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February 19, 2007 Monday
February 19th, 2007



Just got back to LA after meetings in Boston and NY. Man, it was cold! Sleet storms and windchills near zero. Then I flew back to Hollywood where the temperature was near 85. Of course, we learn here not to brag, because when we do we get hit with an earthquake.
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Birthdays:,Copernicus, Luigi Boccherini, Smokey Robinson, Andre Breton, Lee Marvin, Sir Cedric Hardwicke. animator Paul Terry, Paul Krause, Merl Oberon, Amy Tam the author of the Joy Luck Club, John Frankenheimer, Jeff Daniels, Benicio Del Toro is 40, Hilary Duff is 21

1878- Thomas Edison patented the phonograph.

1913- Crackerjacks start putting toy prizes in every box. The name Crackerjack for the caramel corn was named for the reaction of someone trying it for the first time- These are Crackerjack!

1942-PRESIDENT FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT signed Executive Order# 9066- The JAPANESE INTERNMENT ACT- All along the Pacific Coast first and second generation Japanese-Americans were uprooted from their homes and property and with what only they could carry were shipped off to camps in the desert. America remembered how effective German agents were in the First World War, when bombs going off on Boston and New York waterfront docks was common. Throughout the Second World War no act of Japanese-American sabotage was ever recorded. Apologists would say it was because of the act. Although the F.B.I. kept tabs on German and Italian agents in U.S. and pro-Fascist groups like the American Bund flourished in the 30’s nothing like what happened to Japanese Americans occurred to them. Less than 10,000 of them were rounded up, as opposed to over 100,000 Japanese Americans. Among the internees was Disney artist Chris Ishii and future Scooby Doo creator Iwao Takamoto.

Iwao Takamoto in 1945, courtesy of Berkeley/edu

1944- Writer John Steinbeck asked that his name be taken off of the credits for the Alfred Hitchcock film version of “Lifeboat”. “In view of the fact that my script for the picture was distorted in production.”

1951-Poet philosopher Andre Gide died in Paris. Several things were quoted as his last words, my favorite is " Before you quote me, please make sure I'm conscious."

1954- The prototype Ford Thunderbird auto completed.

1960 - Bill Keane's "Family Circus" cartoon strip debuts.

1968- “ It’s a beautiful day in the Neighborhood…” Mister Roger’s Neighborhood debuted on National Education Television, later called PBS. Ordained Presbyterian minister Fred Rogers had been doing children’s shows similar in Pittsburgh and Canada since the 50’s but today was the start of his show that would run unchanged for thirty five years.

1985 - Mickey Mouse welcomed in China.

1995- Pamela Anderson married rocker Tommy Lee. On their honeymoon on Lake Powell they shot that video.


Gong Hai Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year, the Year of the Golden Piggie!
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Birthdays: Queen Mary I Tudor -Bloody Mary, Pietro Guarnieri, Harry Grover- Seeley one of the founders of Paleontology, Louis Tiffany, Andre Segovia, Wendell Wilkie, Billy de Wolfe, Enzo Ferrarri, Yoko Ono, Jack Palance, Milos Forman, Bobby Bachman of the Bachman Turner Overdrive, Gahan Wilson, Johnny Hart, Matt Dillon, John Travolta, John Hughes, Dr. Dre

1861- JEFFERSON DAVIS elected first, and only, President of the Confederate States of America. His vice president was Georgian Alexander Stephens, a tiny man with a sharp wit. During a debate when a senator yelled at him: "You little Pipsqueak! I can swallow you whole!!" Stephens cooly said: " Then you would have more brains in your stomach than you ever had in your head!" No wonder Stephens is the origin of the term “Smart-Aleck”.

1885-Mark Twain's 'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' published.

1950- First Mr. Magoo cartoon "Ragtime Bear".

1953- First 3-D movie "B'wana Devil" starring Robert Stack.

1970- The Chicago 7, Yippie leaders of the anti-war rioting in front of the Democratic presidential convention of 1968 were found innocent of all charges. David Dillinger, Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale, Tom Hayden and the other guys. One of their offenses was trying to get a 250 pound pig onto the floor of the Convention so they could get it nominated for President.

