1973:

I n an hour-long televised question-and-answer session held at Disney World's

Contemporary Resort, U.S. President Richard Nixon declares "I am not a crook."

In front of 400 Associated Press managing editors, Nixon defends his record in

the Watergate scandal. He has flown to Orlando this evening from his Key

Biscayne, Florida home for this much-heralded event. (It will be a defining

moment of Nixon's career and the start of his presidency's downward spiral.)



2005:

T en animated features are named for Oscar consideration by the Academy

of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Among those chosen is ... Chicken Little .



1907:

A nimator & Disney Legend Les Clark, the first of Walt's " Nine Old Men ,"

is born in Ogden, Utah. Between 1927-1975 he worked on such Disney classics as

Steamboat Willie (the only one of the Nine to work on the origins of Mickey Mouse with Ub Iwerks

- his mentor), The Skeleton Dance , Sleeping Beauty , Lady and the Tramp , and Peter Pan . Unlike

most of the other Nine Old Men, Clark began his career with no art background - but advanced by

pure determination and hard work.



1934:

D isney's Mickey Mouse cartoon The Dognapper , directed by David Hand , is released.

In this short, Mickey and an early version of Donald Duck are police officers chasing dognapper Pegleg Pete!



1951:

A ctor Stephen Root, the voice of Bubbles in the 2003 Finding Nemo , is born in

Sarasota, Florida. His Disney film credits also include the voice of Zeb in the 2002 The Country Bears and

the 2006 The Fox and the Hound 2 as the voice of Talent Scout. His television voice credits include episodes of Phineas and Ferb , Star vs. the Forces of Evil , Guardians of the Galaxy , and DuckTales . (Fans of the TV sitcom

NewsRadio will remember Root for his role of Jimmy James.)



1954:

T he Disneyland television series presents "The Donald Duck Story" (a

clever take on "This is Your Life"). Clarence Nash, the voice of

Donald, appears along with Walt Disney.



1955:

M ickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Circus Day.



1956:

T he first of eight installments titled "My Dad, Walt Disney," by Diane

Disney Miller as told to Pete Martin (a "celebrity friendly" writer)

appears in The Saturday Evening Post (Vol. 229 Issue 20).

The Saturday Evening Post had first approached Walt with the proposal to have him write

(with the assistance of Martin) his biography in serial form back in 1950. They offered Walt

$150,000. At the time, Walt was deeply involved in building Disneyland but wanted to help

his daughter Diane and her husband Ron get a house. Walt had no money to give them

because everything was tied up in his new theme park. So Walt made a counter-proposal that he would be

interviewed but that Diane would be credited as the author so that she would receive the money. The cover of this

issue of The Saturday Evening Post has been created by former Disney Studio illustrator Gustaf Tenggren .



1963:

A nother Disney plane tour of the eastern United States - to search for an ideal

location for a new Disney park - commences. Walt Disney, Buzz Price and other company

officials such as Joe Fowler, Donn Tatum and Card Walker leave on this Sunday aboard a private Grumman

turboprop. The trip will include stops in St. Louis, Niagara Falls, the Washington, D.C. area, and finally Florida.



W alt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs "The Truth About Mother Goose."



1989:

D isney's The Little Mermaid is generally released in theaters. Loosely based upon the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity

as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince, it is the last Disney feature film to use the traditional hand-painted cel method of animation. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, a mermaid

princess named Ariel, voiced by Jodi Benson, makes a bargain with Ursula, an unscrupulous seahag, in order to meet a human prince named Eric, voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes, who lives on land. The voice cast also features Pat Carroll as Ursula, Samuel E. Wright as Sebastian, Jason Marin as Flounder, Kenneth Mars as King Triton, Buddy Hackett as Scuttle, Paddi Edwards as Flotsam and Jetsam, Ben Wright as Grimsby, and Edie McClurg as Carlotta. Alan Menken has written the score, and along with Howard Ashman, all of the songs including "Part of Your World," "Under the Sea," and "Kiss the Girl." The soundtrack has already been released in October. ( The Little Mermaid will earn three Academy Award nominations, making it the first Disney animated film to earn an Academy Award nomination since The Rescuers in 1977. The film will win two Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song - “Under the Sea”. )



1993:

T he Grand Ballroom at the Disneyland Hotel is packed with food, games,

movies, and children from all over the globe for the start of Mickey's

Worldwide Kids Day party.



