2004:
Pitcher Curt Schilling of the World Champion Boston Red Sox
gets a hero's welcome at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.
Cary "Jay" Sharp, 37, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attends his own midnight
"burial" at Disneyland to become an honorary resident of the park's famous
Haunted Mansion attraction. A doctor and health care attorney, Sharp paid
$37,400 on eBay to become immortalized on a Haunted Mansion tombstone
(the first member of the public to ever do so). His tombstone reads:
JAY
Doctor-Lawyer Legal Clerk
Forever Buried In His Work
(All proceeds from the auction will go to both the Anaheim and Baton Rouge chapters of the
Boys & Girls Clubs of America.)
1902:
Character actress Elsa Lanchester is born in London,
England. Her Disney credits include the live-action features Rascal,
Blackbeard's Ghost, That Darn Cat! (as Mrs. MacDougall - pictured right),
and Mary Poppins (as the departing nanny, Katie Nanna). She also
appeared as Mrs. Formby in My Dog, The Thief (a 2-part episode of Walt
Disney's Wonderful World of Color in 1969). A character actress with a
long career in theatre, film and television, Lanchester may be best
remembered as the Monster's mate in the 1935 The Bride of Frankenstein.
1933:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Pet Store, directed by Wilfred Jackson, is
released. Pet shop owner Tony Dinero puts Mickey in charge while he's away at lunch. Unfortunately
Beppo the Gorilla escapes from his cage and uses Minnie as Fay Wray in a King Kong imitation!
1952:
Actress Annie Potts, the voice of Bo Peep in Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 4 and the voice of Syrinx in Disney's TV series Hercules, is born in Franklin, Kentucky. She also played Louanne Johnson on the ABC TV series Dangerous Minds and supplied the voice of Nurse Fishington in 3 episodes of Disney Channel's Fish Hooks. (Fans know her as Mary Jo on the hit series Designing Women from
1986-1993, Sheldon's Meemaw on the CBS sitcom Young Sheldon, and for her role in the film Ghostbusters.)
1955:
Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Talent Round-Up Day.
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World
of Color airs part 1 of "Sammy, the Way-Out Seal."
Directed by Norman Tokar, the film tells the story of two young brothers (played by Bill Mumy and Michael McGreevey) who secretly bring home a seal from their summer vacation and try to hide it from their Mom and Dad.
1971:
The Dapper Dans of Disney World (a barbershop quartet) perform their
first show outside of WDW (an evening performance at a convention in
Cocoa Beach) since relocating to Florida from Disneyland, California.
1974:
Actor Joaquin Phoenix - the voice of Kenai in Disney's 2003 animated Brother Bear -
is born in Puerto Rico. (He is best known for his role of Johnny Cash in the 2005 Walk the Line.)
1980:
Annette Funicello, Cubby O'Brien, Tommy Cole, Sherry Alberoni and
Dickie Dodd join other Mouseketeers wearing black ears and white
shirts on a sound stage in Burbank, California, to celebrating the 25th
anniversary of the original Mickey Mouse Club.
1990:
The Magical World of Disney airs "Disney's Halloween Treat" on Disney Channel.
First airing on The Wonderful World of Disney in 1982, this 47-minute Halloween-themed clip show is a
compilation of Disney animated shorts and features involving spooky or supernatural themes.
2001:
The Disneyana Fun Fairs Show & Sale takes place at the WestCoast Anaheim Hotel.
The free event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Disney Collectibles Artist Robert Olszewski appears at the Limited Edition in Merrick,
New York, to meet collectors and sign his sculptures.
Disney/Pixar's newest animated feature film, Monsters, Inc. premieres at the El
Capitan Theater in Hollywood. Stars Billy Crystal, John Goodman, and Mary Gibbs
are on hand for the event. (The film will open in U.S. theaters November 2.)
1999:
Disney World's Polynesian Resort officially changes the names of its longhouses:
Tahiti is renamed Aotearoa
Fiji remains Fiji
Samoa is now called Tuvalu
Bali Hai is renamed Tonga
(Maui) Maori is changed to Rarotonga
Bora Bora is renamed Niue
Hawaii is renamed Samoa
Tonga is now called Hawaii
Oahu is changed to Tokelau
Pago Pago is renamed Rapa Nui
Moorea is now called Tahiti
1898:
Animator Rollin "Ham" Hamilton is born in South Dakota. Starting in February 1924 as Walt's
first animator (to be hired outside the studio), Hamilton worked on many of the Oswald shorts, and nearly all of the
Alice Comedies. (Hamilton went on to help originate the Warner Bros. cartoon studio with Hugh Harman and
Rudolf Ising - also former Disney animators!)
