Animation fun facts for Sept 30, 2012 sun

Birthdays: William Wrigley the Chewing Gum king 1868, Truman Capote, Eli Weisel, Lester Maddox, Buddy Rich, David Oistrach, Deborah Kerr, Angie Dickinson is 81, Marylin McCoo, Len Cariou, Johnny Mathis, Rula Lenska, Eric Stolz, Monica Bellucci is 48, Jenna Elfman is 41, Marion Cotillard is 37 1919- The Fleischer Brother's first Out of the Inkwell cartoon featuring Koko the Clown. Koko was rotoscoped- meaning traced from live action like Motion Capture does today. Dave Fleischer put on the clown suit and was filmed by his brother Max. 1928- Walt Disney and his crew recorded the soundtrack and music for the first Mickey Mouse short, Steamboat Willie. 1930- Death Valley Days show premiered on radio, sponsored by Twenty mule Team Borax powder. When it moved to television in the 50’s the host was Ronald Reagan. 1935- George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess premiered at the Colonial Theater in Boston. It flopped originally but after some rewrites it became a major hit. 1952- This Is Cinerama, showcasing the widescreen film process, opened in theaters. 1960-Hanna Barbera's "The Flintstones" debuts. For six seasons in prime time the inhabitants of 301 Cobblestone Lane, Bedrock, was one of the most successful TV series ever. Originally going to be named the Flagstones, then Gladstones, before Flintstones. Ed Benedicts' designs with Alan Reed as the voice of Fred, Jean Van Der Pyl the voice of Wilma, Mel Blanc doing Barney and Bea Benaderet doing Betty. 1982- The TV comedy Cheers premiered. The Beacon Street Bar in Boston where everybody knows your name. It made stars of Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Kirsty Alley and Kelsey Grammar.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 29, 2012 sat

Birthdays: Roman general Pompey Magnus, Miguel de Cervantes, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Rudolph Diesel (inventor of the engine), Enrico Fermi, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Autry, Lech Walesa, Stanley Kramer, Bryant Gumbel, Greer Garson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ian McShane, Anita Ekberg, Andrew Dice-Clay, cartoonist Russ Heath, Tom Sizemore, Emily Lloyd is 42, Silvio Berlusconi, Stephanie Miller is 51. 1930-Ninety year old writer George Bernard Shaw turned down the offer of a Peerage. 1930- First day of shooting on the Tod Browning horror classic Dracula. Hungarian actor and recreational morphine addict Bela Lugosi played the lead role he had already made famous on stage. Lugosi was identified with the character Dracula for the rest of his life and when he died he was buried in the Dracula cape. 1933- The movie A Bill of Divorcement introduced the star Katherine Hepburn. 1959-Hanna Barbera's "Quick Draw McGraw" tv show. Ba ba Louie and El Kabong! 1996- The first Nintendo Game system, NES the first 64 bit game system, debuted in the US. It sold 500,000 the first day.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 28, 2012

Birthdays: Michel Caravaggio, Lil Abner cartoonist Al Kapp, William Paley, Bridgette Bardot is 76, Marcello Mastroianni, Moon Unit Zappa, Ed Sullivan, John Sayles, Arnold Stang, J.T. Walsh, Janeane Garofalo is 47, Mia Sorvino is 44, Hillary Duff, Naomi Watts is 43 1904- A woman is arrested on New York’s Fifth Ave for openly smoking a cigarette. Look how far we’ve come. Today almost anyone now can be arrested for smoking a cigarette! 1928-William Paley, son of a cigar manufacturer, becomes president of CBS broadcasting. He turns it into a corporate broadcasting giant, and threw his support behind developing television and long playing records. 1967- Speed Racer premiered in the U.S..

Animation fun facts for Sept 27, 2012

Birthdays: Thomas Nast, Arthur Penn, Meatloaf, William Conrad, Dick Schapp, Samuel Adams, George Cruikshank, Jayne Meadows, Wilford Brimley, Shaun Cassidy, Greg Morris, Avril Lavigne is 28, Gwynneth Paltrow is 40 1771-Young artist Francisco Goya enters a scholarship competition sponsored by the Academy of Parma. He loses to some obscure artist named Bettino. Judges say about his work: "Crude and ugly colors". 1937- J R R Tolkiens’ The Hobbit first appeared in bookshops. 1938- Bob Hope first sang “Thanks For the Memory” on his NBC radio show. It became a hit his movie appearance in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938.” 1954- The Tonight Show premiered. Steve Allen hosts. 1961- Hanna Barbera's "Top Cat" show premiered. Do you remember the words to the theme song..? "Top Cat, the most effectual- Top Cat, who's intellectual: Close friends get to call him T.C., Providing it's with dignity. Top Cat, the indisputable leader of the gang... He's the Boss he's a pip, he's the championship, He's the most tip-top, Top Cat !" 1977- Bob McKimson, Warner director of countless Foghorn Leghorn shorts, falls dead of heart failure in front of Friz Freleng and Yosemite Sam animator Gerry Chiniquy while having lunch. 1989- The Japanese corporate giant Sony purchased Columbia Pictures.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 26, 2012

