1907 - Novelist, scriptwriter and historian Samuel W. Taylor is born. His short story A Situation of Gravity will be the inspiration for Disney's 1961 live-action The Absent-Minded Professor.

1919 - Red Buttons, who appears in Disney's 1977 Pete's Dragon as Hoagy, is born in New York City.

1934 - The U.S. Patent Office grants a patent to the Ingersoll-Waterbury Clock Company, of Connecticut, for the first Mickey Mouse watch.

1936 - The United Artists film Modern Times starring Charlie Chaplin is released. In a short sequence actress Paulette Goddard picks up a Mickey Mouse doll in a department store and holds it up in front of Chaplin!

1937 - A memo to Disney cartoonist Al Taliaferro from the animation story department reads, "Inasmuch as we have decided to actually put a story crew to work on "Donald's Nephews," we would like to recognize the source from which the original idea of these new characters sprang ... Thanks." Taliaferro has recently created Donald's nephews, Huey, Dewey & Louie for his comic strip.

1953 - Disney's 14th animated film, Peter Pan (based on James M. Barrie's 1904 story) opens at the Roxy Theatre in New York City. The film features the voices of Bobby Driscoll (as the boy who won't grow up) and Kathryn Beaumont (as Wendy Darling). This will be the final Disney animated feature released through RKO, as Walt Disney will establish his own distribution company, Buena Vista Distribution, by the end of 1953.

1960 - The TV series Walt Disney Presents airs the episode "Two Happy Amigos."

1961 - Walt Disney Presents airs "Texas John Slaughter: A Holster Full of Law," the 15th episode of the western mini-series starring Tom Tryon.

1964 - The live-action Disney feature The Misadventures of Merlin Jones - starring Tommy Kirk, Annette Funicello, and Leon Ames - premieres in St. Louis, Missouri.

1976 - The Disney live-action film No Deposit, No Return (starring David Niven, Darren McGavin and Don Knotts) is released.

1982 - The Disney live-action film Night Crossing starring John Hurt and Beau Bridges is released. It is based on the true story of the Strelzyk and Wetzel families, who on September 16, 1979 escaped from East Germany to West Germany in a homemade hot air balloon.

1991 - Good Time Jazz Records releases Firehouse Five Plus Two: At Disneyland - a live recording taken of the group's performances at The Golden Horseshoe in July 1962.

1992 - Disney's Beauty and the Beast is nominated for 6 Academy Awards. Among the nominations is one for Best Picture. It is the first time in the history of the Motion Picture Academy that an animated feature is nominated in this category.

2000 - Mickey Mouse Works airs on ABC-TV with the shorts "Donald's Dynamite: Magic Act," "Survival of the Woodchucks," "Mickey's Rival Returns," and "Mickey and the Seagull."

2000 - The Disney Channel Original Movie The Color of Friendship, based on a true story about the friendship between two girls from different worlds who learn to overcome their differences, debuts. (It will earn an Emmy Award.)

2004 - Imagineer, artist and Disney Legend John Hench passes away at the age of 95 in California. An employee of the Walt Disney Company for more than 60 years, Hench worked on Disney movies (he won a special effects Oscar for his work in the 1955 film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and many theme park attractions (like Disneyland's Space Mountain). He was also the official portrait painter of Mickey Mouse.

2004 - A celebration for the upcoming Disneyland production "Snow White - An Enchanting New Musical," takes place with a handprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Snow White and all the dwarfs take part with Honorary Mayor of Hollywood Johnny Grant officiating.

2005 - The 2004 Thea Awards are presented at the 11th Annual Thea Awards Gala at the Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, California. Winners include Walt Disney World's Mission: SPACE (for Attraction with Technological Breakthrough), Walt Disney Imagineering's Lucky the Dinosaur (for Technology), and Disneyland's Aladdin (for Live Show).

2006 - Wide receiver Hines Ward is named Most Valuable Player at Super Bowl XL as his team the Pittsburgh Steelers win 21-10 over the Seattle Seahawks. Immediately following the game in Detroit, Ward is videotaped for the latest "I'm Going to Disney World!" TV commercial, adding "...and I'm taking The Bus!" - a reference to teammate Jerome "The Bus" Bettis.

2007 - Disney announces that they have started a new company with the producers of Polar Express to make animated films based in part on the movements of actors. Producer-director Robert Zemeckis, along with Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey, will make films that Disney will market and distribute.

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