Thursday, February 15, 2024

Tom Sito's Animation Almanac for Feb 15, 2024


Birthdays: Galileo Galilei, Frederick Douglas, French King Louis XV, Michael Praetorius, Susan B. Anthony, Charles Tiffany, John Barrymore, Lillian Disney, Jane Seymour, Cesar Romero, Gale Sondergard, Melissa Manchester, Chris Farley, Claire Bloom, Chris MacDonald, Art Spiegelman is 76, Marissa Berenson is 77, Matt Groening is 70


1947- During the anti-Communist witch hunt, the FBI revoked the visa of famed documentary filmmaker and founder of the National Film Board of Canada, John Grierson because they thought his personal politics were too lefty.



1950- Walt Disney’s Cinderella opened in theaters. After financially skirting close to the ground through most of the 1940s Cinderella marked a return to classic fairy tales and a return to unqualified success. It was one of the top box office movies of 1950 and earned three Academy Award nominations. “ Bibbity-Boppity-Boo.”


1954- Future President and b-movie star Ronald Reagan tried doing a stand-up act at the Las Vegas Ramona Room with the "Honey Brothers", a comedy troupe similar to Abbot & Costello. 


1965- Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag. It did not completely replace the Dominion Flag until 1979. 


1967- The first Super Bowl was played at the LA Colosseum. Green Bay Packers 35, Kansas City Chiefs 10.


1973- Actor and animation voice Wally Cox (Underdog, Mr Peepers, The Boatniks) was found in his LA apartment dead of a heart attack. He was 48. He was a close friend of Marlon Brando. It is said Brando kept a jar of Wally’s ashes and would occasionally be seen talking to it.


1984- Touchstone Pictures created, so the Walt Disney Company could do more adult PG movies. Their first film was Splash, starring a tastefully topless mermaid Darryl Hannah.

1994- After months of insane bidding, Viacom’s Sumner Redstone beat out QVC’s Barry Diller to buy Paramount Pictures. The cost was $20 billion, although the studio’s net worth was estimated at $8 billion. When asked, Diller replied: “What’s done is done. Next.”


2002- Scientists announced the first discovery of fossilized dinosaur vomit.



No comments:

Post a Comment