'The Lion King' Roars into Theaters (June 24)

Originally called King of the Kalahairi, Disney first entertained the idea of The Lion King back in 1988. Nine years later, the animated tale opened in theaters becoming a household name and huge hit. Can you feel the love tonight?

1994 – ‘The Lion King’ Roars into Theaters

Though an original story, Walt Disney Pictures’ The Lion King is heavily influenced by William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The story begins with Simba (voiced by Jonathan Taylor Thomas), a young lion cub. He is a prince to Mufasa (James Earl Jones) and Sarabi (Madge Sinclair) and sings about how he can’t wait to be king. In a tragic turn of events, Simba is given that privilege earlier than expected when Mufasa dies at the hand (or paw) of his brother, Scar (Jeremy Irons) Instead of facing his fears, he runs away from them and is befriended by Timon (Nathan Lane) a meerkat and Pumba (Ernie Sabella) a warthog who teach him the “logic” of “Hakuna Matata” which means “no worries”. Meanwhile Scar takes over his father’s pride.

The Lion King was directed by Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff. Music for the film was written by Elton John with lyrics by Tim Rice. Hans Zimmer wrote the film’s score. Additional voices for the movie included the voice talents of Matthew Broderick, Robert Guillaume, Rowan Atkinson, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin and Jim Cummings.

Though a mature storyline and somewhat darker than Disney’s usual fare, the film was a huge hit becoming the highest-grossing release of 1994. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, three of which were Best Original Song. The movie won two Oscars for Best Original Score and the original song of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”.

Since its release, two direct-to-video sequels were created, a Broadway adaptation of the movie was produced, two children’s TV shows were made (Timon and Pumbaa and The Lion Guard), a live-action version of the story was produced as well as the live-action prequel, Mufasa.

1949 – The First Western TV Series

William Boyd had starred in 66 different Hopalong Cassidy movies before the TV series of the same name debuted on NBC. When the series began, the network aired edited versions of the many films eventually airing new episodes which also starred Boyd. Edgar Buchanan also starred as his sidekick Red Connors.

Hopalong Cassidy was TV’s first western series which beat out The Lone Ranger by a number of months. The series ran from 1949 to 1952.

2008 – The Goofy Gameshow ‘Wipeout’ Debuts

A woman leaps over two "big balls" from the "Wipeout" TV show. — *Wipeout (TVDB)*

Hosted by John Henson and John Anderson with Jill Wagner serving as the on-the-ground reporter, the ABC reality competition series Wipeout once boasted of having the world’s largest obstacle course, and really, who’s going to check?

Wipeout consisted of outrageous stunts that were mostly impossible to achieve, and many involved the use of water. The show proved so popular, international versions of the show began popping up in the United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina and others. The original American version ran until 2014. Wipeout was rebooted for TBS in 2021 with new hosts John Cena, Nicole Byer and Camille Kostek. Although the show only ran for two seasons, it continued to air on the network through late 2025.

1901: Pablo’s First

Artist Pablo Picasso celebrated his first professional exhibition during his “blue period” in Paris at 19 years of age.

1916: Mary’s First

Actress Mary Pickford and her cat. — *(Wikimedia Commons)*

Mary Pickford became the first movie actress ever to receive a million-dollar contract with full authority over production of her films.

1964: Cigarette’s First

Labels on cigarette packages — *(Wikimedia Commons)*

The Federal Trade Commission announced that health warning labels would be required on all cigarette packages and in advertisements.

1992 – The Piano Man Finally Graduates

At the age of 43, singer Billy Joel finally graduated from Hicksville High School on Long Island. He was supposed to have graduated in 1967, but he was missing one English credit. The reason being? He overslept.

When asked to send samples of his writing 25 years later, he passed. He got a chance to speak and said, “Well, here I am, Mom. I’m actually going to get my high school diploma, and it’s only 25 years after everyone else got theirs. But Mom, don’t worry. I can finally pull myself out of this dead-end job I have and start working on a career with a real future.”