Animation Fun Facts for Sept 30, 2015

Birthdays: William Wrigley the Chewing Gum king 1868, Truman Capote, Eli Weisel, Lester Maddox, Buddy Rich, David Oistrach, Deborah Kerr, Angie Dickinson is 85, Marylin McCoo, Len Cariou, Johnny Mathis, Rula Lenska, Eric Stolz, Monica Bellucci is 51, Jenna Elfman is 44, Marion Cotillard is 40, Al Leong (Al KaBong) is 62


1791- Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflotte, The Magic Flute" premiered at Emanuel Schiknader's theater in Vienna. 

1868- Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women first published in installments.

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 final 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.

1955-James Dean (24) was killed when his Porsche 550 Spyder crashed head on into a pickup truck driven by college student Donald Turnipseed on Highway 41 outside of Paso Robles, California. Dean was driving 85 mph at dusk without his headlights on, and two hours earlier had been given a ticket for speeding. Until now the American public had only seen him in one movie- "East of Eden" and some TV work. Giant and Rebel Without a Cause had yet to be released, yet the legend endures to this day. In an errie coincidence, Dean filmed a public service announcement promoting automobile safety. His last lines were:” Remember, the life you save may be mine!”

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, 2015

Birthdays: Roman general Pompey Magnus, Miguel de Cervantes, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Rudolph Diesel (inventor of the engine), Enrico Fermi, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Autrey, 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 45, Silvio Berlusconi, Stephanie Miller is 54.

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.

1953- The television show “Make Room for Daddy” premiered, making a star out of big nosed nightclub entertainer Danny Thomas. The Lebanese Thomas had tried to break into films with no luck.  He burst into tears after Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn suggested he get a nose job and forget about it. Danny Thomas at one time was the richest man in Beverly Hills.

1959- Hanna Barbera's "Quick Draw McGraw" TV show. Baba Louie and El Kabong!

1969- The TV series Love American Style premiered.

1996- The first Nintendo 64 bit game system, The NES, debuted in the US. It sold 500,000 the first day.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 28, 2015

 Birthdays: Michel Caravaggio, Georges Clemenceau, Al Kapp, William Paley, Max Schmelling, Bridgette Bardot is 81, Frederic Engels, Marcello Mastroianni, Moon Unit Zappa, Ed Sullivan, Sylvia Kristel, John Sayles, Arnold Stang, J.T. Walsh, Seymour Cray, Janeane Garofalo is 51, Mira Sorvino is 48, Hillary Duff, Naomi Watts is 47

1928-For his birthday William Paley, son of a cigar manufacturer, was given control of a little radio company called Columbia broadcasting. He turns CBS into a corporate broadcasting giant, and threw his support behind developing television and long playing records.

1961- Richard Chamberlain made a name for himself by playing the handsome Dr. Kildare on TV, Raymond Massey co-starred.

1961-The Hazel TV show with Shirley Booth premiered.

1967- Speed Racer premiered in the U.S.

1994- Michael Eisner cancelled plans for a theme park called Disney’s America in Northern Virginia.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 27, 2015

 Birthdays: King Stefan Bathory of Poland, Thomas Nast, Arthur Penn, Mike Schmidt,

 Meatloaf, William Conrad, Dick Schapp, Samuel Adams, George Cruikshank, Jayne Meadows, Wilford Brimley, Shaun Cassidy, Greg Morris, Amanda Detmer, Avril Lavigne is 31, Gwynneth Paltrow is 43

1935-13 year old singer Frances Gumm of the singing Gumm Sisters signed an exclusive contract with MGM Pictures. Louis B. Mayer changed Frances name to Judy Garland.

1937- J R R  Tolkiens’ The Hobbit first appeared in bookshops.

1947- Disney’s film Fun and Fancy Free, featuring Mickey and the Beanstalk.

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, died of heart failure in front of Friz Freleng and Yosemite Sam animator Gerry Chiniquy while having lunch. Fellow artist Art Leonardi had asked Bob for a souvenir drawing that morning, Bob did him a Bugs Bunny but as he was leaving Art reminded him that he neglected to sign it. Bob said as he walked out "Oh, I'll get to it after lunch..."

1989- The Japanese corporate giant Sony purchased Columbia Pictures.

2003- Hours after the seasons final concert, in the dead the night, the historic bandshell at the Hollywood Bowl was demolished. After a long legal fight with preservationists, the historic 1929 structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, that Gershwin and Stokowski played in, was replaced with a new shell promising better acoustics. 