1972- President Richard Nixon and Pat Nixon land in China. They were met by Mao's right hand Premier Cho En Lai. Chou was known for his sense of humor. When Nixon asked once: " What do you think would have changed in the world had Lee Harvey Oswald shot Soviet Premier Nikita Khruschev instead of John Kennedy ?" Cho En Lai responded: " Well, all I know is I doubt Aristotle Onassis would have married Mrs. Khruschev. "


You may have noticed I like to write historical trivia. That got me to thinking, what is the origin of the word trivia? See Below.
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Birthdays: Roman Emperor Constantine, Montgomery Ward,, Red Barber, Michael Jordan, Marian Anderson, C'haim Potok, Margeret Truman Daniel, Jim Brown, Rene Russo, Michael Bay, Cybil Shepard, Denise Richards is 36 and Paris Hilton is 26

3,201BC- According to Sumerian records from today in the month of Hilu to the month of Eshil-March 30th occurred the GREAT FLOOD, that the story of the flood of Noah in the Bible was based on. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 1920’s theorized that the Great Flood was the tidal backwash caused by the sinking of the lost continent of Atlantis.

1865- Gen. Sherman burns Columbia, S.C. The POPULARITY OF THE CIGARETTE- Everyone knew the Civil War was almost over, yet try and reason with Uncle Billy. Sherman's army fresh from burning Georgia spread a wide path of destruction through the Carolinas. When Sherman's men reached the capitol of South Carolina they took special revenge in destroying the city where the first vote to secede took place. Yankee's sang "Hail Columbia, Happy Land; If I don't burn you I'll be damned!" Cigarettes were gaining popularity in Spain and Latin American while in the U.S. tobacco was taken chiefly in cigars, pipes and chaw. A South Carolina planter in Durham had just finished developing the perfect mild blend of cigarette tobaccos, Bull Durham, when Sherman's bluecoats arrived to loot and torch the factory. Instead of tragedy things worked out well for the fellow. After the Civil War the Yankees went home to towns from Maine to California and talked of the good smoke they had in Carolina. Soon it was a national passion. Hey man, you got any papers?

1876- The invention of canned sardines.

1906- In a White House wedding ceremony President Teddy Roosevelt saw his eldest daughter Alice married to Congressman Nicholas Longworth of Ohio. Alice was as free spirited as her father, Once when confronted about her escapades Teddy remarked " I can run the country or control Alice, but I cannot do both."

1911- General Motors installed in their Cadillacs the first automatic starters, replacing the handcrank. It was developed by Charles Kettering, the reason he did it was because a friend of his stopped to assist a young lady's who's engine had stalled. When he tried to get the engine started again using the hand crank, it kicked back and hit him in the jaw, breaking it and eventually causing gangrene, which eventually killed him.
Kettering spent many years at GM and started the Delco brand of auto parts. He also was responsible for fast drying paint which allowed a car to be painted in almost instantly on an assembly line instead of days. He sold the idea to an unbelieving client by having his car taken from the parking lot, painted and returned over a long lunch.

1912- THE NEW YORK ARMORY SHOW-Mabel Dodge and Gertrude Stein introduce Post expressionist modern art to the U.S. public. The first U.S. showings of Picasso, Matisse, Duchamp and the Italian futurists. The show was denounced as a "chamber of horrors" and Matisse was burned in effigy in Chicago. Marcel Duchamp's "Nude Descending a Staircase" was described by an art critic as "an explosion in a shingle factory". Duchamp was highly gratified, I believe.

1925- First issue of Harold Ross’s The New Yorker magazine.

1942- Ernst Lubitsch’s screwball comedy about the Nazis "To Be , Or Not To Be"debuted. Adolf Hitler enters a room and after everyone "Seig Heil" salutes him, he replies "Heil Myself!" But the film flopped because it’s female star Carole Lombard died tragically in a plane crash shortly before the premiere.

1958 – Johnny Hart’s comic strip "BC" 1st appears

1967 – The Beatles release "Penny Lane" & "Strawberry Fields"

1979- A Prairie Home Companion radio show starring Garrison Keilor was first broadcast nationally. It was a feature on Minnesota Public Radio since 1974.

