Birthdays: John F. Kennedy would be 100, King Charles II (the
"Merry Monarch"), Bob Hope, G. K. Chesterton, Patrick Henry, Oswald
Spengler, T.H. White, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Josef Von Sternberg, LaToya
Jackson, John Hinckley Jr., Al Unser Jr., Beatrice Lilly, Danny Elfman, Annette
Bening is 59, Melissa Etheridge is 56, Rupert Everett is 58
1941-THE WALT DISNEY CARTOONISTS STRIKE.. The picket
line and campsite went up across the street where St. Joseph's Hospital is
today. Chef's from nearby Toluca Lake restaurants would cook for the strikers
on their off time and the aircraft mechanics of Lockheed promised muscle if any
ruff stuff was threatened.
Picketers included Hank Ketcham (Dennis the Menace), Walt
Kelly and Margaret Selby (later Kelly) (Pogo), Bill Melendez (A Charlie Brown
Christmas), Steve Bosustow and John Hubley (Mr. Magoo), Maurice Noble and Chuck
Jones (What's Opera Doc?), George Baker (Sad Sack), Dick Swift ("the
Parent Trap") Frank Tashlin (Cinderfella) and four hundred others.
Animators from Warner Bros. MGM and Walter Lantz marched with their Disney
brothers and sisters, because they knew this was where the fate of their entire
industry would be settled. Celebrities like Dorothy Parker and John Garfield
gave speeches. The studio claimed no one of importance was on strike.
The strike was eventually settled by Federal arbitration and
a little arm twisting by the Bank of America. Many of the artists who left the
studio afterwards set up U.P.A. and pioneered the modern 1950's style.
1942- JOHN BARRYMORE- The great dramatic actor, the first
American to dare to play Hamlet in England, died of his many vices at age 60.
Whether the infamous prank actually happened where Raoul Walsh, Bertholdt
Brecht, Peter Lorre, W.C. Fields and some others (the "Bundy Drive
Boys") kidnapped Barrymore's body from Pierce Brothers Funeral Home and
propped it up at the poker table to scare the willys out of Errol Flynn is a
matter of debate. Flynn and Paul Heinried said it was true, writer Gene Fowler
said it was false.
1942- Bing Crosby recorded
"White Christmas," debatably the greatest selling record of all time.
1954- New York Police raid the studio of Irving Klaw, the
photographer of the Betty Page kinky pin-up photos. Klaw tried to appeal to the
Supreme Court but couldn’t get a hearing.
1956- Hollywood director James Whale (Frankenstein, The
Invisible Man) drowned himself in his pool. His career was over and his health
was deteriorating from a series of strokes. Bruises were found on his head and
at first the police suspected foul play. It wasn’t until 1989 his gay lover
made his suicide note public. His head had struck the pool’s bottom as he
jumped in causing the bruise.
1973 - Columbia Records fired
president Clive Davis for misappropriating
$100, 000 in funds, Davis then
founded Arista records.
1978 - Bob Crane, (Hogan-Hogan's
Heroes), died at 49 under mysterious circumstances. He was found in a Tucson
hotel room surrounded by pornography, bludgeoned to death by a camera
tripod. The murder was never solved.
1987 –pop singer Michael Jackson
attempted to buy the nineteenth century remains of Joseph Meredith a.k.a. the
Elephant Man.
1999- Hikers in Malibu California
discover the remains of Phillip Taylor, the bass guitar player of the 60’s band
Iron Butterfly. The musician had disappeared four years before. Now his
skeleton was found sitting in his Ford Aerostar at the bottom of a steep
ravine.
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