1972:
Legendary singer-songwriter Mel Tormé performs the first of a 13-day engagement at the Top of the World, located atop Disney World's Contemporary Resort.
Top of the World dinner show seatings are at 6:30 and 9:30 with a $5 cover charge. Best known as the
co-writer of "The Christmas Song," jazz singer Tormé also composed the song "County Fair" for Disney's
1948 live-action So Dear to My Heart.
Actress Sofia Vergara is born in Barranquilla, Colombia. She starred on the ABC series
Modern Family as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, for which she has been nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and seven Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Actor, comedian, and writer John Viener is born in New York City. Disney fans know him as the voice of Norm the Robot on Phineas and Ferb. (Viener is a writer and producer on the television series Family Guy, where he also voices many miscellaneous characters.)
2000:
The Kansas City Star reports that the Walt Disney heirs have pledged funds to
refurbish the original animation studio of Walt Disney (located in Kansas City).
For nearly a decade, Thank You, Walt Disney Inc. has been fighting to set up a Disney Museum in Kansas City,
the birthplace of Mickey Mouse and other early Disney characters. The $450,000 pledge by the Walt and Lily
Disney Foundation is contingent on whether the Thank You organization can match the amount.
1981:
Disney's animated The Fox and the Hound premieres in U.S. theaters. It
features the voices of Jack Alberston, Pearl Bailey, Sandy Duncan, Corey Feldman, Kurt Russell, Paul
Winchell and Mickey Rooney. Loosely based on the novel of the same name by Daniel Mannix, two
childhood animal friends find themselves forced to become enemies. The Fox and the Hound marks the
premiere effort of a new generation of Disney animators, who in a few years will create The
Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.
1999:
The Backstreet Boys perform in an hour-long Disney Channel special, Backstreet
Boys In Concert. The concert had been taped 2 months earlier at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York
City, home of Disney's The Lion King.
1987:
Disney's The Brave Little Toaster is released in theaters. Set in a
world where household appliances and other electronics have the ability to speak and
move, pretending to be lifeless in the presence of humans, the story focuses on five
appliances; a toaster, a desk lamp, an electric blanket, a vacuum tube radio,
and a vacuum cleaner, who go on a quest to search for their original owner. The Brave
Little Toaster, produced by Hyperion Pictures and adapted from the 1980 novel of the
same name by Thomas Disch, features the voices of Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman (known for their performances on Saturday Night Live), Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day and veteran voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. Co-written by Joe Ranft (who in a few years will go on to work for Pixar) The Brave Little Toaster will receive an Emmy nomination for Best Animated Program. Ranft also supplies the voice of Elmo St. Peters, one of the major antagonists of the film.
"We're gonna kick
ourselves for not buying
everything within a radius
of ten miles around here."
-Walt Disney (after the
opening of Disneyland)
2007:
Disney College Program Cast Member Paul Sherrer (a former U.S. soldier) is
honored for saving the life of a 4-year-old guest who had fallen into the marina at
the Port Orleans Riverside in Florida. Vice President of Resort Operations and Transportation
Kevin Myers presents Paul with a letter from Meg Crofton, president of the Walt Disney World Resort,
commending him for his bravery.
Insomniatic, the third studio album from the teen pop duo Aly & AJ, is
released on Hollywood Records (a label owned by Disney). Featuring
the single "Potential Breakup Song," the album will sell 39,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week.
Tom Higgenson, lead singer of the rock group Plain White T's, visits the Magic
Kingdom in Florida. The band's current single, "Hey There Delilah" (released on Disney's Hollywood records
label) is currently #1 on Billboard's "Hot Digital Songs" chart and #3 on Billboard's "Hot 100" chart.
Two friends that didn't know they were supposed to be enemies.
1992:
Disney's Beauty and the Beast is widely released in theaters in Brazil.
JULY
JULY 10
JULY 10
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
USA
 | ||||
| ||||
The Fox and the Hound premieres
"This is really the place where all of the Hollywood animation pioneers... that means Walt Disney
Ub Iwerks, the guys who started Warner Brothers and Looney Tunes... all of these were a bunch
of young guys working around the corner of 31st and Troost, or 31st and Forest."
-Butch Rigsby (founder of Thank You Walt Disney, Inc.)
1931:
Composer and lyricist Jerry Herman, known for his work in Broadway musical
theater, is born in New York City. He is best known for the hit musicals Hello, Dolly!, Mame, and La
Cage aux Folles. Many of Herman's show tunes have become pop standards, and 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 be that instrumental in the message
of the (movie). So I'm absolutely thrilled." -Jerry Herman
| ||||
1979:
Disney releases the live-action feature film The Spaceman and King Arthur in
England. Loosely based on Mark Twain's tale A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, an astronaut and his
android double (both portrayed by Dennis Dugan) travel back to the time of King Arthur. When released in U.S.
theaters later in the month, the film be will titled Unidentified Flying Oddball.
1941:
Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton, a pioneer ragtime and jazz pianist originally from New Orleans, dies at age 55 in Los Angeles. Also a bandleader, Morton is perhaps most notable
as jazz's first great composer and arranger. Jellyrolls at Disney's BoardWalk Area at Walt Disney World Resort
(a lively piano bar with dueling pianos and audience sing-alongs) is named in tribute to Morton.
