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The plans for a reunion for the 30th anniversary of the film RAGGEDY ANN & ANDY- A MUSICAL ADVENTURE is proceeding. ASIFA hopes to hold simultaneous events in New York and Los Angeles, with a virtual link. We're scheduled for Sat Nov. 17th.


Corny Cole sketch, courtesy of MichaelSpornAnimation.com

If you know of any Raggedy vets out there, please tell them to contact me via my contact numbers. The public is invited too, of course! More details to come as we get closer to the date.

All proceeds will go to the ASIFA/Hollywood Archives.

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Birthdays: William Wrigley the Chewing Gum king 1868, Truman Capote, Eli Weisel, Lester Maddox, Buddy Rich, David Oistrach, Deborah Kerr is 86, Angie Dickinson is 76, Marylin McCoo, Len Cariou, Johnny Mathis, Rula Lenska, Eric Stolz, Monica Bellucci is 43, Jenna Elfman is 36

420AD- Today is the feast of Saint Jerome, who first translated all of the Old and New Testaments from Hebrew, Chaledean , Aramaic and Greek into commonly spoken Latin. This is referred to as the Vulgate Edition. Much everyday Latin words of the Romans disappeared when it became mostly a Clerical and Scientific language in the Middle Ages. One Latin scholar told me the Romans had a verb which meant “to have a large radish rammed up one's butt”. It was the penalty for public buggery. I wonder how you would conjugate that verb... I shoved, he shoved, we shoved...

1187-SALLADIN CAPTURED JERUSALEM- After destroying the Crusader army at The Horns of Hattin in July the Sultan of Egypt laid siege to the Holy City. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Baron of Ibelin threatened to destroy the Al Acqsa, Dome of the Rock and other Moslem Holy Places if Salladin didn't agree to mild treatment of the Christian citizens of the city. Salladin didn't want his name to go down in history with such an infamy, so he agreed. Still, he consoled himself with beheading 3,000 captured Knights Templar (you gotta have some fun). Remember Richard Lionheart had 5000 Arab people chopped up outside St.Jean d’Acre just to piss Salladin off. The Queen of Jerusalem, Yolanda DeCourtenay, wife of Baldwin IV 'the Leper King '(deceased), went into exile looking for Western support for more Crusades. Despite her efforts the Europeans never got back Jerusalem and Yolanda's titles passed from one courtly alliance to another. Today Dr. Otto Von Hapsburg, a retired dentist from Stuttgart, European Parliament member and heir apparent to the Austrian Empire has among his other titles King of Jerusalem.

1399- King Richard II abdicated the throne of England for Henry IV Bollingbroke. He was Henry IV part one,if you're a Shakespeare fan .Henry was the eldest surviving son of John of Gaunt and Richard the son of his brother Edward the Black Prince. The cousins familys would wage the War of the Roses a generation later. Richard was later murdered at Pontefract Castle. Richard II is remembered for is the invention of the pocket-handkerchief.

1630- Pilgrim John Billington became the first American hanged for murder. Known as the “Wickedest Pilgrim Father” criminologists call him the first American crook.

1789- After adopting the Constitution, setting up the Supreme Court and working with the first President, the First Congress of the United States adjourned. The current congress is called the 106th.

1791- Mozart's opera "Die Zauberflotte, The Magic Flute" premieres at Emanuel Schiknader's theater in Vienna. One of the theories about Mozart's death was that he enthusiastically put so much FreeMason's secret ritual into the Magic Flute that the Masons did him in for violating their secrecy. The Papageno-Papagena duet when they meet at the end was Schiknader's idea. Mozart gave pyrotechnical trills to the coloratura aria of the Queen of the Night, but privately he laughed at such singing as “Cut Up Noodles”.

1846- Dr. William Morton first pulled a tooth using ether as an anesthetic.

1868- Louisa May Alcott’s novel Little Women first published in installments.

1919- The Fleischer Brother's first Out of the Inkwell cartoon featuring Koko the Clown. Koko was rotoscoped- meaning traced from live action like Motion Capture does today. Dave Fleischer put on the clown suit and was filmed by his brother Max. Dave joked "if the films weren't a hit, I already have a suit for a new career."

1930- Death Valley Days show premiered on radio, sponsored by Twenty mule Team Borax powder. When it moved to television in the 50’s the host was actor Ronald Reagan.

