2003:
Phil Collins and Tina Turner perform at the world premiere of Disney's Brother Bear held at the New Amsterdam Theatre in New York City.
Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is chosen
as the movie of the year at the closing night of the seventh annual
Hollywood International Film Festival in Beverly Hills, California.
One hundred forty-four PGA TOUR professionals and
144 amateurs take to the fairways at Disney's Palm and Magnolia golf
courses for the 7-day Funai Classic at Walt Disney World Resort.
1901:
Academy Award-winning composer/songwriter, Disney Legend, and
Disney Music Supervisor Frank Churchill is born in Rumford, Maine.
Churchill began his career playing piano in cinemas at the age of 15. After dropping out of a California medical
school to pursue a career in music, he became accompanist at the Los Angeles radio station KNX (AM) in 1924.
He joined Disney six years later in 1930 - working on numerous shorts. In 1937, he was chosen to score Disney's
first full-length animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (for which he received an Oscar nomination). Churchill's music can also be heard in Peter Pan, Dumbo, and Bambi. Some of his best known songs include
"Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?," "Whistle While You Work," and "Some Day My Prince Will Come."
1922:
Actor John Anderson, the voice of Mark Twain and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt for Epcot's American Adventure attraction, is born in Clayton, Illinois.
Anderson also played an eccentric farmer who jealously guards his prize watermelon in "For the Love of
Willadean: A Taste of Melon," part of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
(A recurring Twilight Zone actor, he starred in four different episodes, "The Old Man in the Cave", "Of Late I
Think of Cliffordville", "The Odyssey of Flight 33", and "A Passage for Trumpet".)
1924:
Disney's Alice Comedy, Alice Gets in Dutch (starring Virginia Davis) is shown at the Piccadilly Theatre on Broadway in New York City. It is the first
time an Alice Comedy is screened in a first-run Broadway theater.
1935:
Actor of the stage & screen Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumière the
candlestick in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast," is born in The Bronx,
New York. He also voiced the character for "Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas," "Belle's Magical World," and eight episodes of "Disney's House of Mouse." At the 64th Academy Awards, Orbach performed a live-action stage rendition of the Oscar-nominated song, "Be Our Guest", that he sang in "Beauty and the Beast." Orbach supplied the voice of Sa'luk in the 1995 "Aladdin and the King of Thieves" and appeared on such Touchstone sitcoms as "Empty Nest" and "The Golden Girls." A Tony Award-winning actor, he was best known for his starring role as Detective Lennie Briscoe in the "Law & Order" television series and as the father in the 1987 feature film "Dirty Dancing." He originally starred on the Broadway stage appearing in a revival of "Guys and Dolls" in 1965. He later starred in such key Broadway shows as "Carousel," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Promises, Promises," and "Chicago." His non-Broadway credits include "The Fantasticks" and "The Cradle Will Rock." Described as "one of the last bona fide leading men of the Broadway musical and global celebrity on television," Jerome Bernard Orbach passed at age 69 in 2004.
1955:
Ten time Academy Award-nominated film score composer Thomas Newman is
born in Los Angeles, California. His Disney credits include Finding Nemo and WALL-E.
(Newman's cousin is singer-songwriter Randy Newman.)
The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Circus Day.
1963:
A groundbreaking ceremony for the first Hollywood Museum takes place. Present
are Rosalind Russell, Jack Warner, Gene Autry, and Walt Disney. (The museum will
never be built.)
The TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "The Wahoo Bobcat."
This episode is based on author Joseph Wharton Lippincott's 1950 story about a nine-year-old boy and a wild
bobcat who establish a strange friendship that endures through seasons of drought, forest fire and flood.
1965:
As Disney has secretly purchased much of the land
needed to build a new Florida theme park/resort,
news of the project is leaked to the Orlando Sentinel.
1997:
Disney Channel debuts Bear in the Big Blue House, a new series produced by
The Jim Henson Company. The show centers on Bear, a curious brown bear with a good sense of
smell, who lives in the Big Blue House with his friends Ojo, Tutter, Treelo, Pip, and Pop. Bear is performed
by Noel MacNeal. The show will prove to be so popular, that "Bear in the Big Blue House: Live on Stage," an interactive stage show at Disney-MGM Studios, will debut in 1999. In 2004, The Jim Henson Company will sell the Bear in the Big Blue House franchise to The Walt Disney Company, and the show will air for the last time in April 2006 (though reruns of the program will continue to air on Playhouse Disney until May 2010).
1998:
Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride has its world premiere at the Wadsworth
Theater in Los Angeles. A sequel to the 1994 film The Lion King, it is actually a direct-to-video release.
2006:
The Disney Channel Original Movie Return to Halloweentown premieres.
