Carmen Miranda was a Portuguese Brazilian samba singer, dancer, Broadway actress and film star who was popular from the 1930s to the 1950s. In 1940, she made her first Hollywood film, Down Argentine Way, with Don Ameche and Betty Grable. In the same year, Miranda was invited to sing and dance for President Franklin Roosevelt. Nicknamed “The Brazilian Bombshell,” she was noted for her Latin accent, exotic clothing and signature fruit hat outfit she wore in her American films, particularly in The Gang’s All Here (1943). By 1945, she was the highest paid woman in the U.S. Miranda made a total of 14 Hollywood films. She was the first Latin American star to be invited to imprint her hands and feet in the courtyard of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, in 1941. Miranda was also the first South American to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was born on February 9, 1909.
P.S. The United Fruit Company took advantage of the Carmen Miranda craze by creating the cartoon mascot Chiquita Banana. Speaking of which, consider this matchup: Carmen Miranda vs. Chiquita Banana. Fight!
Richard Brautigan was an American novelist, poet and short story writer. His work often employs black comedy, parody and satire. He is best known for Trout Fishing in America (1967), In Watermelon Sugar (1968) and Willard and His Bowling Trophies: A Perverse Mystery (1975). Brautigan was born on January 30, 1935. Growing up, his family lived on welfare and moved about the Pacific Northwest before settling in Eugene, Oregon in 1944. In 1956, Brautigan left home for San Francisco, where he became involved in the counterculture, or Beat, scene. Many years later, on approximately September 16, 1984, he died of a self-inflicted .44 Magnum gunshot wound to the head, though his body was not discovered for almost six weeks.
Ded Moroz (translated as “Old Man Frost” or “Grandfather Frost”) is a fictional character who plays a role similar to that of Santa Claus in some Slavic cultures. Ded Moroz is said to bring presents to children; however, unlike the secretive Santa Claus, the gifts are often delivered “in person” at New Year celebrations. Depictions of Ded Moroz commonly show him with a heel-length fur coat and a semi-round fur hat. He is accompanied by Snegurochka (“Snow Maiden”), his granddaughter and helper. She is a unique attribute of Ded Moroz; no traditional gift-givers from other cultures are portrayed with a female companion, though the German analog Saint Nicholas comes with Krampus. There are equivalents of Ded Moroz and Snegurochka all over the former Soviet Union, as well as the countries once in the so-called Soviet bloc and in the former Yugoslavia. The official residence of Ded Moroz in Russia is the town of Veliky Ustyug.
The Chiquita company mascot Miss Chiquita, now Chiquita Banana, was created in 1944 by Dik Browne, who is best known for his Hägar the Horrible comic strip. Miss Chiquita started as an animated banana with a woman’s dress and legs. Advertisements featured the trademark banana character wearing a fruit-filled sombrero. The obvious inspiration was Brazilian bombshell Carmen Miranda, who was known for wearing exotic fruit-adorned hats/headdresses. Miss Chiquita was depicted as a banana until 1987, when artist Oscar Grillo, creator of the Pink Panther, transformed her into a woman. A new Miss Chiquita design was unveiled in 1998. Peel-off logo stickers have been placed on bananas since 1963. This year was Miss Chiquita’s 60th anniversary.
P.S. As a playable 8-bit character in my retro artillery game, Miss Chiquita throws bananas (obviously), just like the original gorilla character and inspiration for this entire project, QBasic Gorilla.
Mr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. Dating to 1916, he is depicted as an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats and a cane. Mr. Peanut has appeared in many TV commercials as an animated cartoon character. He continues to teach hipsters the modern practice of dandyism.
I associate Mr. Peanut with being a child in my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. Behind the bifold doors of their pantry they always had a jar of peanuts. My grandparents’ house was a place of many memorable childhood food-consumption activities, including making and eating pancakes at the kitchen bar; drinking brown soup with ditalini pasta; devouring homemade bread and pepperoni rolls; and sneaking homemade biscotti, chocolate chip cookies and brownies from the cookie jars.
