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Mar 13, 2006
Percival Lowell's 151st Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m3...wX4EX_uIQ=s660
Percival Lawrence Lowell was an American businessman, author, mathematician, and astronomer who fueled speculation that there were canals on Mars. He founded the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, and formed the beginning of the effort that led to the discovery of Pluto 14 years after his death.
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Mar 1, 2019
Mărțișor 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...9648.3-2xa.gif
Today, Romanians say goodbye to winter and celebrate Mărțișor, a tradition marking the first day of Spring. Women across the nation will receive a red and white trinket called a mărțișor, which is typically given to them by friends and family members as a sign of respect and appreciation. It is also said that the person who wears the gift will have a prosperous year. Although mostly worn by girls and women, men also receive a mărțișor in some parts of Romania.
The celebratory day dates back thousands of years to when the new year started in March. In ancient Roman times, river stones painted red and white were worn around the neck on pieces of string until the trees began to blossom. The charms were then hung from the trees’ branches. These days, a woman might wear her mărțișor all month, pinned on clothing or tied around the wrist to bring good luck and vitality.
Even entire households join in on the celebration by hanging a red and white string at their gate to guard against evil spirits in the new year. The white represents winter snow while the red reflects warm weather ahead.
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Mar 1, 2019
St. David's Day 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...8511232-2x.jpg
Today’s Doodle celebrates St. David’s Day, a day that honors the patron saint of Wales, who has been commemorated by Welsh people since Dewi Sant’s canonization in the 12th century. St. David is said to have lived more than 100 years, founding many churches and monasteries before becoming archbishop. The grand medieval St. David’s Bishop’s Palace, located in the coastal city of St. Davids, conveys the enormity of his legacy.
The leek became a national symbol of Wales after St. David recommended that soldiers wear leeks in their caps so they would know who was who on the battlefield. Welsh soldiers still eat raw leeks on St. David’s Day while many citizens pin them on their clothes to mark the occasion and enjoy a traditional meal of cawl cymreig, a tasty stew of leeks and lamb [although St. David was reportedly a vegetarian].
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Mar 6, 2002
Piet Mondrian's 130th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/rY...AxWEUbp5r=s660
Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan , after 1906 Piet Mondrian was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the great artists of the 20th century. He is known for being one of the pioneers of 20th-century abstract art, as he changed his artistic direction from figurative painting to an increasingly abstract style, until he reached a point where his artistic vocabulary was reduced to simple geometric elements.
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March 20, 2018
Fall Equinox 2018 [Southern Hemisphere]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...0800.2-2xa.gif
Happy Fall Equinox!
Today marks the first day of autumn, astronomically speaking at least. The autumnal equinox — the celestial event in which the sun is directly above the equator — occurs around 4:15 UTC. That means night and day will be almost exactly equal in length, since the earth’s tilt and position in orbit render it parallel with the sun. Just following the equinox, the southern hemisphere will gradually begin to tilt away from the sun’s rays and usher in the cool, crisp autumn weather.
This year’s seasonal Doodle series protagonist, Quinn, curiously follows the path of a falling leaf, waking up a new friend hidden in the deciduous mound. Surely as the trees begin to turn, many, like Quinn, will find warmth in the company of friends old and new, and fun in the potential of colorful, crunchy leaf piles!
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Mar 21, 2018
Nowruz 2018
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...520640-2xa.gif
A buzzing bee and a big-eyed bug greet each other in a forest of fresh green leaves and blooming flowers. Spring has officially arrived.
In a tradition dating back 3000 years, the exact moment that the sun crosses the equator marks the start of Nowruz, the Persian New Year. After weeks of spring cleaning, families come together to feast and wish each other good luck for the dawning new year.
While music and sports are a key part of the weeklong festivities in Azerbaijan, our friends in Uzbekistan enjoy a traditional meal of ‘sumalyak’, signifying life, abundance and warmth. In Kyrgyzstan, everyone turns out for public concerts as the air hums with the joyful rhythm of the traditional ‘komuz'. And in Iran, people look for the closest source of fresh flowing water to set afloat a sabzeh [[fresh grass or sprouts), thus bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new.
Happy Nowruz!
