What’s summer without a little Disney magic? On this day in 1963, audiences got some magic in the form of the film Summer Magic, complete with Disney’s teen heartthrob Hayley Mills and original songs by the Sherman Brothers. The great folksinger Burl Ives played Osh Popham and introduced the world to the creepy-crawly tune “The …
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Wally Boag and Fulton Burley were birds of a feather when they collaborated on Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room. Their friendship was hatched while appearing in bit parts in MGM’s Thrill of a Romance and both went on to star for decades in Disneyland’s hilarious live show, The Golden Horseshoe Revue. Wally recalls, “Walt called …
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The live-action short film Yellowstone Cubs was publicized as “Tuffy and Tubby… the pranksters that turn a 2 million acre playground into pandemonium.” The playground is Yellowstone National Park, and the pranksters are a couple of mischievous little bears whose mother finds that trouble starts “bruin” when her offspring have turned up missing. The film …
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On this day in 1963, Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color received the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences greatest honor, when it won an Emmy® award. Richard Sherman recalled his contribution to the premiere episode of the series, saying, “Walt said, ‘We want to have an opening show where we’re going to introduce …
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On this day in 1963, when Inside Outer Space took to the air on Walt Disney’s Wonderful of Color, viewers got an inside look at outer space. And the best host to lecture on the subject, make no mistake, was Ludwig Von Drake. The far-from-featherbrained professor is an expert on, well, most subjects, which makes …
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Son of Flubber first bounced into movie theaters on this day in 1963, the high-flying sequel to 1961’s The Absent-Minded Professor. Based on the short story “A Situation of Gravity” by Samuel W. Taylor, the film follows the further adventures of Professor Ned Brainard (Fred MacMurray) of Medfield College and his flying rubber, “Flubber!” This …
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“Around the lonely campfire, when the wolves begin to call, the writers tell the story of the bravest wolf of all. The king of all the hunters, born to lead the rest, his name became a legend across the great southwest.” Well, partner, those lyrics to the title song of The Legend of Lobo, released …
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Something fishy happened on this day in 1962, when part one of Sammy, the Way-Out Seal made its debut on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color television series. Sammy, the Way-Out Seal tells the tale of two brothers who decide to “harbor” an injured seal they find on vacation, only to learn the valuable lesson …
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On this day in 1962, theaters filled with glee when Almost Angels was released. The film tells the story of Toni Fiala (Vincent Winter), an Austrian boy who joins the Vienna Boys Choir, where he proves to be unusually talented. He dreams of being accepted by the choirboys, but to succeed, Toni must contend with …
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On this day in 1962, things were really swinging at Disneyland when the “Cavalcade of Big Bands” struck up the bands for the first time. For each night, seven nights a week, the original Magic Kingdom would feature the biggest of the big-name big bands, all hired by Disneyland talent booker Sonny Anderson. The big …
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