TV Specials

This 1964 TV special aired on NBC and is hosted by prominent newscast reporter Edwin Newman. For 23 years he was a major new personality associated with NBC. This broadcast explored the 1964-65 NY World's Fair of which Walt Disney had multiple attractions. This historic broadcast is presented here to showcase what this event was for the context of Walt Disney's role in the fair. Original airdate July 30, 1964 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

This variety TV special stars popular Broadway performer Sandy Duncan in different sketches and song sequences throughout Disneyland with other guest performers. At the time, the variety show format was quite popular and Sandy Duncan was starting an affiliation with Walt Disney Productions. She'd already appeared in the comedy The Million Dollar Duck and after this TV special she would appear in a follow up two years later, Christmas in Disneyland. She also later appeared their comedy The Cat From Outer Space and would voice Vixey in The Fox & The Hound. She embodied the wholesome image that was important to the company at the time. Outside of Walt Disney Productions she would guest star on numerous TV shows of the era and eventually have her own sitcom in the late 1980's, The Hogan Family. For this special, Sandy co-stars with some celebrity guests who were also popular in this era such as the Jackson 5, Ernest Borngine, Ted Knight, Ruth Buzzi, Lorne Greene, Doc Severinsen, Kenny Loggins, Alan Sues, The Ron Field Dancers, and more. Also worth noting is this special was filmed shortly after Duncan had a brain tumor removed that made her blind in one eye. A persistent rumor is she had a glass eye but in reality, her real eye was left in place because it would still track with her good one. Keep that in mind when you see her performing in this special. This special also chronicles a rare official record of what Disneyland looked like at the time as episodes were rarely shot there in the 1970's. It aired on CBS. Original airdate April 10, 1974 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Monstanto Presents was a short lived TV variety show in the spring/summer of 1776. They produced one episode set in the Disney parks tying in with the bicentennial celebration. At the time, the Walt Disney Company had a huge celebration of American history in both of their parks. It was the first time both parks shared the same parade. This TV special uses footage shot in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Monsanto also had a long relationship with Disneyland having sponsored several attractions in Tomorrowland including the House of the Future. Comedian Red Skelton was chosen to host this TV variety special. Today he may be obscure but he had been a popular entertainment figure for decades on par with Bob Hope and Lucille Ball. In this TV special, which he co-wrote, he plays many of his popular characters such as Freddie the Freeloader, Sheriff Deadeye, Grandpa, and others. He also does his routine explaining the Pledge of Allegiance. Skelton was particularly known for doing this in numerous appearances of his acts. We also get several songs from the Disney parks performers. This is a great time capsule of what the parks were like during the bicentennial. Footage note: Due to the age of this broadcast, and it only aired once, and the unusual run time of this footage, this may not be the complete broadcast. It's all the footage that can be located online. If more surfaces this video will be updated. Original air date April 3, 1976 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

