It happened This week!
Loosely based on the fairy tale Rapunzel, Disney’s animated film Tangled arrived in theaters in 2010. While this version lacks a prince, it does have a dashing thief named Flynn, designed following a “hot man meeting” in which the women on the film’s team revealed what they thought made a man good-looking, using photos of celebrities such as David Beckham, Johnny Depp and Hugh Jackman as references!
Woody Woodpecker first appeared in the cartoon “Knock Knock” in 1940. Animator Walter Lantz created the character after his vacation was ruined by a woodpecker incessantly knocking on his cabin roof. “As it flew away, it laughed this crazy sort of laugh!” Lantz recalled. Hence, Woody’s signature cackle!
The first Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in 1924 as a gimmick to jumpstart holiday shopping. Instead of today’s beloved helium balloons, a procession of camels, elephants and tigers borrowed from the Central Park Zoo was marched down the streets of Manhattan!
The first Polaroid camera went on sale in 1948. It was named the “Land camera,” after creator Edwin Land, whose inspiration for the “instant results” device came after he snapped a photo of his three-year-old daughter, and she demanded to know why she had to wait to see it!
Singer Tina Turner was born Anna Mae Bullock in Nutbush, Tennessee, in 1939. She rose to fame in a duo with her husband, Ike, then became a superstar on her own, with eight Grammys and the Guinness Book of World Records for most concert tickets sold by a solo performer!