Blog Archives

The Walt Disney Company is founded by Walt Disney and his brother, Roy Disney on this day in 1923.

First movie with sound —  The Jazz Singer,  an American musical film, is released on this day in 1927, transforming cinema.   Originally called a “talkie,” the film was an enormous success for the time. At the premier,  fifteen reels of film and fifteen separate disks had to be managed and cued very quickly.  But audience reaction was strongly positive, and it was clear by 1927 that the end of silent cinema was in sight. The racist blackface routines, meant to be clownish, were unfortunately typical of stage performances at the time, and contributed to the climate of  hatred in the post WWI era.

Tim Burton, American director, producer, and screenwriter, is born on this day in 1958.

Motion picture camera patented on this day in 1891 by Thomas Edison.

 Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon, created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris, France on this day in 1908.

 Otto Messmer, American cartoonist and animator, co-creator of  Felix the Cat , is born on this day in 1892.

Fiddlesticks — The first color sound cartoon,  made by Ub Iwerks, is released on this day in 1930.

The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles.

Lina Wertmüller, Italian film director known for  Seven Beauties, The Seduction of Mimi, Love and Anarchy and Swept Away is born on this day in 1928.   Seven Beauties led to a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Director — the first ever for a woman.

Louella Parsons, Hollywood gossip columnist and ally of William Randolph Hearst, is born on this day in 1881.  Parsons is remembered for siding with Hearst in the fight over Orson Welles’  movie Citizen Kane.