The fourth and final film in the Halloweentown series, it stars Sara Paxton and Joey Zimmerman as siblings
who attend Witch University. Veteran actress Debbie Reynolds returns to the role of Splendora Agatha
"Aggie" Cromwell.
The Perry Meridian High School Marching Falcons band from Indiana perform
on Disney World's Main Street as part of Disney's Magic Music Days.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is generally re-released in Disney Digital 3D
(the first time an analog 2D film has totally been turned into a digital 3D film).
Disney's Touchstone Pictures releases the mystery thriller "The Prestige." Set in early 20th century London, the film tells the story of two rival magicians - played by Hugh Jackman & Christian Bale - who are obsessed with creating the best stage illusion. The cast also features Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Andy Serkis, and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film will earn $14,801,808 on opening weekend in the U.S.
FedEx Express flew over
400 pieces of Walt Disney
memorabilia from
California to Florida
for its "100 Years
of Magic" Celebration
at Walt Disney World.
1983:
Disney's Mickey's Christmas Carol, a twenty-four minute animated short film, is
released in the United Kingdom. An adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic
"A Christmas Carol," the short features Scrooge McDuck as his namesake and inspiration Ebenezer
Scrooge, Mickey Mouse (voiced by Wayne Allwine) as Bob Cratchit, and Donald Duck as Fred Honeywell -
Ebenezer's nephew. The first animated short with Mickey Mouse since the 1953 The Simple Things,
Mickey's Christmas Carol will be released in the U.S. the following December.
1995:
Buena Vista Pictures releases the Walt Disney Pictures feature film Frank
and Ollie to U.S. theaters. Featuring the lives and careers of Disney animators Frank Thomas and
Ollie Johnston (two of Walt's Nine Old Men), the documentary is directed by Ted Thomas (Frank's son).
"Ma chère mademoiselle. It is with deepest pride and greatest pleasure that we welcome
you tonight. And now, we invite to relax, let us pull up a chair, as the dining room proudly
presents... your dinner." -Lumière
2007:
The Best of Both Worlds Tour, starring Miley Cyrus (as both herself and in character
as Disney Channel's Hannah Montana) and featuring Jonas Brothers, pull into the
i wirless Center arena in Moline, Illinois.
2008:
A new preview center opens at Disney's California Adventure. Designed to look like the
interior of an artist’s studio, Blue Sky Cellar features models, sketches, concept art and videos of a nighttime water
show, Little Mermaid dark ride, Cars Land themed area and overall 1920s Los Angeles retheming plans for the park.
Elton John performs a charity concert at the New Amsterdam Theatre (currently the home to Mary Poppins) in New York City. The Broadway event celebrates the 35th anniversary of
the American release of John's and Bernie Taupin's classic double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. John
performs his favorite hits with a host of celebrity friends from the music and theatre worlds, including the cast of
Disney's The Lion King. The star-studded event benefits Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, the Elton John Aids
Foundation and Friends In Deed. (A Disney Legend, John wrote the music for The Lion King and Aida.)
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2001:
The 6th Epcot International Food and Wine Festival begins at Walt
Disney World. More than 20 international food and wine marketplaces around World
Showcase Lagoon represent different regions of the world.
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1982:
Although EPCOT has been opened since October 1, an official dedication takes
place on this day for the new Japan Pavilion in World Showcase. A 10 a.m. dedication
ceremony is followed by a Naorai and a buffet lunch reception at the Mitsukoshi Restaurant.
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
OCTOBER 20
OCTOBER 20
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1941:
Walt Disney, his wife Lillian, and eight of his employees arrive in New York City
when the ship they are on, the Santa Clara, docks at 16th Street on this Monday
morning. They have traveled from South America where they have spent the last 2 months. Three days
later they will attend the world premiere of Dumbo at the Broadway Theater.
1993:
Clarence Nash (the original voice of Donald Duck) and Card Walker are
the Disney Legends Promenade (sidewalk area in front of the Disney Studio Theatre).
1984:
The Stanley Ranch Museum in Garden Grove, California, dedicates a garage known
as "The First Disney Studio." The structure was Walt's first "cartoon studio" (before he and Roy
officially began the Disney Brothers Studio in 1923) and belonged to the home of his Uncle Robert - who Walt
lived with for a short time at 4406 Kingswell Ave. (He didn't stay too long at his uncle's garage though, as Walt
moved down the street on October 8, 1923, to 4651 Kingswell. There in the back of a real estate office he and
his brother Roy officially set up what is considered to be the first Disney Studio on October 16.) Featured at
this day's dedication are local officials, costumed Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters from Disneyland,
Imagineer Bill Justice, morethan 100 Disney fans and an Official First Day Cover issue commemorating
the dedication canceled by the Garden Grove U.S. Post Office. The Stanley Ranch Museum is an assemblage of
historic homes and businesses dating from the town's 19-century origins.
