1924:
Walt Disney ships his 2nd Alice Comedy, Alice Hunting in Africa,
to M.J. Winkler Productions - a distributor in New York.
2005:
The new animated series American Dragon: Jake Long debuts on Disney Channel
with the episode "Old School Training." Dante Basco supplies the voice for Jake Long.
Actor Steve Susskind passes away at age 62 in California. Known for his small roles in sitcoms, he was also a busy voice actor. His Disney credits included Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Mulan (1998), A Bug's Life (1998), Tarzan (1999), Toy Story 2 (1999), The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Treasure Planet (2002), and The Incredibles (2004).
1925:
Actor Charles Aidman, who portrayed Mark Twain in the 1981 TV special Walt
Disney: One Man's Dream, is born in Frankfort, Indiana. His Disneyland television
credits also include the episodes "Secrets of Pirates Inn" and "Menace on the Mountain."
1930:
While Walt is in New York, animator Ub Iwerks informs Roy O. Disney that he wishes to leave the Disney Company as soon as possible. Roy is stunned, but offers Ub $5,000 for his 20% share of the company. Unbeknownst to Roy at this time, is the fact that Iwerks has been lured away by film distributor Pat Powers. Powers wants Iwerks to start an animation studio of his own. Meanwhile Walt is in New York actually confronting Powers over royalty money for Mickey shorts due to the Disney Studios!
1933:
Disney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Mad Doctor, directed by David Hand, is
released. Mickey dreams that Pluto has been captured by an evil scientist who hopes to graft his head onto a
hen's body. A spoof of the horror films made by Universal, it will be considered too frightening for children by the
British censors!
1935:
Animator Ollie Johnston is hired at $17 a week by the Disney Studio. He will start work 2 days later as an in-betweener and eventually go on to become one of Walt's "Nine Old Men".
1938:
Disney animators begin work on "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" (a segment that will be
used for the 1940 feature Fantasia). It is based on a 1797 poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
the Paul Dukas orchestral music L'apprenti sorcier. (Fantasia will popularize Goethe's story to a worldwide audience.)
1956:
Actor, director and singer Robby Benson, the voice of Prince Adam/Beast in Disney's 1991 animated Beauty and The Beast, is born in Dallas, Texas. He reprised the role for Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas (1997), Belle's Magical World (1998), Belle's Tales of Friendship (1999), Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse (2001), and various video games. In October 2010, he (along with Paige O'Hara - the voice of Belle) appeared at the premiere of "Beauty And The Beast" Sing-A-Long DVD. As a director, Benson's credits include episodes of Ellen, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and 8 Simple Rules. (He is probably best known for starring in films such as Ice Castles, Ode to Billy Joe, The Chosen, Tribute, Harry and Son, and One on One. In 1975, a young Benson screen tested for the role of Luke Skywalker in Star Wars, a role which eventually went to Mark Hamill.)
The Dairy Bar in Tomorrowland, sponsored by The American Dairy Association, opens in Disneyland. It features exhibits about farming techniques of the future, the prospect of flying milkmen delivering milk straight to the front door and how happy, contented cows produce better milk. Guests can also enjoy an ice-cold glass
of the milk "at the bar."
Actress Geena Davis is born in Wareham, Massachusetts. She starred in the 1994 Hollywood Pictures romantic-comedy Angie. She later had her own sitcom on ABC, The Geen Davis Show, for a short time starting in 2000. She also appeared in 13 episodes of Grey's Anatomy between 2014-2018. The Academy Award winning actress partnered with Disney in 2019 to implement a digital tool dubbed "GD-IQ: Spell Check for Bias," to analyze gender representation in the text of a script. The technology’s task is to tally the genders and ethnicities of characters. From there, the spell check will proceed to analyze the level of vocabulary among various groups, display opportunities for diversity, and reveal unconscious bias. The goal of the tool is not to "shame and blame" writers, but instead to identify and address the unconscious bias that comes through in their work. Davis also voiced Princess Persephone in episodes of Doc McStuffins.(Film fans will know Davis best for her roles in Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, and A League of Their Own.)
