October 15 - Larry Miller

On this day, in 1953, comedian Lawrence John Miller was born in Valley Stream, New York. Starting his career as a stand up comic, Larry eventually, as many comics do, moved into acting. His first role was as the Emcee on the television version of Fame. Since then, Larry has carved out a niche for himself as the go to guy for snotty yet sycophantic characters. He's appeared in over 50 films so far, ranging from a college dean in The Nutty Professor to various characters in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries (like Best in Show). Larry has also made dozens of television appearances with recurring roles on shows like Boston Legal, The Penguins of Madagascar, Law and Order and, for several months, hosted a game show called Late Night Liars on the Game Show Network.

Larry has performed several roles for various Disney projects. He was a memorable sales clerk in the Touchstone Pictures production Pretty Woman. Larry was a single parent in Touchstone's 10 Things I Hate About You (he reprised the role for the television series on ABC Family). He was Principal Jindrake in Walt Disney Pictures Max Keeble's Big Move. You might remember him as Paolo Puttanesca, the royal stylist, in the Princess Diaries films. On television, Larry played Tommy, a colleague of John Ritter's character, on 8 Simple Rules, leant his voice to Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and appeared in the remake of The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes.

In April of 2012, Larry suffered a head injury after a fall and was actually in a coma for a while. Luckily for him, and us, he recovered. He can currently be heard on his podcast, The Larry Miller Show and later this year will be part of a Jennifer Lopez romantic comedy, Second Act.

Also on this day, in American history: Grace Bedell

October 14 - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage

On this day, in 1971, the classic attraction 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Submarine Voyage opened in the Magic Kingdom of Walt Disney World. Submarine Voyage had proved to be quite popular with guests when it opened in Disneyland in 1959, so a bigger and better version was planned for the Florida Project. And what better movie to theme the new attraction after than the Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?

The ride vehicles (which are actually boats not real submarines) were started by Morgan Yachts in Clearwater, Florida and then transferred to Tampa Ship for finishing. Their look was based on Harper Goff's Nautilus design for the 1954 film. Twelve vehicles were built, identical in every way except for one of them. 11 subs had diesel engines; the twelfth sub was powered by natural gas. Guess which one was never to be hit from behind. The subs usually ran in three groups of three, with the remaining three resting on a spur dock, ready to be put into use if needed (and, as the years went by, they were frequently needed).

Even though this version of Submarine Voyage was themed to a movie, it was pretty much the same as the original with small tweaks here and there. The narration throughout was done by Captain Nemo, voiced by Peter Renaday doing a pretty good impersonation of James Mason. Some of the show scenes also included touches from the film, like the divers in the kelp beds had suits and helmets that were also based on Harper Goff designs.

One of the lost pieces of Walt Disney World history could be found in 20K's (as it was known internally) show building. You would never know it looking at the pile of "rocks" complete with waterfalls, but if you went inside it as cast members sometimes did to do maintenance, you might notice something curious about the ceiling: there were massive concrete arches supporting it. As the building existed for the almost 23 years the ride operated, those arches were completely unnecessary. It becomes clear why the building was constructed that way, though, when you learn that a version of the Matterhorn Bobsleds was slated to be built on top of it. That, of course, never happened and we are all left to sigh over what might have been.

I have three additional favorite tidbits about this attraction. The first is that when it opened, an "E" ticket was required to ride it. Anyone who rode it near the end might raise an eyebrow at that, but you have to remember that "E" tickets didn't mean thrill rides, they meant the best rides. And in its day, 20K was pretty spectacular. The second is that women never worked the attraction. In fact 20K and Jungle Cruise were the last two attractions that required a Y chromosome of its cast members. Shortly before 20K closed, Jungle began training women to lead its safaris, but none ever piloted the Nautilus. It might sound Draconianly sexist but the explanation is simple: the only women in the movie were whores. Try theming that in a family park. The third is how everything you read claims that the ride closed suddenly and unexpectedly on September 5, 1994. It might have seemed that way to guests, but the cast members knew that its run was over. I should know as I did my College Program on this attraction that final summer. All kinds of costume pieces disappeared as August came to a close (not, mind you, that I'm aware who took them or where they ended up).