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 26, 2015

Birthdays: George Gershwin, T.S. Elliot, John Chapman (also known as Johnny Appleseed)-1774, Winsor McCay-1869, Theodore Gericault -1791, Olivia Newton-John, Cheryl Tiegs is 67, Marty Robbins, Linda Hamilton, Pope Paul VI, Jack Lalanne, Melissa Sue Andersen, Phillip Bosco, James Cavaziel, Surena Williams, Linda Hamilton is 59.

1926- Bullock's Wilshire department store opened. The Tea Room quickly became the in place for Hollywood Society to see and be seen in.

1937- "Queen of the Blues" Singer Bessie Smith died after a car accident in Mississippi. She crashed her Packard into a parked car. She was 43. One account said she died because she was refused treatment in a segregated hospital but the truth was she was treated by a white doctor at the scene and sent to the nearest hospital, which was a black one.

1941- Max Fleischer's "Superman" cartoon debuts. They were much more expensive that the usual short cartoons- $90,000 to the usual $40,000, but Paramount wanted them.

1955- Eddie Fisher married Debbie Reynolds.

1957- The musical West Side Story opened. The legend goes composer Leonard Bernstein was in the hospital to be operated on for a deviated septum. While recuperating he ran into lyricist Steven Sondheim, who was also recovering from an operation. To pass the time while convalescing they started working on the idea of an updated Romeo and Juliet set to music in the slums. One early title discarded was Gang Way!

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 Newton  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 number-crunching demographic surveys 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, 2015

Birthdays: William Faulkner, Jean Phillipe Rameau, Mark Rothko, Dmitri Shoshtakovich, Sergei Bondarchuk, Phil Rizzutto the Scooter, Bob MacAdoo, Heather Locklear is 53, Scotty Pippin, Christopher Reeve, Mark Hamill is 64, Glen Gould, Barbera Walters is 86, Red Smith, Aldo Ray, Will Smith is 47, Michael Douglas 71 & Catherine Zeta-Jones-46

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.

1980- John Bonham of Led Zeppelin was found dead of alcohol poisoning.

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 23, 2015

Birthdays: Euripides-484BC, Victoria Woodhull, Walter Lippmann, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Mickey Rooney, Julio Inglesias, Walter Pidgeon, Louise Nevelson, Jason Alexander is 55, Mary Kay Place, Harry Connick Jr, Bruce Springsteen is 66, William McGuffey

1889- The Nintendo Company started in Kyoto, They began by making hand-painted playing cards. In 1956 they transitioned to electronics, and in the 1980s invented Donkey-Kong, Gameboys and The Legend of Zelda.

1912- "Cohen Collects a Debt" Max Sennet's first film comedy featuring the Keystone Kops.

1962- 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. 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. Eisner dictates memos to start the television animation division. 

1994- Quentin Tarentino’s masterpiece Pulp Fiction premiered.

Animation fun facts for Sept 22, 2015

Birthdays: Anne of Cleves 1515- Henry VIII’s fourth wife. Bilbo Baggins and Frodo Baggins, Mafioso Joe Valachi, Michael Farraday, Meryl Streep is 64, John Houseman, Joanie Jett, Erich Von Stronheim, Tom Lasorda is 88, Paul Muni, Debbie Boone, Scott Baio is 55

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.

1964- The T.V. series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. premiered. “ Open Channel D Please..”

1964- Jerome Robbins’ “The Fiddler on the Roof “ opened on Broadway. Based on the story “Tevye and His Daughters” by Scholom Alecheim in 1894. In 1953 Jerome Robbins had named names to the HUAC committee to save his career. Now in Fiddler he had to use blacklisted actors like Zero Mostel and Beatrice Arthur who despised him.

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.

1984- Michael Eisner named CEO of the Walt Disney Corporation.

1994- Friends TV show premiered.

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, 2015

Birthdays: Louis Joliet of the explorers Marquette & Joliet, Chuck Jones, Gustav Holst, H.G. Wells, Stephen King, Cecil Fielder, Rob Morrow, Larry Hagman, Ricky Lake, Fanny Flagg, Ethan Coen of the Coen Brothers is 58, Leonard Cohen not one of the Coen Brothers, Faith Hill, Jerry Bruckheimer, Nicole Richie is 34, Bill Murray is 65


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.


