Maybe you have heard of today’s feature; I certainly have but know very ittle about het.   On this date in 1909, Mary Pickford made her screen debut at the age of 16.  She and her husband Douglas Fairbanks were considered Hollywood royalty.  In 1909, she starred in 51 films, and by the time she was 24, she was earning one […]

I thought this might be kind of fun since the Oscars were just on.  It was on this date in1938 that the tenth Academy Awards show was held.  Walt Disney won two awards that year–one was his seventh for Best Short Cartoon.  I also discovered this piece of information.  The ceremony was supposed to take place the week before, but […]

My dad would find today’s feature interesting since he was an “Our Gang” fan.  On this date in 1928, George “Spanky” McFarland was born.  I didn’t know he was born in Denison, Texas.  His family called him “Sonny” before he began starring in the “Our Gang” comedy series, and he modeled children’s clothes.  Following the popular series, he joined the […]

This was certainly news to me, and maybe to you, too.  On this date in 1908, the very first animated cartoon was created.  Émile Eugène Jean Louis Courte was the animator who released his work Fantasmagorie.  For this two-minute work, he produced about 700 chalkboard drawings.  The title means “dream-like,” and this fit the cartoon well since there was no […]

I’m going to be honest.  I thought that today’s featured person was dead!  What a shock to realize that her birthday is today, and she is 97!  That’s right, on this date in 1916, Olivia de Havilland was born.  Her parents were from the UK, and they were living in Tokyo, Japan at the time.  Her mother had been an […]

I was never a massive fan, but I am quite familiar with the Three Stooges.  On this date in 1897, Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges, was born.  Moses Harry Horwitz was his given name, and his signature hairstyle came as a result of his cutting his curls without his mom’s permission.  He was of Lithuanian Jewish descent, and […]

I always knew about the advent of sound in films due to the movie Singin’ in the Rain.  What I did not know was today’s fact.  On this date in 1926, Western Electric and Warner Brothers developed Vitaphone (pictured above), a new way to add sound to film. As early as 1919 and 1920, Lee De Forest tried to develop […]