February 18
Contributed by Pearleen Ang
BORN TODAY
1974 – Jillian Michaels
1974 – Amanda Abbington
1970 – Susan Egan
1968 – Molly Ringwald
1964 – Matt Dillon
1960 – Greta Scacchi
1957 – Vanna White
1954 – John Travolta
1952 – Juice Newton
1950 – John Hughes (RIP)
1950 – Cybill Shepherd
1949 – Pat Fraley
1933 – Yoko Ono
1925 – George Kennedy
1919 – Jack Palance (RIP)
1907 – Billy De Wolfe (RIP)
MOVIES TODAY
1933 – Disney’s Mickey Mouse cartoon Mickey’s Pal Pluto, directed by Burt Gillett, is released. It is the first appearance of Pluto’s shoulder angel and devil (who’ll pop up again in future shorts). Animation credits include Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Frenchy de Tremauden and Norm Ferguson.
1939 – Disney’s animated Mickey’s Surprise Party is released to Nabisco. Minnie’s biscuits are spoiled when she accidentally gets unpopped popcorn into the dough, and the whole batch explodes! The commercial short is made for the National Biscuit Company and will be shown at the 1939 New York World’s Fair (which will open in April). It is also the last short to feature Marcellite Garner as the voice of Minnie.
1944 – Disney’s Donald Duck cartoon Trombone Trouble, directed by Jack King and written by Jack Hannah & Carl Barks, is released. Pete’s trombone playing is so awful and loud that it even incurs the wrath of the Gods. Donald Duck is eventually called in to help, but as it turns out, his playing is even worse!
1953 – Disney’s first People and Places film – The Alaskan Eskimo – a short documentary shot by the team of Alfred and Elma Milotte, is released. (It will win an Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject Academy Award nominations are announced with Disney receiving 3:
No Hunting – Short Subjects, Cartoons
Switzerland – Short Subjects, Two Reels
Men Against the Arctic – Documentary, Short Subjects
1957 – Disney receives 3 Academy Award nominations on this day:
Cow Dog – Short Subjects, Two Reels
Samoa – Short Subjects, Two Reels
Man in Space – Documentary, Short Subjects
1966 – The Silencers – An American spy film spoof motion picture released in 1966 and starring Dean Martin as agent Matt Helm. Co-starring with Martin are Stella Stevens, Daliah Lavi and Victor Buono.
1983 – Lovesick – A romantic comedy film, starring Dudley Moore and Elizabeth McGovern and features Alec Guinness as the ghost of Sigmund Freud. Sigmund Freud’s ghost (Alec Guinness) advises a married New York psychiatrist (Dudley Moore) in love with a patient (Elizabeth McGovern).
1983 – The Pirates of Penzance – A musical film based on Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic opera of the same name. It stars Kevin Kline, Rex Smith, Angela Lansbury, George Rose, Linda Ronstadt, and Tony Azito. The cast also includes Timothy Bentinck, Louise Gold and Tilly Vosburgh.
1983 – The Sting II – A film sequel to The Sting. Directed by Jeremy Kagan and written by David S. Ward (also author of the original movie), it stars Jackie Gleason, Mac Davis, Teri Garr, Karl Malden and Oliver Reed. No one from the original film’s cast returns. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Musical Score, which was composed by Lalo Schifrin.
1994 – Blue Chips – A basketball drama film, directed by William Friedkin, written by Ron Shelton and starring Nick Nolte as a college coach and real-life basketball stars Shaquille O’Neal and Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway as talented finds.
1994 – On Deadly Ground – nA environmental action-adventure film, co-produced, directed by and starring Steven Seagal, and co-starring an all-star cast that includes Michael Caine, Joan Chen, John C. McGinley, R. Lee Ermey, Kenji Nakano, and Billy Bob Thornton in one of his early appearances. It earned $38.6 million during its theatrical run, failing to bring back its reported $50 million budget and received negative reviews.
1994 – Reality Bites – A romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn.
2000 – Boiler Room – An American crime drama film written and directed by Ben Younger, and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Vin Diesel, Nia Long, Ben Affleck, Nicky Katt, Scott Caan, Tom Everett Scott, Ron Rifkin, and Jamie Kennedy.
2000 – Hanging Up – An American comedy-drama film about a trio of sisters who bond over the approaching death of their curmudgeonly father, to whom none of them were particularly close. This film features Diane Keaton (who also directed), Meg Ryan, and Lisa Kudrow as the three sisters, and Walter Matthau (in his final film appearance) as the father.
2000 – Pitch Black – A science fiction action horror film co-written and directed by David Twohy. The film stars Vin Diesel, Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, and Keith David.. Despite mixed reviews from critics, it was a sleeper hit, grossing over US$53 million worldwide.
2000 – The Whole Nine Yards – An American-Canadian crime comedy film directed by Jonathan Lynn, starring Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, Amanda Peet, Michael Clarke Duncan and Natasha Henstridge. Nick is a struggling dentist in Canada.. The film grossed $57,262,492 during its U.S. theatrical run, with an additional $49,109,159 internationally.