1935- George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess premiered at the Colonial Theater in Boston. It flopped originally but after some rewrites it became a major hit.

1942-THE STAR OF AFRICA- Just prior to the Battle of El Alamein the top German fighter ace Hans Joachim Mareilles The Star of Africa died when his ME 109F caught fire and his parachute didn’t open. Marseilles had shot down 158 aircraft in one and a half years. He was just 22. His marksmanship over the Sahara desert was so good that his wingman was nicknamed “The Adding Machine” for his only job seemed to be to watch and tally up the enemy planes as Marseilles shot them down. Because of the desert heat this air ace fought his battles in shorts and white tennis shoes.

1947- The first World Series Game on Television- New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers 5-3. Gillette and Ford paid $65,000 to sponsor the entire series.

1952- This Is Cinerama, showcasing the widescreen film process, opened in theaters.

1955-James Dean (24) died when his Porsche 550 Spyder crashed head on into a pickup truck driven by college student Donald Turnupseed on Highway 41 outside of Paso Robles, California. He was driving 85 mph at dusk without his headlights on and two hours earlier had been given a ticket for speeding. Until now the American public had only seen him in one movie- "Rebel Without a Cause" and some t.v. work. Giant and East of Eden had yet to be released, yet the legend endures to this day. In an errie coincidence Dean filmed a public service announcement promoting automobile safety. His last lines were:”Remember, the life you save may be mine!”

1960-Hanna Barbera's "The Flintstones" debuts. For six seasons in prime time the inhabitants of 301 Cobblestone Lane, Bedrock, was one of the most successful tv series ever. Originally going to be named the Flagstones, then Gladestones, before Flintstones. Ed Benedicts' designs with Alan Reed as the voice of Fred, Jean Van Der Pyl the voice of Wilma, Mel Blanc doing Barney and Bea Bernadette doing Betty.

Trivia: Wilma became the first character on television to appear visibly pregnant. Lucille Ball went through her pregnancy on TV in 1953, but she was not allowed to be seen as such, covered with a lot of big clothes and filmed from the neck up. Fred and Wilma were also the first couple since 1935 allowed to be seen in a bed together. The Motion Picture Production Code demanded even married couples be portrayed in separate beds, and if together one had to have one foot touching the floor.

1970- The Presidential Commission on Obscenity and Pornography published it's report. After two years and 646 pages, they reported that porn was not harmful to society and does not encourage juvenile crime. This report helped the already burgeoning Sexual Revolution of the 60s but by the 80's was ignored by both Left and Right. Pres. Ronald Reagan had a new commission under his lieutenant Ed Meese and Savings and Loan Scandal crook Charles Keating, that concluded the opposite view.

1971- The Baseball Washington Senators played their last game in RFK Stadium. Their fans rioted and threw so much trash on to the field that the game was declared a forfeit. The Senators moved to Texas and became the Texas Rangers. No longer would the joke apply:” Washington: First in War, First in Peace and Last in the American League!”

1982- The TV comedy Cheers premiered. The Beacon Street Bar in Boston where everybody knows your name. It made stars of Ted Danson, Woody Harrelson, Kirsty Alley and Kelsey Grammar.

1990- President George Bush Sr made the cornerstone of his policy that he’d never raise taxes- He declared “Read my lips, no new taxes!” Well today he went back on his word and announced a hefty tax increase of $134 billion. When a spokesman was called on this obvious flip-flop he responded:” The Presidents position has evolved.” So did the American public’s view of Bush, they voted him out of office.


September 29, 2007 sat.
September 29th, 2007

Me, back in my days as a deep sea diver.*


Birthdays: Roman Pompey Magnus, Miguel de Cervantes, Admiral Horatio Nelson, Rudolph Diesel (inventor of the engine), Enrico Fermi, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lech Walesa, Stanley Kramer, Bryant Gumbel, Greer Garson, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ian McShane, Anita Ekberg, Andrew Dice-Clay, cartoonist Russ Heath, Tom Sizemore, Emily Lloyd is 37, Stephanie Miller, Gene Autry the Singing Cowboy from the Radio Ranch, who first recorded Rudholf the Red Nosed Reindeer and owned the California Angels Baseball Team, would have been 100 today!

In the Medieval calendar this was The Feast of Mickelmuss or MichaelMass In Old London this was the beginning of the winter lighting season when every tenth store had to maintain a candle in a street lamp and light it after dark, until Lady Day March 25th.