The 20K lagoon went on to become two character meet and greet areas, one for Ariel and, in the old queue, one for characters like Robin Hood and the mice from Cinderella. Then part of the area became a Winnie the Pooh themed play area. Eventually the lagoon was drained, filled in and now sits under the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, gone but not forgotten.

Also on this day, in American history: Lawrence Herkimer

October 13 - Dave Smith

On this day, in 1940, David Rollin Smith was born in Pasadena, California. Growing up in Southern California meant that Dave was able to spend some time soaking up Disneyana. He enjoyed going to see Disney movies, liked watching Disney television shows and was able to visit Disneyland on a regular basis. The history of the company and its founders, well that wasn't something he ever gave any thought to. Until he happened to be in the right place at the right time.

After graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Dave traveled across the country to do an 18-month internship at the Library of Congress. When his stint there ended, he came back to the west coast and became a librarian for UCLA. During the later half of the Sixties, Dave did some work with the Walt Disney Company, helping to compile a Disney bibliography. Through that process, he got to know some people around the place. After Walt died, the remaining leadership began to realize that the people who knew all about all the projects that the company had done weren't going to be around forever. Dave heard that the company was looking to start an archive of the company's history so he offered his services. He was taken up on that offer and the Walt Disney Archives was born.

His new job began on June 22, 1970. Dave's first task: to catalog everything in Walt's office at the Burbank studio, most of which had been just lying around untouched since his passing. Since then, Dave says it's been an incredible journey. Anything and everything about anything and everything to do with the company has to be read, preserved and cataloged. Need to know something about the Carnation Ice Cream Parlor in Disneyland that hasn't been open since 1997? There's a file on that. Need to see an original script of Steamboat Willie? They have one. From photographs to Walt's personal correspondence to merchandise samples, Dave spent forty years making sure that the Disney legacy was preserved for all to see. Well, not all, you do have to be an employee or a scholar to get into most of the archive.

Another project that Dave is proud of happened early on in his employment with the company. In his spare time, he helped Walt's brother, Roy O. Disney, research and compile a Disney family history and tree. He says one of the most interesting things about the family is that while Walt and Roy come from a big family (they had 65 first cousins!), since their father came into the United States via Canada, most of the other Disneys in this country aren't related to them.

All those years steeped in Disney lore of course had to leak out somewhere. Dave has written a number of books about the company. Some are straight up trivia books, one is a compilation of Walt quotes, one is a history of the first 100 years of Disney and one is an encyclopedia titled Disney A to Z (I have an autographed copy of that one). In 2007, Dave was made an official Disney Legend for his work on the Archive (I wonder if he then had to make a file on himself). These days he stays mostly retired as Chief Archivist Emeritus, although occasionally one might find him leading a limited tour of the archives for the lucky few who gain entry.

Also on this day, in American history: Lenny Bruce

October 12 - Bill Anderson

On this day, in 1911, producer William Hillyard Anderson was born in Smithfield, Utah. Bill's boyhood desire was to be an actor when he grew up. In 1929, he moved to Los Angeles, California looking for fame and fortune. He did manage to get a few small parts in some radio shows, but his big break never came. Eventually Bill began working for the Firestone Rubber Company and enrolled in the University of Southern California as a pre-law student. His dreams of being in the entertainment industry were down but not out as he discovered that his talents lay not in front of the camera but behind it.

In 1943, Bill got a job with the Walt Disney Studios in the production control department, where he managed the reorganization and expansion of the Ink and Paint Department. Eight years later, Bill was named Production Manager and by 1956, he was the Vice President of Studio Operations. He cut his teeth in television, producing 58 of the 78 episodes of Zorro as well as episodes of The Swamp Fox, The Wonderful World of Disney and Johnny Shiloh.