In the late 1970's, Radio City Music Hall was in danger of being torn down. They needed a miracle. They found it with Snow White Live! Walt Disney had a history with Radio City Music Hall going back to the beginning of his career. That relationship remained in place after he died with many Walt Disney films premiering there. That loyalty carried on when the Music Hall needed an attraction to bring in audiences and remain open. That attraction was a Broadway show based on Walt Disney's Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs and it saved the Music Hall at a time when movie palaces were being demolished across the country. While there had been traveling stage productions using Disney characters for some time, this marked the first time Walt Disney Productions allowed an outside company to adapt one of their films in a stage production. That production was overseen by longtime Disney Parks vet, Robert F. Jani and first debuted in St. Louis in 1969 returning again in 1972. The decision was made to bring this production to New York City at a time when America's future looked bleak. Originally only intended for a 14 day run, it proved immensely popular and was not only held over but returned after Christmas. The original production opened on October 18, 1979, closing November 18, 1979 after 38 performances in order to put on the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. It then reopened on January 11, 1980 running 68 performances and closed on March 9, 1980, a total of 106 performances. It also went on national tour. A cast recording LP was released in 1979 and was the final Buena Vista label LP record release. The performance was recorded and released on home video as Snow White Live! at Radio City Music Hall in 1981. The Walt Disney Company had stated they would never release Walt's actual animated feature to home video and this took the place of it. This stage production was the only way to see Walt Disney's Snow White story for a generation of people. It aired on HBO in the early 1980's and, starting in 1987 to coincide with the original film's 50th anniversary, it aired on the Disney Channel. The VHS of this production is long out of print, fetching hundreds of dollars on Ebay and has never been released to DVD. The entire production is here. While the Walt Disney Company began a string of Broadway adaptations of their modern day animated features, this is the original and a faithful adaptation it is. The story was expanded to give the Prince more to do and added a great character moment for Dopey in the finale. It also added additional characters such as Luna, the servant of the evil Queen, and for the first time we got to meet Snow White's father the King. Verses to the established songs cut from the animated film were restored and new songs were written adding to the score and they fit rather well. In casting the role of Snow White a national casting call went out looking for an unknown to create the PR of the fairy tale discovery story. A fan produced documentary on the stage production featuring interviews with man of the key players can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR-AyeartfM It should also be noted that Howard Ashman attended a few of these performances. He would go one to revitalize Walt Disney animated features starting with 1989's The Little Mermaid. Cast Mary Jo Salerno as Snow White Richard Bowne as The Prince Anne Francine as The Evil Queen Charles Hall as The Hag & Magic Mirror Don Potter as Doc Benny Freigh as Grumpy Richard Day as Happy Jay Edward Allen as Bashful Louis Carry as Sneezy Jerry Riley as Sleepy Michael E. King as Dopey Bruce Sherman as The Huntsman Thomas Ruisinger as The King Yolande Bavan as Luna Heidi Coe as Greta Lauren Lipson as Mother David Pursley as Chamberlain Songs by Frank Churchill, Leigh Harline, & Paul Smith Additional songs by Joe Cook & Jay Blackton Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

In the 1970's the Mickey Mouse Club regained in popularity by nostalgic adults. Reruns of the popular series began airing in 1975. (It's competitor Howdy Doody, which the Mickey Mouse Club had forced of the air in the 1950's, began airing reruns the following year along with a revival series.) A new Mickey Mouse Club began airing in 1978 but only lasted one year. Young adults who grew up with the original series continued to create a demand so talk of a reunion special began. Finally in 1980 this reunion of many of the original Mickey Mouse Club cast was produced with much enthusiasm. Popular singer/songwriter Paul Williams serves as the host of this retrospective. Due to a strike, filming was ceased for a time and when it resumed some of the Mouseketeers were no longer available to participate in the reunion due to other obligations. When it finally aired on Walt's TV show it was as a TV special. In the days before the internet this was the only way for fans to see what their favorite child stars looked like as adults and was immensely popular. Part retrospective, part variety show, this program is a celebration of Walt Disney's Mickey Mouse Club. Original Airdate November 23, 1980 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Danny Kaye was brought in to host the 25th anniversary special of Disneyland for CBS in 1980. The shtick for this special is Kaye plays multiple characters throughout the special, something he was known for in a lot of his projects. Musical stars throughout include the Osmonds and Michael Jackson. It's a great snapshot of what Walt's park looked like 25 years after its construction. This is a Vault Disney airing from the late 90's. Original airdate March 6, 1980 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

