Animation Fun Facts for July 29, 2012 sun

Birthdays: Alex de Tocqueville, Benito Mussolini, Clara Bow, Natalie Wood, Paul Taylor, Sig Romberg, Peter Jennings, Ken Burns is 59, Booth Tarkington, David Warner, the villain in TRON is 71, Steven Dorff is 39, 1890- Near the Chateau de Auvers Vincent Van Gogh went behind a hay bale and shot himself. He managed to miss any thing important but died of infection. 1936 - RCA shows 1st real TV program: dancing, a film on locomotives, a Bonwit Teller fashion show & monologue from the Tobacco Road radio comedy show. In 1948, Shamus Culhane did some of the first animated TV commercials. 1942- Orson Welles leaves Rio De Janiero after RKO fires him and stops production of "It's All True". They also have “the Magnificent Ambersons” re-cut to a more acceptable 90 minutes. One of those let go with Welles Mercury Theatre troupe was animator Oskar Fischinger, who had left Walt Disney and been hired by Welles to create moving graphics for his film. 1948- Former Disney animation assistant Hank Ketcham’s comic strip "Dennis the Menace," 1st appeared. 1962- The film “Dr No” premiered, introducing the world to the suave spy James Bond 007. They considered Cary Grant, David Niven and Patrick McGoohan, James Mason turned them down. So the producers picked young Scots actor Sean Connery. 1987- Ice cream makers Ben & Jerry announce the flavor Cherry Garcia, named for rock singer Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead.