2003:
Former major league pitcher Jim Morris, the subject of the hit Disney film,
The Rookie and actor Angelo Spizzirri, who portrayed catcher "Joel De La Garza" in the film, both appear at the National Baseball Hall of Fame
Museum in Cooperstown, New York.
Adam Pascal (the last original cast member) gives his final performance
as Radames in Disney's Broadway hit Aida. He will later return to Aida in 2004 to close the
Broadway run of the musical.
2005:
A digitally enhanced version of Disney's 1942 classic animated feature Bambi is screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater in California.
1913:
Songwriter, composer and screenwriter Tom Adair is born in Newton, Kansas.
Adair first started working for Disney in 1954 when Charles LeVere approached him to collaborate on a Walt
Disney park project called the Golden Horseshoe Revue. Adair's music can also be heard on Disneyland's Main Street USA, at WDW's Hoop-De-Doo Revue and in the 1959 animated feature Sleeping Beauty. His Disney TV writing credits include the 1978 NBC Salutes the 25th Anniversary of the Wonderful World of Disney and the 1977 The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World. (Nominated for an Emmy in 1969, Adair's long list of TV credits include The Munsters, My Three Sons and Maude.)
1917:
Art director, set designer and Disney Legend Bill Martin is born in Marshalltown, Iowa. With a background as a set designer for 20th Century Fox, he helped Walt Disney create such classic Disneyland attractions as Sleeping Beauty's Castle, Snow White's Adventures, and Peter Pan's Flight. Martin also contributed design elements to Carnation Plaza Gardens, Bear Country, New Orleans Square, Pirates of the Caribbean, Autopia, and Haunted Mansion. In 1971, Martin was named vice president of design at WED Enterprises, overseeing the master layout of the Magic Kingdom for Walt Disney World in Florida. Although he retired in 1977, Martin consulted on such projects as the Mexican and Italian pavilions at EPCOT Center and the master layout of Tokyo Disneyland. Wilson E. Martin passed away on August 2, 2010.
1943:
Mouseketeer Eileen Diamond - a Mouseketeer during the 1956/1957
season of Mickey Mouse Club - is born in Los Angeles, California. After
leaving the show she appeared in small (uncredited) roles in the Disney feature Babes in
Toyland and later the classic The Music Man.
1944:
This day's Disney Studio Labor-Management Commission newsletter notes:
Ward Kimball's Huggajeedy 8 is doing a swell job of entertaining the boys in the hospitals. Next trip will be to the Norconia T.B. Ward, where they'll try a new act, complete with "chalk-talk," skits and jam session.
This is in reference to Kimball's musical group which will eventually turn into The Firehouse Five Plus Two.
Original Mouseketeer Dallas D. Johann is born in Madison, Wisconsin. The first Mouseketeer hired for Disney's television show, his tenure as a performer spanned no more than a few weeks.
1949:
Actor and comedian Jim Varney (famous for his "Ernest" character) is born in Lexington, Kentucky. He supplied the voices for Jebidiah Allardyce 'Cookie' Farnsworth in Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Slinky Dog in both Toy Story and Toy Story 2. Varney also starred in a string of live-action comedies for Touchstone Pictures based on the Ernest P. Worrell character.
1957:
At Disneyland, Don DeFore's Silver Banjo Barbecue restaurant
in Frontierland opens. Operated by well-known actor Don DeFore and his
brother Verne, the restaurant is inspired by a silver banjo their father had given them.
Located right next to Aunt Jemima’s restaurant, the Silver Banjo is the only
concession in Disneyland with the name of a real living person. (Although at this time
Art Linkletter owns the Kodak concession - his name is not visible.)
1959:
At Disneyland, all of the new attractions that had been dedicated yesterday
(June 14) officially open to the public.
"Kodak Presents: Disneyland '59" airs on ABC-TV's Walt Disney Presents.
Art Linkletter hosts the 131st episode, which introduces viewers to the new attractions that had been dedicated the day before - the Monorail, the Submarine Voyage and the Matterhorn Bobsleds. The 90-minute show also features Annette Funicello, Ricky Nelson, Fred MacMurray, the cast of Zorro, Vice President Richard Nixon & his family, and of course Walt Disney himself. (Later an edited color version will be made into a 27-minute featurette titled Gala Day at Disneyland, released to theaters on January 21, 1960.)
1964:
Gavin Greenaway is born in England. He is the composer of "Tapestry of Nations," used for the spectacular parade procession that winds through Disney's Epcot, and "Reflections of Earth" used to accompany Disney's Millennium Fireworks/laser show. For Tokyo DisneySea, he composed the score for "BraviSEAmo!", a pyrotechnics and water nightly show. Greenaway also conducted the score for Touchstone Pictures' Pearl Harbor.
1989:
Today is Party Day on Disney Channel's MMC.
