1886:
Comedic star Ed Wynn, the voice of the Mad Hatter in Disney's 1951
Alice in Wonderland, is born Isaiah Edwin Leopold in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Known for his distinct giggly wavering voice, Wynn portrayed Uncle Albert
in Disney's 1964 live-action musical Mary Poppins and Mr. Hofstedder, the watch jeweler in the 1965
That Darn Cat! His Disney film credits also include Babes in Toyland (as The Toymaker), Those
Calloways, Son of Flubber, The AbsentMinded Professor and The Gnome-Mobile (as Rufus - his final
film appearance; released a year after his death in 1966). Wynn was even caricaturized in the 1933 animated
short Mickey's Gala Premiere. He was posthumously named a Disney Legend on August 10, 2013. (His son Keenan
Wynn, a successful character actor, also appeared in Disney films.)
2004:
Diane Disney Miller (the daughter of Walt Disney) helps dedicate a $250,000
animation lab that her family helped fund at Walt Disney Magnet School in Chicago,
Illinois.
On The Record, Disney's newest musical production, launches
a national tour in Cleveland, Ohio. The show features more than 60 songs
spanning about 75 years of Disney films, productions and attractions.
The Winsor McCay Award recipients for 2004 are announced. This year's honors go to
animator Don Bluth (who began his career at Disney), Virginia Davis (who as a youngster appeared in Disney's
early Alice Comedies), and comic character & voice actor Arnold Stang. (The Winsor McCay Award stands as one
of the highest honors given to an individual in the animation industry. The award is named for legendary cartoonist
and creator of Little Nemo Winsor McCay.)
Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas is released on DVD/video. This holiday film (produced by Walt Disney Television Animation & co-created with Blur Studio) marks the debut of Mickey and his friends in the world of computer-generated animation.
1955:
Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Anything Can Happen Day.
The Disneyland television series airs part 2 of the
live-action movie "The Story of Robin Hood."
Actress Karen Dotrice, who portrayed Jane Banks in Disney's 1964 Mary Poppins, is
born in the United Kingdom. Her Disney credits also include The Gnome-Mobile (1967) and The
Three Lives of Thomasina (1964).
1986:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs episode 673
"Walt Disney World's 15th Anniversary Celebration" on ABC.
1993:
The Fountain View Espresso and Bakery opens at Disney
World's EPCOT.
1994:
Disneyland closes the turnstiles at the end of this day on one of
its oldest and most popular attractions, the Skyway - a gondola
lift attraction. The Skyway, opened since June 1956, is closed due to stress
cracks and the enormous impending cost to retrofit it for earthquake safety. Built by
Von Roll, Ltd. based in Bern, Switzerland, it was the first Von Roll Type 101 aerial
ropeway in the USA. (Disney World's Skyway will close 5 years later.)
1999:
Exactly five years after the grounding of the Skyway at Disneyland, the Skyway
at Florida's Magic Kingdom carries its last guest. It had been a popular attraction ever since
Walt Disney World first opened in 1971. Technically two attractions—Skyway to Fantasyland and Skyway to
Tomorrowland, the Skyway was built by Von Roll of Bern, Switzerland, which built similar sky rides for over 100
amusement parks, theme parks, and exposition grounds (including Disneyland).
The soundtrack for Disney's Toy Story 2, featuring the music of Randy Newman, is released. Songs include "You've Got a Friend in Me" (performed by Robert Goulet), "When She Loved Me" (performed by Sarah McLachlan) and "Woody's Roundup" (performed by Riders in the Sky).
Disney's direct-to-video Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas is released. Produced by Walt
Disney Television Animation, the film includes three separate segments, with narration by Kelsey Grammer.
"Donald Duck: Stuck On Christmas" (inspired by the 1892 short story "Christmas Every Day" by William Dean
Howells), features Donald's nephews. Huey, Dewey and Louie learn the true meaning of Christmas after selfishly wishing that everyday could be Christmas.
"A Very Goofy Christmas," finds Goofy playing Santa after his son Max and his friends are told by their
neighbor Pete that jolly St. Nick doesn't really exist! In the end, the real Santa actually comes.
"Mickey and Minnie's Gift of the Magi" (based on the 1905 short story "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry) features the Mouse couple working hard to get each other the perfect holiday gift. But in the end they learn that it is the thought behind each gift that truly counts... not the gift.
The film concludes with a medley of various holiday songs featuring the main characters from the three segments.
The all-star voice cast includes Wayne Allwine (Mickey Mouse), Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse & Huey, Dewey and Louie), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), and Bill Farmer (Goofy & Pluto).
Disney's 1998 Mulan is released to DVD.
2001:
At Disney's California Adventure, Disney's Luminaria, a holiday show made up
of dazzling lights, low level pyrotechnics and music performed on the waters of Paradise Pier Lagoon, debuts. Guests can also make Disney's Luminaria Art Cards at Disney's Luminaria Holiday Art Card Center located in the park. (The show will run through January 6, 2002.)
Festival of the Masters (one of the Southeast's most acclaimed art and culture showcase) returns to Downtown Disney for the weekend.
The Lizzie McGuire episode "Scarlett Larry" debuts on Disney Channel.
2002:
The Los Angeles chapter of the NFFC (The National Fantasy Fan Club for
Disneyana Enthusiasts) host their annual foot rally and trivia day at Disney's
California Adventure.
Actress Susan Lucci (of "All My Children") headlines the
ABC Super Soap Weekend at Disney-MGM Studios in Florida.
2003:
A&E airs The Incurable Collector hosted by John Larroquette. The show features a segment
about George Reiger, whose home is filled with over 15,000 Disney collectibles.
