The documentary that I created animation for, Flock of Dodo's, will have it's television premiere Tomorrow thursday on Showtime. Filmmaker-scientist Randy Olsen does a Michael Moore on the Evolution-Intelligent Design argument.

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Birthdays: Lily Pons, Richard Tauber, Henry Fonda, Liberace- real name Wladziu Valentine Liberace, Jan Kiepura, Edmund Kirby-Smith, Studs Terkel , Pierce Brosnan, Gabriela Sabbatini, Thurman Thomas, Margaret Sullivan, Olga Korbut, Debra Winger, Tori Spelling, Janet Jackson, Woody Herman

1866- Congress authorized the creation of a new 5 cent coin, which because of it’s metal content people called the Nickel.

1918- During World War One President Woodrow Wilson created the Wartime Committee of Public Information- a propaganda board headed by journalist George Creel and psychologist Edmund Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud. After the war they would ply their skills in mass persuasion for the private sector- Bernay's advertising equating cigarrette smoking with women's equality hooked millions of women. He labels cigarettes “freedom sticks” and even engineered a change in ladies fashion to a taste for green to help sagging sales of a cigarette in a green pack. He also engineered a campaign to make all Americans believe the only real American breakfast is bacon & eggs.

1929- The First Academy Awards ceremony at the Rose Ballroom of the Biltmore Hotel. The best picture winner was William Wellman’s “Wings”. The name Oscar for the award supposedly came from joking that it’s butt looked like Betty Davis’ husband Oscar’s. The ceremony was originally a dinner party with some industry business conducted. During the Depression in 1933 the Oscars was the place to announce across the board wage rollbacks and salary cuts. Must have made for a swell party.

1946- the musical Annie Get Your Gun starring Ethel Merman premiered on Broadway.

1957- In a small town in Pennsylvania a failing small time businessman who had been drinking heavily died of a heart attack at age 54. Ironically, he had just approved the first draft of a memoir about his days as a young Treasury Agent in Al Capone’s Chicago. His name was Elliot Ness. The book - The Untouchables- became a national best seller and Hollywood turned it into a hit television series, films. Elliot Ness became a household word.

1965 – the birthday of Spaghetti-O's.

1975 - Wings release "Listen to What the Man Said" in UK

1981 - "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes hits #1 for next 9 weeks. The elderly movie legend was not impressed:” Kim Carnes does not have eyes like me!” quote Bette.

1985 - Michael Jordan named NBA Rookie of Year. He retired in 2003.

1986 – the film "Top Gun," directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise premieres.

1987 - Rocker David Crosby wed Jan Dance in LA.

1996- One of the lamest moments in TV writing. On DALLAS Pam Ewing encounters her husband Bobby Ewing in the shower although he had been dead for one year. The incident meant the entire previous season had only been a bad dream.

Today would have been Joe Grant's 99th birthday.

Joe Grant was a great Disney artist and designer who was the son of a William Randolph Hearst newspaper cartoonist. He was on the verge of launching his own syndicated comic strip when he caught the eye of Walt Disney in 1933. Walt put him to work on doing caricatures for the short Mickey's Gala Premiere. During Disney's golden age he was a department head and wielded great influence. Joe left the studio in 1949 after contributing (uncredited) to Lady and the Tramp.

After many years of running his own graphics company, Joe Grant returned to animation to help the second Disney Renaissance. His sense of the gentle charm of Disney humor contributed to Aladdin, Lion King, Muhlan, Pocahontas, Toy Story I and II. He was the only artist who worked on Fantasia I (1940) and Fantasia 2000. He named the Pixar hit Monsters Inc and worked on the Incredibles.

I was proud to call Joe my friend. We worked on a few pictures and always stayed in touch afterwards. We used to have a weekly lunch with a few artists at Genios Restaurant on Olive Blvd. in Burbank, just up from NBC. Burny Mattinson, Sue Goldberg, Mike Gabriel, Burt and Jennifer Klein. Joe usually didn't like to talk to me about old Disney, What was it like When.... He liked to talk politics with me and enjoyed my grasp of history. At his memorial I was impressed with how many people considered him a close friend.

Today Joe is gone, Genios is gone, but the memories linger. The Ancient Egyptians felt that after we die if we are well thought of we have achieved immortality; if we are forgotten we die a second time.

If that is the criteria then I think Joe has achieved that immortality. Happy Birthday Joe.

