1936:
Disney's animated short Three Orphan Kittens wins an
Oscar for Short Subjects, Cartoon at the 8th Annual Academy Awards -
beating out Disney's own Silly Symphony Who Killed Cock Robin? short.
2000:
The second annual Garden Design Event at the
Disney Institute in Walt Disney World (offering hands-on experience in all aspects of designing, planting and maintaining a garden) comes to an end after 4 days.
2005:
The Newport Symphony Orchestra performs selections from
Disney's 1940 Fantasia during a concert held at the
Newport Performing Arts Center in California.
Vance Gerry, a veteran Disney animation storyman, layout artist, and
visual development artist since 1955, passes away in Pasadena, California,
at age 75. Regarded as one of the most talented and creative story artists in the animation industry, he contributed to such Disney classics as 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, The Aristocats, Robin Hood, The Rescuers, and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Gerry shifted to visual development and character
design in 1995, and contributed to Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan and Home on the Range.
Up until his death, Gerry continued to work closely with 96-year-old Disney legend Joe Grant and
Burny Mattinson (a 50-year veteran), adapting books and developing original story ideas.
The trio comically referred to their group as the "Geriatricals."
1928:
Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit black & white silent short Rival Romeos is released just as Walt has exhausted negotiations with the cartoon's distributor Charles Mintz.
1932:
The Mickey Mouse short The Mad Dog, directed by Burt Gillett, is released. When
Pluto swallows soap while being bathed, his soapy slobber makes locals think he's gone mad!
1947:
Child actor Eddie Hodges is born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. His Disney credits
include the features Summer Magic (1963) and The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and the anthology
series Johnny Shiloh (which aired in two parts in January 1963).
1950:
The first color comic strip of Disney's "Cinderella" is published
in Sunday editions of newspapers.
1958:
The Disneyland TV series airs episode 93 - the 5th part of The Saga of
Andy Burnett, "White Man's Medicine."
1961:
The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs "The Coyote's Lament."
1983:
The Journey Into Imagination attraction (presented by Kodak) officially opens
at EPCOT's Future World. Located in The Imagination! pavilion, Journey Into Imagination features
the Dreamfinder (the attraction's pilot) who teaches Figment (a small, purple creature with orange steer
horns voiced by Billy Barty) to use his imagination. The ride features the song "One Little Spark,"
composed by the Sherman Brothers. The Imagination! pavilion (featuring the Magic Journeys film) has been
opend since the park's debut on October 1, 1982. (Over the years the attraction will go through different incarnations: Journey into YOUR Imagination in 1999 and Journey into Imagination with Figment in 2002.)
1994:
Jim Henson's Secret Life of Toys begins airing on The Disney Channel.
Wheel of Fortune spends Spring Break at Disney-MGM Studios. The popular game show will tape 20 episodes over the next 4 days.
1999:
"Michelle Kwan Skates to Disney's Greatest Hits" airs on ABC-TV.
2003:
Disneyland's King Arthur Carrousel reopens after 14 months of
renovation. Among the changes is the addition of a wheelchair-
accessible chariot that seats four and a loading ramp for disabled riders.
2004:
Disney Channel airs the That's So Raven episode "To See or Not to See" for the first time.
Touchstone Pictures releases Hidalgo, a film based on the legend of distance rider Frank Hopkins and his horse Hidalgo, a mustang.
2006:
At the 78th Annual Academy Awards, Howard Berger & Tami Lane win for Achievement in Makeup for the feature The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.
1996:
The soundtrack to Disney's animated Oliver & Company is re-released on Walt
Disney Records. First released in 1988, it features performances by Billy Joel ("Why Should I
Worry?"), Huey Lewis ("Once Upon A Time In New York City"), and Bette Midler ("Perfect Isn't Easy").
1954:
The Donald Duck short Donald's Diary, featuring Daisy Duck and Donald's nephews
Huey, Dewey & Louie, is released. Donald writes in his diary and narrates (in a rather sophisticated
voice) about his romance with Daisy. Clarence Nash supplies the voice of Donald, but actor Leslie Denison is the
voice of Donald's Internal Monologue.