Birthdays: George Gershwin, T.S. Elliot, John Chapman (also known as Johnny Appleseed)-1774, Winsor McKay-1869, Theodore Gericault -1791, Olivia Newton-John, Cheryl Tiegs is 64, Marty Robbins, Linda Hamilton, Pope Paul VI, Jack Lalanne, Phillip Bosco, James Cavaziel, Surena Williams, Linda Hamilton is 56. 1941- Max Fleischer's "Superman" cartoon debuts. They were much more expensive that the usual short cartoons- $90,000 1962-The Beverly Hillbillies debuts. The story goes that CBS mogul William Paley disliked farm-humor type shows and this was premiered behind his back while he was on vacation. 1964-The premiere of Gilligan’s Island. The good ship Minnow was named for William Minnow, the FCC Chairman who first called television “A Vast Wasteland”. 1983- Filmation's "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe". 1987- A market research group called Q-5 tried to use a bank of computers to design the ultimate safe, wholesome, politically-correct children's show. They came up with "The Little Clowns of Happytown"-. Of the 26 children's series in syndication it remained dead last in ratings, He-Man, Jem and G.I. Joe on top. The people have spoken. 1990- The Motion Picture Association changed the rating for the naughtiest movies from X to NC-17.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 25, 2012

Birthdays: William Faulkner, Jean Phillipe Rameau, Mark Rothko, Dmitri Shoshtakovich, Sergei Bondarchuk, Phil Rizzutto the Scooter, Bob MacAdoo, Heather Locklear is 51, Scotty Pippin, Christopher Reeve, Mark Hamill, Glen Gould, Barbera Walters is 83, Red Smith, Aldo Ray, Will Smith is 44, Michael Douglas 68 & Catherine Zeta-Jones-43 1888- The beginning of the Sherlock Holmes adventure the Hound of the Baskervilles. 1953- Alfred Hitchcock wrapped filming on his only 3D film, Dial M for Murder. 1965- The Beatles cartoon show premiered. 1974- THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT.- Scientists first warned that increasing use of florocarbons and aerosol sprays was causing global weather changes. Boy, I’m sure glad we took care of all that!. 1984-THE RUBBERHEADS STRIKE- Disneyland workers including the actors who stroll the park in big Mickey and Goofy heads go on strike.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 24, 2012

Birthdays: Roman Emperor Vitellius, Francis Scott Key, Jim Henson, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Raft, Chief Joseph, Sheila MacCrae, Anthony Newley. Phil Hartman, Pedro Almodovar, Jim Henson, Brad Bird is 55. 1934- Frank Thomas’s first day as a Walt Disney Animator. 1938- Bob Clampett's cartoon "Porky in Wackyland" ( Foo!) 1953-UPA's "Unicorn in the Garden" directed by Bill Hurtz, based on the cartoon style and story by James Thurber. 1953- The movie "The Robe" premiered, the first movie in CinemaScope. It's success was part of a wave of 'Sword & Sandal" epics and fostered many imitation wide screen processes- Superama,VistaVision, Dynarama, WarnerVision, TotalScope-etc. There had been earlier experiments with wide screen - Abel Gance's 1925 Napoleon, which used three 35mm images shown simultaneously, and Cimmarron 1930, which was a true wide screen 70mm film starring a very young John Wayne. It was superceded by 1967 by the more advanced Panavision lens. Today in Hollywood we still call a wide screen picture a "Scope" picture. 1960- The "Howdy Doody Time" children's show canceled after thirteen years. The show remains a pivotal memory in the minds of thousands of American baby-boomers who grew up in the fifties. As the last song and the last credits rolled by, just before the cameras switched off, Clarabell the mute clown goes up to the lens and in a haunting voice said; "Goodbye, Kids." 1968- T.V. show "60 Minutes" debuts. Mike Wallace was pared with Harry Reasoner. The show was originally aired Tuesday nights at 10PM and fared poorly in the ratings. When it was moved to Sundays at 7:00PM it became a weekly institution.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 23, 2012