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Birthdays: Gabriel Fahrenheight-inventor of the thermometer, Lyman Frank Baum creator of the Wizard of Oz, Claudio Monteverdi, Richard Avedon, James Mason, Joseph Cotten, George Brett, Jasper Johns, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Jean Renoir, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley Sr., Trini Lopez, Charles Lamont- director of Abbott & Costello Go to Mars, C&W singer Eddy Arnold, Chaz Palmintieri, Lainie Kazan.

1702- Charles Perrault, who wrote stories under the name Mother Goose, died.

1800-At a performance at London's Old Drury Lane Theatre, a man rose from the audience and fired two pistols at King George III. They both miss and the assassin was dragged off. The King not only insists that the show go on but even doses off during the second act.

1863- Edouard Manet first displayed his Dejeuner sur l’Herbe at the Salon des Refuses in Paris. The painting is of two modern clothed men having a picnic with two nude women by a river bank. The women aren’t mythical goddesses or muses but just naked ladies. This shocked Paris society. Emperor Napoleon III and Empress Eugene called it “Immodest and obscene”.It’s revolutionary simple subject matter heralded the rise of Impressionism.

1940- The first Nylon stockings go on sale in the US.

1942- The U.S. initiated a program of wartime gas rationing. Slogans like “Is this Trip Really Necessary?” and a system of ratings vehicles with A,B & C cards pop up in a lot of movies and cartoons of the period. C meant a war-essential worker who got first dibs for gas. An A card was the lowest status. When Sir Thomas Beecham got in a New York City cab and asked to be taken to the Philharmonic the cabby told him he couldn’t take him because it was a pleasure trip. “Young man,” Sir Thomas replied:” A trip to the Philharmonic is not done for pleasure but for Penance.”
Canadian windshield card

1947- Future President George Bush Sr. was initiated into the elite secret society at Yale University called Skull & Bones. It’s so named because initiates pledge to remain loyal until “I die and nothing remains but skull and bones.” His sponsor-Charles Whitehouse later became big in the CIA. So many Bonesmen men went into the CIA that they nicknamed the agency “ The Front Office.”

1963 - Peter, Paul & Mary win their 1st Grammy for “ If I Had a Hammer”.

1967- Paul McCartney first met his first wife Linda Eastman.

1970 - Beatles' last LP, "Let It Be," is released in US

Birthdays: Thomas Gainsborough, George Lucas, Thomas Wedgewood, Francesca Annis, David Byrne, Jack Bruce, Bobby Darin, Tim Roth, Robert Zemeckis, Kate Blanchett

1667- At this time the sailors of the English Navy were only paid once a month. During the Dutch Wars an incident happened when the loyal sailors were told after several months of hard fighting that their fun loving King Charles II didn't have enough money left in his treasury to pay them. The tars were so angry scores of them deserted to the enemy. They guided Dutch Admiral De Ruyter's fleet right up the Thames where they could burn and plunder the docks of Greenwich within sight of King Charles' palace.
When working with pros, don't mess with their paychecks!

1842 - 1st edition of London Illustrated News

1878- Vaseline petroleum jelly patended.

1942- Disney composer Frank Churchill, who had written "Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" and "Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho" shot himself at the piano. Another version of the story had him shooting himself in an onion field in Valencia that would one day be the site of Cal Arts.

1944- In the comic strip Dick Tracy, the longtime Tracy nemesis the gangster Flattop was killed.



1951 - Ernie Kovacs Show, TV Variety debut on NBC. Kovacs was a great pioneer in the video medium who loved creating surreal images and pantomime blackout skits.

the Nairobi Trio, one of my first childhood memories

1976- Keith Reilf of the rock group the Yardbirds, was electrocuted while playing his electric guitar in his bathtub. Don't do drugs.

1968 - Beatles announce formation of Apple Records.

1998 - Last episode of sitcom Seinfeld on NBC (commercial fees were $2M for 30 seconds) Elderly singer Frank Sinatra died shortly after watching it.

Birthdays: Sir Arthur Sullivan,Stevie Wonder, George Braque, Daphne DuMaurier, Joe Louis, Richie Valens, Gil Evans, Beatrice Arthur, Peter Gabriel, Harvey Keitel, Dennis Rodman , Clive Barnes.

1637-French Cardinal Richelieu threw a dinner where he introduced a novel invention. He had each place at the table set with a fork, a spoon and a table knife. For the first time guests didn't have to whip out their own blade to cut their food.

