History for 2/14/2014
Birthdays: Joshua Norton aka Joshua Ist Emperor of the
United States 1819, Jack Benny- real name Benjamin Koubeilsky, Frederick
Douglas, Christopher Latham Scholes- inventor of the typewriter, George
Washington Ferris inventor of the Ferris Wheel, Pier Francesco Cavalli, Jimmy
Hoffa, Vic Morrow, Skeezix Wallet (character in Gasoline Alley comic strip),
Gregory Hines, Ignaz Friedman, Thelma Ritter, Carl Andersen, Hugh Downs, Jim
Kelly, Florence Henderson, Meg Tilly,
Alan Parker, Simon Pegg,
Margaret Knight the inventor of the flat bottom paper bag
still in use in supermarkets today.
Happy Valentines Day!
This holiday was originally the Roman fertility festival
LUPERCALIA, when the young men of Rome wearing nothing but olive oil, would run
through the streets waving oak branches over the heads of young girls to
inspire fertility. Then they would all go to the orgy.
Keeping with the
custom of the early Church to sanctify pagan holidays with saints days-. Pope
Gelasius Ist decided to rename the holiday for St.Valentine, who was martyred
by Emperor Claudius II Gothicus in 295 A.D.. The olive oil and the orgy was
out, but tradition has it that Valentine in prison kept communicating with his
flock by writing little notes and tossing them through the bars.. These notes
or "Valentines" fused with the romance notion of the old Roman party
and became a custom for lovers as early as the 14th century.
1907- Golden Books incorporated. One of their artists was
Gustav Tennegren, who would become the
stylist of Walt Disney's Pinnochio.
1927-Alfred Hitchcock’s first suspense film “The Lodger”
opened in London.
1931- Tod Browning's film of the play Dracula, starring
Hungarian actor's union organizer and recreational morphine addict Bela Lugosi,
premiered.
1979- Digital music composer Walter Carlos, who scored the
film A Clockwork Orange, announced he had undergone a sex change and was now
Wendy Carlos.
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