1066-WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR LANDS IN ENGLAND. When King Edward the Confessor died childless he left the throne kinda up for grabs. Earl Harold son of Godwin kinda promised Duke William of Normandy that he would step aside and let him be king but later took the crown for himself. So Duke William kinda invaded with 30,000 Norman knights and support troops. Duke William was an illegitimate son of Robert the Devil and was called William the Bastard until the conquest when he became William the Conqueror.
When William's ship landed at Pevensey Beach near Dover Duke William leapt out into the surf to be the first to set foot in Britain. However in front of the whole army he stumbled and fell to his knees. Quickly realizing that if he didn't act fast the men would regard this as a dangerously bad omen, he grabbed two fistfuls of muddy sand in his clenched fists, raised them up and declared : "Ah Britain! Now I have you!" His men cheered and he went on to victory at Hastings on Oct. 16th.

1798- At the court of Naples Admiral Horatio Nelson was given a 40th birthday party by his friend and patron, the British ambassador Sir William Hamilton. At this party Nelson first shows the signs of getting seriously turned on by Hamilton's hot young wife Emma. Sir William was 69, Emma was 30 and was known to be sleeping around. The party was broken up when Nelson's stepson, who was serving as one of his lieutenants, got so drunk he made a scene. The love affair between Nelson and Mrs. Hamilton in defiance of all social stigmas scandalized even that notorious age. Yet Sir William Hamilton seemed more interested in his ancient Roman pottery . Hamilton got more upset at the news of a shipload of antique vases sinking than being told that his wife was shivering the admiral’s timbers.
Shiver me timbers,blow me down; if you ain't the purtiest girl in town.."

1829- BOBBIES- Prime Minister the Duke of Wellington had been complaining for years that the city of London needed it's own regular police force instead of relying on irregular militia like the Bow Street Runners or the Horse Guards to do with urban maintenance. At this time sections of North London were so tough they were labeled on maps “No-Go”. On this day London's reorganized police force, The Greater Metropolitan Police Force based at Scotland Yard, went on duty. The constables, because they were formed by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel, were nicknamed "Bobbie's Boys" or "Bobbies". They’re also nicknamed Old Bill. Some Irish groups called them Peelers.

1862- THE GENERAL DISTURBANCE- The Yankeee army in Tennessee had a morale problem among it's senior officers. Major General Bull Nelson got into an argument with Brigadier General Jefferson C. Davis -no relation to the President of the Confederacy. In a hotel lobby Davis confronted the 6' 5", 300 pound Nelson and flung a business card in his face. Nelson bellowed "Get outta my way you puppy !" and slapped him so hard he flew across the room. Whereupon General Davis drew a pistol and shot General Nelson in the chest."Tom, he's murdered me!" Bull Nelson said to a friend as he collapsed and died. Amazingly Davis was never tried or court-martialed because he was needed on the battlefield. I guess arguments between nations take precedence. Davis was finally cashiered out of the army when during Sherman's March through Georgia he was accused of destroying a bridge before a crowd of runaway slave families could cross, knowing they would be left at the mercy of the pursuing Confederates.

1913-Rudolph Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine, celebrated his 55th birthday by jumping of his yacht into the English Channel and drowning himself.

1930- First day of shooting on the Tod Browning horror classic Dracula. Hungarian actor and recreational morphine addict Bela Lugosi played the lead role he had already made famous on stage. Lugosi was identified with the character Dracula for the rest of his life and when he died he was buried in the Dracula cape.

1933- The movie A Bill of Divorcement introduced the star Katherine Hepburn.

1938- THE MUNICH AGREEMENT- Hitler duped war weary England & France that if he ate Czechoslovakia he would be satisfied. Prime Minister Chamberlain proclaims back home :"Peace in our Time." At the conference at Bertchesgarden the British and French prime ministers never conferred, never even had lunch with each other. And no one would give a hearing to Czech Premier Benes, who’s country after all was being dissolved.

1953- The television show “Make Room for Daddy” premiered, making a star out of big nosed nightclub entertainer Danny Thomas. The Lebanese Thomas had tried to break into films with no luck. He burst into tears after Columbia studio chief Harry Cohn suggested he get a nose job and forget about it. Danny Thomas at one time was the richest man in Beverly Hills. On his show perfected the “spit-take”- he always seemed to have a mouth full of coffee when someone gave him surprising news.

