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December 14, 2006 thurs
December 14th, 2006

I was asked by a researcher the other day about what cartoons do I wish I could see? What long lost classics remain a mission to discover? It made me recall back in the 1980s writer Charles Solomon was helping LA County Museum Film historian Ron Haver organize a big Disney animation show. He asked what Disney films should they screen? I suggested-"Ooh oh! Show Victory Through Air Power. No one has seen it in years! So we had the first LA screening of the famous film in decades. We even had Marc Davis present, who did a lot of work on it.

When we watched it, we noticed something interesting, it was a 90 minute documentary lecture of arcane military theory, advice Washington didn't use and got annoyed at Walt Disney for promoting, topped with two minutes of superb animation at the end. After the lights came up, Marc Davis said to us"Well, now I know why we kept it in a vault for 40 years.It's BORING!" So be careful what you crave after, it may not be what you remembered..!



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Birthdays: 1553-King Henry IV of Navarre, Tycho Brahe, Nostradamus -Michel de Nostre Dame-1503, English King George VI-1895, Spike Jones the bandleader, Morey Amsterdam, Charlie Rich, Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, Lee Remick, Patty Duke , Adult film star Ginger Lynn, Clark Terry, trumpeteer, ex-Ellingtonian, is 86. Cecil Pay, Saxophonist, 84. Jane Birkin "Je t'aime moi non plus" chanteuse is 59.

Welcome to the first day of the HALCYON DAYS. The seven days prior to and after the Winter Solstice, a time of tranquility and peace.

1799- GEORGE WASHINGTON DIED. 67 year old Washington had retired to Mount Vernon after his last presidential term in 1796. On Dec. 12th he went riding five hours during a sleet storm and caught the flu. Another theory was a viral infection of the epiglottis.
He might still have survived had it not been for modern medicine. Doctors bled him of four pints of blood, while applying leeches, mustard sulfur packs and laxatives to purge him of the ill humours. He developed pneumonia and died swiftly. Because coma was so little understood people had a dread of premature burial. Washington left instructions that his body be left out several days to make sure he was dead before being sealed in a tomb. After assurances put his mind at ease his last words were:" Tis well." No priests or religious last rites were performed or called for. The US government wanted to place his tomb at the center of the planned dome in the capitol building, but Washington’s wish was to be in a simple tomb in Mt. Vernon. He also freed all his 137 slaves and sent them each off with a pension.

1901- The first Ping-Pong tournament held in London.

1913- Cartoonist Johnny Gruelle entertained his dying daughter Marcella by making up stories involving her rag dollies. After her passing friends urged Gruelle to publish them. The RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY stories are born.

1924- Ottorino Respighi ‘s stirring rhapsody the Pines of Rome premiered.

1944- Hollywood starlet Lupe Velez, the "Mexican Spitfire' committed suicide. She had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and laid herself out in a beautiful negligee of her own design to be found radiant. But instead of dying immediately the pills made her sick and she was found dead with her head in the toilet. In her prime she counted Gary Cooper, Anthony Quinn and Johnny Weissmuller among her lovers. When Weissmuller was filming 'Tarzan' the studio complained to her that their lovemaking was so...err..athletic? exhuberant?....that she was leaving scratch marks all over his back. The makeup department complained of all the effort to cover them.

1944- The film National Velvet premiered, making a star out of 12 year old Elizabeth Taylor.

1947- The National Association of Stock Car Racing or NASCAR formed.

1953- Young pitcher Sandy Koufax was signed by the Dodgers. He became one of their most famous players.

1957- Hanna Barbera's first t.v. cartoon "Ruff and Ready" premieres.

1970- George Harrison’s single My Sweet Lord went gold.

1972-THE LAST MAN LEAVES THE MOON. Apollo 17 blasts off. We all remember the first man on the moon, but do you remember the last? Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt. President Nixon annoyed NASA by saying he doubted that men would return to the moon in the Twentieth Century, but he was right.

1977- DISCO! The movie Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta and the music of the Bee Gees make the Disco dancing scene a national craze.

1979- STUDIO 54 RAIDED- The Internal Revenue Service busted the worlds most notorious disco club. Formerly the hangout of Andy Warhol, Bianca Jagger, Truman Capote and other “Beautiful People”, now the Feds were on to them. The IRS seized doctored account books, cocaine and undeclared cash, landing the owners in jail and bringing the celebrity playland’s days to an end.

1984- Howard Cosell retired from sports reporting and calling the Monday Night Football game. “And now to Dandy Don down on the field.”


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