1923:
Mrs. Davis (mother of actress Virginia Davis) wires her acceptance of Walt Disney's
offer of a $100 a month for her daughter to star in his new Alice films. Although the Davis
family must move from Kansas City to California - Virginia's mother, a stage struck housewife, is excited at the
idea of her young daughter being in show business.
The Haunted Mansion is the only
attraction to appear in a
different land at 4 of the 5
Disney resorts:
New Orleans Square at Disneyland,
Liberty Square at Disney World,
Frontierland at Disneyland Paris,
and Fantasyland at
Tokyo
Disneyland.
2005:
Disney Channel airs the Phil of the Future episode "Team Diffy" for the first time.
Shopgirl, a romantic comedy-drama film directed by Anand Tucker and starring Steve
Martin, Claire Danes, and Jason Schwartzman, is released by Touchstone Pictures.
Struggling artist Mirabelle (Danes) works a modest sales job, and dates an underachieving musician named Jeremy
(Schwartzman). Her workaday existence suddenly becomes more exciting when she meets the charming Ray (Martin),
a well-to-do customer. Though Mirabelle's life appears to take an enchanted turn as Ray begins courting her, Ray's
fear of commitment threatens to doom the relationship. Already released in Los Angeles, New York, and Toronto, on
October 21, the film is based on Steve Martin’s best-selling novella.
2008:
Jay Rasulo, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, is inducted into the Travel
Industry Hall of Leaders at a ceremony in Portland, Oregon. An annual industry conference
run by the Travel Industry Association, distinguished individuals are named to the Hall of Leaders for "sustained,
noteworthy contributions that have positively impacted the travel industry, stimulated greater achievement, and
raised industry-wide standards."
The Disney-owned Lyric Street releases Greatest Hits Volume 1, the first greatest
hits album by the American country music group Rascal Flatts.
OCTOBER 28
THIS DAY MADE IN THE USA
OCTOBER 28
Here lies good ol' Fred. A great big rock fell on his head.
Monsters, Inc. debuts
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Mickey Mouse Club celebrates 25 years
Haunted Mansion tribute to set designer and model builder Fred Joerger - Imagineering's resident rock expert
2009:
Disney Interactive Studios officially announce the development of Disney Epic
Mickey, an adventure-platforming game with light role-playing elements for the
Wii home video game console.
The Walt Disney Company files plans to build a sprawling California soundstage
and production complex on the northwest corner of its Golden Oak Ranch in the
Santa Clarita Valley. The proposed Disney/ABC Studios at the Ranch would occupy 56 acres of the
sprawling, 890-acre ranch.
Comedian, writer, director, and banjo enthusiast Steve Martin performs to a near-
capacity audience at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Martin (who worked at Disneyland as a teen)
has turned serious intention to both playing and composing with his first full album of music, The Crow: New
Songs for the Five-String Banjo.
"My wife inspired the title for this next song - it's called 'When Are You Going to
Stop Playing the Damned Banjo?' " -Steve Martin
1949:
Tragedy strikes when Kay Kamen (the Disney
Studios' licensing representative for the last 17
years) and his wife are killed in an Air France plane crash over the Azores. All eleven
crew members and 37 passengers are killed aboard the Lockheed L-749 aircraft which was headed from Paris to
New York with an intermediate stop at Santa Maria Airport, Azores. (The Azores is a Portuguese group of islands
in the Atlantic Ocean, about 930 miles west from Lisbon and about 2,400 miles east from the east coast of North
America.) This ends one of Walt Disney's happiest collaborations. Because of Kamen, the studio's profits from
merchandise are currently at an all-time new high.