1990:
The Disney short Roller Coaster Rabbit - featuring the voice of Charles Fleischer as
Roger Rabbit - is generally released along with the Touchstone/Disney feature film
Dick Tracy, starring Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, and Madonna. Hard-boiled detective
Dick Tracy (Beatty) is searching for evidence that proves Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice (Pacino) is the
city's most dangerous crime boss. Based on the 1930s comic strip character of the same name created
by Chester Gould, Dick Tracy is distributed by Buena Vista Pictures.
Roller Coaster Rabbit (in conjunction with Amblin Entertainment) finds Roger Rabbit struggling to
keep wandering Baby Herman safe in an amusement park.
Patented Pastimes opens on Disneyland's Main Street.
Actor Denzel Whitaker is born in Torrance, California. His Disney/ABC credits include Handy Manny, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Dadnapped, and Brothers & Sisters.
1994:
The TV special, "The Lion King: A Musical Journey With Elton John" airs on ABC the same day Disney's 32nd animated motion picture The Lion King premieres in select U.S. cities. The film, featuring songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, will become the highest grossing animated film of all time (until the release of Finding Nemo). The all-star voice cast includes Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Moira Kelly, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings. The Lion King will win two Academy Awards for its achievement in music and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. (The success of the film will lead to several sequels, spin-offs, video games and even a live stage version.) The film will be generally released June 24.
2001:
The National Lum and Abner Society (an organization formed to preserve and document the history of Lum & Abner - two radio comedians of the 1930s & 40s) host four special Disney guests at their 2001 convention in Mena, Arkansas.
The guests; Sam Edwards (known for the long line of albums he made on the Disneyland Records label during the 1960s and early 1970s), Rhoda Williams (the voice of Drizella in Cinderella), Robie Lester (who performed countless characters for the Disneyland Records label), and Dick Beals (who played the parts of Huey, Dewey and Louie in several of the 1960s Disney productions) are honored at the Lime Tree Inn Motel.
Disney's 40th animated creation Atlantis: The Lost Empire is released nationwide.
The voice cast includes Michael J. Fox, Claudia Christian, Leonard Nimoy, James Gardner, Corey Burton and Jim Varney (who celebrates his 52nd birthday). Set in the year 1914, the film tells the story of a young linguist who gains possession of a sacred book which he believes will guide him to the Lost city of Atlantis. It is Disney's first 70mm animated film since 1985s The Black Cauldron.
Disney Channel debuts season 2 of the comedy Evens Stevens.
2002:
SHOCKWAVE (a new musical show from the creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway hit BLAST) debuts at Epcot. Just like BLAST, SHOCKWAVE has no storyline but is a musical journey that combines music, movement and color.
1991:
The Studio Pizzeria restaurant opens at the Disney-MGM Studios.
The Lion King originally started as a project called
"King of
the Jungle."
1967:
The Club 33 restaurant (for members-only) opens at 33 Royal
Street, in New Orleans Square at Disneyland. It is comprised of two
dining rooms and several adjoining areas, all of which hold a wide array of magnificent
antiques and original works of art. A secret feature of the theme park, the entrance of
the private club is located next to the Blue Bayou Restaurant at "33 Royal Street" with
the entrance recognizable by an ornate address plate with the number 33 engraved on it.
The Arribas Brothers open a shop in Fantasyland at Disneyland Park. The glassblowing and cutting work of Alfonso and Tomas Arribas had reportedly caught the attention of Walt Disney when the brothers represented Spain at the 1964–65 New York World’s Fair. Their successful operation at Disneyland will enable them to relocate to Florida in 1971 to open Crystal Arts on Main Street, U.S.A. at Walt Disney World. Arribas Brothers will go on to expand its expertise: from glass cutting to glass blowing, glass sculpturing, fan painting and damascene - the art of inlaying gold and silver into a blackened steel surface. The company will go on to expand their locations to Disney Parks all over the world.
Voice actor Fred Tatasciore is born in New York City. Portraying mostly secondary characters, his Disney television credits include Star Wars: Clone Wars, The Emperor's New School, The Replacements, Phineas and Ferb, Fish Hooks, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Gravity Falls, Tron: Uprising, Motorcity, Avengers Assemble, Mickey Mouse, Star Wars Rebels, and Amphibia. Tatasciore supplied additional voices for the Disney feature films Meet the Robinsons, Enchanted, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Planes,
Frozen, Planes: Fire & Rescue, Moana, and Frozen II.
1961:
The very first Disneyland Grad Night Party is held. About 8,500 students from 28 Los
Angeles area high schools attend, making it the largest high school grad party to be held in the U.S.
Film and television actor and voice-over artist Jim Hanks is born in Shasta,
California. Youngest brother of film star Tom Hanks, Jim has supplied the voice of Woody (originated by
Tom) for such Toy Story spin-offs as Buzz Lightyear of Star Command: The Adventure Begins and Buzz
Lightyear of Star Command. It is also Jim's voice you hear as Woody in the theme park attraction Toy Story
Midway Mania and all three versions of the Buzz Lightyear attractions.
2007:
The 34th Daytime Emmy Awards are held at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Outstanding Performer In An Animated Program is given to Eartha Kitt for her role of Yzma in The Emperor's New School.
Disney-MGM Studios celebrates the 30th anniversary of Star Wars with the
third of four Star Wars Weekends. Celebrity guests for the next 3 days include Jeremy Bulloch (best known for the role inside the costume of the bounty hunter Boba Fett ) and Peter Mayhew (known for playing the Wookiee Chewbacca).
Life's greatest adventure is finding your place in the Circle of Life.
JUNE
2008:
At the Shanghai International Film Festival, Walt Disney Studios together with Chinese filmmakers Castle Hero Pictures and Ying Dong Media announce that they are combining creative forces to make a movie tentatively titled Touch of the Panda. The film, shot in Sichuan, China with cooperation and supervision from the Wolong Giant Panda Nature Reserve, features Giant Pandas bred and nurtured in one of the world’s foremost research and preservation
facilities for the endangered species. (The film will be released in 2009 under the title Trail of the Panda.)
Alexis Smith wins The Disneyland Danskin 2008 Women's Triathlon with a time of 48:03. (The Danskin Triathlon Series has been inspiring female athletes, novice and expert, for over 20 years.) Racers swam in Paradise Bay at Disney’s California Adventure, cycled 11 miles through the city and ran two miles through Disney’s California Adventure!
JUNE 15
JUNE 15
THIS SITE MADE
IN THE
USA
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Club 33 opens
1978:
Millard Jones, 86, of Lakeland, Florida makes his 500th visit to Walt Disney World!
An amazing feat considering WDW has only been opened since October 1971. Visiting since early 1972, Jones had made his historic 100th visit back in January 1974.
The Lion King was the first Disney animated feature to be an original story, rather than being based on
an already-existing story.
"Life's just a bus stop to somewhere infinitely better." -Jim Varney
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2009:
The new comedy series Zeke and Luther premieres on Disney XD. About two teenage best friends who are on a quest to become world-famous skateboarders, it stars Hutch Dano (the grandson of Royal Dano - the original voice for Abraham Lincoln in many Disney park attractions) and Adam Hicks.
2010:
Toy Story 3 Soundtrack is released on Walt Disney Records. It features the music of Randy Newman and a Spanish version of "You've Got a Friend in Me" (performed by the Gipsy Kings).
Pixar's Toy Story 3 will open in U.S. theaters June 18.
2012:
Disneyland Resort caps off its $1 billion renovation of Disney California Adventure
with the public opening of Cars Land and the new Buena Vista Street.
Based on the Disney-Pixar movie Cars, Cars Land is the largest piece of a five-year expansion at Disney California Adventure Park, adding 12 acres of new attractions to the theme park. It is a recreation of the fictional town of Radiator Springs, featuring Luigi's Flying Tires, which flies riders over what looks like a giant air hockey table; Mater's Junkyard
Jamboree, which swings riders in trailers in a "tow-si-do" square dance; and Radiator Springs Racers, which takes
riders through a race through a mountain range.
Buena Vista Street (formerly known as Sunshine Plaza) is similar to the layout and style of Main Street, USA. The
land includes dining, shopping, parades, and entertainment. Also featured is the Red Trolley Car, providing
transportation between the park's main entry at Buena Vista Street and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in
Hollywood Land.
To help celebrate the opening of Cars Land, Disney brings back Pixar Play Parade.
Let It Shine, a musical television film, premieres on Disney Channel. Featuring an
ensemble cast of Tyler James Williams, Coco Jones, Trevor Jackson and Brandon Mychal Smith, the film
follows a shy, talented rapper and musician who pens romantic hip-hop verses only to stand idly by as they're
delivered to the girl of his dreams by his best friend.
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
June 15
1973:
Neil Patrick Harris, actor, writer, producer, director, comedian, magician,
singer, television host and die hard Disney fan, is born in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. He's taken part in Epcot’s Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney World
and provides the vocal tracks for the California Screamin' coaster at Disney California Adventure.
Harris can be seen by guests on a nightly basis at California Adventure, as he stars, alongside Mickey Mouse, in the newly revamped World of Color show (part of Disneyland’s 60th anniversary). He began his career as a child actor, playing the the title role of a child prodigy doctor in Doogie Howser, M.D.
