Pop Culture Flashback: The First Trip to Narnia (Oct. 16)

C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was released on this day in 1950. It is just the first of seven books that take place in the land of Narnia.

October 16, 2026

C.S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe was released on this day in 1950. It is just the first of seven books that take place in the land of Narnia.

1950 – The First Book from ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ is Released

“The Lion all began with a picture of a Faun carrying an umbrella and parcels in a snowy wood. This picture had been in my mind since I was about sixteen. Then one day, when I was about forty, I said to myself: ‘Let’s try to make a story about it,’” said C.S. Lewis about the creation of one of his most popular novels, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The book was published on this day in 1950 with illustrations by Pauline Baynes. it became the first of seven novels in The Chronicles of Narnia series.

The story involves four siblings who wander inside an old wardrobe only to find that it leads to another world called Narnia. While many have considered the work an allegory, others have described the story as “supposal” meaning that if Narnia was a real world, it too would need redemption. The story provides what type of incarnation of Christ might be sent there.

When the book was first released, fantasy stories were somewhat frowned about for young adult novels. Lewis’ publisher was afraid that the book would ruin the writer’s reputation, and some reviewers of the book thought that the book was overly moralistic and/or too Christian attempting to indoctrinate children.

Today, the book is one of the most respected children’s stories of all time. It is estimated that 120 million copies of the books have been sold across 70 different countries and adapted into 60 different languages.

Many adaptations of the books have been made – some for TV, others for theaters. (The image above is from 2005’s Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media.) On April 2, 2027, Netflix releases the first in what they hope will be seven movies. However, they will begin with Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew instead. Directed by Greta Gerwig, the movie has caused some ruckus with news that Meryl Streep will be performing the voice of Aslan the lion, a role that has always been played by a man since Aslan is a male character.

The Chronicles of Narnia Series in Chronological Order

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was C.S. Lewis’ first book in the Narnia series, but chronologically, it is not the first story in the series. So, if you want to read the books in correct order of events, here is how to do it…

Book covers of The Chronicles of Narnia books — *(Wikipedia)*

1. The Magician’s Nephew (1955)
2. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
3. The Horse and His Boy (1954)
4. Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (1951)

5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
6. The Silver Chair (1953)
7. The Last Battle (1956)

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

1941: Young Life is Founded

In 1939, Jim Rayburn, a young Presbyterian youth leader was given a challenge to consider his local high school as his parish and find ways to attract youth who had no interest in joining a church. In the early stages, a weekly club was created that included singing, skits and simple messages about Jesus Christ. The meetings were quickly moved to the homes of the young teens they were targeting. Young Life was officially created on this day in 1941 in Texas. Today, the ministry relies on about 80,000 volunteer leaders to help with more than 8,000 ministry locations.

2023 – Disney Celebrates 100 Years

Walt Disney Studio business card — Walt Disney’s business card during the early years. *(Wikimedia Commons)*

In a way, we should thank Universal Pictures. If they hadn’t taken away one key character from Walt Disney, we wouldn’t have Mickey Mouse today.

Walt Disney and his brother Roy founded the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles, California in 1923. Three years later, the pair changed the company name to Walt Disney Studio when they moved into a new located on Hyperion Avenue.

For four years they worked on a variety of Alice’s Wonderland shorts (which featured a live-action girl interacting with illustrated characters) before working with a new character – Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

The Oswald cartoons were made for Winkler Pictures and were distributed by Universal Pictures. In 1928, Disney discovered that Universal owned the intellectual rights to the character and that they were taking almost all of Disney’s animators. Disney and his sole animator, Ub Iwerks went back to square one to dream up a new character: Mortimer Mouse. (His name was changed to Mickey after the urging of Walt’s wife.)

In 1939, the company moved again to a much larger studios lot in Burbank and still operates there. It is the home where dozens of animated movies have been created. Today, the main studio is housed within the Roy E. Disney Animation Building.

Long after his death, the company changed its name to The Walt Disney Company in 1986, and it was on this day in 2023 that the company celebrated its 100th anniversary.

1992 – Gilligan’s Lost Episode is Found

Bob Denver as Gilligan *(Wikimedia Commons)*

Gilligan’s Island debuted on CBS on September 26, 1964, but the original pilot episode was never shown until this day in 1992 on TBS.

“Marooned” was filmed in November of 1963. Like the final product, the episode features seven castaways. However, three of the characters went through some drastic changes before the series aired the following year. In addition to Gilligan, the Skipper and the Howells (still played by Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus and Natalie Schafer), the three other characters were a high school teacher and two secretaries.

John Gabriel played the high school teacher known by his students as “The Professor”. The two secretaries were sarcastic Ginger (played by Kit Smythe) and her ditzy co-worker Bunny (Nancy McCarthy). The episode begins with the characters waking up on the beach and then they go exploring the island. We don’t know much about the teacher and the secretaries, but they must not have been good enough for creator Sherwood Schwartz, because they were voted off the island.

The opening and closing songs were different too featuring different lyrics and a calypso beat. And get this – they were written by movie score legend John Williams!