Animation Fun Facts for May 1, 2013

Birthdays: Mary Harris a.k.a. Mother Jones, Marshal Vauban 1633, Benjamin Latrobe, Calamity Jane, Joseph Addison, Kate Smith, Jack Paar, Joseph Heller, Rita Coolidge, Steve Cauthen, Judy Collins, Glen Ford, Ray Parker Jr., Maurice Noble, Russian animator Fyodor Khytruk, Louis Nye, John Woo, Wes Anderson is 44, Joanna Lumley is 67, Disney Animator Eric Goldberg is 58 1902- Richard Outcault's comic strip Buster Brown and Tige first appeared. Outcault, the creator of the first hit cartoon the Yellow Kid was so famous that as part of his deal to do this strip he negotiated the first back-end deal for a percentage of the merchandise sales. 1939- The first Batman comics created by Bob Kane appear on newsstands. 1941- Orson Welles film "Citizen Kane" debuted at the Paramount theater (the El Capitan) in Hollywood. At the last minute William Randolph Hearst's friend Louis B. Mayer tried to buy and destroy every print of the film and the Hearst press went crazy attacking it. Hearst spokesperson Louella Parsons threatened "A Beautiful Lawsuit" if the film was not pulled. Despite winning some Oscars the film didn't do well in it's initial release, but it remains one of the greatest films of all time. Welles said later:" The problem I've always had is my movies become classics ten years later." 1967- Elvis Presley marries Priscilla Beaulieu at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas. 1989- Walt Disney Feature Animation in Orlando Florida opens. It closed in 2006. 1993- The Florida Animation Union Local 843 chartered. 1997- Bebe, the dolphin who played Flipper on the television show, died at age 40.