1931:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Fox Hunt, directed by Wilfred Jackson, is released. A wild fox hunt ends when the hunters encounter a skunk instead of a fox!
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Jerry Orbach born
1993 Disney Legends
2009:
Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour pulls into Jacksonville, Florida.
The Walt Disney Concert Hall hosts an event called The Disney
Symphonic Legacy - a program featuring, for the first time ever at the Hall, Disney
music. Included on this evening's program is Ashley Brown as Snow White in the world symphonic premiere
of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - A Symphonic Retelling. The Disney Symphonic Legacy also marks the
Disney Hall debut of longtime Hollywood Bowl Orchestra conductor John Mauceri.
6
2010:
The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes!, an all-new animated series featuring the
best of the best in the Marvel Universe, premieres on Disney XD. Produced by Marvel
Animation, the series stars the world’s greatest heroes — Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Ant-
Man/Giant Man and Wasp — who form the Avengers, a team assembled when the powers of a single hero are
not enough to save the world.
2011:
Some of the world's best golfers and celebrity athletes who love golf descend upon
Walt Disney World Resort for the last event of the PGA Tour season; the 41st
Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Classic. The event tees off on this day at Disney’s Palm
and Magnolia golf courses with the celebrity athletes playing with the Tour pros.
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1989:
Gross Anatomy, a drama film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Matthew
Modine, Daphne Zuniga and Christine Lahti, is released by Touchstone Pictures.
Joe Slovak (Modine) is a brilliant first-year med student whose nonconformist approach to life is tested when
he enrolls in gross anatomy, the toughest course in med school.
October 20
2013:
Saving Mr. Banks holds its world premiere at the London Film Festival.
2017:
Coco, a 3D computer-animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by Pixar
Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures, premieres during the Morelia
International Film Festival in Morelia, Mexico. The story follows a 12-year-old boy named Miguel
who sets off a chain of events relating to a century-old mystery, leading to an extraordinary family reunion. (It will be
released in the United States on November 22, 2017.)
Thor: Ragnarok (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), the film score to the Marvel Studios film Thor: Ragnarok composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, is released digitally by Hollywood Records. (It will be physically released November 10.)
Walt Disney Records releases Disney Junior Music: Halloween Party.
1979:
Actor and filmmaker John Krasinski, the voice of "Frightening" Frank McCay in
Pixar's 2013 Monsters University, is born in Massachusetts. He also had a cameo in
the 2011 musical comedy feature The Muppets. (Krasinski is widely known
for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office.)
1971:
Actress Rachel House is born in Auckland, New Zealand. She appeared in the 2017
feature film Thor: Ragnarok as Topaz, and supplied the voice of Gramma Tala in the 2016 animated Moana.
1994:
Actor and producer Burt Lancaster passes away at age 80 in Century City, California.
Initially known for playing "tough guys," he appeared in the 1986 Touchstone Pictures comedy Tough Guys (alongside
Kirk Douglas). Nominated four times for Academy Awards, Lancaster achieved success with complex and challenging
roles in such films as From Here to Eternity, Judgment at Nuremberg, and Birdman of Alcatraz.
The 20th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television in 1993, are held. Among the winners:
-Best Fantasy Film: The Nightmare Before Christmas
-Best Music: Danny Elfman – The Nightmare Before Christmas
-Best Costume: Mary E. Vogt – Hocus Pocus
1942:
Actor Earl Hindmanis born in Bisbee, Arizona. He was best known for his role as the kindly unseen neighbor Wilson W. Wilson Jr. on the ABC-TV sitcom "Home Improvement" (1991–99). Wilson was always filmed with the lower portion of his face obstructed. Hindman also voiced the character Pericles in a 1998 episode of "Disney's Hercules: The Animated Series." Hindman's most famous pre-"Home Improvement" role was as Bob Reid in the soap opera "Ryan's Hope" (1975-1984). He also played the role of Satch in Touchstone's 1987 comedy "Three Men and a Baby." Sadly, Earl John Hindman passed at age 61 in December 2003.
2014:
The second season of Mighty Med kicks off with the episode "How the Might Med Have Fallen." Mighty Med is a Disney XD original series created by Jim Bernstein and Andy Schwartz.
1950:
Actor William Russ is born in Portsmouth, Virginia. He played Alan Matthews (the dad) on the
ABC sitcom Boy Meets World (1993–2000) and the Disney Channel spin-off Girl Meets World (2014-2017).
