1918 - Animator, Imagineer, sculptor & Disney Legend Blaine Gibson is born in Rocky Ford, Colorado. He will create hundreds of sculptures from which Audio-Animatronics figures and bronzes will be produced for exhibits in the 1964-65 New York World's Fair and Disney theme parks around the world. Among his contributions will be Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and the Enchanted Tiki Room. He will also sculpt all the presidents for the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World and the Partners statue (found in the "hub" of the Magic Kingdom).

1926 - Actor Leslie Nielsen is born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. His Disney credits include the 1999 film Santa Who? and the 1950s TV mini-series Swamp Fox. (He is best known for his comedic roles as Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun, Dr. Rumack in Airplane! and President Harris in the Scary Movie series.)

1932 - The Mickey Mouse short The Grocery Boy, featuring the voices of Walt Disney (as Mickey) and Marcellite Garner (as Minnie), is released.

1938 - Disney's Donald Duck cartoon Self Control is released. Clarence Nash provides the voice for Donald.

1949 - The Disney Donald Duck short Donald's Happy Birthday is released.

1952 - Disney's Alice in Wonderland is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

1969 - It is announced in Miami, Florida that a 3-year project agreement has been signed between Allen Contracting Co., as general contractor, and the presidents of the 17 individual international unions, which will be involved in constructing the first phase of Walt Disney World. The contract assures continuity of contruction by making strikes and other work stoppages unnecessary.

1970 - Variety reports that Walt Disney secretly took its movie, Song of the South out of circulation back in 1958. The publication claims the movie was pulled because of racist attitudes in the film.

1979 - The Wonderful World of Disney airs part 1 of "Ride a Wild Pony."

1999 - Disney's live-action feature film My Favorite Martian premieres at the Famous Players Colossus Center in Toronto, Canada.

2000 - Disney's The Tigger Movie - narrated by John Hurt and featuring five new songs by the team of Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman - is released. It is the first time Pooh and his friends appear in an original, theatrically-released feature film (previous Pooh features were either compilations of shorts, or made for video productions).

2002 - Twelve "Outstanding Airmen of the Year" are honored as grand marshals in a parade at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The airmen, men and women representing airbases from all over the world, spend the afternoon high atop the parade floats while hundreds of park guests cheer them on. (Every year the Air Force selects 12 individuals to represent the more than 400,000 enlisted men and women from the active duty, guard, and reserve forces. These people start the competition at their home stations, and finally win the title as "Outstanding Airmen of the Year." They hold the title for one year.)

2002 - The Walt Disney Company agrees to let Travelocity.com sell hotel reservations and theme-park tickets online. By allowing the discount-travel giant to do this, Disney hopes to expand its marketing efforts on the Internet.

2003 - The Walt Disney Company receives an industry- leading 44 Oscar nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including 13 nominations for Miramax's Chicago, 10 for Gangs of New York and 9 for The Hours, a co-production with Paramount Pictures. Buena Vista Motion Pictures Group receives three nominations for Best Animated Feature Film for Walt Disney Pictures Lilo & Stitch, Treasure Planet and Spirited Away.

2003 - Sarah Litzsinger returns to the cast of Broadway's Beauty and the Beast. Litzsinger, Broadway's longest-running Belle, takes over the role from "Sopranos" star Jamie-Lynn Sigler, who departed the production February 9.

2004 - Al Weiss (the president of Disney World) speaks to the Institutional Investors at Walt Disney World during a 2-day conference.

2004 - Comcast announces its hostile bid for Disney as stock prices jump nearly 15%.

2005 - The Walt Disney Annual Shareholder Meeting takes place at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

2005 - Disney's animated Pooh's Heffalump Movie opens in theaters.

2007 - Randy Newman's "Our Town" (from the Disney/Pixar Cars) wins Best Song Written For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media at the 49th Grammy Awards. (Newman also wins an Annie on this same evening - read below!)

2007 - Over at the Alex Theater in Glendale, California, the 34th annual Annie Awards are handed out. Winners include Cars for Best Animated Feature and Bambi II for Best Home Entertainment Production. Actress Eartha Kitt is awarded for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production for her role of Yzma in The Emperor's New School. The Annie for Music in an Animated Feature Production goes to songwriter Randy Newman for his music in Cars. This year's Winsor McCay Award (for recognition of lifetime or career contributions to the art of animation) goes to Andreas Deja. He has been the supervising animator for numerous Disney characters including Gaston, Jafar, Scar, and Lilo.

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