July 10
2015:
The Legacy Collection: Toy Story is released as a two-disc album on Walt Disney Records, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Toy Story. The collection features remastered versions of the film's three songs, the complete score, four demo recordings, and three instrumental versions of the three songs, as well as liner notes by composer Randy Newman and director John Lasseter. Walt Disney Records
the Legacy Collection is a compilation album series that commemorates distinct anniversaries of Disney films and the
60th anniversary of Disneyland. The Legacy Collection: Toy Story is the 10th (of what will be 14) in the series.
Sometime Last Night, the second (and final) studio album by American pop rock band R5, is released by Disney's Hollywood Records.
Actor and director Roger Rees passes away at age 71 in New York City. He provided the
voice of Edward (a surviving soldier, Wendy's husband, and Jane & Danny's father) for the 2002 Return to Never
Land. His ABC-TV credits included Grey's Anatomy (2007, season three) as Dr. Colin Marlow and a 2013 episode of the ABC sitcom The Middle.
2014:
La Place de Rémy, a mini-land at Disneyland Paris, opens. Part of Toon Studio and inspired by the movie Ratatouille, it is home to the attraction Ratatouille: L’Aventure Totalement Toquée de Rémy and the restaurant Bistrot Chez Rémy.
2019:
Actress Denise Nickerson, a child actress best known for playing Violet Beauregarde
in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, passes away at age 62 in Colorado. In 1978 she appeared in the made-for-television family-fantasy film Child of Glass, produced by
Walt Disney Productions.
2018:
Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland, a nighttime spectacular at Tokyo Disneyland, premieres alongside Dreaming Up!, Let's Party Gras, and Hello, New York! as part of the 35th anniversary of Tokyo Disney Resort. Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland incorporates fireworks, water cannons, flamethrowers, projection mapping, lasers, searchlights, and tree lighting to depict scenes from some of Tokyo Disneyland's most famous rides and Disney films. (It will run through April 2019.)
1977:
Actor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor is born in Forest Gate, London, England. He voiced Scar
in the 2019 remake of The Lion King, and played Connal in the 2019 dark fantasy Maleficent: Mistress of Evil & Karl Mord in the 2016 superhero adventure Doctor Strange.
2005:
Actor and singer Richard Eastham passes away at age 89 in California. He starred as Colonel Sam Castle the Ringmaster in Walt Disney's 1960 production Toby Tyler or, Ten Weeks with a Circus, and appeared as Supervisor Newton in Disney's 1965 comedy That Darn Cat!.
2017:
Season 2 of the animated series Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero debuts on Disney XD
with the episode "The Pirates, the Parrot, the Puzzles and the Talking Boats."
1956:
Actress & playwright Connie Ray is born in Hillsborough, North Carolina. She played the role of Nana Possible in the 2019 live-action TV film Kim Possible. Ray has appeared on episodes of such ABC shows as George Lopez and Grey's Anatomy.
1980:
Singer-songwriter, actress and model Jessica Simpson is born in Abilene, Texas. As a youngster, Simpson auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club at the age of twelve. She advanced through multiple rounds, eventually being a semi-finalist for the show alongside artists such as Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Justin Timberlake. She ultimately was not selected for the show. Later signed to Columbia Records, her debut album was released in 1999. Simpson performed a cover version of "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, and a version of "A Whole New World" for the Aladdin Platinum Edition, alongside her ex-husband, actor/singer Nick Lachey. Simpson and Lachey starred in the ABC special The Nick and Jessica Variety Hour in April 2004.
Actor Thomas Ian Nicholas is born in Las Vegas, Nevada. Disney fans will recognize him for his roles in Rookie of the Year, A Kid in King Arthur's Court, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, and Walt Before Mickey. (He appeared in the four theatrical films of the American Pie franchise.)
1856:
Inventor, electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, and futurist Nikola Tesla is born in
Smiljan, Austrian Empire (modern-day Croatia). Emigrating to the U.S. in June 1884, he settled in New York City. Best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system, Tesla was famous and respected but was never able to translate his copious inventions into long-term financial successes. In the 2007 Meet the Robinsons, young Lewis has a few photos of Tesla on his wall. In Disney's 2015 Tomorrowland, the film mentions Nikola Tesla as one of four members (with Thomas Edison, Gustave Eiffel, and Jules Verne) of a group of inventors called Plus Ultra, dedicated to finding dreamers and inventors who wanted to create a better future. Originally, director Brad Bird planned to give Plus Ultra much more screen time via a short animated sequence that was created by Pixar. (It was canceled, when Bird realized that it wouldn't fit in the final cut of the film.) Tesla became a naturalized citizen of the United States in July 1891. Sadly, after years of hard work, he died almost penniless in a New York City hotel in 1943 at the age of 86. Today he is considered one of the most brilliant scientists of the 20th century. Tesla invented, predicted or contributed to development of hundreds of technologies that play big parts in our daily lives -- like the remote control, neon and fluorescent lights, wireless transmission, computers, smartphones, laser beams, x-rays, robotics and, of course, alternating current, the basis of our present-day electrical system.
