1925:
Jack Wagner, Disney Legend and for many years the official voice of
Disneyland and Walt Disney World, is born in California. He worked for the 2 theme parks
doing general park announcements as well as voice work for the attractions themselves until his death in 1995.
Wagner's voice can still be heard today. He is also the voice of the Orlando International Airport's Automated
Guideway Transit System that shuttles passengers between gates 1-29, 30-59 and 60-99. The voice on the
shuttle for 100-129 is done by his son Mike! (Jack Wagner also enjoyed a lengthy career as a radio announcer
at KNX in Los Angeles, and as a television actor, his best-known role being that of the malt-shop proprietor in
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.)
2004:
Walt Disney is honored posthumously with the Innovator Award at the 10th annual
American Choreography Awards (held in Los Angeles). Outstanding Achievment in
Choreography - Fight goes to George Marshall Ruge for his contributions to Pirates
of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
1921:
Veteran comic actor Tom Poston, who portrayed Lord Palimore in Disney's 2004
Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement, is born in Columbus, Ohio. TV fans know him from
countless appearances on such Disney/ABC sitcoms as 8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter,
Home Improvement, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show and The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. (Fans of
Newhart will recognize Poston for his role of George Utley.) Poston's handprints appear in front of Hollywood
Hills Amphitheater at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
1927:
Disney's Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon Great Guns is released. Directed by Walt Disney, Oswald goes to war, fights in the trenches and is blown apart ... but luckily put back together by his nurse girlfriend.
1937:
Donald Duck's identical triplet nephews Huey, Dewey and Louie, debut in Disney's
Sunday comic strip. They have been created by cartoonist Al Taliaferro (and will later appear in the April
1938 animated short Donald's Nephews).
1955:
The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Fun With Music Day.
1956:
The Disneyland television series airs the episode "Goofy's Cavalcade of Sports."
1957:
The second Zorro episode "Zorro's Secret Passage" airs on ABC-TV.
Don Diego/Zorro (played by Guy Wiliiams) shows his man-servant, Bernardo (Gene Sheldon), the
secret passage in his father's hacienda that leads from his bedroom to the stable below, where he
keeps his black stallion, Tornado. Captain Monastario (Britt Lomond) posts a reward for the capture
of Zorro, and begins visiting the local haciendas in an effort to discover who Zorro might be. When he
arrests the wrong man, Zorro must ride again to prove to Monastario that he has caught an innocent man.
1958:
The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs the second episode of Elfego
Baca, "Four Down and Five Lives to Go," starring Robert Loggia.
1965:
The World's Fair in Flushing, New York, officially ends. The fair included 4
attractions developed by Walt Disney: General Electric's Carousel of Progress, Ford's Magic
Skyway, Pepsi-Cola's It's A Small World, and the State of Illinois' Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.
1996:
The Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Golf Classic kicks off with
Brad Bryant returning to defend his championship. Bryant, a 19-year golf veteran,
competes with 132 other professional golfers, including Payne Stewart, Peter Jacobsen and Tiger Woods to take
home a winners' share of $216,000 in the final full-field event of the 1996 PGA Tour. (Woods will go on to win.)
1998:
The Disney Channel Original Movie Halloweentown, starring Debbie Reynolds, Judith Hoag, Kimberly J. Brown, Joey Zimmerman, and Emily Roeske, first airs.
2005:
Disneyland's traditional real live Christmas tree arrives at the park.
The 60 foot tall tree will be decorated with 5,000 holiday lights and
5,000 golden ornaments (in honor of Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary).
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1916:
Virgil Franklin Partch, one of the most prominent and prolific American magazine
gag cartoonists of the 1940s and 1950s, is born in Alaska. Partch studied under Rico LeBrun
at Choiuinard Art Institute before joining the Disney Studios in 1938 as a story man/assistant animator for 4 years.
He participated in the 1941 Disney studio strike and soon found himself living on unemployment insurance and submitting sample cartoons to magazines like The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's, and others. In 1942 he
sold one to Collier's and never looked back. His unusual style and surreal humor made his cartoons distinctive,
eye-catching, and popular.