MUSIC TODAY
1956 – The Platters ruled the R&B chart for the seventh week with “The Great Pretender”.
1965 – The Kinks topped the U.K. chart with “Tired Of Waiting For You”.
1967 – Ed Ames had the #1 Easy Listening song for the third week with “My Cup Runneth Over”.
1968 – Boise, Idaho’s Paul Revere & the Raiders had the highest debut of the week, “Ups And Downs”, at #77.
1968 – The Buckinghams had the new #1 song with “Kind Of A Drag”, ending seven weeks at the top for the Monkees’ “I’m A Believer”.
1978 – The Soundtrack to “Saturday Night Fever” was the #1 album for a fifth week.
1978 – “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees stayed at #1 for the third week.
1980 – Bob Seger released the single “Fire Lake”.
1984 – Christopher Cross controlled the Adult Contemporary chart for a third week with “Think Of Laura”.
1984 – Culture Club remained at #1 with “Karma Chameleon”.
1984 – Thriller by Michael Jackson was #1 on the Album chart for the 29th week, just two shy of the Rock Era record set in 1977 by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours.
1985 – Simple Minds released the single “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”.
1987 – Bon Jovi were at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Livin’ On A Prayer’, it made No.4 in the UK.
1989 – Sheriff grabbed the #1 spot on the AC chart with the great song “When I’m With You”.
1989 – The Fine Young Cannibals owned the #1 album in the U.K. with The Raw and the Cooked.
1995 – Newcomers Hootie & the Blowfish scored their first Top 10 song as “Hold My Hand” reached #10.
1995 – TLC had the #1 song for a fourth week with “Creep”.
2001 – Joe and Mystikal had the #1 song with “Stutter”.
TV/RADIO TODAY
1949 – “Yours Truly Johnny Dollar” debuted on CBS radio.
1953 – Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed a contract worth $8,000,000 to continue the “I Love Lucy” TV show through 1955.
1962 – While on leave from training in the United States Marines, the Everly Brothers appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, in full uniform and cropped hair, singing “Crying In The Rain”.
1962 – The NBC-TV series Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color airs episode 200 – part 1 of “Comancho”.
1977 – Terri Perrotta, an 11-year-old tap dancer from Hyde Park, Massachusetts, and Kevin Brando, a 6-year-old trombone player from Santa Monica, California, are featured Showtime Day guests on episode 25 of The New Mickey Mouse Club. Little Toot, a carefree tiny tugboat, stars in the cartoon for the day
1979 – The Wonderful World of Disney airs part 2 of “Ride a Wild Pony.” A Walt Disney Productions film originally released in 1975, the film follows the battle between two children, Scott, a poor farm boy, and Josie, the handicapped daughter of a wealthy ranch owner, for ownership of a horse they both love.
1989 – The TV sitcom The Golden Girls airs “Two Rode Together” on NBC. Dorothy (Bea Arthur) takes Sophia to Walt Disney World for “quality time,” but Sophia (Estelle Getty) wants to ride Space Mountain instead. (No segments of the episode were actually shot at WDW.)
1995 – Disney’s made-for-TV movie The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes (a remake of Disney’s 1969 film The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes) first airs.
2001 – The Disney Channel presents Eye On LA: First Look at Disney’s Newest Theme Park. This special introduces viewers to Disney’s California Adventure Park, which opened February 8.
OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS...
1885 – Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” was published in the U.S. for the first time.
1959 – Elvis Presley performed after hours at the Lido Club in Paris, France while on leave from the United States Army.
1960 – Under storm-threatening skies, the greatest winter athletes in the world gather in Squaw Valley, California, to begin the VIII Olympic Winter Games. The opening (and closing) ceremonies are orchestrated by Walt Disney (the Head of Pageantry for the Games), and involve 5,000 participants, 1,285 instruments and 2,645 voices from 52 California and Nevada high school bands. The opening ceremony (delayed by an hour because of a heavy early morning snowfall) includes daytime fireworks – a first for the Olympics.
1969 – Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees and Lulu (“To Sir With Love”) were married at St. James’ Church in Gerrard’s Cross, England in front of over 3,000 guests.
1977 – The space shuttle Enterprise went on its maiden “flight” sitting on top of a Boeing 747.
1990 – Freddie Mercury made his final public appearance on stage when he joined the rest of Queen to collect the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, held at the Dominion Theatre, London, England.
1995 – Disney’s The Lion King is released on videocassette in the U.S. (Some 20 million copies will be sold in the first week.)
2000 – A new fireworks show entitled “Believe … There’s Magic in the Stars,” officially debuts at Disneyland. It has been created especially for the park’s 45th anniversary
2001 – James Taylor married his longtime girlfriend Caroline “Kim” Smedvig at Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Boston, Massachusetts.
2002 – Disney World celebrates Presidents’ Day with the official dedication of the updated Hall of Presidents attraction (which now includes an Audio-Animatronics figure of President George W. Bush). Fifty students from Lost Lake Elementary School (in Lake County) lead cast members and park guests in the Pledge of Allegiance. The Disney World Philharmonic Orchestra and Voices of Liberty choral group perform patriotic music