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April 3, 2016
Start of the 100th tour of Flanders
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...38624-hp2x.jpg
Today marks the 100th tour of Flanders, or De Ronde van Vlaanderen, an annual springtime road cycling race held in Belgium since 1913. The race was put on hold during World War I, but has been held every year without interruption since 1919. The 2016 race covers 255 km [158 mi] with 18 categorized climbs and 7 flat cobblestoned sections — a notoriously bumpy ride for cyclists.
This year’s race starts in Bruges, and Doodler Alyssa Winans has included a famous Belfry in the Grand Place, or Grote Markt where the race begins. Then, riders will head south to Torhout, where De Ronde's founder, Karel Van Wijnendaele was born.
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Apr 4, 2016
Cazuza’s 58th birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...84128-hp2x.jpg
Like so many great rock musicians, Agenor Miranda Araújo Neto, better known as Cazuza, began his career rattling the walls of neighborhood garages. A native of Rio de Janeiro, he fell in with the fledgling rock group Barăo Vermelho when a friend urged him to audition for their open lead vocalist position. After landing a song on the soundtrack for a local film, the group played at the first ever Rock in Rio music festival, and their popularity soared.
After four years with the band, Cazuza embarked on an enormously successful solo career. His music and profound lyrics were a testament to his travels in the UK and his brushes with Beat poetry in San Francisco. In 1988, Cazuza’s health declined, and in 1989 he announced that he had been living with AIDS. He continued to compose and perform despite the illness. Through his openness, charm, and advocacy, Cazuza helped ease the stigmas surrounding the LGBT and HIV-positive communities in Brazil. When he died in July of 1990, thousands lined the streets of Rio for his funeral procession.
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7 March 2021
Celebrating Masako Katsura
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...9201.5-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates ambidextrous Japanese sharpshooter Masako “The First Lady of Billiards” Katsura, who made history as the first woman to compete for an international billiards title on this day in 1952.
Born in Tokyo in 1913, Katsura picked up billiards at age 12 from her brother-in-law, a game room owner, and by 15 she was the Japanese women’s champion in straight rail—a challenging variation of carom billiards in which the cue ball must hit two balls in a row to score points. After 19, she only competed in men’s tournaments; racking up 10,000 points at one exhibition in a mind-boggling four and a half hour run.
By the time Katsura moved to the United States in 1937, word of her unprecedented talent had reached eight-time world champion Welker Cochran. He came out of retirement to challenge her in a series of three-cushion matches, an even tougher version of carom billiards, depicted in the Doodle artwork, that calls for the cue ball to hit at least three cushions before striking the two object balls for points. Katsura so impressed Welker, he organized the World Championship Billiards tournament in 1952 to watch her compete against world’s foremost billiards aficionados. Katsura upset some of the sport’s best players to finish seventh in the tournament, while the progress she made for women in a traditionally male-dominated game was a first.
To celebrate her historic achievements, Katsura was inducted into the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Hall of Fame in 1976 as one of the sport’s all-time greatest players.
So here’s to you, First Lady of Billiards! Thanks for cueing up this sport for generations of women to come.
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20 March 2018
Spring Equinox 2018 [Northern Hemisphere]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...927616-2xa.gif
Happy Spring Equinox!
Today’s Doodle welcomes the spring equinox, a celestial event which marks the beginning of spring in many cultures. The term comes from the Latin equi, meaning equal, and nox, meaning night. The earth has seasons because the planet is tilted on its axis, which results in each hemisphere receiving more direct light at opposite times of the year. But on the equinox, the earth’s axis is perpendicular to the sun. In other words, people all over the world experience a day and night of equal length — almost exactly 12 hours.
This year’s seasonal Doodle series protagonist, Quinn, is strumming a pleasant tune to coax a mysterious creature out of hiding. With a mild breeze and beautiful flowers, would it be, could it be, spring?
Doodle by Sophie Diao
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20 March 2014
First Day of Spring 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBdWUbXY828
Illustrated by guest artist Eleanor Davis.
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20 March 2019
Nowruz 2019
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...2702592-2x.jpg
At the precise moment the sun crosses the equator, signalling the spring equinox, millions of families all around the world will come together and welcome Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
The 13-day season of festivities that begins on the first day of Farvardin—the first month of the Iranian Hijri calendar—is an ancient celebration that symbolizes nature’s cycle of rebirth and rejuvenation.