Birthdays: Euripides-484BC, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Mickey Rooney is 92, Julio Iglesias, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Nevelson, Jason Alexander is 53, Mary Kay Place, Harry Connick Jr,Bruce Springsteen is 63 1939- At the World’s Fair in New York a time capsule was buried not to be opened until the year 6939. It contains a Bible, a mail order catalog and newsreels of President Franklin Roosevelt. 1962-FIFTY YEARS AGO- H&B's show The Jetsons' premiered. It was the first ABC show to be presented in color. Jane! Stop this Crazy Thing! Jane! 1964- Marc Chagalls’ paintings on the ceiling of the Paris Opera House unveiled. 1969- the film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" premiered. Written by William Goldman and directed by George Roy Hill. It made fortunes for stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who later started and independent film festival called Sundance. 1984-Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Frank Wells met the Disney Animation Dept. and are pitched storyboards for the film Basil of Baker Street, later called the Great Mouse Detective. Eisner dictates memos to start the television animation division. Up to now their thinking had been to dismantle the animation department and earn income from the licensees of the existing library. Roy Disney was instrumental in insisting the animation division remain.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 22, 2012

Birthdays: Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins, Mafioso Joe Valachi, Michael Farraday, Meryl Streep is 63, John Houseman, Joanie Jett, Erich Von Stronheim, Tom Lasorda is 85, Paul Muni, Debbie Boone, Scott Baio. 1925- Lon Chaney’s horror classic film the Phantom of the Opera premiered. 1963- Davy Crockett at the Alamo with Fess Parker, premiered on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color TV show. 1976- TV show Charlie’s Angels premiered. It made a star out of Farrah Fawcett. 1979-Hanna Barbera's Super Globetrotter's Show, featuring Multi-Man, Sphere Man, Gizmo-Man,Spaghetti-Man and Fluid-Man. 1996- Seymour Cray, genius engineer who designed the most powerful supercomputers for the Control Data Corporation and Cray Computers, was killed in a car accident. He was 71.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 21, 2012

CHUCK JONES WOULD BE 100 TODAY! Happy Chuck Day! Birthdays: Gustav Holst, H.G. Wells, Stephen King, Rob Morrow, Larry Hagman, Ricky Lake, Fanny Flagg, Ethan Coen of the Coen Brothers is 55, Leonard Cohen not one of the Coen Brothers, Faith Hill, Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicole Richie is 31, Bill Murray is 62 1897- The famous column by Frank Church in Joseph Pulitzer's New York World first appeared with the answer to 8 year old Virginia O’Hanlon’s question : " ...and yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus..." 1917-The Gulf Between, the first film shot in Technicolor. 1945- Disney short "Hockey Homicide" the first Sport-Goofy directed by Jack Kinney. 1948- the first Texaco Star Theater television show featuring a minor nightclub comedian named Milton Berle. Berle’s antics make him a major star and with Arthur Godfrey’s show help grow television from a scientific curiosity to the entertainment every household had to have. For ten years the U.S. public never missed Uncle Miltie on TV. 1957- The Perry Mason tv show with Raymond Burr premiered. 1970- 20 year old Bill Murray was arrested at O’Hare Airport for flying with a pound of pot. Kicked out of college, he soon found a home at Chicago’s Second City Improv. 1985- “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straights hit #1 in the Billboard charts. Writer Mark Knopfler was inspired by a workman in an electronics store making fun of celebrities on MTV and wrote the conversation down. The CG animation done by London company Mainframe for the video was also groundbreaking.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 20, 2012

Birthdays: Alexander the Great -356 BC, Upton Sinclair, Jelly Roll Morton, Fernando Rey, Ann Meara,Jonathan Hardy, Fran Drescher, Sophia Loren is 78 1947 Tex Avery's MGM cartoon Slap Happy Lion. 1952- CBS premiered the Jackie Gleason Show- The Honeymooners". 2001- Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away released in the USA.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 19, 2012

Birthdays: Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Saladin, "Momma" Cass Elliot, Looney tunes director Frank Tashlin, Dr. Ferry Porsche- inventor of the Porsche race car, Twiggy– real name Leslie Hornby, William Golding author of The Lord of the Flies,Adam West is 84, Frances Farmer, David McCallum, Jeremy Irons is 64 the voice of Scar in The Lion King, Jimmy Fallon is 38. 1931- The Marx Brothers comedy “ Monkey Business” premiered. 1942- Chuck Jones cartoon The Dover Boys, released. 1945- Little Shirley Temple, now all grown up, married actor John Agar, who she met on the set of John Ford's film Fort Apache. The RKO studio turned the marriage into a media circus by inviting 12,000 people. John Ford teased Agar mercilessly, calling him Mr. Temple. John and Shirley divorced within two years. Shirley Temple did a few more small roles, remarried and became a diplomat and John Agar went on to star in a number of sci-fi flicks like 'Tarantula", The Brain from Planet Aurous" and built his own theme dinosaur park by an Arkansas freeway "John Agar's House of Kong'.

UpComing Events.