1987- Soviet premiere Mikhail Gorbachev reveals President Ronald Reagan's preoccupation with space aliens: "At our meeting in Geneva, the U.S. President said that if the earth faced an invasion by extraterrestials, the United States and the Soviet Union would join forces to repel such an invasion. I shall not dispute the hypothesis, though I think it's early yet to worry about such an intrusion..."

1989- "Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure" premiered starring the most excellent Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter. Whoah-Dude!
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ANSWER: In ancient Rome where three roads intersected the Romans built a rest station for travelors. Many stopped to rest, water their horses, swap gossip and news, and leave little notes for other travellors coming down the same road. This practice of leaving little bits of information was soon named for the intersection of three roads, in Latin TRE-VIA, or trivia.

I got this from my friends Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers, whom I had just finished visiting in Snowy Boston. And boy, did we exchange trivia! More goodies like this in a book collection of puzzlers are available at their Car Talk website.


February 16, 2007 friday
February 16th, 2007



I had a great visit with the students of NYU and SVA in cold and snowy New York City.
After many weeks, my DRAWING THE LINE book tour is finally winding down. No Pulitzers or movie deals in my mailbox yet, but the sales have been good and the overall response to it has been very gratifying. I'd like to thank all the wonderful people I met and had a chance to talk to in New York, LA, San Diego and San Francisco.

-Thank you to ASIFA/Hollywood, ASIFA San Francisco and ASIFA*East. Zeum, The Cartoon Museum, The Southern Cal Cartoonists Society, The Creative Talent Network, the Animation Guild Local 839, the NCS and Hollywood Heritage.

- Thank you too, to all the schools that have welcomed me-USC, UCLA, Cal Arts, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount, Cal St Fullerton, Cal Poly-Pomona, Glendale College, The Acme On Line Program, The Bishops School in LaJolla, The Art Institute of San Francisco, The Laguna College of Design as well as the aforementioned NYU Tisch School of the Arts and SVA.

Thanks to all the teachers and students who made it possible.

I'll probably have more signings at the Comicon and SIGGRAPH this summer. If anyone else needs a lecturer to waste an evening hawking books, I'm still available. I just need to be watered and fed on occasion.
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Birthdays: The Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg,Charles Taze Russell founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Edgar Bergen, Sonny Bono, John MacEnroe, animation voice actor Frank Welker who did Porky and Jabberjaws, John Schlesinger, anim director Faith Hubley, Katherine Cornell, Levar Burton is 50, Ice-T is 49

Today is the feast of St. Juliana, who was tortured by both her father AND her boyfriend
I know a lot of you girls out there can relate to that. She also liked to wrestle winged devils in her spare time.

1923- Bessie Smith made her first recording-"Downhearted Blues".

1978- The first computer bulletin board goes on live. Ward Christensen and Randy Seuss's Computerized Bulletin Board System was an S-100 motherboard and CP/M, and a Hayes 300 baud modem. It still runs to this day, but the Internet has taken the place that BBS's used to have

1985-"Family Dog" episode on Steven Spielberg’s Amazing Stories show. The first direction by Brad Bird.

1994- Apple announced the introduction of the digital camera, the first camera that needed no film but could load images directly into a computer.


February 15, 2007 thurs
February 15th, 2007

Dropping in on the SVA animation students today. Also doing a radio interview for my book for an NPR radio station based in Olympia Washington.
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Birthdays: Galileo Galilei, French King Louis XV, Michel Praetorius, Susan B. Anthony, Charles Tiffany, John Barrymore, Jane Seymour, Cesar Romero, Gale Sondergard, Melissa Manchester, Claire Bloom, Chris MacDonald, Simpson's creator Matt Groening

1947- During the anti-Communist witchhunts the FBI revoked the visa of famed documentary filmmaker and founder of the National Film Board of Canada John Grierson because they thought his politics were subversive.

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 first flies the Maple Leaf flag.

1969- President Richard Nixon combined the twin holidays of Lincoln’s Birthday Feb. 12th and Washington’s Birthday Feb.22nd into one three day weekend and called it President’s Day. So instead of two days off in February you have one with no emotional meaning to it. Nixon does it to us again!

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

1994- After months of insane bidding, Viacom’s Sumner Redstone beat out QVC’s Barry Diller to buy Paramount Pictures. The cost is $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 announce the first discovery of fossilized Dinosaur vomit.


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