1959:
Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone makes its debut on CBS-TV with
an episode called "Where Is Everybody." In this episode, actor Earl Holliman
plays a man who finds himself alone in a strange and seemingly deserted town. He is
dressed in an Air Force jumpsuit, but does not remember who he is or how he got there. Sensing he is beeing
watched, he wanders the town in hopes of finding another living creature. He finally collapses next to a street
crossing, and presses a button labeled "walk." It is revealed that the walk button is in fact a panic button and that
he is really an astronaut named Mike Ferris who has been confined in an isolation room as part of his training!
The successful series will later be the inspiration for Disney's Tower of Terror park attractions.
(Ironically an inspection certificate outside the tower's elevators at WDW in Florida has the number 10259
written on it. 10259 ... October 2 '59!?)
Over on ABC-TV, Walt Disney Presents kicks off season six with part 1 of (its 126th
episode) titled "Moochie of the Little League."
1971:
The Liberty Square Riverboat opens at Walt Disney World (the day after
the park's grand debut) with the Admiral Joe Fowler taking its first trip around
the Magic Kingdom's River of America. (The boat is named after Fowler, a retired U.S. Navy
admiral who was responsible for overseeing the construction of both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.)
The Admiral Joe Fowler will carry Magic Kingdom guests for almost the next 10 years.
The Orlando Sentinel runs the front page headline: Disney World — White Elephant?
They believe the park might be a bust because of the small attendance on opening day.
2005:
Themed collectible Mouseketeer merchandise (to coincide with next day's
50th anniversary of TV's Mickey Mouse Club) is released at the Carriage
Place in the Emporium located on Disneyland's Main Street.
Also at Disneyland, the annual CHOC walk is held to benefit the
Children's Hospital of Orange County.
Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper host the Fifth Annual Film Festival At
Sea aboard the Disney Wonder (through October 6).
Singer-songwriter & actor Hamilton Camp passes away at age 70 in California. His long list of Disney voice credits include such roles as Merlin in House of Mouse and Disney Sing Along Songs: Happy Haunting: Party in Disneyland, Ayam Aghoul in Aladdin, Whistlestop Jackson in TaleSpin, Pitts in Bonkers, Fenton Crackshell in DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, and Seadog in The Little Mermaid. (Camp's debut as a folk singer was at the Newport Folk Festival in 1960. Over the next four decades he maintained a dual career as a musician/songwriter and as an actor. He appeared in nearly one hundred films and television programs.)
1951:
Musician-actor Sting is born Gordon Matthew Sumner in England. He wrote
some of the music for Disney's 2000 animated feature The Emperor's New Groove. Music fans will
know him as a member of the 1980s band The Police ... who actually performed at the Magic Kingdom once!
1953:
Disney's Football Now and Then is released. A grandfather imaginatively details a
game to his grandson between the Moderns and the Oldtimers.
1957:
The Disneyland television series airs the first of a 6-part miniseries titled
"Saga of Andy Burnett: Andy's Initiation," starring Jerome Courtland.
1960:
Walt Disney Presents airs the episode
"Davy Crockett and the River Pirates" on ABC-TV.
Singer-songwriter & guitarist Robbie Nevil is born in Los Angeles,
California. Best known for the song "C'est La Vie" (a #1 dance hit that spent two weeks at
#2 on the Hot 100 in early 1987) he co-wrote three songs on the chart-topping High School
Musical soundtrack and co-wrote the theme song to Hannah Montana.
1966:
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 1 of "Savage Sam" on NBC-TV.
1977:
The Wonderful World of Disney airs the 2-hour episode "The Treasure of
Matecumbe" on NBC-TV. The special features Mouseketeer Billy 'Pop' Atmore, Vic Morrow, Peter
Ustinov, Dick Van Patten, and Jane Wyatt.
1982:
The CBS television series Walt Disney airs part 2 of the 1979 movie "The
Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again," starring Tim Conway and Don Knotts.
1992:
Disney's live-action feature film The Mighty Ducks is released in theaters.
Although it's been running since July 17, the Splash Mountain attraction at Disney
World has an official grand opening. Based on the 1946 Walt Disney film, Song of the South, the ride
features the antics of Brer Fox and Brer Bear's attempts to catch the wily Brer Rabbit as he looks for his laughing place.
1996:
The John Tesh Group performs at Epcot.
A special press event celebrating all of Walt Disney World's 25th
Anniversary culminates with Epcot's new IllumiNations 25.
1998:
Gene Autry, "The Singing Cowboy," and co-owner of baseball's Anaheim
Angels, passes at the age of 91. Walt Disney (who sat on the original Angels board of
directors when the franchise first began) was close with Autry. They shared a vision of Southern California
as a major entertainment center. (Autry is the only celebrity to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame, one in each of the five categories maintained by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.)
1999:
FastPass is first offered at Disneyland Paris on Indiana Jones et le Tempil de Peril.