1997:

C ruise Terminal 8, the Disney Cruise Line Terminal, is dedicated in Florida.

The $27 million, 70,000-square-foot facility is Port Canaveral's third

ultra-modern mega-ship terminal, and will be the exclusive home of Disney

Cruise Line's first two ships, the Disney Magic and Disney Wonder .



2001:

T he Build-A-Bear Workshop at the Downtown Disney District in

Anaheim, California, has its grand opening.



2002:

D isney's Treasure Planet has its world premiere at the Cinerama Dome

Theater in Hollywood, California. (It will be generally released 10 days later.)



2003:

I t is reported that Disney's Finding Nemo has sold an industry leading 15 million DVDs in less than two weeks at retail stores!



2004:

D isney launches an all-new Muppets Web site. The site, which debuts on this

day, features games, biographies of the Muppet characters, screensavers and

news about current projects, including the new film The Muppets Wonderful

Wizard of Oz , slated to air on ABC-TV next May. (The Walt Disney Company

purchased the Muppets in April 2004.)



2006:

A n Alaska Airlines plane, painted with the blue Genie from Disney's Aladdin

movie and the Make-A-Wish logo, makes its inaugural flight from Seattle-Tacoma

Airport to Orange County, California. The uniquely painted Boeing 737-400 celebrates the long-term partnership between the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Alaska Airlines and Disneyland Resorts to make wishes

come true for ill children.



Raised on a farm in Marceline, Missouri, Walt Disney became interested in drawing at an early

age. He sold his first sketches to

neighbors when he was only

seven years old!



1944:

A nimator Gary Goldman is born in Oakland, California. He began his career in animation with

Walt Disney Productions in 1972 as an in-betweener to legendary Disney animator Frank Thomas on the film

Robin Hood . He later worked alongside Don Bluth, as an animator on Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too! and The

Rescuers before serving as Directing Animator on Pete's Dragon and The Small One . (Goldman's post-Disney

career includes the animated features An American Tail and Anastasia .)



A ctor Danny DeVito - the voice of Phil in Disney's animated Hercules - is born in

Neptune, New Jersey. He played Max Medici, the ringmaster and owner of a small, struggling circus in the

2019 Dumbo . Also a director & producer, DeVito's film credits include Miramax Films' Duplex and Pulp Fiction , and Touchstone Pictures' Tin Men and Ruthless People . (Fans of classic TV will forever know DeVito for his role as

Louie De Palma on the sitcom Taxi .)



1941:

D isney's fourth animated feature Dumbo is released in Brazil.



2007:

N ew versions of two classic board games are revealed at Once Upon a Toy in the

Downtown Disney Marketplace in Florida. Disney Theme Park Edition Monopoly and Disney

Theme Park Tower of Terror Clue both premiere at a special event with guests and Game Artists, Quhyn

Kimball and Cody Reynolds from the Disney Design Group.



2008:

D isney Legends Richard and Robert Sherman, the songwriting team behind Mary

Poppins , "It's a Small World", Bedknobs and Broomsticks and many other Disney

favorites, receive National Medals of the Arts from President and Mrs. Bush at a

ceremony in Washington, D.C.



D own in Disney World, the Grand Floridian's Gingerbread House

officially opens to guests for the holiday season.