2007:
Variety reports that a new Disney Channel series called Wizards of Waverly Place is slated for a fall launch. The show centers around a family whose 3 kids are wizards-in-training.
Sterling Holloway, the veteran
vocalist on dozens of Disney
animated projects, was not Walt
Disney's first choice to voice the
character of Winnie the Pooh ...
TV comic George Gobel was
(but he turned it down).
1962:
The Golden Globe Awards are presented at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles,
California. Although nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her performance in Disney's The Parent Trap,
Hayley Mills is edged out by actress Rosalind Russell for her performance in A Majorty of One. West Side
Story wins for Best Motion Picture - Musical, beating out Disney's Babes in Toyland. Best Motion Picture - Comedy
is also given to A Majority of One, again beating out The Parent Trap.
1995:
The Santa Clause is presented a People's Choice Award for
Favorite Comedy Motion Picture.
1939:
Actress Samantha Eggar - the voice of Hera, mother of Hercules, in Disney's
animated Hercules - is born in London, England. Her Disney credits also include the 1988 TV episode "Davy Crockett: Rainbow in the Thunder" as Ory Palmer.
MARCH 5
MARCH 05
THIS SITE MADE IN THE USA
Sterling Holloway
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"When this kid started on The Jungle Book back in the sixties, I knew nothing about story. Vance Gerry was my
mentor. An incredible talent, Vance could accomplish more work in one day than most story artists could do it a
week. He was the most easy going, laid back guy I ever worked with. Totally unflappable, Vance could pitch to
the lowest Jr. story guy or to Walt Disney in the same relaxed manner." -Disney Legend Floyd Norman
In Memory of Vance Gerry (1929-2005)
1948:
Disney releases the Donald Duck short Drip Dippy Donald, directed by Jack King.
A leaky faucet keeps a very tired Donald up all night!
1974:
Actor Matt Lucas, Tweedledee & Tweedledum in Disney's 2010 Alice in Wonderland, is born in London, England.
2010:
Disney's dark fantasy adventure Alice in Wonderland,
directed by Tim Burton and presented in 3-D and
IMAX 3-D, is released in the United States and the
United Kingdom. The film stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway,
Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, and Mia
Wasikowska, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry,
Michael Sheen, Timothy Spall, and Christopher Lee. Loosely inspired
by Lewis Carroll's fantasy novels, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"
and "Through the Looking-Glass," the film tells the story of nineteen-
year-old Alice Kingsleigh, who is told that she can restore the White
Queen to her throne, with the help of the Mad Hatter. But first they
must go up against the evil reigning Red Queen.
Disney's Princess Half Marathon Weekend kicks off
at WDW.
It is reported that Disney Channel is developing a
Tron based animated series to build on the success
of the new Tron Legacy film coming out in December
2010.
2011:
Grammy Award-winning jazz great Herbie Hancock performs at the
Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, California.
1993:
Touchstone's newest sitcom Where I Live premieres as part of ABC's TGIF lineup.
About a Trinidadian-American teenager (played by Doug E. Doug) living in the Harlem section of New York City,
it is created and executive produced by Michael Jacobs and Ehrich Van Lowe.
Swing Kids, a drama directed by Thomas Carter and starring Christian Bale, Robert Sean Leonard and Frank Whaley, is released through Hollywood Pictures and
Touchwood Pacific Partners. American big-band jazz beats in the hearts of young German friends
confronted by the Nazis in pre-World War II Germany.
The soundtrack to the film, Swing Kids: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is released on Disney's Hollywood Records. The album combines swing music featured in the film with the film's original score by James Horner.
