2002:
Disney's The Rookie, starring Dennis Quaid as high school baseball coach turned big league pitcher Jim Morris, opens in theaters.
The Lizzie McGuire episode "Working Girl" debuts on Disney Channel.
1918:
Legendary entertainer Pearl Bailey, the voice of Big Mama in Disney's 1981
animated release The Fox and the Hound, is born in Newport News, Virginia. A
singer and actress, she sang "Best of Friends", "Lack of Education", and "Appreciate The Lady" as the voice of
Big Mama. (A Tony and Emmy-award winner, Bailey is remembered for her role of Maria in the 1959 classic
feature Porgy and Bess.)
1943:
Comic actor, writer & film director Eric Idle - Dr. Nigel Channing of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience & Journey Into Your Imagination,
and the voices of Mr. Parenthesis of TV's Hercules, and Pluto Angel in Mickey Mouse Works - is born in England. He also starred in the 1996
live-action feature Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and contributed to Disney's "The Wild Soundtrack." (Comedy fans will know Idle best as a member of Monty Python's Flying Circus.)
1951:
Disney's True-Life Adventure short In Beaver Valley wins an Oscar
(Short Subject/Two Reel) at the 1950 Academy Awards (presented
at the RKO Pantages Theatre in Hollywood).
1961:
Actress Amy Sedaris, the voice of Foxy Loxy in the 2005 animated feature Chicken
Little, is born in Endicott, New York. In 2009 she appeared in Walt Disney Pictures Old Dogs, supplied the voice of Gravity for the direct-to-video Space Buddies, and voiced Guineafowl in the 2019 remake of The Lion King. Her Disney television voice credits include episodes of Doc McStuffins, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and DuckTales. Sedaris has also appeared on episodes of such series as Monk and The Middle. Between 2019-2020 she played Peli Motto on the Disney+ series The Mandalorian. (Sedaris' first major foray into television began in 1995 on the Comedy Central sketch series Exit 57. You may recognize her from the 2005 Bewitched, the 2003 Elf and the 1999 TV series Strangers With Candy.)
1963:
Disney's live-action feature film Miracle of the White Stallions, featuring Robert Taylor, Eddie Albert and James Franciscus, is generally released.
A true story of how Colonel Alois Podhajsky, director of Vienna’s world famous Spanish Riding School, saved the school and its beautiful Lipizzan white horses during World War II.
1985:
The Frontierland Shootin' Arcade opens in Disneyland.
1987:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the episode "Double Agent." The two-hour movie stars Michael McKean as a veterinarian who is pursuaded by a federal agent to fill in as a spy! The cast also includes Susan Walden, Christopher Burton, Judith Jones, and Lloyd Bochner.
1993:
At the 65th Academy Awards, "A Whole New World" - written by Alan Menken and
Tim Rice - from Disney's Aladdin, wins an Oscar for Best Song (beating out 4 other
nominations including their own "Friend Like Me" - also from Aladdin). Lea Solanga (the
(the singing voice of Jasmine) performs "A Whole New World" with Brad Kane (the singing voice of Aladdin). The
animated feature also receives an award for Original Score - composed by Alan Menken.
2001:
The Atlanta Braves play their last spring training game of the season at Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, when they take on the Florida Marlins.
1909:
Director, writer, and animator Jack Kinney is born in Utah. His long career at the Walt
Disney Studios began in 1931 as an animator on several shorts, including Santa's Workshop, The Band Concert, and Moose Hunters. He later became a director - winning an Oscar for Der Fuehrer's Face - and worked as a sequence director on both Pinocchio and Dumbo. In 1988 Kinney published a short memoir,
Walt Disney and Assorted Other Characters: An Unauthorized Account of the Early Years at Disney.
1955:
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway signs a 5-year contract with Disney,
paying $50,000 per year in exchange for the name "Santa Fe" and company
logo to be used on all Disneyland trains, stations, and literature.
2007:
Actor Adam West (best known as the TV's Batman & the voice of the mayor on
The Family Guy) who provides the voice of Uncle Art, one of the eccentric
Robinson family members in Walt Disney Pictures’ new computer-animated
comedy-adventure, Meet the Robinsons, helps kick off the El Capitan
Theatre’s spectacular Disney Digital 3-D engagement with a personal
appearance at the midnight show. Meet the Robinsons is scheduled to run at the El Capitan
from March 30th through May 19th. On the same program, in its first big screen appearance in 54 years, is
the classic 1953 3-D short, Working for Peanuts, starring Donald Duck and Chip 'n' Dale.
1940:
Actor Hal Stalmaster, the star of Disney's 1957 live-action feature Johnny Tremain (at the
age of 17), is born in California. In 1960, Stalmaster portrayed Gwynn in three of the eight hour-long segments
of the Walt Disney Presents miniseries, The Swamp Fox.
Journey Into Imagination, the
attraction located within The
Imagination! Pavilion at the
Epcot, has been through
three incarnations since
its 1983 opening. All
three of them featured
a purple dragon
named Figment.
2008:
The Golden Horseshoe Show & Celebration, a fan event, is held in
Anaheim, California. Although not an official Disney event, Disney Legends
Wally Boag (the original Pecos Bill) and Imagineer Bob Gurr attend.