"Your attention please. The Disneyland Limited now arriving from a trip around Walt Disney's
Magic Kingdom. Passengers will stand by to board." -Jack Wagner
2007:
Disney announces future plans for the overhaul of Disneyland's sister park, California Adventure. Over the next several years new themeing, attractions, restaurants, and shops will be added. The plans also include a new 12-acre area called Cars Land.
1947:
Disney's feature film Fun and Fancy Free is released in Brazil.
2008:
During a ceremony at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Vanessa Rosas and
Clay Shoemaker are named as the 38th Walt Disney World Ambassador
Team (who will serve from January 1 – December 31, 2009).
The documentary adventure film Morning Light, co-produced by Roy Disney (a
sailing enthusiast), is released by Walt Disney Pictures. The film chronicles a real-life crew
training and competing in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race aboard a TP52 class yacht named Morning Light.
In the early 1970s, Disney World
had plans to build a Thai style
hotel called the Asian Resort. It
was to be built about midway
between the Magic Kingdom and
the Polynesian Resort on the
monorail line ... in a spot now
occupied by the Grand Floridian
OCTOBER 17
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
OCTOBER 17
NY World's Fair ends
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1986:
The Color of Money, the 9th feature film released through Disney's Touchstone
Pictures, hits theaters. Starring Paul Newman, Tom Cruise, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, it tells the
continuing story of Edward "Fast Eddie" Felson from the 1961 film The Hustler (which starred Newman).
Newman will win the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance of a pool hustler.
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Disney Legend Jack Wagner born
2000:
Buena Vista Home Entertainment releases the Toy Story 2 Pack DVD set,
which includes Toy Story and Toy Story 2, plus the Pixar films Tin Toy
and Luxo Jr. It is released under the Gold Classic Collection banner.
Coincidentally on the same day legendary comedian Don
Rickles - the voice of Toy Story's Mr. Potato Head - receives a star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame!
2009:
Disney Vacation Club celebrates the grand opening of its Doorway to Dreams sales
center at the Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island, New York. Disney Doorway to Dreams
offers Roosevelt Field shoppers and New York-area residents a convenient and interactive way to discover the benefits of Disney Vacation Club.
SEASON 3 EPISODE 6
1946:
Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh, a British theatrical producer notable for
his association with many commercially successful musicals including
Disney's Mary Poppins, is born in Enfield, London, England.
1960:
Theater director, film director and choreographer Rob Marshall is born in Madison,
Wisconsin. He directed the 2011 Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth chapter of Disney's
Pirates of the Caribbean film series. His choreography credits include Into the Woods (2014) and Mary Poppins
Returns (2018). His most notable work is the Academy Award-winning film Chicago (2002), for which he won the Directors Guild of America Award, in addition to receive nominations for the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for Best Director.
1980:
Actor Justin Moran Shenkarow is born in Torrance, Califronia. First known for his role of
Matthew Brock in Picket Fences, his Disney voice credits include Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles, 101
Dalmatians: The Series, Recess, Lloyd in Space and Recess: School's Out.
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2012:
Disney announces a new program for 2013 in which guests will encounter
surprise weekly themes at Disney parks in Florida and California. The new program,
"Limited Time Magic," is revealed at a morning event in New York City's Times Square, along with a
25-foot-tall, 45,000-pound castle made of ice. Next year, each week at the Disney theme parks will be
highlighted by a different surprise or guest enhancement for a one-week-only engagement.
The 2012 Mobile Excellence Awards are announced at Digital Hollywood at the
Ritz Carlton, Marina Del Rey, California. Disney/ABC Television Group’s Digital Media team
takes home the prestigious Industry Star Award for overall achievement, as well as the Best Content Extension
Made for Mobile for Disney Channel’s "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally Appisode" App.
October 17
2017:
Disney's The Brave Little Toaster has a 30th anniversary screening at TCL Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood, CA. First released in 1987, the film is set in a world where household appliances
and other electronics have the ability to speak and move, but pretend to be lifeless in the presence of humans.
2018:
Heather and Clark Ensminger from Tennessee visit 6 Disney parks on two coasts in
1 day! Their carefully planned agenda included at least one attraction and a bite to eat at each park, so they
started their day at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as the sun rose over Toy Story Land. From there, they hopped to
Epcot for a trip back through history on Spaceship Earth, then skipped over to Magic Kingdom Park to meet
Mickey Mouse. Their visit to Walt Disney World Resort concluded with lunch and some fun at Disney’s Animal
Kingdom before racing off to Orlando International Airport. After a cross-country flight to Los Angeles, the Ensmingers
slid into Disney California Adventure park before it closed to experience Guardians of the Galaxy – Mission: Breakout!