1944- An internal FBI memo concludes "Communist infiltration of the Hollywood Guilds and unions and the only organization that could stop them was the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals" a conservative publicity group that included Walt Disney, John Wayne and Gary Cooper.

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 ten pounds of marijuana. Dropped out of college, His older brother landed him a tryout at Chicago’s Second City Improv comedy club.


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, 2015

Birthdays: Alexander the Great -357 BC, Upton Sinclair, Jelly Roll Morton, Red Auerbach, Guy Lafluer, Fernando Rey, Ann Meara, Rachel Roberts, Jonathan Hardy, Pia Lindstrom, Gary Cole, Fran Drescher, George R.R. Martin is 67, Sophia Loren is 81, Animation educator Nancy Beiman

1947- Tex Avery’s MGM cartoon Slap Happy Lion.

1952- CBS premiered the Jackie Gleason Show- The Honeymooners".

1955- The Phil Silvers Show, originally entitled You’ll Never Get Rich” debuted on CBS. Silvers played con-man soldier Sgt. Bilko.

1973- Musician Jim Croce (30) died in a charter plane crash near Natchitoches Louisiana.

1977- During the premiere episode of the 5^th season of the show Happy Days, Henry Winkler’s Fonzi character water-skis in his trademark black leather jacket and jumps a ramp over a live shark. This caused writer Jon Hein to coin the term Jumping the Shark. It has come to mean pinpointing the moment a quality show or person descends into banal silliness.

1984- The Cosby Show premiered.

2001- Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away released in the US.

The first Japanese anime film to win an Oscar.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 19, 2015

Birthdays: Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Saladin, Hungarian nationalist Leopold Kossuth, Brian Epstein, "Momma" Cass Elliot, 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, Paul Williams, Adam West is 87, Frances Farmer, David McCallum, Duke Snyder, Jeremy Irons is 67, Jimmy Fallon is 41.

1931- The Marx Brothers comedy “ Monkey Business” premiered.

1936- Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald record “Indian Love Call”. When I’m Calling You, Oooh-ohhoohhh, Ohhhh-ohhh-oohhhhhhh”, etc.

1942- Chuck Jones cartoon The Dover Boys, released. http://media.giphy.com/media/2tVvtQbgkmTV6/giphy.gif

1961- This is the night Betty and Barney Hill claimed they were picked up by a flying saucer and experimented on. It is one of the more famous abduction stories because it was one of the first, and it holds up under hypnosis. Hey, what are you planning to do with that anal probe?

1970- The Mary Tyler Moore TV Show premiered.

1995- Orville Reddenbacher 'the Popcorn king' died.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 18, 2015

Birthdays: Roman Emperor Marcus Ulpius Trajan 53AD, Dr Samuel Johnson, Frankie Avalon, Greta Garbo, Claudette Colbert, Leon Foucault ( Foucault's Pendulum ),  Jack Warden, Canadian PM John Diefenbaker, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson,  Rossano Brazzi, Joe Kubert, Debbie Fields founder of Mrs. Field's Cookies, Jada Pinkett-Smith, James Gandolfini,

June Foray is 98

1895- In Davenport Iowa, Daniel David Palmer performed the first chiropractic adjustment session. Animation artists rejoice.

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 thing that stands out in this show is Barbera Edens cleavage.”

1970- Jimmy Hendrix (27) was found dead of drug and alcohol abuse. He had passed out and choked on his own vomit. Janis Joplin's reaction was -"G-ddammit! He beat me to it !" Joplin herself died three weeks afterwards.

1987- Disney’s TV show Ducktales premiered.

1991- Comedian Redd Foxx was famous for doing bits like faking a heart attack. This day on the set of his new series the Royal Family while joking with Della Reese he clutched his chest and fell over dead. Everyone thought he was faking and laughed.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 17, 2015

Birthdays: Hank Williams, Spiro Agnew, Ken Kesey, Jerry Colonna, Roddy MacDowell, George Blanda, Wendy Carlos Williams, Elvira- real name Cassandra Peterson, Anne Bancroft, Jeff MacNelly, John Ritter, Sir Frederick Ashton, Rita Rudner, Tim Walker, Baz Luhrmann is 53

1932- Mickey Mouse short The Whoopee Party, premiered.

1957- Character actor Sterling Holloway signed his first contract with the Walt Disney Company. He will be the voice of Winnie the Pooh (“Oh bother”).

FIFTY YEARS AGO 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. Sargent 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.