The thirtieth episode of Disney's Recess, "Space Cadet/Stand Up Randall"
premieres on ABC-TV. Space traveler Buzz Aldrin guest stars in "Space Cadet."
1987:
Disney Dollars debuts in EPCOT Center. They are the same $1 and $5
bills that are being used in Disneyland.
2006:
Walt Disney Imagineering breaks ground on a new interactive
attraction coming to the Paradise Pier area of Disney's California
Adventure Park. The yet-to-be-named attraction is scheduled to open in June 2008.
In the beginning Disney's
Florida theme park was to
be called simply Disney
World. But when
Walt past away in December
1966, his brother Roy
renamed the project
Walt Disney World.
1981:
At Disney World, the live stage show "Disney World is Your World"
begins performances on the Tomorrowland Stage in the Magic Kingdom.
"You can't run away from trouble ... ain't no place that far!" - Splash Mountain
2007:
High School Musical on Tour, a new stage version of the hit Disney
Channel movie, begins a series of performances at Wharton Center
in East Lansing, Michigan.
Disney’s 1967 The Jungle Book is released as the 10th animated feature
to be given the deluxe Platinum Edition treatment by Disney DVD.
1890:
Comedian & film star Groucho Marx (best known for the zany
feature films he made with his siblings, the Marx Brothers) is born
Julius Henry Marx in New York City. He is caricatured in the Disney shorts The Bird Store (1932),
Mickey's Gala Premier (1933) and Mother Goose Goes Hollywood (1938) along with his brothers. Groucho also
makes an appearance in the animated The Autograph Hound (1939) along with his "silent" brother Harpo. Disney
animator Ward Kimball even appeared on a 1954 episode of Groucho's television quiz show You Bet Your Life.
In the fall of 1955 Groucho visited Disneyland with his nine-year-old daughter Melinda.
1950:
Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz, first debuts in seven U.S. newspapers.
As a boy, Schulz was interested in comics, especially Popeye and the characters created by Walt Disney.
Back in the '30s, he wrote to Walt Disney asking for a job ... but didn't get one. In 1996 Schulz will be
honored with a sidewalk star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ... right next to Walt Disney's!
OCTOBER 2
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
OCTOBER 02
WDW's Liberty Square Riverboat debuts
Twilight Zone first airs on TV
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'Up there', up there in the vastness of space, in the void that is sky, up there is an enemy known as isolation. It
sits there in the stars, waiting- waiting with the patience of eons, forever waiting ... in the Twilight Zone.
2009:
Walt Disney World and NASA celebrate Buzz Lightyear’s cosmic achievement as
the longest tenured crew member in space with a ticker-tape parade down Main
Street, U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom. Buzz spent more than 15 months of dedicated service onboard
the International Space Station as part of an education initiative between Disney Parks and NASA. In attendance
at this day's event is Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin and International Space Station astronaut Michael Fincke.
Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are re-released as a double feature to theaters for
a special two-week engagement. The films have been converted to 3D.
The Disney Gallery at Disneyland reopens. Now located in the former Bank of Main Street, U.S.A.,
it features Walt Disney Imagineering’s cherished concept art and Disney inspired artwork by current and former Imagineers and Disney Artists.
1984:
Actor John Morris, best known for his role of Andy Davis in all three Toy Story
films, is born in New York. His voice credits also include The Nightmare Before Christmas.
2008:
Carolwood Records, a sister country music imprint to the Lyric Street Records label
(part of the Disney Music group) is established in Nashville, Tennessee.
2000:
Buzz Lightyear of Star Command debuts in syndication (although a pilot episode had
aired last August 8). An animated science fiction/adventure/comedy series produced by Walt Disney
Television, the series follows the adventures of space ranger Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Patrick Warburton).
2010:
Anton Van Zyl, 37, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida wins the men's division of the
inaugural Disney Wine & Dine Half Marathon at Walt Disney World. He finishes in
1 hour, 14 minutes, 51 seconds, just ahead of second-place finisher Matthew Dobson, 41, of Jay, Florida.
Melissa Wisner, 27, of Washington D.C., wins the women's division in 1:32:22.
Meanwhile over at Hollywood Studios, the final live stage performance of High
School Musical 3: Senior Year takes place.
The premiere of Disney's "Beauty And The Beast" Sing-A-Long DVD takes place at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles, California. Robby Benson and Paige O'Hara (the voices of the Beast and Belle) are on hand to introduce the film.
1928:
The following announcement appears in this day's edition of The Film Daily
(a main source of news on the film industry).
(This is in reference to Steamboat Willie, which will debut in November.)
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October Preview Month
2012:
A replica of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, located in Duluth, Georgia, goes up
for sale on ebay. Theme Park Connection, specialists in buying and selling Disney memorabilia, offers
the 10,000-square-foot home for $873,000. Although owner and designer, Mark Hurt, a Disney contractor, put
in some modern day changes such as more bathrooms and livable rooms; the rest of the mansion (built in 1996)
is virtually modeled after the popular Disneyland attraction.