Today the Bristol Animation Festival in UK begins.Sept 18-23. Friday at 8:00PM, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale will be a special celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of legendary animator Chuck Jones. Linda Jones and a number of other luminaries will present a tribute. www.alextheatre.org Saturday and Sunday at the Marriott in Torrance is the annual POWERCON/THUNDERCON for those who loved the 80's cartoons like HeMan, She Ra and ThunderCats. A number of the original artists will be present. www.thepower-con.com Sat, Sept 22nd 10am - 6pm & Sun, Sept 23rd 10am - 5pm Marriott South Bay in Torrance, CA

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 18, 2012

Birthdays: Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajan 53AD, Dr Samuel Johnson, Frankie Avalon, Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Rossano Brazzi, Debbie Fields founder of Mrs. Field's Cookies, Jada Pinkett-Smith, James Gandolfini is 52, June Foray the voice of Rocky, Natasha and Witchy Hazel is 95! 1917-Writer Aldous Huxley got a job teaching at Eton. One of his students was Eric Blair, who would write under the name George Orwell. 1927-The Columbia Broadcasting System-CBS broadcast its first program, an opera called the King’s Henchman. 1932-Frustrated movie actress Peggy Enwhistle jumped off the Hollywood Sign. In case you are curious she jumped off the “H”. She also didn’t hit the ground immediately but hit a cactus patch, dying slowly later in great pain. Ironically in her mail that day was a script and a job offer. The role was of a woman who commits suicide. 1965- I Dream of Genie debuted on television. Network Standards & Practices said Barbara Eden could wear the harem outfit so long as her belly-button didn’t show. At first the reviews were not good. Variety said: “The only star of this show is Barbera Edens cleavage.” 1987- Disneys TV show Ducktails premiered.

Ottawa Festival.

Congratulations to all those about the attend the Ottawa Animation Festival. Have a great time.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 17, 2012 mon

Birthdays: Hank Williams, Spiro Agnew, Ken Kesey, Jerry Colonna, Roddy MacDowell, George Blanda, Wendy Carlos Williams, Elvira- real name Cassandra Peterson, Anne Bancroft, cartoonist Jeff MacNelly, John Ritter, Sir Frederick Ashton, Rita Rudner, animator Tim Walker, Baz Luhrmann is 50 1932- Mickey Mouse short The Whoopee Party, premiered. 1965- If you ever wondered what could be funny about being held in a Nazi prison camp you could watch the TV sitcom HOGANS HEROES, which debuted this day. Nazi Commandant Colonel Klink was acted by Werner Klemperer, whose father was the famous orchestra conductor Otto Klemperer who had to flee Germany because they were Jewish. Sergeant Schulz and the Frenchman LeBeau were also played by actors who survived the Holocaust- John Banner and Robert Clary. 1971- RCA gave up and pulled out of the retail computer market. 1972- Filmation's The Groovie Ghoulies" debuts.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 16, 2012 Sun

Birthdays: J.C.Penny (James Cash Penny), B.B. King is 87 (originally Rydell King, when a DJ in Memphis his name was Beale St. Blues Boy or B.B.King, Anne Francis, Linda Darnel, Nadia Boulanger, Alan Funt, George Chakiris, Peter Falk, Ed Begley Jr, Jennifer Tilly, Molly Shannon, Marvin Middlemark 1919-the inventor of the rabbit ears TV antenna), Mickey Rourke is 60, Lauren Bacall is 88 1949-Chuck Jones "Fast and Furrious" the First Road Runner-Coyote cartoon. 1964- The Peter Potamus Show debuted. 1969- President Nixon appears on the TV comedy "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and says:" Sock it to Me?"

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 15, 2012 Sat

Birthdays: James Fennimore Cooper, Russian animator Yuri Noorstein, Oliver Stone, Jean Renoir (film director and son of painter August Renoir), Alexander Korda, Robert Benchley, Fay Wray, Tommy Lee Jones is 66, Prince Harry, the second son of Charles and Di is 28 1930- The first Blondie comic strip. 1954- The day of shooting on the film the Seven Year Itch. Marilyn Monroe in her little white dress stood over the subway grate and let the breeze blow her dress up, much to the annoyance of her husband, baseball star Joe Dimaggio. Her white halter outfit was thereafter known as a Marilyn Dress. 1965- "Green Acres" t.v. show debuts. Arnold Ziffle the pig gains national prominence. 1973- Star Trek animated series by Filmation premiered. This was the first time Kirk, Spock, Sulu and Uhura were untied again with a Roddenberry script since the original series was canceled in 1967.

Aniamtion Fun Facts for Sept 14, 2012 Fri.

