The other day I watched the film Miss Potter, with Rene Zellwegger as the creator of Peter Rabbitt. She did a wonderful job, but I particularly liked the small animations of Potters watercolors done by Passion Pictures. Bravo Andrew and crew. I only wish there was more of it.


Karl Cohen informed me today of the death of Prescott Wright. Prescott had been in failing health for the last few years and the end came yesterday. He was age 71. Prescott was one of the prime movers and organizors of the ASIFA movement, since it's founding in the early 1960s. He was the director of a number of important international film festivals including the International Tournee' of Animation and was the president of ASIFA/San Francisco for many years. Prescott was in on the debate when we decided to expand the Annies from a career lifetime to competitive categories. He was sharp, focused and passionate about animation. Young filmmakers could do no better than if they were fortunate enough to have Prescott championing your film. Adieu Prescott.
----------------------------------------------------------
Birthdays: Rudyard Kipling, photographer W. Eugene Smith, Luther Burbank, Anna Magnani, Bo Diddley is 76, director Sir Carol Reed, Sandy Koufax, Solomon Guggenheim, Jeanette Nolan -Granny from the Beverly Hillbillys, Jack Lord, Joseph Bologna, Fred Ward, Tracey Ullman. Tiger Woods is 31, Heidi Fleiss, Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul & Mary (when Stookey became a Born-Again Christian he changed his name to Number One)

1672- Violinist John Bannister and his orchestra held a concert at Whitefriars chapel in London. It’s the oldest known music concert given not to a royalty but to the general paying public.

1689- The opera Dido & Aeneas by Henry Purcell premiered in London.

1816- Poet Percy Bysshe Shelley married Frankenstein author Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley.

1817- Coffee beans first planted on the Kona coast of Hawaii.

1940- The Arroyo-Seco, the First L.A. Freeway opened by Mayor Fletchor Bowron, connecting downtown and Pasadena. ( interstate U.S. route 66 is in 1932, and The Imperial Highway opened in 1936., the Ventura freeway in 1958.)

1941- “I Vant to be Alone..” Film Star Greta Garbo announced she was retiring from motion pictures and all public appearances. She made her disappearing act complete and was only seen fleeting on the streets of New York until her death in the 1990s.

1963- T.V. game show "Let's Make a Deal" with Monty Hall premieres.