Preparations for Nowruz often begin weeks in advance with a thorough house-cleaning, and many children are gifted new clothing or money from older relatives. On the Wednesday before Nowruz you can find people jumping over public bonfires to cleanse for the new year, as well as children going door to door banging on pots with spoons to ask for candy. Families also put together their haftseen table, a household altar holding items symbolizing the spirit of the season. According to tradition, seven items beginning with the number S are arranged on the table, each with its own significance:
—Seeb [apple], for beauty
—Seer [garlic], for health
—Serkeh [vinegar], for patience
—Sonbol [hyacinth], for spring
—Samanu [sweet pudding], for fertility
—Sabzeh [sprouts], for rebirth
—Sekkeh [coins], for prosperity
Some families also include sumac for the sunrise and senjed [Lotus fruit], for love. Additional items, such as a mirror for reflection, and a goldfish in a bowl to represent life are often included as well as sweets and fruits. On the 13th day of Nowruz the haftseen is taken down and families enjoy a meal of sabzi polo mahi [seasoned rice with fish] before casting the sabzeh [sprouts] into fresh flowing water to symbolize letting go of all baggage and misfortune from the previous year.
Eide Shoma Mobarak! [Happy Nowruz!]
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Feb 29, 2012
Gioachino Rossini's 220th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/oC...0ThEe7zVA=s660
Gioachino Antonio Rossin was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards for both comic and serious opera before retiring from large-scale composition while still in his thirties, at the height of his popularity.
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February 25, 2016
Lesya Ukrainka’s 145th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...02592-hp2x.jpg
Lesya Ukrainka was one of Ukrainian literature's foremost writers, best known for her poems and plays. She was also an active political, civil, and feminist activist.
Among her most well-known works are the collections of poems On the wings of songs [1893], Thoughts and Dreams [1899], Echos [1902], the epic poem Ancient fairy tale [1893], One word [1903], plays Princess [1913], Cassandra [1903—1907], In the Catacombs [1905], and Forest Song [1911].
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6 March 2010
Vasaloppet 2010
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/1o...Q2mGpclKe=s660
Vasaloppet [Swedish for 'the Vasa race'] is an annual long distance cross-country ski race held on the first Sunday of March. The 90 km [56 mi] course starts in the village of Berga, just south of Sälen in western Dalarna, Sweden, and ends in the town of Mora in the central part of the province. It is the oldest cross-country ski race in the world, as well as the one with the highest number of participants.
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Mar 1, 2012
Quinquela Martín's 122nd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/YI...tuW7VBIpg=s660
Benito Quinquela Martín was an Argentine painter. Quinquela Martín is considered the port painter-par-excellence and one of the most popular Argentine painters. His paintings of port scenes show the activity, vigor and roughness of the daily life in the port of La Boca.
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April 23, 2014
Pixinguinha's 117th Birthday [born 1897]
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/m8...r8cPacHWA=s660
Alfredo da Rocha Viana Filho, known as Pixinguinha was a Brazilian composer, arranger, flautist and saxophonist born in Rio de Janeiro. Pixinguinha is considered one of the greatest Brazilian composers of popular music, particularly within the genre of music known as choro. By integrating the music of the older choro composers of the 19th century with contemporary jazz-like harmonies, Afro-Brazilian rhythms, and sophisticated arrangements, he introduced choro to a new audience and helped to popularize it as a uniquely Brazilian genre. He was also one of the first Brazilian musicians and composers to take advantage of the new professional opportunities offered to musicians by the new technologies of radio broadcasting and studio recording. Pixinguinha composed dozens of choros, including some of the best-known works in the genre such as "Carinhoso", "Glória", "Lamento" and "Um a Zero".
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March 22, 2021
Elena Lacková's 100th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...7108893-2x.png
Today’s Doodle, illustrated by Czech guest artist Filip Posivac, celebrates the centennial birthday of Slovakian-Romani writer and dramatist Elena Lacková, who is widely considered the first author in post-war Czechoslovakia to tell the story of the Romani people and the persecution they faced throughout World War II.
Born on this day in 1921 in Veľký Šariš, Czechoslovakia [modern-day Slovakia], Elena Lacková was raised in a settlement of Romani people—a historically oppressed European ethnic group of Indian origin. Although she was unable to pursue higher education due to anti-Romani laws, Lacková became a talented writer of her own accord, penning poems by moonlight as the only girl out of the 600 children in her settlement with the ability to read.
