1896 - Illustrator Gustaf Tenggren is born in Vastergotland, Sweden. Known for his Arthur Rackham-influenced fairy-tale style and use of silhouetted figures with caricatured faces, Tenggren was a chief illustrator for The Walt Disney Company in the late 1930s. He worked on the features Snow White, Bambi, and Pinocchio, and the shorts The Ugly Duckling and The Old Mill.

1910 - Disney Legend Irving Ludwig is born in Russia. In 1920 his family will immigrate to the United States and Irving will be raised in Brooklyn, New York. During his 40-year career with Disney, he will serve as president of Buena Vista Distribution (the motion picture and television feature distribution company owned by The Walt Disney Company).

1922 - The Laugh-O-Gram silent cartoon Puss in Boots, directed and co-animated by Walt Disney, is released.

1933 - Actor-dancer Ken Berry is born in Moline, Illinois. His Disney credits include The Cat From Outer Space and Herbie Rides Again. (TV fans will know Berry as Wilton Parmenter on F Troop and Vinton Harper on Mama's Family.)

1934 - Disney's Silly Symphony cartoon The Goddess of Spring is released. This short is one of Disney's early attempts at human animation.

1950 - Disney's Goofy cartoon Hold That Pose is released. It features the first appearance of Humphrey the Bear.

1952 - Voice actor Jim Cummings is born James Jonah Cummings in Youngstown, Ohio. In 1983, the increasing illness of longtime Winnie the Pooh voice actor Sterling Holloway will lead to an open call to replace him for the movie Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore. Cummings' uncanny audition will kick start a successful voice career that will include the voices of Pooh (and later Tigger) and such feature work as The Lion King, The Fox and the Hound 2, Aladdin, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Brother Bear 2, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

1954 - The Disneyland television series features an edited movie version of the 1951 "Alice in Wonderland."

1955 - The Mickey Mouse Club airs on ABC-TV. Today is Circus Day.

1961 - The Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life" first airs on television. It features actor Bill Mummy as six-year-old Anthony Fremont who has godlike mental powers. Rod Serling's introduction to Walt Disney World's Tower of Terror attraction - as viewed in the library - is taken in part from this very episode. Serling begins the program with the words, "Tonight's story on The Twilight Zone is somewhat unique and calls for a different kind of introduction." Imagineers completed the introduction for the attraction with dialogue by sound-alike actor Mark Silverman. Ironically, this episode contains the longest opening narration on the entire series! (On your next trip to Hollywood Studios, look for a small poster dedicated to "Anthony Fremont & and his Orchestra" inside the Hollywood Tower of Terror.)

1963 - The TV series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color airs part 2 of "The Waltz King."

1965 - Walt Disney appears on television's The Jack Benny Hour. Featured is a skit with Benny (cheap, petty, vain and self-congratulatory) visiting Disney's office ... asking for free tickets to Disneyland for 110 guests!

1977 - Disney's Pete's Dragon has its world premiere. This musical adventure features Helen Reddy (as Nora), Mickey Rooney (as her father), Red Buttons (as Hoagy), Jim Backus (as The Mayor), Jeff Conaway (as Willie), Charlie Callas (as Elliott) and Sean Marshall (as Pete). Although it is a live-action movie, its title character - a dragon named Elliott - is animated. The song "Candle on the Water" will receive an Academy Award nomination, and Helen Reddy's recording (with a different arrangement than the one her character sings in the film) will be released as a single by Capitol Records (and reach #27 on the Adult Contemporary charts). It is the first Disney film to be recorded in the Dolby Stereo sound system and the first involving animation in which none of the Nine Old Men were involved.

1998 - Walt Disney World's newest attraction Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin officially opens at the Magic Kingdom. The popularity of the two Toy Story films has led to the creation of this Tomorrowland attraction (which is housed in the pavilion formerly home to If You Had Wings, If You Could Fly, Delta Dreamflight, and Take Flight).

1998 - The Skyway at Tokyo Disneyland (running since the park debuted in 1983) closes.

2001 - Susan Lucci and a cavalcade of soap opera stars appear during the 2-day ABC Super Soap Weekend at the Disney-MGM Studios.

2001 - Disney's LuminAria - a new nighttime show at Disney's California Adventure featuring fireworks - has a rehearsal after park operating hours.

2003 - Michael Eisner (chairman and CEO of Disney) appears at the Harris Nesbitt Gerard Playtime Investor Conference. His comments and responses during the question and answer session are broadcast live via Webcast.

2006 - Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause opens in theaters. Tim Allen returns as Santa along with Martin Short as the mischievous Jack Frost.

2006 - Toon Disney presents the world television premiere of Bambi II.

2006 - At Disneyland, professional dancer Edyta Sliwinska and actor Joey Lawrence of TV's Dancing With The Stars tape a segment at the Sleeping Beauty Castle Stage. (It will air November 7.)

2006 - Down at Epcot, Cast Members Lowell Doringo and Michael Kelley are chosen as the WDW 2007 Ambassador Team!

2006 - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announce 16 films that are tentatively eligible for the animated feature film category. Among those named is the Disney/Pixar Cars. (The nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced on January 23, 2007.)

2006 - Ruth Patricia Shellhorn, Disneyland's first landscaper, passes away at the age of 97 in California.

2006 - The Hannah Montana episode "People Who Use People" debuts on Disney Channel.

2007 - Disney's newest theatrical stage production The Little Mermaid begins preview performances at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City. The official Broadway opening night is scheduled for December 6th.

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