Animation Fun Facts for Aug 24, 2012 fri.

Birthdays: Joshua Lionel Cowan the inventor of Lionel toy electric trains, Kenny Baker-C3PO in Star Wars, Stephen Fry is 55, Durward Kirby- 1960s T.V. announcer, Duke Kahanamoku-1890- Olympic medalist who popularized the Hawaiian sport of Surfing. Dave Chappelle is 39, Steve Guttenberg is 54, Kirk Wise, co-director of Beauty and the Beast. 410AD Rome falls to the barbarians. 1814- British troops burn the White House. 1942- Walt Disney’s film Saludos Amigos received it’s world premiere in Rio De Janiero. 1951- Akira Kurosawa’s film Rashomon premiered at the Venice International Film Festival. The film won the Grand Prize and first showed the world that Japanese Cinema was a new force in the film world. 1973- One month after Bruce Lee’s death his last film Enter The Dragon opened in the US to wild acclaim. It renewed interest in the late star and spawned the Chinese Martial Arts craze in the US. 1981- IBM introduces the Personal Computer, or the PC. 1997- According to the 1984 James Cameron film The Terminator this was the day the Skynet computer system became self aware, and began the War of the Day of Judgement.