"Walt Disney was my idol growing up. I think it’s unbelievable how he committed his life to the complete amusement and enjoyment of others." -Neil Patrick Harris
2018:
Incredibles 2, a computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, is released to theaters in
the U.S. (The official premiere took place in Los Angeles June 5.) Written and directed by Brad Bird, it is a sequel to the 2004 The Incredibles. The story follows the Parr family as they try to restore public's trust in superheroes while balancing their family life, only to combat a new foe who seeks to turn the populace against all superheroes. Voices include Holly Hunter (Helen Parr/Elastigirl), Craig T. Nelson (Bob Parr/Mr. Incredible), Sarah Vowell (Violet Parr), Brad Bird (Edna Mode), Samuel L. Jackson (Lucius Best/Frozone), Huck Milner (Dash), and John Ratzenberger (The Underminer).
Released in front of Incredibles 2 is Bao, directed by Domee Shi and produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film is about an aging and lonely Chinese-Canadian mother, suffering from empty nest syndrome, who receives an unexpected second chance at motherhood when she makes a dumpling (baozi) that comes to life as a boy.
2016:
Disney airs the live broadcast of the grand opening show of Shanghai Disneyland Park on its Facebook and the Disney TV stations on this evening. Bob Iger, chairman and chief executive officer of The Walt Disney Company is joined by nearly 3,000 distinguished guests and celebrities for a showcase of choreography, acrobatics, costumes, and technology in grand scale, with dazzling lights, Disney music, pageantry, special effects, and fireworks. (The park will debut the following day.)
1998:
Actress Rachel Covey is born in New York City. In 2007, she appeared in the Disney movie Enchanted as Morgan Philip, the young daughter of Patrick Dempsey's character. For Covey's performance
in the film, she received a nomination for "Young Actress Age Ten or Younger" at the 29th Young Artist Awards.
2014:
Announcer and voice actor Casey Kasem passes away at age 82 in Gig Harbor, Washington. In 1969, he and Paul Frees recorded a series of comedic radio ads promoting the debut of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion attraction. (Kasem was best known for his syndicated radio show American Top 40 from 1970 until his retirement in 2009. He was also the original voice of Shaggy for the animated Scooby Doo.)
2019:
The 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards ceremony takes place at the Barker Hangar in
Santa Monica, California, with host Zachary Levi. Among the winners:
-Best Movie: Avengers: Endgame
-Best Hero: Robert Downey Jr. – Avengers: Endgame
-Best Villain: Josh Brolin – Avengers: Endgame
2020:
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort (in Florida) and Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort (in South Carolina) both reopen with new precautions in place to help keep guests safe from COVID-19.
1950:
Character animator Dale Baer is born in Denver, Colorado. First joining Disney in 1971, he was among the first handful of employees hired as part of the studio’s new training program. As an inbetweener, he worked on Robin Hood, and was later trained by Disney animators John Lounsbery, Hal King, and Eric Larson. His Disney credits included such features and shorts as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too (1974), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
(1977), The Rescuers (1977), The Black Cauldron (1985), The Princess and the Frog (2009), Frozen (2013), Get a Horse! (2013), Zootopia (2016), and Moana (2016). His last-known animation work was for the 2022 The Bob's Burgers Movie - released posthumously as Baer passed at age 70 in 2021.
1992:
Animator and television writer Chuck Menville passes away at age 52 in California.
Born in Louisiana, he moved to Los Angeles at the age of 19 with aspirations of becoming an animator and got a job with Walt Disney Productions - serving as an assistant on the 1967 film The Jungle Book. Leaving Disney soon after, Menville branched out into writing, and began a long working partnership with his friend writer/director Len Janson (who too had started at Disney). The two revived the all-but-forgotten technique of stop-motion pixilation, introducing it to a new generation. In the mid-1970s, the team began a stint at Filmation, during which they brought their irreverent style to Star Trek: The Animated Series and other Saturday morning cartoons,.
1912:
Animation designer and layout artist Ernie Nordli is born in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Starting at Disney in 1936, he served as an art director/layout artist on Dumbo and Fantasia, and worked on many of the studio's shorts through the mid-1940s, including such Donald Duck shorts as The Plastics Inventor
and Donald's Double Trouble. Temporarily leaving Disney, he became a layout artist for animator Chuck Jones but later returned to Disney where he worked on Sleeping Beauty and One Hundred and One Dalmatians.
1953:
Actress and choreographer Renée Victor is born in Texas. In 2017, Victor voiced Miguel's stern Abuelita Elena in the Disney-Pixar animated film Coco.
1907:
Actor James Robertson Justice is born in London, England. His three Disney roles include Little John in The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men, King Henry VIII in The Sword and the Rose, and Duke Campbell of Argyll in Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (all of which were directed by Ken Annakin). Justice was originally cast as Mr. Dawes Jr. in Mary Poppins before Arthur Malet was chosen. Fans of the 1968 Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will remember Justice as Lord Scrumptious.