This rarely seen TV special from 1981 is a celebration of Walt Disney's life and career while looking ahead to the future. It's hosted by Michael Landon. At this time Landon was starring in the popular TV historical drama Little House on the Prairie. This special features appearances by several stars of the day such as Dick Van Dyke, Marie Osmond, Ben Vereen, Carl Reiner. Mac Davis, and others. There's also a selection of notable figures of the time like Walter Cronkite, Andy Warhol, and more. There's song sequences and we also get to see several montages of Walt Disney history clips. There's even a few clips of Mickey Mouse being a rascal snappining Minnie's underwear and spanking his own rear end! The highlight of this broadcast is a preview of the still then under construction EPCOT Center. It would open the following year. Just like Disneyland and Walt Disney World before this, there had been previews of the construction of those parks but this was the most extensive on EPCOT Center. This was one of the last major specials like this to be produced by Walt Disney Productions. The Eisner regime would take over a few years later and while they at times continued to do such specials, they moved away from them as time went on. All content from the original broadcast has been included into this TV special. Original airdate December 12, 1981 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

This TV special hosted by Danny Kaye marked the world's introduction to EPCOT Center. Walt had envisioned EPCOT as the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow. He'd planned to have American industry showcase their innovations here so that they would become practical reality for all people everywhere. It was to be a World's Fair style city where people could actually live, work, and play and was the entire reason for the Florida Project. He'd only agreed to built Walt Disney World in exchange for the Florida government to give him the privileges he required to build EPCOT as planned. When Walt Disney died in 1966, his brother Roy moved ahead with building Walt Disney World. Originally, it was to be a much smaller scaled version of Disneyland with different attractions but became a theme park that dwarfed the original. When the time came to built EPCOT, the studio board nixed Walt's plans and transformed it into an educational theme park. The World Showcase was adapted from an idea Walt had for an International Street in Disneyland that never got built. Future World became a World's Fair of consumer products. Everyone's surprise favorite character was Figment the baby dragon. He and Dreamfinder had originally been created for a proposed new land at Disneyland called Discovery Bay. Figment was the breakout star and became the mascot of EPCOT Center. Walt Disney's right-hand songwriters, the Sherman Bros, were brought in to write several songs for the new park and give it that Walt Disney feel. Although, not the experimental prototype community of tomorrow Walt had intended, this is the EPCOT we got and what the world came to know. In recent years the majority of the version of EPCOT Center we see at its opening has been demolished and replaced with attraction including Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Muppet, and other characters. Initially there was an embargo on the traditional Disney characters except for Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Daisy, Minnie, Chip & Dale, etc to keep EPCOT Center separate from the fantasy park. Even then, these characters were dressed in costumes to reflect different areas of World Showcase. A few years after opening, McDonalds released a Happy Meal campaign of these characters in their EPCOT Center attire. Beloved actor and comedian Danny Kaye was brought in to host this TV special. He'd already hosted Disneyland's 25 Anniversary Special in 1980 Kaye was chosen to host this special for a variety of reasons. Not only was he a beloved entertainer but a world-renowned chef, a musical conductor, and had been affiliated with the United Nations UNICEF program since 1954. All of these qualities would tie in with what EPCOT Center became. He also knew Walt Disney personally and had heard his plans for EPCOT many times. In short, he knew all the things that EPCOT Center wasn't. Some accounts claim Danny Kaye wasn't easy to work with on this special. They say he was annoyed with the entire ordeal, snapping at guests and Disney CEO had him thrown off the property. Another tale claims Danny Kaye mooned the head of operations who didn't like Kaye either. Regardless, these tensions are nowhere apparent in the special itself. This special originally aired on CBS in 1982. This version of the TV special is a version that aired on Vault Disney in the late 1990's and hasn't been seen since. So, let's enjoy how EPCOT Center was when it originally opened in 1982. Original airdate October 23, 1982 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

1984 was the 50th anniversary of Donald Duck and this TV special hosted by Dick van Dyke aired on CBS. Several celebrities of the time make appearances along with clips from Donald's cartoons. These types of specials were popular at the time, not just for Disney milestones but other characters as well. This was the last appearance of Donald Duck's original voice, Clarence Duck Nash. He would pass away a year later. The special only aired in America once but has reaired in Europe where the Disney Ducks are a popular institution. Original air date November 13, 1984 Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.