1967:
A new version of the CircleVision 360° film America the Beautiful debuts
in Disneyland. The film has been re-shot using the 9-camera CircleVision format (as opposed to the old 11-camera Circarama format).
2005:
Voice actor and character actor John Fiedler, known to Disney fans as
the voice of Piglet in countless Winnie the Pooh movies and TV specials,
passes away at age 80 in Englewood, New Jersey (one day after the
death of Paul Winchell - the voice of Tigger). Born in Platteville, Wisconsin in 1925, Fiedler voiced Pooh's nervous friend Piglet in such Disney films and shorts as "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" (1968), "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too" (1974), "The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh" (1977), "Winnie the Pooh Discovers the Seasons" (1981), "Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore" (1983), "Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin" (1997), "The Tigger Movie" (2000), and "Piglet's Big Movie" (2003). Fiedler's long list of animated credits also include "Robin Hood," "The Emperor's New Groove," "The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove," "The Fox and the Hound," and "The Rescuers." His Disney live-action credits included "Rascal," "The Shaggy D.A.," and "Midnight Madness." A stage, film, television & radio performer for more than 55 years, Fiedler is also remembered as nervous Juror #2 in the feature film "12 Angry Men," Mr. Peterson, a timid patient on the television sitcom "The Bob Newhart Show," and one of Oscar's poker buddies in the comedy film "The Odd Couple."
The Disneyland Railroad's newest locomotive No. 5 Ward Kimball officially goes into service. It is named for the late Ward Kimball, Disney animator, musician, and railroad fan.
Disney Channel kicks of the second season of Phil of the Future with
episode 22 - "Versa Day."
1927:
Publisher and Disney Legend Didier Fouret is born in Paris, France. He played a key role in bringing Disney's cast of characters to children and their parents throughout France. In 1979
he developed a restaurant for the French pavilion in EPCOT's World Showcase.
1928:
Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit short The Fox Chase is released.
1948:
Disney's animated feature Dumbo is released in Denmark.
1980:
Disney's live-action comedy Herbie Goes Bananas and the adventure film The Last Flight of Noah's Ark are both released.
Herbie Goes Bananas, the fourth in a series of films about a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, loosely picks up where the 1977 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo left off. While Pete Stanchek and his friend, Davie Johns, are transporting a VW (Herbie) via ocean liner from Puerto Vallarta to Brazil for an auto race, their lives are complicated by a stowaway in Herbie’s trunk—a loveable but mischievous Mexican orphan, Paco, who’s made the mistake of stealing a map of golden Incan ruins from a criminal now hot in pursuit. Directed by Vincent McEveety, the cast includes Cloris Leachman, Charles Martin Smith, John Vernon, Alex Rocco, Vito Scotti, and Harvey Korman. The film features the songs "Look At Me," and "I Found A Friend," both written by Frank De Vol. It will be the last theatrical Herbie film for 25 years until the release of Herbie: Fully Loaded in 2005.
The Last Flight of Noah's Ark centers on fast-living unemployed pilot Noah Dugan (played by Elliott Gould), who due to his love of gambling, owes a large sum of money. He turns to his old friend, a greasy shyster named Mr. Stoney (played by Vincent Gardenia) who sends him on an unglamorous and risky job: to pilot a B-29 bomber plane filled with animals, an attractive young missionary, and two young orphan stowaways to an island for a new religious mission. But when the plane crash-lands on a small island, the plane is converted into a boat, and everyone sets sail on an adventure to Hawaii. The cast includes Geneviève Bujold (as Bernadette Lafleur), Ricky Schroder (as Bobby), and Tammy Lauren (as Julie). Directed by Charles Jarrott, it is based on the short story "The Gremlin's Castle" by Ernest K. Gann.
1999:
Mo Vaughn, the popular Anaheim Angels first baseman, along with boys and girls from the "Gene Autry RBI League," participate in a mini cavalcade and ceremony with the Dapper Dans on Main Street in Disneyland. The Dapper Dans lead the audience in "Take Me Out To The Ball Game."
2006:
The Orange County Star Wars Society holds the
Second Annual Star Wars Fan Day at Disneyland.
Disney Channel Asia airs High School Musical for the first time.
1988:
"Disneyland Salutes Benny Goodman" is performed for the first of an eight-day engagement at the Anaheim park. Guest soloists Peanuts Hucko and Louise Tobin as well as alumni of the Benny Goodman orchestras are featured. (A legendary bandleader & clarinetist who passed in 1986, Goodman can be heard in Disney's 1946 Make Mine Music. He also performed live at Disneyland back in 1961.)
Animator Ward Kimball (one of Walt's "Nine Old Men") collected old railroad ephemera, was
an avid train enthusiast
and was a founding
member of the Orange
in Perris, California.
1930:
Disney's Mickey Mouse film The Fire Fighters, directed by Burt Gillett, is released to theaters. Chief Mickey and Horace Horsecollar respond to save Miss Minnie from a blazing emergency!
2002:
Actor Patrick Cassidy first steps into the role of Radames in Disney's
Broadway production of Aida.
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1985:
At about 9 p.m., a Walt Disney World monorail catches fire while en-route
from Epcot to the Magic Kingdom. Over two hundred passengers are safely
evacuated from the elevated tracks by ladders and cherry-picker cranes.
2004:
Disney Channel debuts "Tanner," the 5th episode of the series Phil of the Future. It is directed by Joana Kerns (who portrayed Maggie on the hit series Growing Pains between 1985-1992).