1959-Hanna Barbera's "Quick Draw McGraw" tv show. Ba ba Louie and El Kabong!

1961- Russian ballet star Rudolph Nureyev, acclaimed as the greatest dancer of his age, defects to the west in Paris and was granted asylum.

1967- Patent issued for the first push button electronic calculator. It ushered in what we called back then "The Push-Button Age".

1969- The TV series Love American Style premiered.

1976- At his birthday party musician Jerry Lee Lewis accidentally shot his bass player Norman Owens in the chest with s 357 magnum. He said he was using the gun to try and open a soft drink bottle and it accidentally went off. Owens survived and sued Lewis.

1982- Tylenol recalled hundreds of thousands of bottles of capsules after a lunatic laced some with cyanide killing seven. The killer was never found.

1996- The first Nintendo Game system, the first 64 bit game system, debuted in the US. It sold 500,000 the first day.

*Just kidding. That's an image of Diver Dan (1961 kiddie show), with Surgeon Sturgeon and Baron Barracuda.


Me back in my days as animation union president.

In response to my blog of a few days ago exhorting my fellow animation folks to attend a Guild nomination meeting, I got a few e-mails accusing me of being a lying hippocrite, a fascist martinet and troublemaker who runs amok in a non-union sweatshop ( all of my people including me are working union.) The wonderful thing about being a public figure with an opinion to give, is that no matter what you say, out of three thousand members, someone will always think you are completely evil, and like, full of canal water.

Oh well. All I can say is, at least it's only one letter in 200. If it was one in ten I'd be worried.

So comrades, come rally
And the last fight let's face
The Internationale unites the human race!


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Birthdays: Michel Caravaggio, Al Kapp the cartoonist creator of Lil Abner,Kickapoo Joy Juice, Fearless Fosdick and the Schmoo; William Paley chairman of CBS, Bridgette Bardot is 72, Marcello Mastroianni, Moon Unit Zappa, Ed Sullivan, Sylvia Kristel, John Sayles, Arnold Stang, J.T. Walsh, Janeane Garofalo is 43, Mia Sorvino is 40, Hillary Duff, Naomi Watts is 39

48 B.C.- Pompey the Great, fleeing Julius Caesar after he was defeated by him in battle in Greece, was assassinated by the Egyptians when he lands on their shore. The actually hired a Roman freelancer so he could get close to him. The Egyptians thought it would please Caesar to present him with his enemies head. When one of Pompey's supporters was approaching the coast by ship and saw Pompey's funeral pyre he knew their cause was lost. He said:" Even thou, Pompeius Magnus?" Pompey was the inspiration of the word Pompous. He insisted people call him Magnus-"the Great" while still a young man. Once when he was given the right to enter Rome in triumph in a chariot borne by four milk white horses, he demanded instead four milk white elephants! They compromised on one white elephant because any more couldn't fit under Rome's victory arches.

1043- Battle of Lyrskog Heath. King Magnus the Good of the Vikings defeats the Wends, a Baltic tribe. Magnus psyched out the enemy by taking off his chain mail armor and he put on a loud red shirt. He then ran ahead of his charging warriors swinging a large double bladed axe over his head in wide circles and crashed into the foe.

1216- CORONATION OF KING HENRY III- English King John Ist, aka John the Bad, John Lackland, John SoftSword, John the Total Loser, etc. was killed when an evil monk poured poisonous toad venom in his ear. His son Henry was left a situation that didn't make for a good coronation. The country was racked by civil war and invasion because of the dispute over the Magna Charter, the great document that granted broad ranging civil rights. Henry couldn't have his coronation at Westminster because London was occupied by a French army. He couldn't have the Archbishop of Canterbury preside over the ceremony because he was under house arrest in the Vatican, the Pope disliked the Magna Charter too. And to top it all off his father had lost the Iron Crown of Alfred the Great at the beach. Boy, what a downer of a party! Henry III would reign for 56 years and demand extravagance at all subsequent royal functions.

1542- The European Discovery of California- Juan de Cabrillo sailing up from Mexico stepped ashore at Cabrillo Point in San Diego Harbor. He had hoped that San Diego Bay would be the Straights of Anian, a mythical sea route back to the Atlantic that would be safer than Magellans Straights. All through the 1500’s conventional thinking in Europe was that America was a big island with sea routes all around it. California was supposed to be the Kingdom of Califa, the Amazons who wield Golden Swords- hmm maybe Juan was toking on one too many of those special tobacco pipes back in Mexico!