"I was driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles...in my dad's grey Oldsmobile convertible with the top down when I
heard the news of the plane crash on the radio. I burst into tears. I knew well that Kay never flew anywhere because of his
fears and found the irony extremely cruel. It was a great personal loss
for our... family and for many others." -Diane Disney Miller
2010:
Actor James MacArthur, best known for his role of Danny "Danno" Williams on the original Hawaii Five-O television series, passes away at age 72 in Jacksonville, Florida. Adopted as an infant by playwright Charles MacArthur and actress Helen Hayes, he grew up in
Nyack, New York. During summer breaks from Harvard University, where he studied history, MacArthur
made The Light in the Forest and Third Man on the Mountain for Walt Disney. Deciding to make acting
his full-time career, he left Harvard in his sophomore year and appeared in two more Disney films,
Kidnapped and Swiss Family Robinson (which was followed by a 12-year run on Hawaii Five-O).
A 23-minute preview of Disney's TRON: Legacy is screened on many
IMAX theaters all over the world. (The film will open in December.)
1913:
Animator Don Lusk is born in Los Angeles, California. Starting as an inbetweener at Disney in
1933, he became an animator in 1938 on Ferdinand The Bull. He is best known for his work on the Fish Dance in "The Nutcracker Suite" segment of Fantasia, Cleo the goldfish in Pinocchio, the title character in Alice in Wonderland, and Wendy in Peter Pan. (After leaving Disney he worked as a freelance animator on such classics as A Boy Named
Charlie Brown, followed by a 23 year stint at Hanna-Barbera until his retirement in 1990.)
Actor, producer, and director Douglas Seale is born in London England. He provided the voice of Krebbs the koala in The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and, two years later, the Sultan in Aladdin (1992). Seale appeared in Touchstone's Ernest Saves Christmas (1988) playing the role of Santa Claus and Touchstone's
Mr. Destiny (1990) as Boswell.
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R.I.P.
Ima
Goner
R.I.P.
Yul B.
Next
1972:
Grammy Award-winning country singer-songwriter Brad Paisley is born in Glen
Dale, West Virginia. His song "Nobody's Fool" appears on the Cars 2 movie soundtrack. In 2012,
Paisley performed at DCA's grand opening of Cars Land and in Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. (In
2003 he married actress Kimberly Williams; co-star of Touchstone Pictures Father of the Bride.)
October 28
2017:
Disney World breaks ground on a new attraction: a Broadway-style theater
located near the Main Street, U.S.A. section of the Magic Kingdom; in an area currently used as a backstage parking lot for cast members. Based on the Willis Wood theater which stood in Kansas City when Walt Disney lived there in the 1920s, the theater will host Broadway-style shows. (Less than a year later, the project will be canceled after being omitted from Disney’s updated construction permits for the park.)
1994:
Walt Disney Pictures releases the adventure drama Squanto: A Warrior's Tale. The film loosely chronicles the life of Native American Patuxet tribesman Squanto prior to and during the arrival of the "Mayflower" in 1620. The cast features Adam Beach (one of the first Native American actors to have the lead in a major motion picture), Irene Bedard, and Nathaniel Parker.
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Dumbo, The Sword in the Stone, and Pete's Dragon are released to VHS and LaserDisc.
1998:
Actor Nolan Gould is born in New York City. Known for his role as youngest sibling Luke Dunphy on
the hit ABC sitcom Modern Family, he also supplied the voice for Sam in the 2009 family comedy film Space Buddies.
1944:
Actor Dennis Franz is born Dennis Franz Schlachta in Maywood, Illinois. Best known for his role as NYPD Detective Andy Sipowicz in the ABC television series NYPD Blue (1993–2005), he voiced Captain Klegghorn for the 1997 film Mighty Ducks the Movie: The First Face-Off and for 17 episodes of the series Mighty Ducks.
1917:
Actor and singer Jack Soo, best known for his role as Detective Nick Yemana on the television sitcom Barney Miller, is born Goro Suzuki on a ship traveling from the United States to Japan. (His parents lived in Oakland, California, and they decided they wanted to have him born in Japan.) Soo played Mr. "Yo-Yo" Yokomoto in Disney's 1978 live-action film Return from Witch Mountain.
1967:
Actress Julia Roberts is born Smyrna, Georgia. Considered one of the most bankable actresses in Hollywood, her Touchstone credits include Pretty Woman (1990), I Love Trouble (1994), and Runaway Bride (1999). She also appeared in the Miramax film Full Frontal (2002).