1959:
Actor Michael Wincott, the voice of Skroopf in Disney's 2002 animated feature
Treasure Planet, is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He also portrayed Captain Rochefort in
The Three Musketeers, a 1993 version of the classic story from Walt Disney Pictures and Caravan Pictures.
1960:
Disney's releases the live-action short Gala Day at Disneyland, the animated short Goliath II, and the live-action feature Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus.
Gala Day at Disneyland features a look back at the summer of 1959 when Disneyland opened its first three "E" Ticket Attractions: the Monorail, the Submarine Voyage, and the Matterhorn Bobsleds.
Goliath II is the first Disney film to be fully animated using the new Xerox process for transferring the pencil drawings to cels (a few scenes of Sleeping Beauty had also used this technique). Narrated by Sterling Holloway, Goliath II tells the story of a miniature elephant who tries everything to impress his father, the biggest elephant of them all. It will earn an Academy Award nomination.
The live-action Toby Tyler, or Ten Weeks With a Circus is based on a children's book of the same title by James Otis Kaler. The film tells the story of an orphaned boy named Toby (played by Kevin Corcoran) who runs away to join
the circus. The cast includes Henry Calvin, Gene Sheldon, Bob Sweeney, and Barbara Beaird.
1962:
The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
airs part 1 of "Sancho, the Homing Steer."
1968:
"Disneyland: From the Pirates of the Caribbean to the World of Tomorrow" airs on the NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. Disneyland ambassador Marcia Miner takes viewers on a tour of the latest attractions at Disneyland, including Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square and a new Tomorrowland, featuring such attractions as the PeopleMover, Adventure Thru Inner Space and the Carousel of Progress.
1973:
The television special "Fifty Happy Years" (to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of The Walt Disney Company) airs.
1979:
Ilana Miller, a member of the 90's TV series
The All New Mickey Mouse Club, is born in Ontario, Canada.
1989:
The Walt Disney Company acquires the Wrather Corporation, whose assets include
the Disneyland Hotel, near Disneyland. At this time Wrather's assets also includes the RMS Queen
Mary and Hughes H-4 Hercules (the "Spruce Goose") in Long Beach, as well as the rights to The Lone Ranger and
the Lassie TV series.
1995:
The 52nd Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1994, are
presented at the Beverly Hills Hotel in California. The Lion King is awarded for Best Picture -
Comedy/Musical. The animated feature also wins for Best Original Score (by Hans Zimmer) and for Best Original Song
"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (written by Elton John & Time Rice). Martin Landau wins Best Supporting Actor for
his role in Ed Wood. Tim Allen is awarded Best Lead Actor - Comedy or Musical Series for his Home Improvement.
Disney World's Epcot movie Symbiosis is replaced with the live
action/animated movie Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable at the
Harvest Theater (located in The Land pavilion). The new film explains the
many dangers facing the environment, as well as people's responsibility for preserving it.
Disneyland's 40th Anniversary Collector Series Cards are handed out
for the very first time at the Anaheim park. The card "1955 - Disneyland Park
Opening Day" is distributed to all visitors. Over the next 40 days (through March 2), 40
different cards will be handed out, each representing a different Disneyland event. On the
41st day, a special Indiana Jones Adventure card will be issued to commemorate the
attraction's opening. The first 5000 people to buy or renew their annual passports in 1995
receive the complete set.
Country music legend Johnny Cash, along with June Carter Cash and
The Carter Family, play two sets on Pleasure Island's West End Stage at Disney World.
500
1998:
The huge parking lot directly in front of Disneyland's Main Street entrance (in use
since 1955) closes permanently. Now most guests will park in a massive new parking structure.
2000:
Due to rotting wood, the original entrance of the Enchanted Tiki Room at Disneyland is removed.
Touchstone Pictures generally releases the sports/comedy-drama Play it to the
Bone. The film follows the adventures of two boxers and best friends who travel to Las Vegas in order to
fight each other for the sake of a chance to compete for the middleweight title. It stars Antonio Banderas and
Woody Harrelson.