1774- Pennsylvanian Joseph Galloway proposed in the first Continental Congress that the solution to America’s problems with England was to petition the mother country for dominion status:” since the colonies hold in abhorrence the idea of being independent communities.” The Dominion idea was defeated by only one vote.

1781- Washington and Rochambeaus’ troops entered the siege trenches around Yorktown. They were amazed at the British army’s lack of activity. Lord Cornwallis knew he was being surrounded by land and sea for two weeks, yet he did nothing to break out of the trap. He decided to wait until his superior General Clinton would arrive with a rescue force. But Clinton was busy in New York entertaining King George’s younger son the Duke of York who was visiting America to buck up morale. No Blackwater then to protect him. Clinton’s relief force showed up to Yorktown two weeks late for Cornwallis’ surrender.

1864- CENTRALIA RAID- Confederate Guerilla "Bloody-Bill" Anderson stops a train of 150 disarmed Union recruits and has them all killed and scalped. Because of the chaos of civil war nobody noticed that this guy was a little nuts. He hung human hair on his saddle and galloped into battle weeping out loud as he fired his pistols. He would put a knot in the sash around his waist for every time he killed a Yankee. By the time Bloody Bill was finally gunned down his sash was full of knots.

1864- THE FIRST INTERNATIONALE opens. European and American trade unions hold a mass meeting in London with the goal of attempting to centralize the world struggle for labor rights. The meeting was soon sidetracked by radical and anarchist politics and disbanded in 1876. One positive accomplishment was a Frenchman wrote a melody for the meeting that has become the most famous song of revolution, "The Internationale". The Second and Third Internationales were more about communist politics.

1904- A woman is arrested on New York’s Fifth Ave for openly smoking a cigarette. Look how far we’ve come. One hundred years later anyone can be arrested for smoking a cigarette!

1918- From Imperial German headquarters General Ludendorf monitored the reports of his armies being driven back from their final defensive lines. Ludendorf closed his office door and went into a fit of hysterics- screaming about how the Kaiser, the Reichstag the Liberals and the Navy had ruined everything. Then after regaining his composure he calmly walked downstairs to a meeting with General Von Hindenberg and Kaiser Wilhelm. There he told them that hopes for winning the World War One were now kaput. The army was defeated, the people demand peace. Negotiations should begin immediately with the Allies based on American President Wilson's 14 Points. Hindenburg wept.

1924 -the first airplane flight around the world landed back at it's point of departure. Commander Leslie Arnold took off from Seattle with 5 converted torpedo bomber seaplanes. One crashed, another sank but the remaining three circumnavigated the globe.

1928-William Paley, son of a cigar manufacturer, became president of CBS broadcasting. He turns it into a corporate broadcasting giant and threw his support behind developing television and long playing records.

1950- In a media rich ceremony General Douglas MacArthur restored South Korean President Sygmun Rhee to his palace in liberated Seoul. The Marines complained that though they had done much of the house-to-house fighting they were left out of the ceremony by old Army man MacArthur. Tough old Colonel Chesty Puller looked at all the crisp Army MP’s standing guard. He growled to a correspondent “Today my First Marines took 25 combat casualties while these little cookies were still flying out from Tokyo!”

1960- Ted Williams hits a home run at his last at-bat. Number 521.

1961- Richard Chamberlain made a name for himself by playing the handsome Dr. Kildare on TV, Raymond Massey co-starred.

1961-The Hazel tv show with Shirley Booth premiered. Anyhting you say, Mister B...

1978- Pope John Paul Ist dies after only 34 days in office. The rumor was some sort of pills were found by his bedside. The Vatican refused any autopsy.


NAME THAT REPUBLICAN!
September 27th, 2007



Doug Mayer, a very funny guy who is one of the main writers on the Car Talk (tentative title) series, has created a fun new way to tell John Ashcroft from Grover Norquist. Republican Flash Cards! Sort of a Field Guide to the ruling elite of our government. It's available now at stores, Amazon and Overstock.com. He says NAME THAT REPUBLICAN is guarranteed to produce hours of family fun, while getting your phone and e-mail listed by The Dept. of Homeland Security.

