Aristocats against butler Edgar

On December 24 right on Christmas Eve, in 19970 an animated feature produced and released by Walt Disney Productions is released: The Aristocats!

This film is very important because is noted for being the last film project to be approved by Walt Disney himself, as he died in late 1966, before the film was released. It gained positive reviews on first release and was a box office success.

The story is about a mother cat named Duchess and her three kittens, Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse, live in a mansion in Paris in 1910.  The landlady was a retired opera singer Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, along with her English butler Edgar. She early on settles her will with her lawyer Georges Hautecourt, an aged, eccentric old friend of hers, stating that she wishes for her fortune to be left to her cats, who will retain it until their deaths, upon which her fortune will revert to Edgar. Edgar hears this and is unwilling to wait for the cats to die naturally before he inherits Madame Adelaide’s fortune, and plots to remove the cats from a position of inheritance. An alley cat acquaintance helps the kidnapped kittens from the butler.

You can hear the voices of Eva Gabor, Phil Harris, and Roddy Maude-Roxby as Edgar the butler, the anti-hero of the story.

By watching this film you get to love the cats more…

Another wonderful animated movie from the master of the art.

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!

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Christmas Jewelries by Thomas Edison

During the 1880 Christmas season, Thomas Edison strung a line of electric lights outside his Menlo Park, N.J. laboratory, enchanting travelers on passing trains. And on December 22, in 1882, Edison’s partner in the Edison Illumination Company, Edward H. Johnson, hung the first string of 80 electric Christmas tree lights, an Edison’s creation, from a spinning tree it the parlor of his mansion!

This is the first time that the Christmas gained their lights!

A century and some years ago, Christmas lights were an extravagance item! They were equivalent to Tiffany windows and Faberge eggs, mainly due to the high price of electricity. Some estimation put the cost of lighting a Christmas tree at $2,000 in today’s dollars. The public could enjoy the lights, but only at a distance.

A visitor in the mansion told Detroit Post and Tribune paper the following: “all encased in these dainty glass eggs, and presented a most uncanny and picturesque aspect; the result was a continuous twinkling of dancing colors—red, white, blue, white, red, blue – all the evening, like the tree laden with lambent splendor that sparkles above the fountains in Aladdin’s palace. I need not tell you that the scintillating evergreen was a pretty sight – one can hardly imagine anything prettier.”

Of course it would be couple decades later before Christmas tree lights became affordable for ordinary Americans.

Well, sometimes it is a lot of work, but the Christmas lights have to be finally up!!!

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!

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On Wednesday for a Saturday Night Fever!

On Wednesday and not on Saturday 14 December, in 1977 premiered the big hit dance film Saturday Night Fever!

The film was directed by John Badham and starring John Travolta as Tony Manero, an adolescent young man whose weekends are spent visiting a local Brooklyn discotheque (night club of the time); While in the disco, Tony is the king.

This dance care-free weekend helped Tony to forget the problems of his real life. No job, racial pulls in the local community, his links with the neighborhood gang of macho friends, and of course the continued fights with his uncooperative and backbiting parents.

This film because of its huge commercial success, was the reason of popularizing disco music around the world and made Travolta a big name. The soundtrack of the film featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees, is one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time.

The film also showcased new “entries” in the film music culture: symphony-orchestrated melodies, haute-couture clothing, and beautiful choreography. The story is based upon a 1976 New York magazine article by British writer Nik Cohn. In the late 1990s, Cohn acknowledged that the article had been fabricated.

Let’s dance folks in the Bee Gees rhythm! On a Saturday night of course!

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!

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Jim Morrison “opens” the DOORS!

A well know poet and a DOOR member Jim Morrison was born as today December 8, in 1943.

With his real name, James Douglas “Jim” Morrison, was born in Melbourne, Florida, to future Rear Admiral George Stephen Morrison and Clara Morrison. He was of Irish and Scottish descent.

Recognized as an American singer-songwriter and poet, best remembered as the lead singer of Los Angeles rock band The Doors. Following The Doors’ explosive rise to fame in 1967, Morrison developed a severe alcohol and drug dependency that culminated in his death at the age of 27 in Paris. He is alleged to have died of a heroin overdose, but as no autopsy was performed, the exact cause of his death is still disputed. Morrison was well known for improvising spoken word poetry passages that he was often performed while the band played live. Due to his wild personality and performances, he is regarded by critics and fans as one of the most iconic, charismatic and pioneering frontmen of a group in rock music history. Morrison was ranked number 47 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and number 22 on Classic Rock Magazine’s “50 Greatest Singers In Rock”!

He is a legend in Rock n Roll era. Everyone will remember Jim. Though paper memorabilia or not…

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!

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Walt’s birthday. An epic day for comics and animation!

This day has to be dedicated in comics & animation!

Walter Elias “Walt” Disney was born as today on 5 December, 1901.

This immense American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon,and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century, along with his brother Roy O. Disney, he was co-founder of Walt Disney Productions. One of the best-known motion picture producers in the world.

Disney is particularly noted as a film producer and a popular showman, as well as an innovator in animation and theme

park design. He and his staff created some of the world’s most well-known fictional characters including Mickey Mouse, for whom Disney himself provided the original voice.

During his lifetime he received four honorary Academy Awards and won 22 Academy Awards from a total of 59 nominations! Actually he made a record in one year that he gained 4, giving him more awards and nominations than any other individual in history. This enormous cartoonist and film maker also won seven Emmy Awards and gave his name to five theme parks around the world!

Amazing Walter!

We’re really supporting comics, cartooning, comic strips and animation! We support them for the great art they are..

We already have mention three times comic stories on this blog: Paper stories and Eric Castel, Steamboat Mickey! and Woody Woodpecker first appearance in Knock Knock ! Enjoy…

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!

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Woody Woodpecker first appearance in Knock Knock

Woody Woodpecker is a very famous cartoon character with his trademark laugh “Ha-ha-ha-HAA-ha!”, an anthropomorphic pileated woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures.

In Woody’s first cartoon movie Knock Knock supposedly stars Andy Panda and his father, Papa Panda, but it is Woody who steals the show. The woodpecker continually harasses the two pandas, apparently just for the fun of it. Woody of Knock Knock was designed by animator Alex Lovy and Woody’s original voice was actor Mel Blanc. Ironically, Blanc’s characterization of the Woody Woodpecker laugh had originally been applied to a Bugs Bunny prototype, in shorts such as the Elmer’s Candid Camera, and was later transferred to Woody.

Audiences reacted well to Knock Knock, and Lantz realized he had finally hit upon a star to replace the declining Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Woody would go on to star in a number of films. With his distinctive boldness and brash behavior, the character was a natural hit during World War II. His image appeared on US aircraft as nose art, and on mess halls, and audiences on the home-front watched Woody cope with familiar problems such as food shortages.

Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the short Knock Knock was as today on November 25, 1940.

It’s really fun to collect comics and cartoon items and there are a lot of enthusiasts around the world that are crazy about this material!

Some paper ideas from the same date from the past!
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