Bill moved into the realm of feature films in 1957 as an associate producer on Old Yeller. A couple of years later, his wife pointed out a young English actress to him. Bill went to Walt and recommended Hayley Mills for the lead in Pollyanna. That of course led to a string of films for the studio starring young Hayley and Bill would personally produce one of them, 1964's The Moon-spinners. His list of producing credits includes many of the popular Disney films of the late Sixties and early Seventies: Savage Sam, Swiss Family Robinson, The Apple Dumpling Gang and The Shaggy D.A., just to name a few. When Walt died in 1966, Bill was named as one of the small group of people who would guide the studios output for the next decade.

As further proof of his value to the Walt Disney Company, Bill became part of the Board of Directors in 1964. Although he would retire from his producing gig in 1975, he would continue as a director until 1984, shepherding the company from the death of Walt until the hiring of Michael Eisner. For all his contributions to the company, Bill would be posthumously named an official Disney Legend in 2007. He had passed away from a brain hemorrhage in San Francisco on December 28, 1997 at the age of 86.

Also on this day, in American history: Emperor Norton

October 11 - David Dodd Hand

On this day, in 1986, animator David Dodd Hand passed away in San Luis Obispo, California. Born in Plainfield, New Jersey on January 23, 1900, Dave wanted to start a career as a newspaper comic strip artist. He moved to Chicago to take some commercial art classes. He ran out of money to pay for those classes and began to work for Wallace Carlson, a pioneer in the art of animation. Dave discovered he loved the medium and moved to New York, where he would do work with most of the animation studios around at the time. In late January 1930, almost on his 30th birthday, he moved again, this time to California and began working for the Walt Disney Studios.

Dave worked as an animator on all kinds of shorts throughout the early Thirties. He got assigned birds a lot. There was just one problem. He wasn't very good at animating. His co-workers described him as being very mechanical. Most of the animators would let the drawings dictate how a character would move, flowing along as the art moved them. Dave would chart out the flight of his birds with a military precision that had nothing to do with how birds actually fly. Luckily, he was good at something else. Directing.

In 1933, Walt had Dave direct his first short, a Minnie and Mickey story called Building a Building. He was clearly better at directing than he was at animating birds. Some of the best Disney shorts over the next few years would be produced under the leadership of Dave: 1934's The Flying Mouse, 1935's Who Killed Cock Robin? and The Orphan Kittens and 1936's Thru the Mirror. Dave's secret was that he didn't worry about every little detail in the short. He put the animators on the team that, by playing to their individual strengths, would produce the best work. And then he drove them pretty hard. His mantra was "You've got to make decisions and as long as you're right 51 percent of the time, you're right." This system worked out well, for Dave and for the studio. The studio got great shorts and Dave got promotions.

When Walt decided that he wasn't going to direct the studios first feature himself, the job went to Dave.  As Supervising Director of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the future of the studio was literally in Dave's hands. He pulled it off with flying colors. For the remainder of the Thirties and part of the Forties, he would be a surrogate for Walt around the studio, watching over the shorts, returning as Supervising Director again for Bambi. Dave was Walt's right hand man. Which caused another problem for him. What sort of future do you have at a company when literally the only job left for you rise into is held by someone younger than you who has no intention of ever leaving? As much as Dave revered Walt, he eventually grew tired of being a second banana who had to watch the first banana get all the credit. In 1944, he left Disney to go across the pond for a new venture.

Dave approached the largest entertainment company in England at the time, The Rank Organization, with a plan to expand British animation. J. Arthur Rank, the organization's founder, gave him the green light to start a studio, Gaumont British Animation. Dave would produce two different series, Animaland and Musical Paintbox, creating a total of 19 shorts. Unfortunately, he couldn't find an American distributor and GBA would close its doors in 1950. Dave returned to the United States, settling in Colorado Springs. He would spend the next 18 years working for the Alexander Film Company. Alexander made advertisements that played during the intermission at drive-in movie theaters as well as industrial films.

David Hale Hand, Dave's son, currently owns the rights the films his father made in England and hopes to produce new films in both series. Dave was posthumously made a Disney Legend in 1994.

