Today in 1935, a king was born. In East Tupelo.
Apparently, so great was/is his majesty that Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Virginia have made today, "Elvis Presley Day." The king had a twin, Jesse, who was stillborn– no room in this world for two kings of music.
Incidentally, he also sued for divorce from Priscilla on his birthday, too. That’s one big birthday.
So everybody– sing! Because Elvis is everywhere!
On a Saturday in 1973 at about 8:56 in the morning, right after Super Friends on ABC, kids were introduced to a new hero, Zero.
This was the first appearance of Multiplication Rock, brought to you by Nabisco ("You’ll find quality in our corner"). It was the beginning of Schoolhouse Rock, which taught millions of kids across the country multiplication, grammar, history, science, and finances.
So let’s all take a few minutes and watch the video for the first song written for the project, and give thanks for all those lessons learned– it’s okay to sing along, you know how it goes:
Geez, this is the week for medium birthdays, isn’t it?
On this day in 1923, Russian scientist Vladimir Zworykin, working for Westinghouse, filed the patent on his "television system," laying the groundwork for the one of the most powerful cultural forces of the late 20th-century.
Didn’t you always suspect television was a Russian plot?
On this day in 1895, the Lumiere Brothers opened the world’s first movie theater at Paris. Their opening night feature is a collection of 46-second shorts, including the riveting verite masterpiece ‘Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory.’
Gene Shalit raves, calling it one of the best films of the year.
Happy birthday to Stan the Man!
Sure, you know about his comics. You even know about his movies. But you probably don’t know the work he does with the less fortunate. Here’s a photo of him from San Diego this year, where he’s giving a big smile and a hug to a double amputee in lieu of shaking hands–
Oh, wait. That’s ComicMix’s Brian Alvey. I just took a lousy photo.
Anyway, here’s to you, Stan! May you continue to strike fear into the hearts of evil doers everywhere!
Excelsior from all of us true believers!
Read more Simone and Ajax Christmas adventures:
2000
2003
2005
2007
and A Christmas Calamity!
Oh, and don’t forget the ongoing Adventures of Simone and Ajax all here on ComicMix.
(And no, we’re not running a GrimJack installment today– for some reason, we just didn’t think that the Grinner looks good in a Santa suit. But we do have a Munden’s Bar story with the birthday boy, if you’d like.)
The first episode of The Simpsons, titled "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" also known as "The Simpsons Christmas Special," premiered on this day in 1989 on the Fox Television — well, it wasn’t much of a network 18 years ago, but we have to call it that nowadays.
We mention it because nobody ever remembers birthdays around Christmas time.
But you’re still not getting a second present.
How can we let it go by without acknowledging the great squid pirate, the undead stepdad, the aged rockstar, the bad ass vampire lord, and Slartibartfast?
In case you missed those references, please get a Netflix account (that way you don’t have to leave your man-cave, you hermit) and rent Pirates of the Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Love, Actually, Underworld (both 1 and 2) and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. He’s one crafty shape-shifter. We won’t really examine his dramatic works on Broadway, the West End, or Oscar nominated pieces because we all know those are just boring.
Way to have that career surge at mid-life, sir, and a happy birthday to you.
Today is the birthday of one of Hollywood’s most employed make-up artists, Rick Baker. Baker made an impressive career start on The Exorcist, helping make the otherwise innocent Linda Blair into a believable demon. He went on to films like Star Wars, The Rocketeer, Men in Black, The Nutty Professor, Planet of the Apes, Hellboy and many, many others.
He was also the first person to ever win an Academy Award for Best Makeup for An American Werewolf in London (pictured here) and he’s won five more since.
Today is Frank Springer’s 78th birthday.
The Maine based American comics artist is apparently still at it, but Frank is most famous for drawing DC’s The Secret Six and Marvel Comics’ Dazzler and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. In addition, he was also responsible (along with National Lampoon / Saturday Night Live writer Michael O’Donoghue) for one of the first risque, adults-only graphic novels, The Adventures of Phoebe Zeit-Geist. What with Ms. Phoebe finding herself in brutal, not light nor playful bondage situations, Springer may have been one of the first to bring the whole cartoon fetish/borderline porn trend to the intelligencia in the pages of The Evergreen Review.
With one thing leading to the next, we might even want to blame him for Hentai.
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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