disney also included work on Fantasia, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, Song of the South and Lady and the Tramp, in addition to the Oscar-winning 1942 short film Lend a Paw. Mack also worked as a writer in the story department at Disney and created illustrations for children’s books based on the studio’s films.
2009:
Opening night of "Disney on Ice: 100 Years of Magic" begins at 7 p.m.
at the First Arena in Elmira, New York.
JANUARY 02
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
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EPCOT's Astuter Computer Revue closes
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Grand Californian Hotel unveiled
"Dick Huemer was a jack of all trades. He was an animator, and I loved his animation. It was always funny. Remember the Duck in "The Band Concert" with those goddamn whistles? He was a director. He was a story man. And he was a very important sequence story man on Fantasia. In fact, we owe it most to Dick Huemer for the fact that Walt Disney was weaned away from John Phillips Sousa and introduced to the classics! Walt learned all about Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky through Dick Huemer's tutelage." -Ward Kimball (1978)
1958:
"The Fall of Monastario," the first new Zorro episode of 1958 debuts on ABC-TV.
2010:
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performs a concert of symphonic arrangements
from the Walt Disney Studio archives at Powell Symphony Hall in Grand Center. The
concert is synchronized with images from such Disney classics as The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Mary
Poppins and Tarzan.
It is reported that The United Way of Palm Beach County, Florida is offering a
program in which volunteers can earn a day at a Disney park.
It's Magical!
2005:
Effective this day, all current Walt Disney World admission media will now require ticket tag finger scans.
JAN
JAN
2011:
Sonny with a Chance airs its last episode on Disney Channel. The sitcom had debuted on
February 8, 2009 and was the first Disney Channel Original Series to be shot and aired in high-definition from the
start. Originally starring Demi Lovato as Allison "Sonny" Monroe (a friendly, eccentric teen) the sitcom will now be
known as So Random! (and debut on June 5).
2012:
Hong Kong Disneyland's 5th anniversary celebration comes to an end.
January 02
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
2016:
It is reported that Disney chairman and CEO Robert Iger confirmed in a recent
interview with Bloomberg that the fifth Indiana Jones movie is in the works.
Ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in October of 2012 for $4 billion, many rumors have brought up whether
or not a new Indiana Jones sequel would be made.
2017:
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction at Disney California Adventure has its final
day of operation. The ride is getting a makeover to a more sci/fi fantasy theme. When it reopens this summer, it will be called "Guardians of the Galaxy - Mission Breakout!" featuring characters from the Marvel movie series.
1971:
Actress and singer/songwriter Renée Elise Goldsberry is born in San Jose, California.
She played Nala in the Broadway production of The Lion King and supplied the voice of Dhahabu for the animated The Lion Guard. Goldsberry portrayed attorney Evangeline Williamson on the ABC soap opera One Life
to Live from 2003 until 2007.
1983:
Actress Kate Bosworth is born Katherine Ann Bosworth in Los Angles, California.
Her early film credits include Touchstone's The Horse Whisperer (1998) and Disney's Remember the Titans (2000).
1986:
Actor Peter Gadiot is born in London, England. He made his American network debut as Cyrus,
the handsome and mysterious Genie, in ABC's Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.
1968:
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. is born in The Bronx, New York. His Disney/Touchstone credits include Pearl Harbor (2001), Snow Dogs (2002), and the animated Home on the Range (2004),
1972:
Christopher Lennertz, a musical composer for films, television shows, and video
games, is born in Methuen, Massachusetts. His Disney credits include Buzz Lightyear of Star
Command: The Adventure Begins, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, and Lemonade Mouth. Lennertz also composed the score for the ABC series Marvel's Agent Carter.
