Animation Fun Facts for May 15, 2013

Birthdays: Lyman Frank Baum, Claudio Monteverdi, Richard Avedon, James Mason, Joseph Cotten, George Brett, Jasper Johns, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jean Renoir, Richard Daley Sr., Trini Lopez, Charles Lamont, director of Abbott & Costello Go to Mars, country singer Eddy Arnold, Chaz Palmintieri is 60, Lainie Kazan is 72, Disney artist Joe Grant 1702- Charles Perrault died. Perrault 1628-1703 was a retired minister to French King Louis XIV, who wrote stories for children under the title Mother Goose. He created Little Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and Puss in Boots. 1863- Edouard Manet first displayed his Dejeuner sur l’Herbe at the Salon des Refuses in Paris. The painting is of two modern clothed men having a picnic with two nude women by a river bank. The women aren’t mythical goddesses or muses but just naked ladies. This shocked Paris society and Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugene called it “Immodest and obscene”. It’s revolutionary simple subject matter heralded the rise of Impressionism. 1942- The U.S. initiated a program of wartime gas rationing. Slogans like “Is this Trip Really Necessary?” and a system of ratings vehicles with A,B & C cards pop up in a lot of gas stations for the duration. C meant a war-essential worker and you went to the head of the line to get gas. A cards was the lowest status. Lots of Looney tune jokes revolve around this condition. 1963 - Peter, Paul & Mary win their 1st Grammy for “ If I Had a Hammer”. 1967- Paul McCartney first met his first wife Linda Eastman. 1968 - Paul McCartney & John Lennon appear on the Johnny Carson Show to promote Apple records, Joe Garagiola is substitute host.