Also on this day, in American history: Alaska P. Davidson

October 10 - Jodi Benson

On this day, in 1961, Jodi Marie Marzorati was born in Rockford, Illinois. In 1984, she married actor/singer Ray Benson to become Jodi Benson (no she isn't related to the voice of the Beast, Robbie Benson; that's not his real name). In 1989, she dove under the sea and became a Disney legend.

Like many great talents, Jodi's career began on Broadway. She played Virginia in Marilyn: An American Musical, supposedly the only authorized musical about Marilyn Monroe. Jodi then originated the role of Doria Hudson in 1986's Smile, a musical that takes a look behind the scenes of a fictional beauty pageant. Smile's book and lyrics were written by Howard Ashman, who would go on to write the lyrics for a certain mermaid as well. Another funny thing about Smile, at least for Jodi, is that Doria's big number is called "Disneyland." Of course that wouldn't be funny for a few more years, but you get it.

In 1989, Jodi was part of the cast of Welcome to the Club, a musical about guys in jail for being delinquent on their alimony payments and the wives who wanted their money. You heard that right. And, as you might have guessed, it was a colossal flop. The significance to our story is that Samuel E. Wright was also in that cast and he played Sebastian the Crab in The Little Mermaid. And Jodi was in that movie, too.

In an interview I saw once, Jodi remembered that after she got the part of Ariel in The Little Mermaid, most of her friends kind of ridiculed her for doing a Disney movie. You have to remember that Disney's animation department had been in a dark, dark period for a couple of decades. It hit bottom with The Black Cauldron and, even though it was on the upswing, wasn't yet in a position of being a desirable gig. But Jodi was excited. Reports were coming in from the little studio Howard Ashman and Alan Menken were writing songs in that every time the door opened and their fantastic music would spill out into the hall, doors to other studios would start opening and people were asking "Where is that music coming from?" She probably didn't know that she was involved in her life defining role, but she knew that something special was happening.

When Mermaid premiered in 1989, the world went bonkers for its redheaded heroine. The film won Academy Awards, Golden Globes and Grammys and ushered in a Renaissance for Disney animation. No longer would anyone be ridiculed for wanting to do it. Jodi would work almost exclusively for Disney for years, making appearances at trade shows, theme park attraction openings, basically anywhere the company could get mileage out of having Ariel there. She would continue to voice Ariel in two sequels to Mermaid, a television series, video games, episodes of various other shows (like House of Mouse), and the attraction Mickey's PhilharMagic at the Magic Kingdom. You will be able to hear her as Ariel once again later this year in Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Ariel is the role you probably knew Jodi did. What you may not know is that she is also the voice of Barbie in the Toy Story films. Barbie wasn't in the first Toy Story because Mattel wasn't willing to give Pixar the rights to her. By the second film, Mattel was falling all over themselves to get her in. Jodi provided her perky voice for Toy Story 2, Toy Story 3, various shorts and will be doing it again next year in Toy Story 4. She's also been Lady in Lady and the Tramp II , Anita in 101 Dalmations II and Weebo, the robot in Flubber. Jodi made a rare live action appearance in the 2007 movie Enchanted as Sam, the assistant to Patrick Dempsey's character (she was actually one of three actresses who played Disney princesses to appear in that film).

As if all that work for Disney wasn't enough, Jodi has done all sorts of other roles over the years as well. On Broadway, she earned a Tony nomination in 1992 for Crazy For You and was the narrator in a 1998 production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Jodi has performed as a soloist all over the world with orchestras including the Boston Pops and the Tokyo Symphony. Her voice has been heard in Don Bluth's Thumbelina, Dreamworks Joseph: King of Dreams and Universal's Balto series.

In 2011, Jodi, who was already legendary in the Disney universe, was named an official Disney Legend. What will we see from her in the future? I'm sure it will include more Ariel and more Barbie, but hopefully it will also include new and exciting roles we can't even dream of at the moment.