Birthdays: Lao Tzu -604 b.c., Caliph Al Mansur -the founder of Bagdhad-711 A.D., Dr. Ivan Pavlov, Charles Dana Gibson, Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood, Clayton Moore TV’s Lone Ranger, Luigi Cherubini, Hollywood Producer Hal Wallis, Joey Heatherton, Bowser from Sha-Na-Na., Walter Koenig-Star Trek’s Mr. Chekov, Nicole Williamson, Sam Neill is 65 1957- TV show “Have Gun Will Travel” with Richard Boone as Paladin, premiered. The head writer of this show was Gene Roddenberry, who would later create Star Trek. 1968-Filmation's "the Archies" Show "Sugar...ah, honey honey...." 1978- The Mork & Mindy Show with a young Robin Williams. “Na-Nuu, Na-Nuu.” 1985- Disney's TV show "Gummi Bears" 1993- Former Simpson’s writer Conan O’Brien takes over David Letterman’s old spot at the Late Show. 2002 Millenium Actress, by Satoshi Kon premiered.

AnimationFun Facts for Sept 13, 2012

Birthdays: Gen"BlackJack" Pershing, Clara Schumann, Milton Hershey, Arnold Schoenburg, Yma Sumac ( Star of Brazilian jazz and crossword puzzles- real name Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chavarri del Castillo, from Ichocán, Peru. Descendent of Inca royalty), Jacqueline Bissett is 68, Frank Marshal, Laura Secord, Jesse L. Lasky, Richard Kiel – Jaws in the James Bond movies, Maurice Jarre, Roald Dahl, Don Bluth is 75, Fred Silverman “The Man with the Golden Gut.” Tyler Perry is 43. 1969-Hanna Barbera's "Scooby-Doo,where are you?" and "Dastardly and Mutley and their Flying Machines" premiered. 1979- Animator Don Bluth quits Walt Disney Studios taking a third of the top artists with him. Often controversial, Bluth becomes Disney's most serious rival since Max Fleischer and helps sparked the animation renaissance of the 1990s. A whole new group of young talent, "bluthies", exert great influence throughout the animation business.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 12, 2012 weds

Birthdays: H.L. Mencken, Maurice Chevalier, Ben Blue, Jesse Owens, Barry White, Alfred A. Knopf, Ian Holm, Hans Zimmer, Rachael Ward, Michael Odaatje-author of The English Patient, Margaret Hamilton -"I'm mellllttinnng,,oooohh.." Joe Pantoliano 1940- In southern France near Montignac a pet dog fell through a crack in the ground into an underground chamber. When four boys follow in to retrieve the dog they discover the Lascaux Caves Ice-Age paintings, where, a Stone Age man created some of the earliest artwork. 1941-THE WALT DISNEY STRIKE ENDS- Everyone goes back to work after the NLRB, with a lot of behind the scenes pressure from the Bank of America, settled the dispute. Walt Disney had to recognize the cartoonists guild, give screen credits, double the salaries of low paid workers retroactive to May 29th and re-hire animator Art Babbitt. Disney immediately got on a train to Washington to try and convince the feds to reverse the decision or get an injunction in court. He failed. Ironically within a few months the war would break out and artists who had been bitter foes would be compelled to work side by side in the U.S. Army Picture Unit. 1953- THE RED REDHEAD-? McCarthy investigators accuse top t.v. star Lucille Ball of being a communist. She and husband Desi Arnez immediately went and testified that Lucy’s grandfather was an old Socialist who routinely enrolled all his grandkids in the Communist Party as a birthday present. America wouldn’t stand to see their favorite t.v. family go down, so the matter quickly blew over. Years later Desi would condescendingly joke:" Lucy didn’t even know who the mayor of L.A. was. The only thing that was red about Lucy was her hair, and even that wasn’t real !" 1965- The Beatles release 'Yesterday'. 1966-"Gee Mr. French..." Family Affair premiered on TV. 1966- The Monkees TV show premiered. Two young television executives Bert Schneider and Sam Rafaelson convince their network to make "A Hard Day's Night" for American television. Of the four kids in the make-believe band Mike Nesmith was the only real musician. Micky Dolenz had to be taught how to play the drums the first day of shooting. Insiders nicknamed them "The Pre-Fab Four". Still, the show was a major hit, won Emmy Awards and all their albums went gold. The producers took that success and used it to finance the hit film "Easy Rider". Mike Nesmith later inherited a fortune from his mom developing the Liquid Paper Company, and used his fortune to help start MTV. 1992- Anthony Perkins, the star of Hitchcock’s Psycho, died of HIV/AIDS. His widow, Berry Berensen the sister of actress Marisa Berensen, died in one of the hijacked airliners that plunged into the World Trade Center on 9-11. 2003- Country-western singer Johnny Cash died of diabetes at 71. 2005- Disneyland Hong Kong opened.

Animation Fun Facts for 9-11 Tues.

