1909 - Songwriter Jerry Livingston is born in Denver, Colorado. He will co-write "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" & "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" (for Disney's Cinderella) along with Mack David and Al Hoffman. (Along with David he will also write "This Is It!" - undoubtedly familiar to fans of Bugs Bunny.)

1947 - Singer, songwriter & pianist Elton John - the man behind the music for Disney's The Lion King and Aida - is born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in Pinner, Middlesex, England. In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music.

1954 - Disney is awarded 4 Oscars at the 1953 Academy Awards. The Short Subjects, Cartoon category is won by Disney's Toot Whistle Plunk and Boom. Disney's True-Life Adventure Bear Country wins an Oscar for Short Subjects, Two-Reel (ironically beating out Disney's Ben and Me). The Disney/RKO The Alaskan Eskimo is awarded for Documentary, Short Subject and The True-Life Adventure The Living Desert wins for Documentary, Feature.

1956 - Actor and 2004 Disney Legend Matthew Garber is born in London, England. Although he appears in The Three Lives of Thomasina and The Gnome-Mobile, Disney fans know him best as young Michael Banks in Mary Poppins.

1960 - The ABC-TV series Walt Disney Presents airs episode 150 - "El***o Baca: Gus Tomlin is Dead." It is the 10th and final part of the mini-series starring Robert Loggia as a frontier lawyer.

1962 - The NBC-TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 3 of "The Prince and the Pauper."

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

1969 - U.S. President Richard Nixon presents Lillian Disney with a Congressional Gold Medal honoring her late husband Walt.
"Many ceremonies are held in this White House, but none that I think will have more meaning to all of us, young and old, than this one today, because it is my great privilege to present to Mrs. Walt Disney, on behalf of the Congress of the United States, by reason of a joint resolution, and on behalf of all the people of the United States and, I think, of the world, a gold medal; a gold medal honoring Walt Disney for his service through so many years not only to the people of the United Sates, but to the people of the world." -Richard Nixon

1986 - Walt Disney World welcomes Don McGrath - the 500 millionth guest to enter a Disney park!

1988 - A Super Hooper Duper takes place at Disneyland with 1,527 hula-hoopers setting a new Guinness Record (at the time the largest hula hoop gathering)! The event is part of the park's "Blast to the Past" - a tribute to the 1950s.

1989 - Singer-actress Alyson Michalka, of the sister pop group Aly & AJ, is born in Torrance, California. Disney Channel fans know her both as Keely Teslow on the series Phil of the Future and as Taylor Callum in the 2006 Cow Belles.

1991 - Touchstones Pictures' Dick Tracy walks away with 3 Oscars at the 1990 Academy Awards (held at the Shrine Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles) including one for Best Song - Sooner Or Later (I Always Get My Man).

1996 - Animator John Lasseter accepts the Academy Award for Special Achievement for his "inspired leadership of the Disney/Pixar Toy Story Team resulting in the first feature-length computer animated film." Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz win Best Song for their "Colors of the Wind," from Pocahontas (beating out Randy Newman's "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story). The Oscar for Original Musical or Comedy Score also goes to Menken & Schwartz for their work on Disney's Pocahontas (once again beating out Randy Newman's score for Toy Story). Although Joss Whedon, Andrew Stanton, Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow are nominated for their work on Toy Story, the Oscar for Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen is given to Christopher McQuarrie for his The Usual Suspects.

1999 - Elton John appears on TV's Late Show with David Letterman, promoting Disney's stage production Aida, for which he has written the music.

2001 - Two-time Academy Award winning producer, director and 1998 Disney Legend Lawrence M. "Larry" Lansburgh passes away at age 89 at his home in Eagle Point, Oregon. He worked on a number of well-known Disney productions, including the original Fantasia and Cinderella. In the 1970s, he produced and directed shows for television's The Wonderful World of Disney from his southern Oregon home.

2003 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is released on a 2-disc DVD set and a special edition VHS.

2005 - Disney Channel airs the Phil of the Future episode "Milkin' It" for the first time. Also debuting is The Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode "Maddie Checks In."

2006 - Richard Fleischer - 2003 Disney Legend & veteran director of Disney's 1954 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - passes away at age 89 in California. The son of animator Max Fleischer, Richard's directing credits include such well-known motion pictures as Fantastic Voyage, Doctor Dolittle, Tora! Tora! Tora!, Soylent Green, and The Jazz Singer.

2006 - Mike Peterson, a linebacker for the Jacksonville Jaguars, marries his fiance Chantel at Disney World's Wedding Pavilion in Florida.

2007 - Disney's 2005 live-action feature Sky High premieres on Disney Channel.

2009 - The North American National Tour of Mary Poppins officially opens in Chicago with the two original Broadway stars, Ashley Brown as "Mary Poppins" and Gavin Lee as "Bert."

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