NOVEMBER 17



Today is World Peace Day



THIS DAY MADE

IN THE

USA







NOVEMBER 17



1 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30



N

O

V



1971:

T he Firehouse Five Plus Two (a Dixieland jazz band made up of Disney Studio

employees) officially plays its last gig; a car show at the Anaheim Convention

Center in California. First formed back in the late 1940s, the group (led by Ward Kimball) has

recorded albums and performed at nightclubs, private parties, on TV and of course at Disneyland.



The Little Mermaid generally released



Ariel: "If I become human, I'll never be with my father or sisters again."

Ursula: "That's right. But - you'll have your man. Life's full of tough choices, innit?"

- The Little Mermaid



Today Marceline is

referred to as the

"Boyhood Home of

Walt Disney."



"I have earned every cent. And in all of my years of public life I have never obstructed justice." -President Nixon



2009:

T he Themed Entertainment Association announces the recipients for the 16th

Annual Thea Awards. Among the winners ... Toy Story Mania! at Disney’s California Adventure Park

and Disney’s Hollywood Studios for Outstanding Achievement for an Attraction. The awards will be formally

presented in early 2010.



SEASON 1 EPISODE 4



1985:

T he Disney Channel airs the Disney Channel Premiere Film The Blue Yonder .

Starring Peter Coyote as an aviator/inventor who travels through time, the fantasy film also features veteran

actor Art Carney.



1925:

F ilm and television star Rock Hudson is born Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. in Winnetka,

Illinois. He hosted Disneyland's Candlelight Ceremony in 1968 and 1972. Taking part in Walt Disney World's

three-day opening festivities in 1971, Hudson also narrated the very first Candlelight Processional at Walt Disney

World in December 1971 and again in 1973, 1974, 1977 and 1980.



2011:

H ong Kong Disneyland holds an opening ceremony to christen new attractions in

Toy Story Land, a new area based on the popular Toy Story movies. Almost identical to

Toy Story Playland at Walt Disney Studio Park in France (which opened in 2010), the Hong Kong version

features such attractions as Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop, Slinky Dog Zig Zag Spin and RC Racer.



2012:

T he 21st Annual Magnificent Mile Lights Festival, a Chicago holiday tradition,

takes place with live musical performances, family fun and Santa! Among the

performers is singer/songwriter Shane Harper, one of the stars of Disney Channel's "Good Luck Charlie."

Hosted by Radio Disney, Harper's afternoon concert includes Disney XD star Olivia Holt. The late afternoon

Chicago Magnificent Mile Parade, which features Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse as Grand Marshals,

includes Harper riding and performing on The Best Western Float.



F ormer Mouseketeer Bonita Lynn Fields Elder, an agile dancer who showcased

those skills on the 1950s children's show "The Mickey Mouse Club" passes away

in Indiana at the age of 68. She was 12 in 1957, when her dancing abilities helped her win a slot on

the third season of "The Mickey Mouse Club." She auditioned in California, where her family had moved from

Indiana when she was 9. After the show ended, Elder continued performing at Disneyland.



November 17



1952:

D irector and film editor Duwayne Dunham is born in Los Angeles, California.

He directed Disney's 1993 feature Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey , and such Disney Channel films as

Halloweentown , The Thirteenth Year , Ready to Run , Double Teamed , Right on Track , Tiger Cruise and Now You See It....



1978:

A ctress Rachel McAdams is born in London, Ontario, Canada.

She played a character named Hannah Grant in a 2001 episode of Disney Channel's

The Famous Jett Jackson , and portrayed Jessica Spencer/Clive Maxtone in the 2002

Touchstone Pictures teen comedy film The Hot Chick . McAdams is also known for her

role of fellow surgeon Christine Palmer in the 2016 Doctor Strange and the upcoming

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (to be released in 2021). She is probably best known for her role in the 2004 romantic drama The Notebook (playing opposite former Mouseketeer Ryan Gosling).



A ctor Tom Ellis is born in Cardiff, Wales. He portrayed Robin Hood in a 2013 episode of ABC's Once Upon a Time .



2014:

J ersey , the debut solo extended play by American recording artist Bella Thorne, is released by Hollywood Records.