In 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Czechoslovakia and persecuted its Romani settlements as part of the regime’s Roma Holocaust. Lacková survived these atrocities and became determined to reinvigorate Roma pride through theatre. Her first published work of literature—a play entitled “Horiaci cigánsky tabor” [“The Gypsy Camp Is Burning,” 1947]—depicted the collective hardships of the Romani people during the Holocaust, while providing a new perspective into their culture.
Lacková’s work continually uplifted the Romani community through literary mediums such as short stories, fairy tales, and radio plays. In 1970, she achieved yet another milestone as the first Romani woman in Czechoslovakia to graduate from university. A pioneer who received countless accolades, Lacková became the first Romani woman to receive one of Slovakia’s highest honors, the Order of Ľudovít Štúr III, awarded in 2001.
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Mar 24, 2008
Béla Bartók's 127th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/AC...0GmAZzRzQ=s660
Béla Viktor János Bartókwas a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hungary's greatest composers. Through his collection and analytical study of folk music, he was one of the founders of comparative musicology, which later became ethnomusicology.
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Mar 26, 2008
Parametron Computer
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/nw...G-D6jxE3I=s660
Parametron is a logic circuit element invented by Eiichi Goto in 1954. The parametron is essentially a resonant circuit with a nonlinear reactive element which oscillates at half the driving frequency. The oscillation can be made to represent a binary digit by the choice between two stationary phases π radians [180 degrees] apart.
Parametrons were used in early Japanese computers from 1954 through the early 1960s. A prototype parametron-based computer, the PC-1, was built at the University of Tokyo in 1958. Parametrons were used in early Japanese computers due to being reliable and inexpensive but were ultimately surpassed by transistors due to differences in speed.
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7 July 2015
Eiji Tsuburaya’s 114th Birthday
https://www.lowyat.net/wp-content/we...0x342.jpg.webp
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwOmZ-ykQ_g
The lights dim. Cameras start to roll. A film crew silently watches. Suddenly! From behind a hand-built skyline, a towering beast appears! Shaking off a layer of dust, the massive foam-and-rubber monster leans back to act out an amazing roar [[the sound effect will be added in later]. Then, stomping towards the camera, the giant moves closer, and closer, until…”Cut!”
Seen this film before? This live action genre, known as “Tokusatsu” in Japanese, is unmistakable in its style, and still evident in many modern beast-based thrillers. In today’s Doodle, we spotlight one of Tokusatsu’s kings, Eiji Tsuburaya, the quiet pioneer who created Ultraman, co-created Godzilla, and brought Tokusatsu to the global cinematic mainstream. Doodler Jennifer Hom led us through the inspiration behind the interactive Doodle:
Who was Tsuburaya, and what drew you to create this tribute to him?
“Director Eiji Tsuburaya is best known for the famous characters he brought to life, like Ultraman. After many years in the ‘monster business,’ he set up his own practical effects studio, Tsuburaya Productions, which we were lucky enough to visit for this project! Having grown up as a film fan, I’ve always had a deep love for Tokusatsu, so I was eager to find a way to bring attention to Tsuburaya’s art. It’s fascinating to me how long-lasting the results of his work has been – it’s easy to see remnants of the Tokusatsu style in Guillermo del To ro’s Pacific Rim, Evangelion, and even the Power Rangers.”
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Mar 18, 2014
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's 170th Birthday [born 1844]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...28128-hp2x.jpg
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov ; was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. His best-known orchestral compositions—Capriccio Espagnol, the Russian Easter Festival Overture, and the symphonic suite Scheherazade—are staples of the classical music repertoire, along with suites and excerpts from some of his 15 operas. Scheherazade is an example of his frequent use of fairy-tale and folk subjects.
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March 12, 2017
Holi Festival 2017 [Nepal]
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...16416-hp2x.gif
Today, the Google letters are taking on a fresh set of colors in honor of the Holi festival. Coinciding with the arrival of spring, the vibrant celebration looks a lot like the Doodle: people run around happily covering each other in a rainbow of powdery hues.