2002:
Singing legend, songwriter and actress Peggy Lee passes away at the age 81 at her
Bel Air, California home. She wrote the lyrics (to Sonny Burke's music) and supplied many of the
voices (Darling, Si, Am & Peg) for Disney's Lady and the Tramp. The film also features her singing voice on "He's a
Tramp", "La La Lu", "The Siamese Cat Song", and "What Is a Baby?". (With a craeer spanning seven decades, Lee
appeared in such features as the 1952 The Jazz Singer and the 1955 Pete Kelly's Blues - for which she received
an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. "Fever," a signature song for Lee, was nominated for
Record of the Year at the 1959 Grammy Awards.)
2003:
Disney releases 101 Dalmatians II - Patch's London Adventure to home video and DVD. It features the voices of Barry Bostwick, Jason Alexander, and Martin Short.
1991:
ABC-TV airs the special
New Kids on the Block at Walt Disney World - Wildest Dreams.
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1977:
Disney's fantasy-comedy Freaky Friday, starring Barbara Harris, Jodie Foster, and
John Astin is generally released. Based on the novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers (who also wrote the screenplay), a mother and daughter switch personalities on Friday the 13th and get a taste of what each others lives are like. While Mom is experiencing the hilarious horrors of junior high school, the teenager is finding out what it’s like to be an overburdened wife and mother. Directed by Gary Nelson, the cast also includes Patsy Kelly, Dick Van Patten, Ruth Buzzi, and Charlene Tilton. The film has been playing in select cities since December 1976. (Harris and Foster will be nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film will also get a nomination for Best Original Song – Motion Picture for the song "I'd Like to Be You for a Day," written by Joel Hirschhorn and Al Kasha.)
The fifth episode of The New Mickey Mouse Club airs for the first time.
Friday, is Showtime with the Mouseketeers at Disneyland. Mouseketeer Lisa Whelchel and speicla guest Kenia
Hernandez (from Garden Grove, California) sing a duet. Singing/dancing twins Christine and Cheryl Gilbert from
Jamul, California, perform and Goofy stars in the Mousekartoon all about the art of dancing, How to Dance.
Freaky Friday has been adapted
many times by the Walt Disney
Company into films with similar
plots. The original 1976 version
was released on this day. A
Disney television version was
made in 1995, starring Shelley
Long and Gaby Hoffmann. The
2003 remake starred Jamie Lee
Curtis and Lindsay Lohan.
JANUARY 21
1996:
Although nominated for Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical at the
Golden Globe Awards, Toy Story is edged out by Babe. "Colors of the Wind,"
written by Alan Menken & Stephen Schwartz from Pocahontas wins Best Original Song - Motion
Picture (beating out Randy Newman's "You Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story).
2001:
At the Golden Globe Awards, "My Funny Friend and Me" (written by Sting & David Hartley for The Emperor's New Groove) loses to Bob Dylan's "Things Have Changed" (from Wonder Boys) for Best Original Song - Motion Picture.
The Lion King wins 3 Golden Globes
JANUARY 21
THIS DAY MADE
IN THE
USA
"Colors of the Wind" wins Golden Globe
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1955:
The formal announcement of the new $10,000 Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim is disclosed to the press nationwide. The hotel will be developed by Wrather-Alvarez Hotels, Inc., and designed by the architectual firm of Pereira and Luckman. (Although it is hoped the hotel will be ready for an
August 15 opening ... due to labor strikes the Disneyland Hotel will open October 5, 1955 instead.)
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"Retire? Not on your life. I have no plans to stop singing. What are you going to do when you love music? It's a terrible disease. You can't stop." -Peggy Lee (1920-2002)
How freaky would it be if you turned into your mother?
2011:
Flights of Fantasy Parade premieres at Hong Kong Disneyland. Replacing the former Disney
on Parade, Flights of Fantasy Parade is an 18-month collaboration of Cast Members from Disney Parks around the
world (to mark the park's 5th anniversary), led by Chief Imagineer Steve Davidson.
The Indian Telugu fantasy-adventure film, Once Upon a Warrior is released in the U.S.
Co-produced by Disney World Cinema, and Arka Media Works with veteran director K. Raghavendra Rao, the film's
original title was Anaganaga O Dheerudu. Yodha, a warrior, is entrusted with the responsibility of saving Moksha, a girl
who is blessed with divine powers, from the clutches of a sorceress, Irendri, who wishes to drink her blood.