Snufkin is a character in the Moomin series of books authored by Swedish-speaking Finn Tove Jansson, appearing in six of the nine novels. He is the best friend of the series’ protagonist, Moomintroll, and lives a nomadic lifestyle, only staying in Moominvalley in the spring and summer, but leaving for warmer climates down south every winter. Snufkin wears old green clothes and a wide-brimmed hat he has had since birth. He lives in a tent, smokes a pipe and plays the harmonica. Snufkin has a great dislike for all symbols of private property and for authority figures such as the Park Keeper, and the many regulation signs and fences he erects. At one point he sabotages the Park Keeper by planting Hattifatteners in his garden, causing them to grow and drive him out. Snufkin prefers freely-growing foliage to fenced-in lawns. He keeps as few worldly possessions as possible, seeing them as a burden, and being happier keeping the memory of a thing than the thing itself. Tove Jansson based the character of Snufkin on her friend and one-time fiancé, Atos Wirtanen.
P.S. This 8-bit Snufkin is based on his character design in the 1990 Japanese-European anime television series Moomin.
Andre Young, known by his stage name Dr. Dre, is an American record producer, rapper and entrepreneur. He is the founder and current CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics. Dre was previously the co-owner of, and an artist on, Death Row Records. He has produced albums for and overseen the careers of many rappers, including Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit, 50 Cent, The Game, and Kendrick Lamar. He is credited as a key figure in the popularization of West Coast G-funk, a style of rap music characterized as synthesizer-based with slow, heavy beats. Dre began his career as a member of the World Class Wreckin’ Cru and later found fame with the influential gangsta rap group N.W.A. In 2014, Dr. Dre was ranked as the second-richest figure in the American hip-hop scene by Forbes with a net worth of $550 million. (Sean “Diddy” Combs was ranked first and Jay-Z was third on the Forbes list.)
P.S. Happy Labor Day! The Portland State Vikings lost 14-29 to the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday in Corvallis in their first football game of the season.
David Fincher is an American film director, film producer and music video director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and his 2010 film The Social Network. Some of Fincher’s other films include Seven (1995), Fight Club (1999), Panic Room (2002) and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). His most recent film is Gone Girl, a mystery-thriller scheduled for release on October 3, 2014. Fincher moved to Ashland, Oregon in his teens, where he graduated from Ashland High School. He was born on this day in 1962.
Note: Fincher, with black stocking cap, is character #777 in honor of Se7en, one of the best movies of the mid-1990s.
Idi Amin Dada was the third President of Uganda, ruling from 1971 to 1979. In 1946, Amin joined the British colonial regiment, the King’s African Rifles, serving in Kenya and Uganda. Eventually, Amin held the rank of major general in the post-colonial Ugandan Army and became its commander before seizing power in the military coup of January 1971. Amin’s rule was characterized by human rights abuses, political repression, ethnic persecution, extrajudicial killings, nepotism, corruption and gross economic mismanagement. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is estimated by international observers and human rights groups to range from 100,000 to 500,000. During his years in power, Amin shifted in allegiance from being a pro-Western ruler enjoying considerable Israeli support to being backed by Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, the Soviet Union and East Germany. Dissent within Uganda and Amin’s attempt to annex the Kagera province of Tanzania in 1978 led to the Uganda-Tanzania War and the demise of his eight-year regime, leading Amin to flee into exile to Libya and Saudi Arabia, where he lived until his death on August 16, 2003.
Hieronymus Bosch was an Early Netherlandish painter. His work is known for its use of fantastic imagery to illustrate moral and religious concepts and narratives. Very little is known about the artist or the intended meaning of his art. However, it is known that Bosch received many commissions to paint from abroad—and in response, he masterfully painted saints, demons and the life of Christ with profound creepiness. Notable works include the triptychs The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Adoration of the Magi, and many other paintings of various panel formats. The exact number of Bosch’s surviving works has been a subject of considerable debate. He signed only seven of his paintings, and there is uncertainty whether all the paintings once ascribed to him were actually from his hand. Bosch died on this day in 1516.
Willy Wonka is a character in Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, its sequel Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, and the film adaptations of these books that followed. The book and the film adaptations both vividly depict an odd Wonka, a phoenix-like man arising from his creative and eccentric genius. In the 1971 film adaptation, Wonka is memorably played by Gene Wilder. Wonka’s reasons for giving away his fantastic factory are never revealed in the books, but in the 1971 film, Wonka tells Charlie he “can’t live forever,” so he wanted to find a sweet child he could trust with his candy-making secrets.
