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.