Amid the cloud of red, blue, yellow, green, and everything in between, festival-goers can often be found laughing, singing, and dancing in the streets. The joyous event, which takes place in Nepal and other countries around the world, traditionally marks the triumph of good over evil. It also gives family and friends a chance to simply come together, enjoying a spirited “Festival of Colors” that undoubtedly lives up to its name.
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May 29, 2014
Norman Frederick Hetherington's 93rd Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FS...zEEvFRmsk=s660
Norman Frederick Hetheringtonwas an Australian artist, teacher, cartoonist [known as "Heth"], puppeteer, and puppet designer.
He is best remembered as the creator of one of Australia's longest running children's shows Mr. Squiggle. Hetherington was the sole operator and voice of its star performer, the Mr. Squiggle marionette.
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Jul 21, 2014
Belgium National Day 2014
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/C4...WBDp7akx8=s660
Guest artist Sam Vanallemeersch depicts Adolphe Sax and other icons [check out his diagram!] from Belgian culture in a parade for the country’s National Day.
http://lh6.ggpht.com/BryhVaaSh3NI31B...zwyFkgg5RBA=s0
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Oct 24, 2015
R. K. Laxman's 94th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...976.5-hp2x.jpg
A humorist and illustrator with an uncommon talent, R.K. Laxman was one of India’s most celebrated cartoonists. His daily political cartoon, You Said It, ran on the front page of The Times of India for more than 50 years. Laxman was best known for his Common Man character, who he drew into his cartoons as a witness to the kinds of hypocrisies and societal inequalities Laxman wanted to silently expose.
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Oct 9, 2015
Hangul Proclamation Day 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...31712-hp2x.png
Happy Hangul Day! Today's doodle celebrates Korean Alphabet day in South Korea. Hangul Proclamation Day commemorates the 15th century proclamation of Hangul as the national alphabet for Korea by Sejong the Great. The name Hangul can mean either "great script" or "Korean script.”
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Jul 21, 2015
Belgium National Day 2015
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...66016-hp2x.jpg
What better way to celebrate Belgium’s National Day than with a Doodle of the ubiquitous and universally treasured Belgian frieten? Whether taken with ketchup, mayonnaise, vinegar, or the much beloved Belgian tartar sauce, Belgian fries are an unmistakable delight never quite perfectly replicated beyond her borders.
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May 1, 2015
175th anniversary of the Penny Black stamp
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/__...xCr7e15Eg=s660
Before 1st May 1840, posting a letter was a very complicated and expensive affair. It could cost the equivalent of a days wage, and it was charged by how many sheets of paper were used and how far it had to travel. Normally the recipient had to pay the cost.
Sir Roland Hill was responsible for reforming the British postal system, and as part of this a competition was held for the public to design the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. However none of the entries were thought suitable, so instead they used the profile sketch of a then 15 year old Queen Victoria. This image was used on stamps until the end of her reign. Because the Penny Black was the first postage stamp in the world, it did not show a country of origin, and to this day British stamps are the only stamps in the world that do not state what country they are from.
However, the Penny Black only remained in circulation for a year, as it was soon found that it was possible to remove the ink of the red cancellation mark and re-use the stamp, so the Treasury switched to the Penny Red and black cancellation ink.
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22 March 2023
Marcel Marceau's 100th Birthday
https://www.google.com/logos/doodles...109579-2xa.gif
Today’s Doodle celebrates French mime artist Marcel Marceau. The actor and master of silence was born on this day in 1923 in Strasbourg, France with the name Marcel Mangel. During the German occupation of France, he changed his surname to Marceau to avoid being identified as Jewish.
In his childhood, Marceau was introduced to movies and dreamed of starring in silent films. He entertained his friends with impersonations of famous actors and mimes and would later use his silent acting skills to help smuggle Jewish children out of Nazi-occupied France. His pantomimes were used to keep children quiet during dangerous moments on the journey to the Switzerland border. Marceau made three of these trips and liberated at least 70 children during World War II.
After the war, Marceau studied dramatic acting and mime at the School of Dramatic Art of the Sarah Bernhardt Theatre in Paris. In 1947, he began playing his famous character Bip the Clown, a tragicomic figure with a striped shirt, white face paint, and a battered beflowered hat. Bip explored the range of human emotions and his actions spoke louder than words could. Soon after, he founded the Compagnie de Mime Marcel Marceau, the only pantomime company in the world at the time, to develop the art of silence.
