The Disney Look.. to the Past! (10/16-22)

Here you are weekly appointment with the Disney past! From now on, it will appear every Monday, due to a new internal schedule. Have a great day!

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This Week in Disney History: Oct. 16-22

Oct. 16, 1923 - Walt Disney signs the contract to produce the first "Alice Comedies"

A young filmmaker trying to make ends meet at Laugh-O-Gram Studios in Kansas City, Walt Disney first envisioned a cartoon featuring a human actor interacting with characters in an animated world in 1922. Walt wrote to New York film distributor Margaret Winkler to describe the project, receiving an enthusiastic response. He managed to complete the first reel, Alice's Wonderland, but with the studio's revenues declining, the outfit went into bankruptcy and Walt moved to Los Angeles with $40 and a half-full suitcase. Working odd jobs and struggling to make rent, Walt persuaded his creditors to release the film for Winkler's review, who responded via telegram on Oct. 15 offering $1500 for the first six shorts. Walt and his older brother Roy signed the contract the following day, forming the Disney Bros. Studio, and for all intensive purposes, The Walt Disney Company.

Oct. 18, 1967 - Walt Disney Pictures releases The Jungle Book

The nineteenth and final full-length animated feature personally supervised by Walt Disney, saying The Jungle Book was based loosely upon the 1894 anthology of stories by British author Rudyard Kipling is a bona fide understatement - Walt having famously told cowriter Larry Clemons, "The first thing I want you to do is not to read this." The story finds the young boy Mowgli, raised by wolves deep in the Indian jungle since infancy, being led by the panther Bagheera back to the "man village" to protect him from the bengal tiger Shere Khan. Mowgli does his best to evade Bagheera, meeting up with the laid-back bear Baloo and attempting to join Col. Hathi's elephant brigade along the way. The soundtrack features several classic songs including "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wan'na Be Like You," featuring Louis Prima's trademark trumpet sound and jazz croon as the party-loving orangutan named (what else?) King Louie.

Also this week in Disney history:

Oct. 16  

1989 - Epcot hosts Cast previews of the Wonders of Life pavilion

   

Oct. 17  

1937 - Huey, Dewey and Louie (Donald Duck's nephews) debut in the Walt Disney comic strip 

2007 - Disney officially announces plans for a major renovation of Disney California Adventure, including a new area called Cars Land 

   

Oct. 18  

1926 - "Alice the Fire Fighter" (Alice cartoon short) debuts

1979 - A stage version of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres at Radio City Music Hall

   

Oct. 19  

1955 - "The Story of the Silly Symphony" debuts on "Disneyland" (television series)

1989 - Wonders of Life pavilion soft-opens at Epcot

   

Oct. 20  

1931 - "The Fox Hunt" (Silly Symphony) debuts

1995 - Walt Disney Pictures releases Frank and Ollie

1997 - "Bear in the Big Blue House" (television series) premieres on Disney Channel

2008 - Blue Sky Cellar opens at Disney California Adventure 

   

Oct. 21  

1951 - "Fathers Are People" (Goofy cartoon short) debuts

1982 - Epcot leaders dedicate El Rio del Tiempo at the Mexico pavilion

   

Oct. 22  

1979 - The 100,000,000th guest visits Magic Kingdom Park 

1998 - Company leaders officiate the groundbreaking ceremony for Tokyo DisneySea and the Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta

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