JUNE
JUNE 25
JUNE 25
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
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Disneyland Salutes Benny Goodman
"I think that I have just remembered something. I have just remembered something that I forgot to do yesterday and shan't be able to do tomorrow. So I suppose I really ought to go back and do it now." -Piglet
1932:
Walt Disney throws a "shindig on account of the studio saying goodbye to Columbia and hello to United Artists." Columbia Pictures had dropped the distribution of Disney cartoons earlier in
the year. United Artists (founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks)
will now be distributing Disney shorts. The celebration starts at 8PM at the Disney Studio on Hyperion Ave.
1934:
Twenty-five year-old Milt Kahl from San Francisco begins what will be a long and
illustrious career at the Disney Studios. Since late 1933, Kahl has been struggling to find work as an
illustrator. It was Ham Luske (the first animator cast by Walt Disney for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs) who
has recommended Kahl come down to Los Angeles and work at Disney. Considered by many to be one of the
finest animators ever to work for Disney, Kahl will go on to become one of Walt's Nine Old Men.
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1965:
The Orlando Evening Star runs the headline "Let's Go! 2nd Stage Launched." In the article, attorney Paul Helliwell (who is involved in Disney's secret purchase of Central Florida land) confirms that
the still-anonymous buyer has completed nearly all of the land purchases for a mystery project.
2010:
The Walt Disney Company holds a special celebration for the 40th anniversary of the
Walt Disney Archives and for Dave Smith, the founder and chief archivist of the Walt
Disney Archives. The occasion also marks Smith's fortieth (and final) year at Disney. Premiering at the Disney Studio is the half-hour documentary Archiving the Archives: Forty Years of Preserving the Magic, produced for the occassion.
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announces the winners of the
37th Annual Daytime Entertainment Creative Arts Emmy® Awards at a gala held at
the Westin Bonaventure in Downtown, Los Angeles.
Among the winners:
-Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade for both Outstanding Achievement in Live & Direct to Tape Sound
and Outstanding Achievement in Technical Direction/Electronic Camera/Video Control
-Disney Channel's Phineas and Ferb for Outstanding Writing in Animation
The Disney-owned ABC picks up a total of 10 awards.
16 Wishes, a Canadian-American television teen film starring Debby Ryan and Jean-Luc Bilodeau, premieres on Disney Channel. Ryan plays Abby Jensen, a teen who can't wait to grow up.
1986:
Disneyland hosts the start of the Great American Race, with 120 antique cars
and trucks taking part in a transcontinental road rally from Anaheim, California to New York City. Ten day later, Ron Hayslett of El Paso, Texas & Dave Teter of Newark, Delaware will win driving a 1936 Packard.
June 25
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
2017:
A one-of-kind map of Disneyland sells at auction for $708,000, a record for a Disney map and among the most expensive Disneyland items ever sold on the open market.
Walt Disney and artist Herb Ryman drew the map in 1953 — in just one weekend — as a presentation for
investors for the then-in-the-planning Anaheim park (which opened July 17, 1955). Avid Disney collector Ron
Clark (from Utah) acquired the map about 40 years ago from a former Disney employee. The sale was
part of a wider auction (featuring over 1,000 Disney artifacts from 1953 to the present day) in Los Angeles at
Van Eaton Galleries. (The buyer's name is not made public.)
1955:
Actor, singer, and improvisational comedian Mike McShane is born in Boston, Massachusetts. His Disney credits include the live-action feature Tom and Huck (1995), and the animated films
A Bug's Life (1998) and Treasure Planet (2002). McShane's Disney television credits include Tower of Terror (1997) and the animated series Dave The Barbarian (2004-2005). Fans of Seinfeld will recognize him as Kramer's nemesis Franklin Delano Romanowski.
2009:
The 35th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror
film and television in 2008 are presented in Burbank, California. Among the winners:
-Best Science Fiction Film: Iron Man
-Best Animated Film: WALL-E
-Best Actor: Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man
-Best Director: Jon Favreau – Iron Man
-Best Network Television Series: Lost
2019:
Disney's 1950 Cinderella is re-released with a physical media re-release on 4K Blu-ray as part of the Walt Disney Signature Collection commemorating the film's 70th anniversary.
Also released is the 2019 Dumbo, Cinderella II: Dreams Come True & Cinderella III:
A Twist in Time in a 2-Movie Collection, and the 2015 live-action Cinderella to 4K Blu-ray.
2015:
The 41st Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror
film and television in 2014 are presented in Burbank, California. Among the winners:
-Best Comic-to-Film Motion Picture: Guardians of the Galaxy
-Best Director: James Gunn – Guardians of the Galaxy
-Best Actor: Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy
-Best Make-up: David White and Elizabeth Yianni-Georgiou – Guardians of the Galaxy
-Best DVD or Blu-ray TV Series: Twin Peaks: The Entire Mystery (Twin Peaks: Season 1 & 2 and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me)
1943:
Singer-songwriter Carly Simon is born in New York City. She wrote & performed songs for the films Winnie the Pooh: A Very Merry Pooh Year, Piglet's Big Movie and Pooh's Heffalump Movie, and 11 episodes of the TV series Mini Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. With a career spanning five decades, Simon has released over twenty-eight albums. Her 13 Top 40 U.S. hits include "Anticipation" (No. 13), "The Right Thing to Do" (No. 17), "Haven't Got Time for the Pain" (No. 14), "You Belong to Me" (No. 6), "Coming Around Again" (No. 18), and her four Gold-certified singles "You're So Vain" (No. 1), "Mockingbird" (No. 5, a duet with James Taylor), "Nobody Does It Better" (No. 2) from the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, and "Jesse" (No. 11). Simon was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.