Celebration in the Air, a year-long celebration marking Hong Kong Disneyland
Resort's 5th year milestone, begins.
The 964-foot-long Disney Wonder arrives at its new home the Port of Los Angeles.
Disney Cruise Line will call the Port of L.A. home for the next two years, offering seven-night cruises
to the Mexican Riviera through April. It will then reposition to Vancouver and sail to Alaska from May -September.
Over on the East Coast, a special sail-away ceremony is held when Disney Cruise
Line leaders led by President Karl Holz presents Boys & Girls Clubs of Central
Florida with a check for $750,000 to kick off a two-night "Benefit Preview Cruise"
aboard the newest ship the Disney Dream.
"Her wonderful talent should be studied by all vocalists; her regal presence is pure elegance and charm." -Frank Sinatra
1982:
CBS-TV airs the hour-long special Kraft Salutes Walt Disney World's 10th Anniversary. Dean Jones and Michele Lee play a husband and wife who are
visiting Disney World along with their son and daughter, played by Ricky Schroder and Dana Plato.
1963:
This day's Official Bulletin of the New York World's Fair (Vol. 2, No. 1) states that
"the Ford Motor Company is revealing exterior design and architectural styling features for its pavilion at the Fair." The article goes on to explain that the Ford Pavilion's show, exhibit and entertainment features, including the ride fantasy, are being created by Walt Disney and designed by W.E.D. Enterprises, Inc.
JAN
JAN
2013:
As part of Limited Time Magic, Disney World guests have an opportunity to meet
characters not typically spotted at the Magic Kingdom. From this day until January 27, such
classic Disney characters as Clarabelle Cow, Horace Horsecollar, and the cast of the animated Robin Hood, will
take part in "Long Lost Friends Week."
January 21
This Day in Disney History - THE FIRST - THE ORIGINAL
Traveling in time since 1999!
2018:
A special send-off celebration takes place at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Florida
for Minnie Mouse. Mickey's favorite girl is headed to California where she will be receiving a star on
Hollywood's Walk of Fame the following day (January 22). Her star will be unveiled at 11:30 a.m.
in celebration of her 90th anniversary.
1994:
Actor Booboo Stewart is born in Beverly Hills, California. First known for playing Seth
Clearwater, a werewolf in The Twilight Saga, his Disney credits include the films Descendants, Descendants 2, and Descendants 3 as Jay, son of Jafar.
Actress Chanelle Peloso is born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Her Disney Channel credits include the films Girl Fight, Zapped and Radio Rebel.
2009:
The 5th season of the ABC series Lost debuts with the episode "Because You left."
1990:
The 16th Saturn Awards, honoring the best in science fiction, fantasy and horror film and television are held. Among the winners:
-Best Fantasy Film: Who Framed Roger Rabbit
-Best Director: Robert Zemeckis – Who Framed Roger Rabbit
-Best Special Effects: George Gibbs, Ken Ralston, Richard Williams (Industrial Light & Magic) – Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2020:
Terry Jones, best known as a member of the Monty Python comedy team, passes away at age 77 in England. An actor, writer, comedian, screenwriter, film director and historian, he directed and played the role of Mr. Toad in the 1996 The Wind in the Willows (released & distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures in the United States as Mr. Toad's Wild Ride).
1940:
Comedic actor Otis Harlan, the voice of Happy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, passes away at age 74 in Indiana.
1942:
Country music singer, songwriter, and actor Mac Davis is born in Lubbock, Texas. He appeared in a 1980 episode of The Muppet Show and a 2004 episode of the ABC sitcom 8 Simple Rules. In addition to solo hits like "Baby Don’t Get Hooked on Me," "Texas in My Rearview Mirror" and "It’s Hard to Be Humble," Davis wrote songs that became hits for Elvis Presley, including "In The Ghetto" and "A Little Less Conversation" (featured in Disney's Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch). A member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Davis was the Academy of Country Music's entertainer of the year in 1974.
1997:
Jeremy Shada, an actor, musician and singer, is born Boise, Idaho. He supplied the voice of Zero in the 2018 Ralph Breaks the Internet.