1978- After thirteen days of intense negotiations President Jimmy Carter announced the Camp David Peace Accords , the first peace treaty between Israel and an Arab neighbor- Egypt. Prime Minister Menachem Begin shook hands with President 

1991- The TV show Home Improvement debuted, making a star out of stand up comedian Tim Allen.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 16, 2015

Birthdays: J.C. Penney (James Cash Penney), 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 59, Lauren Bacall

1920- Enrico Caruso made his last recordings for the Victor Recording Company.

1949-Chuck Jones "Fast and Furrious" the First Road Runner-Coyote cartoon.

1963- The Beatles record “She Loves You-Yeah,Yeah,Yeah.” on the Swan Records label.

1963- The sci-fi thriller series The Outer Limits premiered- Do not attempt to adjust your television- we control the horizontal, etc.

1964- The Peter Potamus Show debuted.

1965- The Dean Martin Show premiered on NBC. “Well, Ah think I’m gonna go to da couch now..”

1966- the last LOOK magazine published.

1969- President Nixon appears on the TV comedy "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" and says:" Sock it to Me?"

1983- Arnold Schwarzenegger became a US citizen.

1984- “Miami Vice” TV show debuted.

2003- Sheb Wooley, the composer of the 1951 hit “One Eyed One Horned Flying Purple People Eater” and the theme song of the TV show Hee Haw, died in Henderson Tennessee at age 82.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 15, 2015

Birthdays: James Fennimore Cooper, William Howard Taft, Porfirio Diaz- Mexican President 1884-1911, Agatha Christie, Cannonball Adderly, Bruno Walter, Yuri Noorstein, Merlin Olsen, Oliver Stone, Jean Renoir (film director and son of painter August Renoir), Alexander Korda, Jesse Norman, Robert Benchley, Ron Shelton, Fay Wray, Tommy Lee Jones is 69, Britain’s Prince Harry is 31


1928- Walt Disney stages the first recording session for the music for Steamboat Willie. He pawned his car to raise the cash to make it happen.

1930- The first Blondie comic strip.


1936-MGM producer Irving Thallberg, the "Boy Genius" of Hollywood, died of a pneumonia at age 31. He was the inspiration for F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Last Tycoon". His boss Louis B. Mayer was beginning to resent his popularity. When actress Gloria Swanson asked Mayer how he felt about Thallberg's death, Mayer replied:" God has been very kind to me."


1954- The day of shooting on the film The Seven Year Itch, when Marilyn Monroe 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 little white halter dress was thereafter known as a Marilyn Dress.


1957-The TV series Bachelor Father starring John Forsythe premiered.

1965- "Green Acres" TV show debuted. Arnold Ziffel 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 cancelled.


1998- Rap star Coolio is busted in Lawndale Cal for driving on the wrong side of the road, using an expired license and having a 9mm pistol and bag of marijuana in his car.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 14, 2015

Birthdays: Lao Tzu -604 BC, Caliph Al Mansur -the founder of Bagdhad-711AD,  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 67

1927- Gene Austin recorded “My Blue Heaven”.

1955- Little Richard recorded the song “ Tuttie Fruitie”.

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...."

1972- Premiere of the TV show The Waltons. “ Goodnight John-Boy.”

1978- The Mork & Mindy Show with a young Robin Williams. “Na-Nuu, Na-Nuu.”

1985- Disney's TV shows "Gummi Bears and Wuzzles premiered."

1993- Former Simpson’s writer Conan O’Brien takes over David Letterman’s old spot at the Late Show.

2002- Millennium Actress by director Saytoshi Kon premiered. 

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 13, 2015

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 71, Frank Marshal, Laura Secord, Jesse L. Lasky, Richard Kiel – Jaws in the James Bond movies, Maurice Jarre, Roald Dahl, Don Bluth is 78, Fred Silverman “The Man with the Golden Gut.” Tyler Perry is 46


1928- Riding high on their big hit film the Jazz Singer, the Warner Bros. buy out First National Pictures and move into their big Burbank studio lot, where they still are today.

1961- TV sitcom Car 54, Where Are You? debuted.

1965 – Ghidrah the Three Headed Monster was released in the U.S.

1969-Hanna & Barbera's "Scooby-Doo, where are you?" and "Dastardly and Mutley and their Flying Machines" premiered.

1974- The Rockford Files TV series with James Garner debut.

1979- Animator Don Bluth quits Walt Disney Studios taking a third of the top artists with him. 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.