$9.95(cheap!) http://www.amazon.com/Name-That-Republican-Rogues-Rascals/dp/0811860078/ref=sr_1_1/105-6706800-2222869?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1190931415&sr=1-1


September 26, 2007 thurs
September 26th, 2007

Birthdays: Thomas Nast- famed XIX Century cartoonist who drew the first image of Santa Claus and created the Republican elephant and democratic donkey, Arthur Penn, Meatloaf, William Conrad, Dick Schapp, Samuel Adams -brewer and patriot ,cartoonist George Cruikshank, Jayne Meadows, Wilford Brimley, Shaun Cassidy, Greg Morris, Amanda Detmer, Avril Lavigne, Gwynneth Paltrow is 35.

1771-Young artist Francisco Goya enters a scholarship competition sponsored by the Academy of Parma. He lost to some obscure artist named Bettino. Judges say about his work: "Crude and ugly colors".

1934- “ I’M SICK OF THIS CAT & MOUSE GAME!” shouted Gangster Baby Face Nelson as he was cornered by two FBI agents on a rural road south of Chicago. While his gang and wife looked on in amazement Nelson boldly walked out in the open, down the middle of the road, his tommy gun blazing away at the G-Men. He killed them both but not before he was riddled with 17 bullets. He died the next day and was left in a ditch.

1935-13 year old singer Frances Gumm of the singing Gumm Sisters signed an exclusive contract with MGM Pictures. Louis B. Mayer changed Frances name to Judy Garland.

1938- Bob Hope first sang “Thanks For the Memory” on his NBC radio show. It became a hit his movie appearance in the film “The Big Broadcast of 1938.”

1944- Evangelist Aimee Semple MacPherson died in hospital from an overdose of sleeping pills. She was 53. MacPherson was one of the most powerful evangelists of the 1920s with thousands of followers donating millions of dollars. Her continued success even after sex scandals prompted H.L. Mencken to declare that "there are morons per square mile in Los Angeles than any other place on Earth!"

1954- The Tonight Show premiered. Steve Allen hosted.

1961- Hanna Barbera's "Top Cat" show premiered. Do you remember the words to the theme song..? "Top Cat, the most effectual- Top Cat, who's intellectual: Close friends get to call him T.C., Providing it's with dignity. Top Cat, the indisputable leader of the gang... He's the Boss he's a pip, he's the championship, He's the most tip-top, Top Cat !"

1964- The Warren Commission concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing President John F. Kennedy. Today despite two investigations 8 out of 10 Americans still believe Oswald was part of a conspiracy. Even Lyndon Johnson had his doubts. Documents pertaining to the case, like Oswald's tax returns, and how he could re-enter the U.S. from Soviet Russia without a passport after renouncing his citizenship, are still kept top secret. Evidence like President Kennedy's brain disappeared from the lab and witnesses to contrary theories kept dying by causes like car accidents and karate chops. The young attorney who argued the "magic bullet" theory -that one bullet went through JFK, bounced, zipped through Governor Connolly, zinged back through Kennedy ,etc, and turned up undented in the governor's hospital bedsheets- is still in the senate today-Pennsylvania Republican Arlen Spector. Maybe we’ll know more when the CIA’s papers on the assassination are published in 2029 and Jackie Kennedy’s memoirs are unlocked in 2060. Oh Boy, I can’t wait!

1977- Bob McKimson, Warner director of countless Foghorn Leghorn shorts, falls dead of heart failure in front of Friz Freleng and Yosemite Sam animator Gerry Chiniquy while having lunch. Animator Ben Washam told me McKimson was one of the finest Bugs Bunny draftsmen. That he could draw Bugs from toe-to-toe without have to make a preliminary rough sketch first. That final morning animator Art Leonardi had asked Bob for a souvenir drawing, Bob did him a Bugs Bunny but as he was leaving Art reminded him that he neglected to sign it. Bob said as he walked out "Oh, I'll get to it after lunch..."

1989- The Japanese corporate giant Sony purchased Columbia and TriStar Pictures, starting a wave of Japanese investment in Hollywood.

2003- Hours after the seasons final concert, in the middle of the night, the historic bandshell at the Hollywood Bowl was demolished. After a long legal fight with preservationists the historic 1929 structure designed by Frank Lloyd Wright that Gershwin and Stokowski played in was replaced with a new shell promising better acoustics.


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