Birthdays- Pinto Colvig the voice of Goofy, and Gabby in Guliver's Travels. 1960 Terrytoons' Deputy Dawg TV Show. 1966- Tezukas' Kimba the WHite Lion premiered on US tv. 1971-The Jackson Five cartoon show. 1987- Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer 2001- In the chaos and tragedy of the 9-11 World Trade Center attacks, one odd detail was that Seth McFarlane (Family Guy, TED) was scheduled to be on UNited Flight 11, that hit the North Tower that fateful morning. But he had partied to hard in his native Boston, and so missed the flight.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 10, 2012 Mon

Birthdays: Fae Wray, Ian Fleming, Raymond Scott (composer of songs Carl Stalling loved to score into Bugs Bunny cartoons) , Margaret Trudeau, Amy Irving, Jose Feliciano, Karl Lagerfield, Chris Columbus, Charles Simonyi- who designed Microsoft Word, Colin Firth is 52 1963- The First New York Film Festival opened with Luis Bunuel’s The Exterminating Angel,. 1966- H& B's Frankenstein Jr. and the Impossible's debut. 1968- Hanna Barbera's Space Ghost and Dino Boy' debut. 1982- Bret Iwan, the modern voice of Mickey Mouse, born.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept. 9,2012

Birthdays: Antonio Frescobaldi, Captain William Bligh,Cliff Robertson, Angela Cartwright, Alf Landon, Dee Dee Sharpe who sang the 60's R&B hit the Mashed Potato, Michael Keaton, Otis Redding, Anita Ekberg, Hugh Grant is 52, Topol, Colonel Lyman Sanders the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, James Hilton-writer who created the name for paradise- Shangri-La, in his novel Lost Horizons. Adam Sandler is 46 1908- THE PATENTS TRUST- Thomas Edison, Charles Pathe and Leon Gaumont form the Motion Picture Patents Group. Called the "Trust", their attempt to monopolize movie production and strangle off the independents had a lot to do with the early filmmakers exodus to Los Angeles. Otherwise the film capitol of the world would have been Ft. Lee, New Jersey. The only positive result of the trust was they enforced a regular industry standard for film stock of 35 mm running at 24 frames per second. It seems the Mitchell Camera Company was developing a motorized motion picture camera to replace the hand crank variety but they needed an official speed to set it at. In a contentious meeting of the Trust held at the Waldorf Astoria no one could settle on a single speed. Finally the compromise was made to make it the number of delegates in the room- 24. 1926 – The National Broadcasting Company or NBC created by Radio Corporation of America RCA. Under the direction of David Sarnoff it became the powerhouse network of broadcasting, recording and later television. 1939- The first Andy Panda cartoon. 1939- The first day of shooting on Charlie Chaplin’s film the Great Dictator. The first day was the Ghetto street scene. One of his distributors grumbled “ By the time Chaplin finishes his movie, people won’t even remember who Hitler ever was.” 1945 - 1st bug in a computer program discovered by Naval Commander Grace Hopper. A moth was removed with tweezers from a relay & taped into the log. Since then any computer glitch was nicknamed "a bug". 1950 - 1st use of TV laugh track invented by Hank McCune. 1951 - 1st broadcast of the soap opera" Love of Life " on CBS-TV 1956- Elvis Presley appeared on nationwide television on the Ed Sullivan Show. Sullivan himself had vowed never to have the kid on his show but caved in to network pressure. He stayed home that first time, and actor Charles Laughton was the substitute host. CBS Network censors thought the gyrations of Elvis' pelvis so obscene that in many markets they blacked out the lower portion of the screen so he was covered the waist down. 1967- Jay Ward’s show George of the Jungle premiered, with Super Chicken and Tom Slick sequences.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept. 8, 2012

Birthdays: Richard the LionHearted, Michel Caravaggio, Antonin Dvorak, Patsy Cline, Jimmy Rogers the Singing Brakeman, Peter Sellars, Sid Caesar is 90, Freddy Mercury, Lyndon LaRouche, Heather Thomas, David Arquette is 41, Jonathan Taylor-Thomas, Pink is 33, Martin Freeman is 41 1935-A vocal group called "4 Joes from Hoboken" get their first break on Major Bo's radio show. One of the singers is a young man named Frank Sinatra. 1939- British film director Alfred Hitchcock began shooting his first Hollywood picture- Rebecca, for David Selznick. 1954- Akira Kurosawa’s film The Seven Samurai premiered at the Venice Film Festival. 1965 - Dorothy Danridge, beautiful black actress (Island in the Sun), dies at 41 in Hollywood of sleeping pills overdose. 1966- T.V.'s STAR TREK debuts. That season it ranked 52nd in the Neilsen ratings, behind #1 "Iron Horse" starring Rory Calhoun and "Mr. Terrific". It was canceled after two seasons but a letter writing campaign won it a third season. Star Trek then found a new life in syndication. The cult fan base called Trekkies kept the memory of the show alive for ten years until Paramount felt compelled to revive to cash in on the Star Wars craze. First as an animated series and then from 1979 a series of feature films, then spin-offs. Frank Sinatra once said: "The only good thing to come out of the Nineteen Sixties was Star Trek." 1997- Bill Plympton's film I Married a Strange Person, premiered.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 7, 2012

