23 years ago today, Disney continued its renaissance with the release of “Aladdin,” and Abu, Aladdin, Jasmine, the magic carpet, and the Genie quickly found their way into Disney fans” hearts.
Part of an era for the House of Mouse that”s known as the Disney Renaissance, the movie that showed us a whole new world was released between 1991″s “Beauty and the Beast” and 1994″s “The Lion King.”
It was the film that started the trend that continues to this day: Celebrities dominating voice acting in animated films. Before the late Robin Williams lent his winning energy to the Genie, voice acting was almost exclusively in the realm of people specifically trained to provide voices for animated characters.
Though our favorite street rat-turned-prince got his name in the title, the Genie is the character audiences really responded to, and that continues today: He”s the most memorable part of the Disney Parks” “Aladdin” stage show with jokes that are constantly getting ultra-current updates, and he”ll have his own movie soon: Among the many in-the-works live-action updates to Disney properties is the prequel “Genies,” which will reveal how Aladdin”s Genie ended up enslaved in the lamp.
Other notable November 25 happenings in pop culture history:
• 1948: Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was first shown on television.
• 1959: The musical “Once Upon a Mattress” made its Broadway debut, having opened off-Broadway earlier in the year.
• 1960: The final radio broadcast of “Amos 'n' Andy” aired.
• 1972: Rolling Stones began recording their album “Goat Head Soup” in Dynamic Sound Studios in Kingston, Jamaica.
• 1987: “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and “3 Men and a Baby” both opened in theaters.
• 1992: “The Bodyguard,” starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, was released.
• 1997: 2Pac album “R U Still Down? (Remember Me)” was released posthumously.
• 1998: Pixar”s second feature film, “A Bug”s Life,” opened in theaters across the U.S.
Birthdays: “Anchorman” actress Christina Applegate (44), “Revolution” actor Billy Burke (49), “Arrow” actress Katie Cassidy (30), singer-songwriter Amy Grant (55), “Suicide Squad” actor Joel Kinnaman (36), “Ever After” actor Dougray Scott (50), “Ferris Bueller”s Day Off” actor Ben Stein (71), “Dancing with the Stars” judge Bruno Tonioli (60)