Smokey Bear (or Smokey the Bear) is a ranger hat-wearing advertising mascot created to educate the public about the dangers of forest fires. The first advertising campaign featuring Smokey was created in 1944. Smokey Bear’s famous slogan, “Remember – Only YOU can prevent forest fires,” was created in 1947 by the Ad Council for the U.S. Forest Service. According to the Ad Council, Smokey Bear and his message are recognized by 95% of adults and 77% of children. Smokey Bear was featured in a 1955 book in the Little Golden Books series called Smokey the Bear.
Note: Smokey the Bear says, “Only you can prevent your neighborhood from being burned to the ground with illegal fireworks this weekend.” Happy Independence Day, ‘Merica!
Woodsy Owl is an owl icon for the United States Forest Service most famous for his motto, “Give a hoot! Don’t pollute.” Woodsy was designed to be seen as a mentor to children, providing them with information and advice to help them appreciate nature. Harold Bell of Western Publishing (and producer of Smokey Bear public service announcements), along with Glen Kovar and Chuck Williams, originally created the mascot in 1970 as part of a U.S. Forest Service campaign to raise awareness of protecting the environment. In 1997, Woodsy Owl’s design was overhauled.
Mr. Owl is a character first introduced in an animated Tootsie Pops commercial which debuted on U.S. television in 1969. Tootsie Pops are hard candy lollipops filled with chocolate-flavored chewy Tootsie Roll. After the commercial, Mr. Owl became the mascot for Tootsie Pops, appearing in marketing campaigns and on the packaging. How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Dock Ellis was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. He played most of his 12-year career for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1968-1975, 1979). Ellis threw a no-hitter against the San Diego Padres on June 12, 1970. He later stated that he accomplished the feat under the influence of LSD. In 1971, Ellis was a starting pitcher in the All-Star Game and his Pirates won the 1971 World Series. Five years later, he helped lead the Yankees to the 1976 World Series and was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year in the process. Ellis was an outspoken individual who advocated for the rights of players and African Americans. He also had a substance abuse problem, and he acknowledged after his retirement that he never pitched without the use of drugs. Ellis was born on this day in 1945 and died in 2008 at the age of 63.
Note: Watch the charming animated short by No Mas and artist James Blagden about Dock Ellis’ legendary LSD no-hitter. It’s worth four minutes of your time.
Born in Seattle, Apolo Anton Ohno is a retired American short track speedskater and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010). At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001-2009, winning the title a total of 12 times. Ohno retired from speed skating in 2013 and now works as a commentator, TV host and motivational speaker.
William S. Burroughs was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. A major postmodernist author, Burroughs wrote 18 novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays. In 1943 while living in New York City, he befriended Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, the mutually influential foundation of what became the countercultural movement of the Beat Generation. Much of Burroughs’s work is semi-autobiographical, primarily drawn from his experiences as a heroin addict, as he lived throughout Mexico City, London, Paris, Berlin, the South American Amazon and Tangier in Morocco. Finding success with his confessional first novel, Junkie (1953), Burroughs is perhaps best known for his third novel Naked Lunch (1959). He was born on this day in 1914 and died on August 2, 1997.
Mr. Peanut – No. 814
Mr. Peanut is the advertising logo and mascot of Planters, an American snack-food company and division of Kraft Foods. Dating to 1916, he is depicted as an anthropomorphic peanut in its shell dressed in the formal clothing of an old-fashioned gentleman: a top hat, monocle, white gloves, spats and a cane. Mr. Peanut has appeared in many TV commercials as an animated cartoon character. He continues to teach hipsters the modern practice of dandyism.
I associate Mr. Peanut with being a child in my grandparents’ house in West Virginia. Behind the bifold doors of their pantry they always had a jar of peanuts. My grandparents’ house was a place of many memorable childhood food-consumption activities, including making and eating pancakes at the kitchen bar; drinking brown soup with ditalini pasta; devouring homemade bread and pepperoni rolls; and sneaking homemade biscotti, chocolate chip cookies and brownies from the cookie jars.