Wednesday, December 21, 2005

"Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go. A transit strike, it's time to hike. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho"...

My sincere apologies to Larry Morey and Frank Churchill, writers of "Heigh-ho" but I just couldn't resist. There is however a reason for all this madness and it's to mark the anniversary on this date of the premiere of the 1st full-length animated feature film in color and sound...

Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered on December 21st, 1937 at the Carthay Circle Theatre in Hollywood. Four years in the making at a cost of $1.7 million, it was the 1st commercially successful film of its kind. It was also the 1st film to release a motion picture soundtrack album containing "Whistle While You Work", "Heigh-Ho", "Some Day My Prince Will Come" and more. Walt Disney was awarded an Honorary Oscar for "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" for his "pioneering efforts and significant screen innovation". In late 1994 "Snow White" was the last major classic film that Disney released to consumers on videotape...

And for all you fans of the "Seven Dwarfs", here are their names: Doc, Happy, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy and Dopey who was originally a buck-toothed buffoon named Deafy. All together now: "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go"...

More December 21 Memories...

1620) Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower go ashore for the 1st time at present-day Plymouth, Mass...

1898) Scientists Pierre and Marie Curie discover the radioactive element radium...

1913) What's a 9-letter word for a puzzle ? The New York World Sunday edition includes a "crossword" puzzle, the 1st to be published...

1937) "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premieres (feature story)...

1945) General George S. Patton dies in Heidelberg, Germany of injuries suffered in a car accident. Patton was 60...

1952) Jimmy Boyd tops the charts with "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"...

1955) LaVern Baker records "Jim Dandy"...

1960) Philip K. Wrigley, owner of the Chicago Cubs announces that his team will no longer use a manager. They will use a "college of coaches" (Charlie Grimm, Lou Boudreau, Harry Craft, Bob Kennedy and Charlie Metro). 5 years later, the experiment ends when Leo Durocher is named manager...

1967) The Rolling Stones release the album "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (containing "Sympathy for the Devil")...

1968) Crosby, Stills and Nash perform together in public for the 1st time...

1968) Janis Joplin makes her solo debut in Memphis...

1968) Apollo 8 is launched on a mission to orbit the moon...

1969) Diana Ross makes her final TV appearance ("The Ed Sullivan Show") as a member of the Supremes singing "Someday We'll Be Together" (they will perform together one more time at a live date)...

1970) Elvis Presley meets with President Nixon in the Oval Office to discuss fighting drugs (who picked Elvis as the poster boy for this movement ?)...

1971) Martha & the Vandellas break up...

1976) "Barry Manilow on Broadway" opens for a two-week sold-out run...

1978) Police in Des Plaines, Ill. arrest John W. Gacy Jr. and begin unearthing the remains of 33 men and boys that Gacy would be convicted of murdering...

1980) John Lennon tops the charts with "(Just Like) Starting Over"...

1984) Georgeann Wells of West Virginia becomes the 1st woman to dunk the ball in a women's college game...

1985) "Say You, Say Me" from the movie "White Nights" is #1 for Lionel Richie (the #5 single, "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin is also from the movie)...

1988) 270 are killed when a Pan Am Boeing 747 explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland (a terrorist attack is responsible)...

1995) The city of Bethlehem passes from Israeli to Palestinian control...

1998) The 1st vaccine for Lyme Disease is approved...

To insure accuracy, multiple reference sources were used in the above timeline...

Happy Birthday To...

1926) Recently voted "College Coach of the Year" Joe Paterno...

1935) Phil Donahue...

1937) Jane Fonda...

1942) Carla Thomas...

1948) Samuel L. Jackson...

1954) Chris Evert...

1957) Ray Romano...

1966) Kiefer Sutherland...