Marceau performed in transcontinental tours and introduced people around the world to the art of miming. Millions more would become familiar with Marceau through his television and movie appearances. He played the role of Scrooge in A Christmas Carol in 1973 and earned an Emmy for Best Specialty Act for his 1956 appearance on the Max Liebman Show of Shows. Some of his stand-out performances in the motion picture realm include the 17 roles he played in the film First Class and his silent role in Shanks. Beyond his acting talent, Marceau also directed a mime drama and published two children's books.
Happy birthday, Marcel Marceau, you specialized in silence but continue to leave audiences roaring with laughter.
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Mar 27, 2015
Tashiro Furukawa’s 170th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/xb...Ky5HF02Eg=s660
To celebrate Tashiro Furukawa's 170th birthday, students sign "Google" in both his original sign language, and the modern fingerspelling it evolved into.
Tashiro Furukawa was a pioneer in blind and deaf education in Japan. He was a schoolteacher whose many contributions to education included opening the Blind and Deaf School in 1878, which is still opened to students to this day.
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Mar 21, 2015
First Day of Fall 2015 [Southern Hemisphere]
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/TF...jpdyoUAfw=s660
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Dec 3, 2014
Anna Freud's 119th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/6i...QY5JT79VQ=s660
Take a peek inside the mind of psychoanalyst Anna Freud for her 119th birthday. As the daughter of famed neurologist Sigmund Freud, Anna followed her father’s footsteps into the field and is recognized as the founder of psychoanalytic child psychology.
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September 21, 2018
Celebrating Mister Rogers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd7X0NsOeRk
On this date, September 21, 1967, 51 years ago, Fred Rogers walked into the television studio at WQED in Pittsburgh to tape the very first episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which would premiere nationally on PBS in February 1968. He became known as Mister Rogers, nationally beloved, sweater wearing, “television neighbor,” whose groundbreaking children’s series inspired and educated generations of young viewers with warmth, sensitivity, and honesty.
Fred McFeely Rogers [March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003], better known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.
Rogers grew up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a small town near Pittsburgh. Music was his first love, and he studied music composition at Rollins College. Just before graduating in 1951, he happened to watch some children’s television shows and described them as “a lot of nonsense, pies in faces.” He felt children deserved better and headed for New York, serving as an apprentice and floor manager for the music shows at NBC.
Returning to Pittsburgh, Rogers eventually added the ministry and lifelong studies in child development to his talents, bringing them to WQED, where he produced Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. He drew on all of his talents, including being a gifted communicator, to wear many hats, serving as creator, host, producer, script writer, composer, lyricist, and main puppeteer for almost 900 programs.
Rogers’ reputation as a champion of high standards—for children’s programming and for television in general—was highlighted by his now-famous testimony before Congress in 1969 advocating against proposed budget cuts to public television. The committee was so moved by his simple, genuine, and powerful plea that the budget was increased for the following year.
Although production on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood ended in 2000, many PBS stations continue to broadcast the series for a new generation of children to discover. Today, young viewers also get to “visit with” Daniel Tiger [son of the beloved puppet from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood] on Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, the animated spin-off, which delves into many of the same important topics Rogers did.
Today’s stop-motion, animated video Doodle celebrating Mister Rogers was created in collaboration with Fred Rogers Productions, The Fred Rogers Center, and BixPix Entertainment. Set to the iconic opening song of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood [“Won’t You Be My Neighbor"], the Doodle aims to be a reminder of the nurturing, caring, and whimsy that made the show feel like a “television visit” between Mister Rogers and his young viewers. Everyone was welcome in this Neighborhood. Through his honest words, thoughtful songs, and imaginative Neighborhood of Make-Believe stories, Mister Rogers took us by the hand, helping us feel good about who we are. He encouraged us to find positive ways to deal with our feelings, to treat others with respect and kindness, and to appreciate the world around us.
-Hedda Sharapan, Child Development Consultant, Fred Rogers Productions
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Mar 26, 2015
Hwang Sun-won’s 100th Birthday
https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/lA...OZCdjbyEV=s660
Hwang Sun-wŏn [March 26, 1915 – September 14, 2000] was a Korean short story writer, novelist, and poet.