Cinderella Diamond Edition is released on DVD and Blu-ray. Disney fans can rediscover the timeless story, the memorable music and unforgettable characters of this 1950 animated classic.
1983:
Epcot holds a groundbreaking for The Living Seas and Morocco pavilions.
Morocco will open in 1984 and The Living Seas two years later in 1986.
October 02
Disney Makes Sound Cartoon
Walt Disney, who animated many of the Alice cartoons for Winkler Pictures, has completed a cartoon
subject in sound. Peerless Exchange will distribute.
1986:
A 4-day invitation-only press event to celebrate Walt Disney World's
15th anniversary begins. A press conference in the Walt Disney Story Theater in Town Square,
presided over by Disney CEO Michael Eisner, Disney president Frank Wells, Roy Disney and Dick Nunis, kicks off the event. Later that evening, all 10,000 invited guests are bused to Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, for a program titled
"The Magic Beyond the Kingdom." As guests stroll around the lake, they are given picnic baskets and are entertained by
the Sea World/Cypress Gardens Ski Show. This is followed by a concert in the park featuring Toni Tennille and the
Florida Symphony Orchestra, which culminates with fireworks and a patriotic finale.
2014:
The Walt Disney Company Board of Directors announces that it has extended
Robert A. Iger's contract as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer through
June 30, 2018.
Magical: Disney's New Nighttime Spectacular of Magical Celebrations, a fireworks show during the summers at Disneyland, ends its run. First debuting in June 2009, the show featured recorded music and dialogue, fireworks, lower level pyrotechnics, 10k spotlights, and gobo projections
via Vari-Lite 3000 Spot fixtures housed in enclosures on Sleeping Beauty Castle and the Matterhorn.
2016:
The Muppets arrive at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World to star in a new
show, Great Moments in American History. There are two different versions of the show, one
11 minutes and the other 8, both of which are repeated multiple times a day outside The Hall of Presidents.
1962:
Voice actor & singer Jeff Bennett is born in Houston, Texas. His long list of Disney credits include The Little Mermaid, The Return of Jafar, Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken, James and the Giant Peach, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, An Extremely Goofy Movie, The Jungle Book 2, Stitch! The Movie, and Enchanted.
2011:
Rapunzel, the tenth Disney Princess is honored with a star-studded ceremony at Kensington Palace in London, UK! All ten Disney Princess characters attend (including Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Mulan, Pocahontas, Snow White, & Tiana), joined along with VIPs, celebrities and little princesses from around the globe.
2019:
Veteran animator, producer and director of animated series Alan Zaslove passes away at age 91 in California. His Disney credits included DuckTales, Aladdin, Adventures of the Gummi Bears,
Darkwing Duck, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (which he co-created with Tad Stones), The Return of Jafar,
Jasmine's Enchanted Tales: Journey of a Princess and Pocahontas 2: Journey to a New World. (Starting out as an "office boy" for Leon Schlesinger Productions in 1943, Zaslove went on to work for United Productions of America and Hanna-Barbera.)
1956:
Voice actor and voice director Charlie Adler is born in Paterson, New Jersey. His Disney film credits include Aladdin, The Rescuers Down Under, The Prince and the Pauper, DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp, and The Little Mermaid. Adler's voice can also be heard on such Disney television shows as Avengers Assemble, Brandy & Mr. Whiskers, The Lion Guard, Phineas & Ferb, and The Emperor's New School.
1970:
Actress, dancer and talk show host Kelly Ripa is born in Berlin, New Jersey. She was cast in her first major acting role in 1990 as Hayley Vaughan, a troubled party girl, on ABC's soap opera All My Children (for 12 years). After co-host Kathie Lee Gifford's final show on Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, Regis Philbin chose Ripa as his new co-host in 2001 (and the show was renamed Live! with Regis and Kelly). Credited for bringing "a new life to the show," she eventually replaced Philbin as the head of the show after his retirement. Ripa ventured into primetime in September 2003 on ABC's sitcom Hope & Faith, playing Faith Fairfield, an unemployed ex-soap star (through 2006). She also co-hosted the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, from 2001–2009. Over the years Ripa appeared on such ABC shows as Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters, and such Disney Channel shows as Hannah Montana and Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time.
2020:
Disney+ continues its international roll outs as the new streaming service is launched on
the Indian Ocean islands, Mauritius, Mayotte and Reunion Island.
Film and television producer Edward S. Feldman passes at age 91 in California.
Born in The Bronx, New York, he first worked for Fox and Paramount before doing projects with Disney. His Disney credits included 102 Dalmatians (2000), 101 Dalmatians (1996), The Jungle Book (1994), and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992).