1956- Actor Montgomery Clift was disfigured in a car crash. He had to have his jaw wired until it could heal.

1965 - Rolling Stones record "Satisfaction"

1966 - Rolling Stones release "Paint it Black"

1992- Police arrest the manager of Comic Book Heaven in Sarasota Florida on seven counts of "displaying materiel harmful to minors", i.e. comic books.

For Animation Interns:



Now that the school term is over, a number of students are currently looking around Toontown to be hired as interns. Some are former students of mine, some are not. But all are very excited about the prospect of learning about film production from working professionals. Those of you who live in Southern Cal, the Bay Area or New York have that envious advantage of having a number of top animation studios to work for.

As one who has advised, reccomended and hired many interns, here are some words of advice.

- Not all studios insist on a portfolio or demo reel, but all will be judging you on your demeanor and eagerness to work.

- Some internships are paid, some are for work/study credits. inquire which is which before you start.

- Be flexible about your hours. Most employers will work around your schedules. Studios understand you have obligations outside of work, but no one wants to hear about how you have to see your aunt in Pacoima tuesday, have soccer practice on weds and how you promised to go shopping with your girlfriends in Newport on thursday. No one takes that from staff artists, they won't take it from you either.

- Be courteous, and willing to learn, but not arrogant and haughty, in other words, no attitude please.

- Animation Guild rules are that interns cannot create art for production. So if you are asked by your employer to make art for use in the production for free, be aware that you are being taken advantage of. There are plenty of other jobs in the production office and plenty of other things to do.

- A studio should not ask you to use your own car to run errands without compensating you for gas. No studio has the right to ask you to pay for supplies with your own money and be compensated later.

-Part of the fun of interning is to mix with the professionals. Don't be shy and hide in the Xerox room. Go up to them and ask them about what they are doing. There are a few a-holes, but most animation pros are pretty cool about talking to you. Many would like to teach or mentor but don't have the time. They would be delighted to look at your work and give you advice. Take advantage of this unique opportunity.

- Some of the best advice I ever got was from retired H&B producer and layout artist Cosmo Anzilotti. He told me_" No matter what kind of crap you're working on, do the best job you can, because you never know who's watching you." Your attitude about how you approach your task means a lot to us who hire you. We take note when we give you a mundane job and you roll your eyes like a sulky kid asked by his momma to take out the garbage. Or if you complete a job and instead of finding something else to do you slouch in a chair reading a comic or surfing the web. We've got deadlines and schedules we worry about, so we don't have time to be a teen daycare center.
We look for the folks who are self motivated, who solve problems without being driven to. Who approach each task, no matter how dull, with enthusiasm and drive. They are more likely to be remembered by the pros than a sulky kid.

-Making a good first impression is the beginning of your professional discipline. People will remember you in the future. It's sowing the first seeds of a successful professional career.

- I wish I knew about internships whan I was starting out. What a great way to seqway that gap inbetween your academic and professional life!

Best of Luck in your internships and have a Great Summer!


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Birthdays: Dolly Madison, Daniel Rossetti, Frank Stella, Florence Nightingale, Yogi Berra is 79, Tom Snyder, George Carlin, Wilfred Hyde-White, Emilio Estevez, Howard K. Smith, Ron Zeigler, Farley Mowatt, Ving Rhames, Bruce Boxleitner, Katherine Hepburn

1938- “The Adventures of Robin Hood” starring Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Olivia DeHaviland, Claude Rains and Eugene Paulette premiered. The swashbuckling film then cost a whopping $2 million dollars to make! The light brown horse Maid Marion rode in the movie was later bought by singing cowboy Roy Rogers and renamed Trigger.

1950- The comic strip 'Marvin' debuted.

1962- First day shooting on Frederigo Fellini’s film 8 1/2. When screened for American Producer Joe Levine, Levine took the cigar from his mouth and growled-” Frederigo, what da hell did that movie mean? ” Fellini shrugged –“I dunno”.

1971 - Rolling Stone Mick Jagger weds Bianca Macias at St Tropez Town Hall. They later divorced and Bianca became a famous habitue’ of trendy discos and fashion magazines.

1971- Tor Johnson died of a heart attack at age 68. Swedish wrestler turned actor Tor’s preferred role was the bald eyeless zombie in classics like Plan Nine from Outer Space and Bride of the Monster.



1977- A small Westchester radio station WENW hired a thin, gawky, college grad as a DJ- Howard Stern. US radio would never be the same.