This Day in Disney History

[tiggerguy]

October 11

1955:
Ticket books (at a cost of $2.50) are available for the very first time at the new Disneyland theme park. They contain three A, two B, and three C tickets.

1956:
The Muppets make their first network television appearance on "The Steve Allen Show."

1962:
Actress Joan Cusack, the voice of Alsatia Zevo in Disney's 1992 Toy Story and Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in the 1999 Toy Story 2, is born in New York City. Her Disney credits also include the 2005 live-action Ice Princess and the voice of Abby Mallard in the animated feature Chicken Little.

[tiggerguy]

October 12

1997:
INTERCOT - a Disney based website - comes online.
(Within 4 years it will become one of the most frequented
visited Disney World information sites on the web.)

[tiggerguy]

October 13

1940:
Dave Smith, official Disney historian and author, is born in Pasadena, California.

1960:
Walt Disney returns to his boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri to help dedicate "Walt Disney Elementary," a new public school. Walt arrives for the dedication ceremony by train; the first time that the Santa Fe Super Chief has ever stopped in Marceline.

2006:
Walt Disney World Annual Passholders are invited to experience The Seas with Nemo & Friends, a brand new Epcot attraction

[tiggerguy]

October 14

1938:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon Farmyard Symphony is released

2001:
The final performance of Disney's Steps In Time is held at 6:15 p.m. at the Hyperion Theater at Disney's California Adventure. Cast Members from all over the resort including the entertainment department are invited to see the last show.

[tiggerguy]

October 15
-
1923:
Walt Disney receives a telegram from Margaret Winkler (a New York cartoon distributor) offering to pay $1500 each for the first six of his Alice Comedies.

1969:
Actress/singer/dancer Paige Davis is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Known best as the host of Trading Spaces, she also toured for 2 1/2 years as Babette in Disney's stage musical Beauty and the Beast.

[tiggerguy]

October 16

1925:
Actress Angela Lansbury, the voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney's Beauty and The Beast, and the star of the live-action Bedknobs and Broomsticks, is born in London, England.

1973:
Walt Disney Productions celebrates its 50th anniversary!

1998:
At the Disney Legends Ceremony and luncheon at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, two Disney "Alices" join the group. Virginia Davis, considered to be the first 'Disney Star,' hired by 21-year-old Walt Disney in Kansas City for his silent "Alice Comedies" and Kathryn Beaumont-Levine, whose voice and personality were essential parts of Disney's "Alice In Wonderland," are inducted.

[tiggerguy]

October 17

1921:
Veteran comic actor Tom Poston - Lord Palimore in Disney's 2004 Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement - is born in Columbus, Ohio.

1925:
Jack Wagner, the voice of Disneyland and Walt Disney World,
is born in California. He will work for the 2 theme parks doing park announcements until his death in 1995. Wagner's work can still be heard today. He is also the voice of the Orlando International Airport's Automated Guideway Transit System.

1998:
The Disney Channel Original Film Halloweentown first airs.

[tiggerguy]

October 18

1926:
Disney's Alice Comedy Alice the Fire Fighter is released.

1967:
Disney's 19th animated feature film The Jungle Book
has its general release. Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of
the jungle is the last animated feature personally
supervised by Walt Disney

1987:
Actor Zac Efron, the star of Disney Channel's 2006 High School Musical, is born in San Luis Obispo, California

[tiggerguy]

October 19

1955:
The Disneyland television series presents "The Story of the Silly Symphony." Walt looks back on his early Silly Symphony cartoons from the 1930s.

1989:
Body Wars begins sending guests through the human body at EPCOT's Wonders of Life Pavilion. Also opening on this day at the pavilion is the attraction Cranium Command and the film Goofy over Health.

[tiggerguy]

October 20

1922:
Actor John Anderson, the voice of Mark Twain and Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Epcot's American Adventure attraction, is born in Clayton, Illinois.

1931:
Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Fox Hunt is released.

1935:
Actor Jerry Orbach, the voice of Lumiere in Disney's Beauty and the Beast, is born in the Bronx, New York.

1955:
Composer Thomas Newman, who scored the original music for the 2003 Finding Nemo, is born in Los Angeles, California.

2006:
The Disney Channel Original Movie Return to Halloweentown premieres.

[tiggerguy]

October 21

1911:
Artist Mary Blair is born Mary Browne Robinson in McAlester, Oklahoma. She will be famous for her unique color stylings
and design of Disneyland's "it's a small world," and her ceramic tile mural display in the lobby of Walt Disney World's Contemporary Hotel.

1939:
An interoffice memo from Walt to his brother Roy and studio worker Gunther Lessing reads: "Everything we do in the future should include television rights. There might be a big angle on television for the shorts we have already produced."

1965:
Walt Disney receives the final script for Disneyland's latest project ... the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. Five days later dialog recording will begin with performers J. Pat O'Malley and Paul Frees.

[tiggerguy]

October 22

1979:
At the Magic Kingdom, Kurt Miller, Walt Disney World's 100-millionth guest, passes through the turnstiles!

1991:
Actor Sterling Holloway, the voice of Winnie the Pooh, is honored as a Disney Legend. Holloway's countless Disney credits also include Dumbo, Bambi and The Jungle Book.

[tiggerguy]

October 23

1941:
Disney's 4th animated feature film, Dumbo premieres in New York.

1942:
Disney's Goofy cartoon How To Swim is released.

1964:
The first five-acre lot for the Walt Disney World project is purchased by the Ayefour Corporation. Ayefour (a spin on the name Interstate 4) is one of many puppet companies set up by Disney to secretly buy land in Florida.

1982:
At Disney World's new EPCOT Center, the first World Showcase evening show, Carnival de Lumiere debuts. It celebrates world festivals with fountains, film, music, and other special effects.

2005:
Walt Disney World announces that all theme parks and water parks will be closed tomorrow due to the effects of weather related to Hurricane Wilma.

[tiggerguy]

October 24

1947:
Walt Disney heads a list of "friendly" witnesses testifying to the first House Un-American Activities Committee investigation on Communist subversion in Hollywood.

Actor Kevin Kline, the voice of Captain Phoebus in Disney's 1996 release The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is born in St. Louis, Missouri.

1971:
Disney World's Electrical Water Pageant debuts in the Seven Seas Lagoon for the dedication of the Polynesian Luau and the official grand opening celebrations of Disney's Contemporary and Polynesian Village Resorts.

2005:
As a result of Hurricane Wilma, all 4 Disney World theme parks, two water parks, resort amenities (Downtown Disney, the golf courses) and Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground are closed for the morning. All theme parks (except Disney's Animal Kingdom and the Disney-MGM Studios) and Downtown Disney are re-opened at 1:00pm.

[tiggerguy]

October 25

1904:
Disney animator & director Vladimir "Bill" Tytla (considered by many to be the best character animator working during the golden age) is born in Yonkers, New York. Among his famed masterpieces is Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the old magician in "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" - the Fantasia segment.

1965:
Florida Governor Haydon Burns confirms the rumors that Disney is planning to build a park near Orlando.

1971:
The formal dedication of Walt Disney World in Florida, takes place with Walt's brother Roy officiating. A grand opening parade down Main Street is led by Music Man Meredith Wilson - the composer of "76 Trombones". Arthur Fiedler conducts the 60-nation World Symphony Orchestra at the base of Cinderella's Castle and Bob Hope hosts the dedication of the Contemporary Resort.