December 5

Seems there are a lot of significant Disney dates in the last months of the year, everything from the founding of the Disney company (October 16) and Mickey's birthday (November 18) to the opening of Walt Disney World (October 1) to, most importantly of all, the birthday of Walt Disney himself, today, December 5. To mark the occasion, here's something a little different: the inside front cover (click on the image for a larger view) of the program for the 1973 edition of the Disney on Parade arena show. Along with a photo of Walt at Disneyland Park, there's a salute (written, I believe, by Marty Sklar) not so much to Walt as to the Studio and the company he created, as this was Disney's 50th anniversary. (You'll note the inclusion of the awesome 50 Happy Years logo that I've featured before.) Happy Birthday to Walt, and here's to all the happy things created under his name since that December day in 1901.