"A comedian is not a man who says funny things. A comedian is one who says
things funny." -Ed Wynn (born This Day in Disney History 1886)
Songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman wrote
"It's A Small World (After All)"
for the 1964 World's Fair.
Since then, it has
become the most translated
and performed song in the world!
15
2007:
The 32nd Festival of the Masters, Disney's acclaimed 3-day annual showcase of
art, culture and cuisine, begins at Downtown Disney Westside, Florida.
In New York City, Disney's Broadway stage production The Lion King is honored by
the Empire State Building. Tshidi Manye, the current Rafiki, appears in costume to throw the ceremonial
switch at the Empire State Building to light the iconic landmark in "Lion King Yellow." (The Lion King is scheduled
to celebrate its 10th Anniversary 2 days later at the Minskoff Theatre.)
Disney Channel debuts "Disenchanted Evening," the fifth episode of the new series Wizards of Waverly Place.
1997:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs "Angels in the Endzone" on ABC-TV.
NOVEMBER 9
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
NOVEMBER 9
N
O
V
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Skyway closes
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NY City honors The Lion King
SEASON 2 EPISODE 9
2009:
Singer-actress Demi Lovato tapes her appearances at Disneyland for the 2009
Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade special for ABC.
2010:
After two years of planning, including seven months of construction,
New York City's new Disney Store officially opens at 1540 Broadway.
To celebrate the launch, Disney uses the Times Square pedestrian plaza between West 45th
and West 46th streets for a two-hour parade featuring such characters as Mickey and Minnie
Mouse, Cinderella and Buzz Lightyear. The 20,000-square-foot store will operate from 9 a.m. to midnight daily.
1967:
Guido Quaroni, voice actor and Supervising Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios,
is born in Pavia, Italy. One of the developers of solidThinking, a NURBS based 3D modeling and rendering
software, you might recognize him as the voice of Guido (a forklift) in Cars, Cars 2, and Cars 3. Starting at Pixar in 1997, Quaroni's credits as a member of the Senior Technology Team include Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Monsters University, Inside Out, Coco, Incredibles 2, and Toy Story 4.
2012:
Lincoln, a biographical war drama film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, has a limited release.
Created with DreamWorks Studios through Disney's Touchstone
Pictures (and distributed in North America by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures), the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as United States President Abraham Lincoln and Sally Field as his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. The
cast also includes Gloria Reuben as Elizabeth Keckley (a former slave
who was dressmaker and confidante to Mary Todd) and Joseph
Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln (the Lincoln's first son).
Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's biography of Lincoln, "Team
of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," the film
covers the final four months of Lincoln's life. John Williams
has composed and conducted the score. (The film will
have an expanded release on November 16.)
November 9
"What had happened was I had made a film for Disney before, The Three Lives of
Thomasina, and I was cast in that from doing a play in London. In the audience was a casting director who was on the hunt for a
London girl to be in Thomasina. Got that, and then I don’t recall auditioning for Mary Poppins. I don’t believe I did, because I
was on another continent. So I think I just got it, or they may have looked at footage from Thomasina, but I don’t recall meeting
with anybody. But I mean Walt Disney was a jolly good friend so I knew him very well once I got to America. We became firm
friends even though I was eight!" -Karen Dotrice
2014:
Filming begins at Disneyland for Disney's annual Christmas morning ABC-TV special.
Musical acts include Train (who take the stage at Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle to perform "Shake Up Christmas")
and Trisha Yearwood (singing a beautiful rendition of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas").
Today is World Freedom Day
Today is World Freedom Day
2017:
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party takes place for the first time this season
at Walt Disney World. Magic Kingdom will host the celebration twenty more times through December 22.
Over at Disney's Hollywood Studios, the park's Flurry of Fun celebration debuts to include the return of the "Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!" show and a new Sunset
Seasons Greetings projections on the Hollywood Tower Hotel. The park’s
signature Christmas tree has been moved to Echo Lake - which includes Dino Gertie dressed for the season. Also
on this evening, Santa Claus makes his debut return to the Once Upon a Time shop (through December 24).
2015:
Phineas and Ferb: O.W.C.A. Files premieres on Disney XD in the U.S.
2013:
Disney's 1964 film Mary Poppins is shown at the American Film Institute Festival.
2019:
Disney and Pixar’s 2017 animated Coco is brought to life on stage for the second
(and final) evening at the Hollywood Bowl (in Los Angeles, California). Coco Live in Concert includes an all-star lineup of special guests including Benjamin Bratt, Eva Longoria, Carlos Rivera, Miguel, Alanna Ubach, Alex Gonzalez, Jaime Camil, Lele Pons, Rudy Mancuso and Natalia Jimenez who appear throughout the evening as the beloved film plays on the Bowl’s movie screen accompanied by a full, live orchestra, conducted by Sarah Hicks.
2018:
Singular: Act I, the third studio album by singer Sabrina Carpenter, is released through Hollywood Records.
1972:
Actor Eric Dane is born in San Francisco, California. He became famous for playing Dr. Mark Sloan on the ABC medical drama television series Grey's Anatomy.
1946:
Film and television actor Scotty Mattraw passes away at age 66 in Hollywood, California.
He provided the voice of Bashful in Walt Disney's 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
1995:
Sound engineer Robert O. Cook passes at age 92 in California. Nominated for three Academy Awards in the category Sound Recording during his lifetime, he worked on nearly 100 films between 1946 and 1977. Cook's Disney credits included such features as Now You See Him, Now You Don't, The Biscuit Eater, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Barefoot Executive, The Aristocats, The Love Bug, Mary Poppins, Old Yeller, Cinderella, Melody Time, and Make Mine Music.