Birthdays: Grandma Moses, Elia Kazan, Richard Roundtree, Sinclair Lewis, Anthony Quayle. Peter Lawford,Susan Blakely, Shannon Elizabeth, Julie Kavner the voice of Marge Simpson. Disney animator Fred Moore 1963- Mushi productions cartoon series."Tetsuan Atomo" debuts in the U.S as AstroBoy. 1978 - Keith Moon, rock drummer of the Who, died of a drug overdose at 31. He actually overdosed the drug he was prescribed to treat his alcohol and drug abuse. In one night he took 22 tabs of choloromethiazole edysilate. He was staying in the very same London apartment #123 Curzon Place, was the one that Mama Cass Elliot died in four years earlier. 1984-The Walt Disney Board formally fired Walt’s son-in-law CEO Ron Miller. 1996- Rap artist and actor Tupac Shakur was shot to death gangland style in Las Vegas Nevada. He was standing up in the open roof of a BMW 750 sedan talking to some girls when a Cadillac pulled along side and opened fire. In 2002 the LA Times concluded and investigation that rapper Biggie Smalls or Notorious B.I.G. hired and killer and provided the gun. Notorious B.I.G. was himself shot to death shortly after. 1998- Google started.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 6, 2012

Birthdays: Marquis De Lafayette ,Joseph Kennedy Sr., Felix Salten- the author of Bambi, Buddy Holly, Jane Curtin, Sergio Aragones, Swoozie Kurtz, Jo Ann Worley, Rosie Perez, Billy Rose, Ernest Tubb, Justin Whalin 1958- The Spunky and Tadpole show debuts! 1968- Many momentous events occurred in 1968: assassinations, riots, the Vietnamese Tet offensive, the Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, Easy Rider, 2001 a Space Odyssey Sergeant Pepper. But that’s nothing compared to the television premiere of H.R. PUNFNSTUFF this day! Witchipoo, Orson and the Vroom Broom. Whether or not Sid and Marty Kroffts strange kiddie show was a code for drug use -HR meaning Hand-Rolled Puffing Stuff, is a matter for scholastic conjecture. 1969- DePatie-Freleng's the Pink Panther TV Show premiered. 1971-Happy Birthday Pampers! Scientists at Proctor & Gamble invent the disposable diaper.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 5, 2012

Sept. 5th, 1912. Frank Thomas would have been 100 today! Happy Birthday to one of the greatest animators who ever lived. Bambi, Baloo, Captain Hook. A man for whom the greatest achievement he cherished was to be called a Disney Animator. And to wish us that same success. All of us who knew him as a friend, knew that we were given a rare gift that we can all appreciate to this day. Happy Birthday Frank! Birthdays: Louis XIV The Sun King, Jesse James, Cardinal Richelieu, Johann Christian Bach, Jacopo Meyerbeer, John Cage, Quentin de la Tour, Darryl F. Zanuck, Jack Valenti, Bob Newhart is 83, George Lazenby, Raquel Welch is 72, Kathy Guisewhite, Dweezil Zappa, Werner Herzog is 72, Michael Keaton is 61, Rose McGowan is 39 1957- Jacques Kerouac’s ode to the beat life ON THE ROAD, first published. Kerouac wrote it in a white heat using one large roll of white paper stuffed into his typewriter instead of individual sheets. When the editor got the novel it had no paragraph breaks of chapter breaks. Another young writer of the time, Truman Capote, was unimpressed. “That’s not writing, it’s typing.” 1992- Warner Bros Batman the Animated series, designed by Bruce Timm, premiered. 1994-Patrick McDonnell started drawing the comic strip MUTTS.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 4, 2012 Tues.

Birthdays: Darius Mihlaud, Anton Bruckner, Chateaubriand, Craig Claiborne, Dick York, Richard Wright, Mitzi Gaynor, Computer AI pioneer John McCarthy who invented the computer language LISP, Damon Wayans is 52, Beyonce’ Knowles is 31 1888-George Eastman patents the roll film camera. The word "Kodak" is supposedly the sound the shutter made. Another story on the origin of the word was that George wanted a word pronounced the same in all known dialects. So after some research (Rochester lore has it that he did all of this himself) he concluded that only k and x qualified as sounds uttered the same way in all languages. Thus Eastman Kodak. 1893- Writer and illustrator Beatrix Potter sent a letter to a sick child: " I don't know what to write you, so I shall tell you the story of four little rabbits. Their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter." The Peter Cottontail stories born. 1934- Young filmmaker Leni Reifenstahl was contracted by the German Propaganda Ministry to film the 1934 Nazis Party Congress to be held in Nuremburg. While they were expecting a routine documentary, Reifenstahl instead created the film The Triumph of the Will, who’s darkly hypnotic images made film history. 1940- The Columbia Broadcast Service or CBS network started up their first television station. 1976- College party boy George W. Bush was busted for drunk-driving close to his family home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He later applied for a brand new Texas State driver’s license, which came with a clean record with no report of the arrest. As President delivering the commencement at Harvard in 2002, he joked:” In the motorcade, seeing all those police cars behind me with their lights flashing… kinda brings me back to my college days…” 1985- Australian press baron Rupert Murdoch became a U.S. citizen so he could build the Fox television and movie networks. US regulations forbade foreign ownership of broadcasting stations so Rupert didn’t fuss about what country he was a citizen of. 1993- Herb Villechaise, the little person who began the show Fantasy Island with the announcement: ”Da PLANE! Da PLANE!’ committed suicide with a shotgun. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- …”

