November 13, 1940 -
Walt Disney's third animated film Fantasia, opened in New York on this date.
Walt Disney had a chance meeting with Leopold Stokowski at Chasen's restaurant. They agreed to have dinner together. As they talked, Disney told of his plans to do The Sorcerer's Apprentice and other possible projects using classical music with animation. Disney said that he was stunned when Stokowski, then one of the two most famous conductors in the country (the other being Arturo Toscanini), responded by saying, "I would like to conduct that for you." It was an offer he couldn't pass up.
November 13, 1954 -
Looney Tunes first 3D cartoon, Lumber Jack Rabbit, starring Bugs Bunny, premiered on this date.
This was the only Warner Bros. cartoon filmed in 3D. It was intended for release with House of Wax, which was also filmed in 3D.
November 13, 1965 -
Get Off My Cloud by The Rolling Stones topped the charts on this date.
There was some of controversy over this song. Some U.S. radio stations refused to play the song because of the supposed drug references.
November 13, 1971 -
Steven Spielberg's first full- length film, Duel, starring Dennis Weaver, debuted on ABC-TV on this date.
Steven Spielberg wanted David Mann's car to be red so it would stand out in the wide shots of the desert highways.
November 13, 1975 -
Morris Albert's song Feelings went gold on this date.
In 1987, Morris Albert was found guilty of plagiarism, with a jury finding that this borrowed heavily from a French song from 1956 called "Pour Toi."
You can blame me later for this ear worm
November 13, 1991 -
The first animated film to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast premiered in Hollywood on this date.
All songs were the last complete works for a movie by Academy Award winner Howard Ashman. Ashman died eight months prior to the release of the film. The film is dedicated to Ashman; at the end of the final credits, you can read the dedication: "To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful."
Today's moment of Zen
(Very sorry about the delay in yesterday's posting)
Today in History:
While it is a particularly uneventful day in history, let us opine these words:
"The students are beyond control and their behavior is disgraceful. They come blustering into the lecture-rooms like a troop of maniacs and upset the orderly arrangements which the master has made in the interest of his pupils. Their recklessness is unbelievable and they often commit outrages which ought to be punishable by law, were it not that custom protects them."
People concerned about the pace of change in human affairs can find solace in knowing that these familiar sentiments were expressed about sixteen centuries ago by St. Augustine, who was born on November 13, 354 AD.
Like many other theological luminaries, Augustine began life as a debauched young man who sought his pleasures in wine, women, and song. Eventually he became old and cranky and declared his youth wasted.
All of the things that occurred during the drunken orgies of his youth recounted in his Confessions do not hold a candle to the crap going on in the Florida recount for the midterm election.
November 13, 1789 -
Benjamin Franklin wrote a letter to a friend in which he said, "In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."
I would include, "please return your seat in the upright position."
November 13, 1927 -
Although most of the Dutch returned to Holland after learning that New Amsterdam had become New York.
November 13, 1947 -
The AK-47 assault rifle development by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the Soviet Union was completed on this date. The rifle was one of the first assault rifles to be created.
Today, it is the most widely-used assault rifle in the world — more AK-47 models have been made than all other assault rifle models put together.
November 13, 1955 -
Happy Birthday Caryn
Whoopi Goldberg (Caryn Elaine Johnson) actress, comedienne, and television host, was born on this day.
November 13, 1965 -
Appearing on a late night live satire program called BBC3, critic Kenneth Tynan becomes the first man to say “Fuck” on TV.
November 13, 1971 -
The American space probe, Mariner 9, becomes the first space probe to orbit another planet when it enters into orbit around Mars on this date. The probe’s mission was to return photographs that would map seventy percent of the surface while conducting a study of the planet’s atmosphere.
Analysis of the data returned by the probe revealed that the planet is covered in dried river beds. Two Soviet probes achieved the same orbit about a month later.
November 13, 1974 -
Karen Silkwood, a technician and union activist at the Kerr-McGee Cimarron plutonium plant near Crescent, Okla., was killed in a 'car crash' while on her way to meet a reporter on this date.
The Kerr-McGee nuclear fuel plants closed in 1975. The grounds of the Cimarron plant were still being decontaminated more than 40 years later.
November 13, 1982 -
Maya Lin's simple yet elegant Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on Veteran's Day to the veterans of the Vietnam War on this date (the memorial was opened to the public a few days earlier.) The memorial was built with polished granite, and it displays the names of over 60,000 veterans.
No federal funds were used to construct the wall. Private contributions from individuals, corporations, veterans and other organizations, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund raised almost $9 million.
Before you go - I still don't understand the concept of holiday long-form commercials in England. The English supermarket chain Sainsbury released their annual holiday advert.
It's a nice commercial but our English cousins seem to smell a controversy- this commercial is a tad too similar to an earlier commercial for John Lewis and Waitrose; you compare them -
I just can't imagine Americans sitting for more than a minute for a commercial.
And so it goes.
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