Also on this day, in American history: Earle Dickson

October 9 - Pete Docter

On this day, in 1968, Peter Hans Docter was born in Bloomington, Minnesota. Pete grew up in a musical family. His mother taught music, his father was a choral director, one sister became the violinist in the Cavani String Quartet and the other plays cello for the Metropolitan Opera. Pete, on the other hand, preferred to pretend he was Indiana Jones in and around the creek beside their house or made short animated films with the family video camera. Even though he was a tall, gangling, kind of socially awkward kid, he may have turned out the best of the whole family.

Pete went to the University of Minnesota posing as a major in philosophy. In his spare time, Pete made art. A lot of art. So much art that, after only a year of being philosophical, he transferred to the California Institute of the Arts. While there, Pete created three films utilizing traditional animation techniques: Palm Springs, Next Door and Winter. Next Door was awarded a Student Academy Award, which for those of you who don't know (I didn't) is an actual Oscar given to college students. Since his further successes have occurred, all three films have been preserved by the Academy Film Archive.

As Pete was getting ready to graduate from CalArts, his best job offers were from the producers of The Simpsons and a fledgling company named Pixar. While he knew almost nothing about Pixar other than the fact that he liked a few of their shorts, the traditional animation student chose the computer animation company. So at the age of 21, literally the day after his college graduation, Pete started working for Pixar as only the third animator the company ever employed.

Because of his age and relative inexperience, Pete wasn't initially given a whole lot to do. It wasn't long though, before the head of Pixar, John Lasseter, began to realize just the kind of guy he'd been lucky enough to hire. Even though he was brought in as an animator, Pete began doing additional things like writing, sound recording and orchestra scoring. For Pixar's first feature, Toy Story, he was one of only three key scriptwriters. Buzz Lightyear (one of my favorite characters) is, in part at least, based on Pete. He would go on to co-author A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc., which was also his directorial debut. A debut that was nominated for all kinds of awards. True, it didn't win any of those awards but Pete would soon change that.

Pete once again contributed his writing skills to WALL-E, garnering an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning a Nebula award. His next project, for which he co-wrote the script, directed and played the voices of Kevin and Campmaster Strauch, was 2009's Up. Pixar always brings the feels in their movies, but Up was the first time I (and pretty much every other adult) actually had to stifle sobs in a movie theater. And not just at the end of the movie, but the beginning too. Thanks Pete. It was an awesome experience. The Academy thought so, too, not only giving Up the Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Animated Feature, but also nominating it for Best Picture period. Pete also won an Annie Award for directing.

At this point, Pete's role began shifting again. He started playing more of an executive role at Pixar. His next few credits would in fact be as Executive Producer on the shorts Dug's Special Mission and Party Central and the feature Monsters University. His directing days weren't quite over though. He would return to that role for 2015's Inside Out. Pete also co-wrote the script based on a story idea he'd help develop and provided the voice for Father's Anger. Once again, Pete delivered a delightfully touching, highly inventive story. Once again, he won the Best Animated Feature Oscar, the Annie Award for directing and, this time, added the Annie Award for writing.

All in all, for the three films Pete's directed for Pixar, he enjoys an average rating of 97% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and, on an average budget of $155 million, has an average gross of over $723 million. For you math whizzes, that means his three movies have grossed over 2 billion dollars. Which means Pete knows what he's doing. A very good thing for Pixar. You may have heard about the controversy surrounding the company's founder, John Lasseter, and his subsequent departure. You may have also wondered what was going to happen to the level of quality that Pixar would be able to sustain going forward. You don't have to worry. Pete has John's job now and (you knew I was going to say this at some point) the Docter is in.

A fantastic addendum to Pete's story: One of my all-time favorite attractions was in the Wonders of Life pavilion at Epcot. For anyone who remembers it, Cranium Command was a hilarious look at the various systems of the human body as seen from the inside. It was totally the inspiration for Inside Out, not because Pete was a fan of it, because Pete actually worked on the animation for it. The story behind Command is a crazy one that I hope to post about in the future, but part of that story is how a young Pete Docter, before he graduated from CalArts and became a legend at Pixar, was pulled in to help hurriedly finish its animation in time for its grand opening.

Also on this day, in American history: Mary Ann Shadd Cary