The first Mickey Mouse cartoon released to the public was Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928 (the date we use as the introduction of Mickey Mouse), though audiences in one Los Angeles theater could have seen a preview of Plane Crazy as early as one day in May of that year.
See moreThe Walt Disney Archives currently has a number of warehouses to store its huge collection of Disney history. The items needed for frequent reference are kept at the Archives’ offices at the Disney Studio in Burbank, California. Items are selected for the collection if the staff believes they will have future use, whether it is …
See moreGarden Grove was not one of the sites considered for Disneyland. The finalists in the selection, besides the chosen Anaheim one, were in La Mirada and Santa Ana.
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Vesey Walker was the first director of the Disneyland Band. Shortly before Walker retired in 1970, James Christensen took over as director. Other directors have included Jim Barngrover, Stanford Freese, and Art Dragon.
See moreIn the film, Dreamfinder, played by Ron Schneider, who served as the original walk-around character in the park, runs through WED Enterprises facilities during the period in which EPCOT Center and Tokyo Disneyland were being created. To our knowledge, the film never played to the public, as Magic Journeys was ready by the time Epcot opened. Portions of …
See moreIt was the Willowick Golf Course in Santa Ana, which they claim is the oldest golf course in Orange County.
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The Amtrak train, known as Amtrak GE P42 #156, pulled by two locomotives, was fitted out with exterior decorations and displays inside the cars, to help promote the film in 2009. Amtrak and Hewlett-Packard helped sponsor the train. At the completion of the tour, the Christmas Carol elements were removed from the train, and it …
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This is a shortened version of a Disney cartoon, possibly Orphan’s Benefit (1934), in which Donald is forcibly removed from a stage by a hook. These shortened films were retitled and released by Hollywood Film Enterprises for use on home projectors; they are not rare. As I write this, a print of Getting the Hook …
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No, he did not take her to the park; her escort was Bill Dover, head of the Disney Studio’s Story Department.
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The white gloves were added to Mickey’s hands in When the Cat’s Away (1929), the film made after The Opry House. John Grant, in his Encyclopedia of Walt Disney’s Animated Characters, quotes Walt Disney as saying, “We didn’t want him to have mouse hands, because he was supposed to be more human. So we gave …
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