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 3, 2012

Birthdays: Alan Ladd, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche, Irene Papas, Memphis Slim, Eddie Brat Stanky, Mort Walker creator of Beetle Bailey, Disney Nine Old Man Eric Larson, Mitzi Gaynor, Eileen Brennan, Valerie Perrine is 69, Charlie Sheen is 47 1833- The New York Sun began publication, the first American mass circulation newspaper. 1930- The first issue of the Hollywood Reporter. 1939- British Prime Minister Chamberlain's war announcement with Germany interrupts a Disney Cartoon "Mickey's Gala Premiere" showing on the nascent BBC television service. Television shuts down for the duration. 1946- After the War, the BBC television service resumes and an announcer says:" Well now, where were we?" They continue the Mickey cartoon from where it was interrupted in 1939. World War Two probably held back for a decade the development of television. 1950- Mort Walker's "Beetle Bailey" comic strip first appeared. 1960- The Hanna-Barbera show 'Lippy the Lion and Hardy-Harr-Harr" premiered.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 2, 2012 sun

Birthdays: The last monarch of Hawaii Queen Liliuokalani, Cleveland Amory, Alfred Spaulding 1850, founder of Spaulding sports equipment, Martha Mitchell, Mark Harmon is 61, Marge Champion the model for Snow White is 93, Norm Ferguson the animator of Pluto, Selma Hayek is 46, Keanu Reeves is 48 1924- Harold Lloyd’s comedy short "Why Worry?" released. 1973- J.R.R. Tolkein died at age 81. He once said of his trilogy The Lord of the Rings- I should have written more.

Animation Fun Facts Sept. 1, 2012 Sat.

Birthdays: Joachim Pachebel, Gentleman Jim Corbet,Edgar Rice Burroughs, Jack Hawkins, Leonard Slatkin, Yvonne DeCarlo, Gloria Estefan, Tex Avery animator Mike Lah, Richard Farnsworth, Lily Tomlin is 73 1852-The Hot Dog or Frankfurter was invented by a group of butchers in Frankfurt, Germany. It didn't catch on in the U.S until it was served at the opening the Coney Island Exhibition in 1894, where it was billed as a Vienna Sausage or Red Hots. Dog was one newspaper's speculation upon the origins of the meat. It was first served at a baseball game in 1910. 1919- Pat Sullivan's 'Feline Follies" cartoon staring Felix the Cat. Felix is the first true animated star, not depended on a previous newspaper comic strip. His body prototype, a black peanut shape with four fingers, will be the standard for years to come and copied for characters like Oswald and Mickey Mouse. By 1926 he was the most popular star in Hollywood after Chaplin and Valentino. Lindbergh had a Felix doll in his plane and it has been speculated that Groucho Marx copied his famous strut. The first television image broadcast by scientists in 1926 was of a Felix doll. 1928- Paul Terry premiered his sound cartoon RCA Photophone system for a short called "Dinner Time". Young studio head Walt Disney came by train out from Los Angeles to see it. He telephoned his studio back in L.A." My Gosh, Terrible! A Lot of Racket and Nothing Else!" He said they could continue to complete their first sound cartoon "Steamboat Willie". 1939- FIRST CANNES FILM FESTIVAL- The premiere film event in Europe had been the Venice Film Festival but western democracies tired of the bias of the judges for Fascist and Nazi films. For example Walt Disney was annoyed his Snow White, the box office and critical champ of 1938, lost out to Leni Reifenstahl's Olympia. So the little French Riviera city was chosen as the site for a new festival. Two days after opening World War Two was declared and the festival shut down until 1946. 1939 – The Physical Review published the1st paper on a celestial phenomena called "black holes". 1955- Phillip Loeb was a TV star, playing Papa on the early sitcom The Goldbergs on radio and television. But the pamphlet Red Channels denounced him as a Communist. He was blacklisted and the show dropped by CBS and NBC. This day Loeb checked into the Hotel Taft and swallowed a bottle full of sleeping pills..