1993- The Animaniacs Show premiered.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 12, 2015

Birthdays: Piero 'the Fatuous' DeMedici, King Francis Ist of France-1494, H.L. Mencken, Maurice Chevalier, Ben Blue, Jesse Owens, Barry White, Alfred A. Knopf, Ian Holm is 84, Hans Zimmer, Rachael Ward, Michael Odaatje-author of The English Patient, Margaret Hamilton -"I'm mellllttinnng,,oooohh.." Joe Pantoliano “Joey Pants”, Louis C.K. is 48, Jennifer Hudson is 35.

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.

1954- Television comedian Ernie Kovacs married Edie Adams, the Muriel Cigar Girl. They married in Mexico and at the insistence of Kovacs used a priest who read the entire service in Spanish, a language neither of them understood.

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.

2010- At the Video Music Awards, singer Lady Gaga wears a dress made out of 50 lbs of raw meat.

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Animation Fun Facts for Sept 11, 2015

Birthdays: O.Henry, D.H. Lawrence, Brian DePalma, Hedy Lamarr, Lola Falana, Paul "Bear" Bryant, Tom Landry, Kristy McNichol, Lola Falana, Pinto Colvig the voice of Goofy & Pluto, Peter Tosh, Virginia Madsen, Amy Madigan, Moby, Brad Bird is 58.

1841- British artist John Reno invented oil paint in a tube.

1914- W.C. Handy's Saint Louis Blues published, the first true Jazz recording to gain national popularity.  Also called the Birth of the Blues. Myron “Grim” Natwick, the cartoonist who would one day create Betty Boop, did the artwork for the first music coversheet. For this he was paid one gold dollar.

1947-Radio Bejing goes on the air.

1951-METROPOLIS TO MOSCOW?  Robert Shayne, the actor who played the Inspector Henderson character for television’s Superman show appeared before the House American Activities Committee accused of being a communist. He was led off the set by the FBI in handcuffs as George Reeves and Jimmy Olsen protested vigorously. He was eventually cleared of all charges and continued to do small parts in TV until 1990.

1960- Terrytoon's Deputy Dawg TV show.

1960- Nancy Sinatra married Tommy Sands.

1966- "Kimba the White Lion" debuts in the U.S.

1967-The Beatles began filming Magical Mystery Tour.

1971- The “Jackson Five” Saturday morning cartoon show.

1987-Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" wins MTV's Best Video Award.

1987-Reggae great Peter Tosh and two others are shot and killed by

thieves who were robbing his Kingston, Jamaica home.

Animation Fun Facts for Sept 10, 2015

   Birthdays: Fae Wray, Ian Fleming, Raymond Scott (composer of songs Carl Stalling loved to score into Bugs Bunny cartoons), Margaret Trudeau, Amy Irving, Arnold Palmer, Charles Kuralt, Jose Feliciano, Karl Lagerfield, Chris Columbus, Charles Simonyi- who designed Microsoft Word, Colin Firth is 55

1926- The remains of screen idol Rudolph Valentino arrived in Hollywood after a mammoth funeral in New York where he had died two weeks before. Hollywood, knowing a publicity coup when it saw one, immediately staged a second spectacular funeral.

1953 - Swanson Foods sells it's first "TV dinner"

1955- the TV series 'Gunsmoke' premiered.

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.

1972- Premiere of the TV special Liza with a Z. Bob Fosse directed and choreographed the one woman show of the spangled 23 year old.

1981- Picasso's painting Guernica is at last returned to Spain.

1993- The TV series The X Files premiered. The truth is out there.

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Animation Fun Facts Sept 9, 2015

Birthdays: Antonio Frescobaldi, Captain William Bligh, Jimmy the Greek Snyder, Joe Theismann, Cliff Robertson, Angela Cartwright, Alf Landon, Dee Dee Sharpe who sang the 60's R&B hit the Mashed Potato, Michael Keaton, Don Mattingly, Otis Redding, Anita Ekberg, Hugh Grant is 55, 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 49, Michelle Williams is 35

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.

1982- Princess Grace of Monaco, the former movie actress Grace Kelly, died in a car accident on the mountainous hill roads of Monaco. Twenty years earlier in the film To Catch a Thief, Alfred Hitchcock had her drive her car at dangerous speeds over the exact same hairpin turns.

1985-THIRTY YEARS AGO  She-Ra the Princess of Power premiered on TV.

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