Pictured above: John Harris Big Boss of Variety Clubs International presenting a gold Variety Clubs International membership card to Walt Disney. Throughout the years, the Snow White Grotto in Disneyland, with its picturesque wishing well, has proven a popular area for photographs, for guests to toss a coin and make a wish, or for gentlemen …
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The Absent-Minded Professor bounced into theaters on this day in 1961 and introduced the world to “flubber.” Although Disney Legend Fred MacMurray played the lead role of Professor Ned Brainard, to fly high into the sky on the heels of flubber, another Disney Legend filled his shoes . . . and the rest of his …
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On January 25, 1961, One Hundred and One Dalmatians first showed its spots on movie screens nationwide. A few years ago, for the release of the film on DVD, Lisa Davis, the voice of Anita Radcliff, explained to an attentive human audience how Walt Disney spotted her for the role. “I grew up in England …
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On this day in 1960, television viewers learned that making the classic Disney film Swiss Family Robinson wasn’t always paradise. Hosted by the film’s stars, John Mills, Dorothy McGuire, and Janet Munro, viewers traveled behind the scenes to the West Indian Island of Tobago in “Escape to Paradise” for this episode of the Walt Disney …
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The Parade of Toys at Disneyland made its debut on this day in 1960 with grand marshal Walt Disney along for the opening parade. It ran three times daily through January 1 and became a holiday tradition. Complete with the “wooden toy soldiers” band, which remains a tradition to this day, the parade also featured …
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Deep in the Amazon basin of Brazil lives the Jungle Cat—the South American jaguar. This True-Life Adventures film about this remarkable feline first pounced onto screens for general release on this day in 1960. In total, there were 13 True-Life Adventures films, eight of which won Academy Awards®. The idea for the nature series was …
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On this day in 1960, movie audiences saw Pollyanna for the first time, presumably through rose-colored glasses. That’s because the term “Pollyanna,” refers to someone who finds cause for optimism in the most difficult situations, just as did the title character of the 1913 book written by Eleanor H. Porter. In book form, Pollyanna found …
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The Danube, the final film in the People and Places film series of travelogues consisting of 17 films made between 1953 and 1960, is a beautiful cinematic study of the people who live along the banks of the Danube, the second longest river in Europe. The documentary, which was shot in CinemaScope, concludes with a …
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The 17 People and Places film travelogues, released from 1953 to 1960, primarily focused on little-known places or out-of-the-ordinary people, and on this day in 1960, turned to Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun, for its subject. Focusing on farming, schooling, and even an actual traditional Shinto wedding, the footage was the result of …
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Although Ub Iwerks started out as an animator, drawing the first Mickey Mouse cartoon entirely by himself, his first loves were cameras and special effects. After leaving Disney for 10 years, he returned in 1940 and invented the multihead optical printer, used to combine live action and animation in films like Melody Time and Song …
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