Welcome to April, named for Aprilis, an Etruscan Goddess of Agriculture and planting, or it may even be a corruption of the name of the Greek Aphrodite, the goddess of love. The month was considered by Romans sacred to Venus- Venuralia.
– The Ancient Romans considered today ALL FOOLS DAY-a day of comedy- For the end of the time sacred to Hilaria, goddess of laughter. They did things backwards, men and women swapped clothes and carried on.
Before the Gregorian reforms some Old Style Calendars had the year begin in late March instead of January. As the new modern calendar became more widely accepted, the people who stubbornly clung to the old practice were made fun of and called April-Fools.
1747-Georg Frederich Handel premiered his oratorio Judas Maccabeus with the song "Hail, Conquering Hero!", frequently used at royal functions.
1923- Developers S.H. Woodruff and Canadian William Whitley start advertising lots for sale in Hollywoodland, beneath their giant new Hollywoodland sign. The sign originally was covered with lightbulbs. It collapsed and was repaired in 1939, the 'land' part never restored. The Hollywood Sign was made over again in 1978.
1944- Tex Avery's "Screwball Squirrel" Only a few shorts were made.
1949- Zsa Zsa Gabor married George Sanders.
1970- A symbol of the 70’s, AMC’s compact car the Gremlin introduced.
1984- Motown star Marvin Gaye was shot to death by his own father in an argument over plans for the singer's 45th birthday party the next day.
1995- Chasen's restaurant closed. Former actor Frederick Chasen opened his exclusive Beverly Hills Restaurant in 1936. James Stewart and Mickey Rooney were regulars. During the filming of Cleopatra (1963) Elizabeth Taylor had Chasen's chili flown out to her in Rome. Walt Disney met Leopold Stokowski over dinner at Chasens and conceived the film Fantasia, Orson Welles and Joe Mankiewicz got into a fistfight over the script outline of Citizen Kane there. Bogart, Bacall and John Huston discussed how to fight the Hollywood Blacklist there. The non-alcoholic cocktail The Shirley Temple was invented there, so little Shirley could schmooze with the grownups .Today there is a booth from Chasens preserved in the Reagan Presidential Library, and a small section of tables in the supermarket it became today.
1996- Animation World Network, Toontown’s virtual trade magazine, started up. www.AWN.com
2004- G-Mail invented.
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