history for 1/6/2007
Birthdays: St. Joan La Pucelle also called Joan of Arc, Mountainman Jedediah Smith, Tom Mix, Alexander Scriabin, illustrator Gustav Dore', Loretta Young, Earl Skruggs. Carl Sandburg, Danny Thomas, Nancy Lopez, John DeLorean, Alan Watts, John Singleton, Rowan Atkinson, Anthony Minghella

Happy Feast Of Epiphany, Twelfthnight and The Eastern Orthodox Christmas.
Today is the end of the twelve days of Christmas when the Magi, the three kings Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar visited the Holy Family. The Magi were the priestly caste of ancient Persia and the Zoroastrian religion. They were believed to predate the Persians and come from the Chaldaeans, the people who invented the western branch of the science of astronomy, the Maya and Chinese were doing the same thing on their sides of the world. A lot of their ritual concerned observation of the stars. Some astronomers theorize the Star of Bethlehem was a rare planetary alignment that created a bright spot the Magi weren't used to, or a close orbit of Jupiter. The Chinese have calculated that there was a supernova around 6 BC which is more or less the right time.

1849- the first cartoon cover of Punch Magazine.

1945- First Pepe Le Pew cartoon, "Odorable Kitty". When the Warners producer who replaced Leon Schlesinger, Eddie Selzer, heard the plans to do a short about a skunk he thundered: "Absolutely Not! Nobody will like a cartoon skunk!" Chuck Jones recalled: "As soon as he said no, I knew we just had to do it." Selzer's final opinion:" Nobody'll laugh at that sh*t!" The short won an Oscar. Selzer later went on into network T.V.

1949- Composer Leonard Bernstein noted in his diary that “JR (Jerome Robbins) called today with a novel idea- a modern version of Romeo and Juliet set in the slums.” At first the musical was going to be called East Side Story, then GangWay, finally West Side Story.

1956- Prince Rainier of Monaco announced his engagement to movie star Grace Kelly.

1956- Walt Disney met his old enemy, Max Fleischer. Max had retired and Walt had hired his son, Richard Fleischer, to direct Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The meeting was cordial and Max was reunited with a number of his former old artists. But Richard Fleischer sensed the bittersuite mood. It felt like Goliath had beaten David.

1962- Bob Clampett's Beany and Cecil the Sea-Sick Sea Serpent. This was the animated version of his popular puppet show.“So Long Kids ,Wind Up Your Lids, We’ll look for You Real Soooooon.” Animator Carl Bell recalled when you conferred with Bob Clampett, sometimes he'd have the Cecil puppett on his arm, and you'd have to receive your critique or get a new assignment from Cecil.


1975-“ Ease on Down the Road.-“ The Wiz premiered on Broadway.

1994- “WHY ME, WHY ME?” Shortly after a practice in a Detroit skating rink Olympic hopeful Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by a man trying to smash her knees with a steel pipe. The man Derrick Smith later confessed to the FBI that he was paid $6500 to do the deed by Jeff Gilhooly, the ex-husband and manager of Kerrigans rival skater Tanya Harding. Despite all the intense media coverage in the end Kerrigan got one Silver medal, Harding nothing and the Olympic gold in Figure Skating went to Ukrainian Oksana Baiul, who was later busted for drunk driving.