Made in 1898, G.A. Smith's 'Santa Claus' is a film of considerable technical ambition and accomplishment for its period. It uses pioneering visual effects in its depiction of a visit from St. Nicholas. A former magic lanternist and hypnotist, Smith was one of the first British film-makers to make extensive use of special effects to create fantastical scenes. It comes as little surprise that Smith corresponded with the French pioneer Georges Méliès at about this time, as the two men shared a common goal in terms of creating an authentic cinema of illusion.
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Dave Brubeck, a jazz musician who attained pop-star acclaim with recordings such as "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," died Wednesday morning at Norwalk Hospital, in Norwalk, Conn., said his longtime manager-producer-conductor Russell Gloyd. Brubeck was one day short of his 92nd birthday. He died of heart failure, en route to "a regular treatment with his cardiologist,” said Gloyd.
"Born out of a post-adolescent loathing and hatred of all things disco, I discovered an album at my local record store that I still have to this day: "Adventures in Time," a sort-of greatest hits two-record album with the Dave Brubeck Quartet that absolutely floored me when I listened to it. And listen to it I did, over and over again. Thanks to Maestro Brubeck and the amazing music he wrote, I discovered his amazing saxophonist, Paul Desmond, and subsequently Stan Getz, John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Duke Ellington (one of America's greatest composers, by the way), Count Basie, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, and the rest of the pantheon of jazz gods that I've come to love as much as my beloved classical music.
Thanks, Dave, for lighting the fire in me. Godspeed and may you rest in peace."By George Moneo
Bill Smith (nice guy!) has answered thusly: Thank you for your email. Yes- I know the details of that picture. It was taken Thanksgiving morning 1962 in NYC on West 77th Street. The year of the debut of the Donald Duck balloon. It was a cold, rainy "duck day". He is netted, kept secure by sandbags awaiting his handlers to report. The other balloons that year included The Woman On The Flying Trapeeze, Happy Dragon, Popeye and Bullwinkle Moose. Glad you enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade book by Robert M. Grippo. Watch in February for another new book about Macys 150th illustrated store history by Grippo. He promises yet more parade images and facts will be included. I am also in the process of writing (finishing) my own book on the history of Parade Figure Balloons. This will come out in October 2009. Thank you once again. Hope that this information helps. Bill Smith
For me it just made sense because I don't own any land yet. Land is so expensive around here like I don't have access to that kind of opportunity. What do I have access to, the dump, to craigslist."