MAR
MAR
(1929-2005)
2012:
Disney Legend Robert B. Sherman, one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of
brothers who penned memorable Disney songs for Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book
-- as well as the most-played tune on Earth, "It's a Small World (After All)" -- passes at
the age of 86 in London. Robert and his brother Richard wrote over 150 songs for Disney, including the
soundtracks for such films as The Sword and the Stone, The Parent Trap, Bedknobs and Broomsticks,
The Aristocrats and The Tigger Movie.
(1925-2012)
2013:
Disney releases the digital original motion picture soundtrack for
"Oz The Great and Powerful" featuring the music of composer Danny Elfman.
Also released is the animated Wreck-It Ralph on Blu-ray Disc (2D and 3D) and
DVD in North America.
1990:
Road to Avonlea makes its debut on the Disney Channel as Avonlea.
A television series first broadcast in Canada, it is created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films in
association with CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. The series is set in
the fictional small town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, in the early 20th century and centers on 10-year-old
Montreal heiress Sara Stanley (played by Sarah Polley).
March 5
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
1989:
Actor Sterling Knight is born in Hilton Head, South Carolina. His first role with Disney was in an
episode of Hannah Montana, playing Lily's boyfriend Lucas, in 2007. Two years later Knight began playing the role of
Chad Dylan Cooper, an egotistical and self-centered cast member of "Mackenzie Falls" and self-proclaimed Hollywood
legend in Disney Channel's Sonny with a Chance. In 2010, he played teen heart-throb Christopher Wilde in the Disney
Channel Original Movie Starstruck. The following year Knight returned to be in the Sonny with a Chance spin-off
sketch comedy series So Random!.
2018:
The final episode of the animated series Star Wars Rebels, "Family Reunion and
Farewell," airs on Disney XD. The series, produced by Lucasfilm Animation, had
been airing since 2014.
Star Wars: Path of the Jedi closes in Disneyland Paris. Opened since May 2017,
the attraction was a 10-minute montage of memorable moments from all seven of the Star Wars movies.
King Triton's Carousel of the Sea closes at Disney California Adventure. Located in Paradise Pier, the beautiful carousel featured a variety of colorful sea creatures that "floated" up and down as the carousel revolved to the sound of a calliope playing classic Boardwalk tunes.
2019:
Star Wars: Path of the Jedi re-opens in Disneyland. First opening in
2015 and closing in 2018, the Tomorrowland attraction now takes guests on a journey
through the history of the Force and the Skywalker family. A 10-minute montage, Path
of the Jedi takes iconic images and dialogue from the saga and stitches them together
thematically instead of chronologically.
2014:
The 21st Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival begins.
2021:
Raya and the Last Dragon, a computer-animated action-adventure fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures, is released to theaters in the U.S., and simultaneously made available on Disney+. In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon. The film features a predominantly Asian American cast, including the voices of Kelly Marie Tran as the titular Raya and Awkwafina as Sisu, the titular dragon, along with Izaac Wang, Gemma Chan, Daniel Dae Kim, Benedict Wong, Sandra Oh, Thalia Tran, Lucille Soong and Alan Tudyk. The film was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on November 25, 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's release was delayed.
Playing in front of Raya (in theaters only) is the 3D animated short film Us Again. Directed and written by Zach Parrish and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it tells the story of an elderly couple who magically regain their youth. Us Again will begin streaming on Disney+ on June 4, 2021.
James Newton Howard has composed the score for Raya and the Last Dragon, the fourth time he has scored an animated film by Walt Disney Animation Studios. (The score was released on February 26, 2021.)
Actor David Bailie passes away at age 83. Bailie's best-known work in film was the role of "Cotton," a mute pirate who has his tongue cut out, so he trained his parrot, also named Cotton, to speak on his behalf, though it cannot say more than stock phrases. Bailie first appeared as Cotton in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) as one of the pirates Jack Sparrow chooses in Tortuga. He is one of the Black Pearl crewmembers to survive the Kraken attack in the sequel Dead Man's Chest (2006), and also played Cotton in the third installment: At World's End (2007). He also appeared in the 2011 short Pirates of the Caribbean: Tales of the Code – Wedlocked.