They then jaunted across the Esplanade to conclude their own version of a Disney marathon at Disneyland park.
The event was not only in celebration of their 10th wedding anniversary but also in honor of Heather's father - who
had passed away suddenly a year earlier on the eve of a family trip to Disney World.
1997:
Playing God, a thriller crime drama, is released by Touchstone Pictures. One-time surgeon
Eugene Sands loses his licence for the negligent death of a patient for drugs addiction, and his life spirals into chaos.
He finds himself in the employ of a shady gangster and soon becomes embroiled in dark and dangerous dealings.
The film stars David Duchovny, Timothy Hutton, and Angelina Jolie.
2003:
Touchstone Pictures releases the biographical crime film Veronica Guerin. The film focuses on Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996, at the age of 37. The cast features Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, and Ciarán Hinds.
1983:
Actress Felicity Jones is born in Birmingham, West Midlands, England. She played Jyn Erso in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Jones also voiced the same character for the animated Star Wars Forces of Destiny (a web series by Lucasfilm Animation released through Disney's YouTube channel).
1988:
Actor Dee Jay Daniels is born in Montclair, California. He played Ethan in the 2005 Disney film Sky High.
2006:
The soundtrack to the Touchstone Pictures film The Prestige is released on Hollywood Records. It features the music of English score composer David Julyan. The film will be released October 20.
1914:
Jerry Siegel, comic book writer and co-creator of Superman (along with Joe Schuster),
is born in Cleveland, Ohio. Siegel began working for DC Comics (then known as National Allied Publications) in 1935. This was later followed by work with Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, and various military magazines (such as Stars and Stripes). In 1968, Siegel worked for Western Publishing, for which he wrote (along with Disney cartoonist Carl Barks) stories in the Junior Woodchucks comic book. In the 1970s, he worked for Mondadori Editore (at that time the Italian Disney comics licensee) on its title Topolino. Siegel and Shuster were inducted into the comic book industry's Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1992 and the Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1993.
1919:
The RCA Corporation is founded as the Radio Corporation of America. An innovative and progressive company, RCA was the dominant electronics and communications firm in the United States for over five decades. A forefront of the mushrooming radio industry in the early 1920s, the company was also a pioneer in the introduction and development of television.
RCA and Disney had deep ties, which began in 1940. The two companies partnered in the creation of the groundbreaking Fantasound process for Fantasia. In 1959, RCA’s legendary Chairman David Sarnoff (eager to lure Disney’s television programming to NBC) commissioned a study for a second Disneyland-style park which RCA would help fund and which would be built in Jersey Meadows, near New York. The proposal was rejected. By 1968, with Walt Disney World under development, RCA and Disney crossed paths once more. In March of that year, the two companies initiated a conceptual study of the information handling requirements of the future resort. The ambitious plans (dubbed WEDCOMM) unfortunately later vanished.
Although not owned by Disney, RCA Records (through its RCA Victor label) released many early Disney record albums, including animated features like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Alice in Wonderland.
In 1966, RCA Board Chairman David Sarnoff was presented the Screen Producers Guild Milestone Award by Walt Disney.
RCA was also one of the original sponsors for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color on NBC-TV (1961-69).
From 1975 to 1993, the Disney World attraction Space Mountain was sponsored by RCA. The left entrance wall had the words "Space Mountain" displayed in bold, blue colored letters. The RCA logo was above this, and under the Space Mountain lettering was the slogan "A Journey Through Time and Space", beneath which was the phrase "presented by RCA".
Today, RCA exists as a brand name only; the various RCA trademarks are currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment and Technicolor, which in turn license the brand name to several other companies.
1959:
Comedian, actor, and writer Norm Macdonald is born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.
Known for his deadpan style, he was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for five years, including anchoring the "Weekend Update" segment for three seasons. His ABC-TV credits included writing for Roseanne, appearing on 2 episodes of The Drew Carey Show, starring in his own sitcom Norm for 3 seasons, and appearing in 10 episodes of The Middle.