The 21st Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are held at the Pauley Pavilion, Los Angeles, California. Among the winners:
-Favorite Movie Actor: Johnny Depp – Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End as Captain Jack Sparrow
-Favorite Animated Movie: Ratatouille
-Favorite TV Actress: Miley Cyrus – Hannah Montana as Miley Stewart
-Favorite Music Group: Jonas Brothers
"A lot has been said about politicians; some of it complimentary, but most of it accurate." -Eric Idle
1790:
John Tyler, the tenth United States President, is born in
Charles City County, Virginia. Visit him and all the U.S.
Chief Executives at Disney World's The Hall of Presidents.
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1954:
The ABC-Paramount board approves a deal with Walt Disney. In exchange for Walt Disney's commitment to produce a weekly television series, ABC-Paramount will contribute $500,000 to Disneyland, guarantee $4.5 million in loans, and become a 34 percent owner in Disneyland, Inc. (The actual contract won't be signed until April 2.)
MARCH 29
MARCH 29
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
Aladdin wins Oscars
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1966:
Television, film and theatre actor and singer Michael-Leon Wooley is born in Virginia (though he will be raised in Maryland). He is the voice of Louis the alligator in Disney's 2009 animated feature film The Princess and the Frog.
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The Rookie opens in theaters
2011:
ABC-TV debuts a new drama series Body of Proof, about a
neurosurgeon-turned-medical examiner played by Dana Delany.
Disney's 2010 Tangled is released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as
a four-disc combo pack. It includes a Blu-ray 3D, standard Blu-ray, DVD, and digital copy.
MAR
MAR
1998:
In New York City, 1300 high school students representing more than 15 different
countries converge in Central Park to take part in a spectacular stunt to celebrate the
upcoming opening of Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. Using “human animation” these
young performers bring a lion, dinosaur and fire-breathing dragon to life, each spanning approximately half a football
field in length at Sheep Meadow inside Central Park! Taking months to choreograph, the stunt airs on Good Morning
America and the Walt Disney World Easter Parade. Disney's Animal Kingdom will open April 22.
2012:
A 12-inch Buzz Lightyear toy that spent 15 months orbiting the Earth on the
International Space Station is donated to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum in Washington, D.C. John Lasseter, the animator who created Buzz Lightyear (who is now the
chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios) hands the toy-turned-artifact to curators before
an audience of museum visitors. The figure, which launched into space in May 2008 and returned to Earth 467 days
later in August 2009, will go on display later this summer in the National Air and Space Museum's "Moving Beyond
Earth" gallery.
Disney's Newsies officially opens on Broadway at the Nederlander Theatre.
Featuring Jeremy Jordan as Jack Kelly and John Dossett as newspaper tycoon Joseph Pulitzer, the musical
has been in previews since March 15. Based on the 1992 film Newsies (which in turn was inspired by the
real-life Newsboys Strike of 1899 in New York City), the show first played at the Paper Mill Playhouse in
Millburn, New Jersey from September 25, 2011 through October 16.
March 29
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
2019:
Dumbo, a fantasy film directed by Tim Burton, is released by Walt Disney Pictures & Tim Burton Productions. Inspired by Walt Disney's 1941 animated film of the same name, and based on the novel by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, it stars Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, Eva Green, and Alan Arkin. The film follows a family that works at
a failing traveling circus who encounter a baby elephant with
extremely large ears who is capable of flying.
2013:
Japan Airlines (JAL) introduces a 30th Anniversary logojet to help celebrate the success of the Tokyo Disney Resort. Boeing 777-246 JA8985 at Tokyo (Haneda) is the first JAL
aircraft to wear the special Disney livery.
2014:
The 27th Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are held at the Galen Center in Los Angeles, California. Hosted by actor Mark Wahlberg, among the Disney winners are:
-Favorite Animated Movie: Frozen (beating out Monsters University)
-Favorite Male Buttkicker: Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man 3 as Tony Stark / Iron Man
-Favorite TV Actor: Ross Lynch – Austin & Ally as Austin Moon
-Favorite Female Singer: Selena Gomez
Although nominated for Favorite TV Show, "Good Luck Charlie" and "Jessie" are edged out by "Sam & Cat".
selected animation credits:
Mickey's Mechanical Man (1933)
Ye Olden Days (1933)
Mickey's Service Station (1935)
The Cookie Carnival (1935)
Bambi (1942)
selected director credits:
The Wind in the Willows (1949)
Two Gun Goofy (1952)
Casey Bats Again (1953)
Chips Ahoy (1956)
Aquamania (1961)
1965:
The NBC special "Jonathan and the Movies," an hour-long comedy hosted by Jonathan Winters, airs on television. Winters and his guests (Buster Keaton, Mickey Rooney, Julie Newmar, Agnes Moorehead, Fred Clark, and Peter Leeds) present a satirical documentary about the film industry. Highlights include Winters playing Captain Bligh in a spoof on Mutiny on the Bounty. It has been filmed on board the S.S. Columbia at Disneyland. At the end of the program, he thanks Walt Disney for the use of his Anaheim park.
