QUIZ: WHO FIRST THOUGHT OF GIVING WRAPPED GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS? (answer below)


Had a great time at the Hollywood Heritage Museum doing booksignings. The powerpoint never worked, but I spent the time telling stories. Met other local historians, an archivist for the Screen Actors Guild, even one who knew Leni Reifenstahl and got her version of her meeting with Walt Disney in 1938.

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Birthdays: Roman Emperor Nero, Roman Emperor Lucius Verus- who was known for little else but his really swell haircut, Gustav Eiffel, J. Paul Getty, Jeff Chandler, Alan Freed, animator Ernie Pintoff who's films include the Critic and the Violinist, XVIII century painter George Romney, Helen Slater, Don Johnson, Stuart Townsend

1815- Giacomo Rossini received the commission to write a new opera based on Beaumarchais the Marriage of Figaro- The Barber of Seville.

1893-Czech composer Anton Dvorak premiered a symphony he wrote while living in Minnesota. The New World Symphony.

1939- The gala premiere of Gone With The Wind at the Loews Grand Theater in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh flew out from Hollywood and the Governor of Georgia declared it a state holiday.

1941- Lena Horne recorded her signature tune “Stormy Weather.”

1943- In Harlem, jazz great Fats Waller died of alcoholism and heart failure. He was 39.

1952- British Fashion photographer George Jorgenson has the first sex change operation in Denmark and becomes Christine Jorgenson.

1954-“Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter” starring Fess Parker was featured on the Walt Disney TV show for the first time. The show created a mania for little kids, all wanting coonskin caps. “ Born on a mountaintop in Tenn- Ah- See..”

1964- Canada adopted the Maple Leaf flag. It did not completely replace the Dominion Flag until 1979.

1966-Walt Disney died at age 65. He was alone in the room at Saint Joseph's when he died. A heavy cigarette smoker- his favorites were Malboro and French Gitanes- he suffered from lung cancer and respiratory failure. Contrary to the legend that he's cryogenically frozen in a room in the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, he was cremated and interred at Forest Lawn. Or maybe that’s what he wants us to think?!


1967- Beverly Hills police chief C.H.Anderson assured the public that there are "No Hippie Pads in Beverly Hills". Chief Andersen said many oddball types arrested on the Sunset Strip and West L.A. are sent to Beverly Hills municipal courts for trial, but inhabitants need not fear an outbreak of long haired hopped-up psychedelic speed freaks. Like, Groovy Maannn.
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QUIZ: WHO FIRST THOUGHT OF GIVING WRAPPED GIFTS ON CHRISTMAS?
ANSWER: Before Christ, the ancient Romans celebrated the end of December as the feast Saturnalia, a time of peace and feasting, when people gave each other gifts wrapped in pretty ribbons.
Latin people don't give gifts until Jan 6th, when the Three Kings gave gifts to the Christ Child.