By Tatiana Ponil
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FROM WIKIPEDIA COMMONS
Matthew Abram Groening (/ˈɡreɪnɪŋ/ GRAY-ning; born February 15, 1954) is an American cartoonist, writer, producer, and animator. He is best known as the creator of the television series The Simpsons (1989–present), Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023–present), and Disenchantment (2018–2023), and the comic strip Life in Hell (1977–2012). The Simpsons is the longest-running American primetime television series in history and the longest-running American animated series and sitcom.
Groening made his first professional cartoon sale of Life in Hell to the avant-garde magazine Wet in 1978. At its peak, it was carried in 250 weekly newspapers and caught the attention of American producer James L. Brooks, who contacted Groening in 1985 about adapting it for animated sequences for the Fox 21st century variety show The Tracey Ullman Show. Fearing the loss of ownership rights, Groening created a new set of characters, the Simpson family. The shorts were spun off into their own series, The Simpsons, which has since aired 782 episodes.
In 1997, Groening and former Simpsons writer David X. Cohen developed Futurama, an animated series about life in the year 3000, which premiered in 1999. It ran for four years on Fox; was picked up in 2008 by Comedy Central for another 5 years; then was finally picked up by Hulu for another revival in 2023. In 2016, Groening developed a new series for Netflix, Disenchantment, which premiered in August 2018.
Groening has won 14 Primetime Emmy Awards, 12 for The Simpsons and 2 for Futurama, and a British Comedy Award for “outstanding contribution to comedy” in 2004. In 2002, he won the National Cartoonist Society Reuben Award for his work on Life in Hell. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 14, 2012.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
The Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester, New York, was the home of this women’s rights leader during the most politically active period of her life. It was here that she was arrested for voting in 1872, before women had the right to vote. Today the house is a National Historic Landmark and museum. Anthony, born in 1820, is best known as an advocate for woman suffrage, but she began her career as an outspoken proponent of temperance. She was not allowed to speak publicly, however, because she was a woman. In response to this outrage, she teamed up with Elizabeth Cady Stanton in 1852 and dedicated her life to winning voting rights for women. She died in 1906 without realizing her dream. (Women didn’t get the right to vote nationally until 1920, with the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution.) Connect with the Ken Burns/PBS documentary Not for Ourselves Alone, which examines Anthony’s and Stanton’s roles in the early women’s movement. The Web site also features their original writings and speeches.
This marks the day in 1965 when Canada’s red and white maple leaf flag was first raised over Parliament Hill and in communities across Canada. On this day in 1965, the current Canadian flag was first raised over Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. Red and white were designated as Canada’s official colors in 1921 by His Majesty King George V. Its design had been hotly debated, but eventually the government chose an idea by historian George Stanley: a red flag with a white square in its center containing a red maple leaf. In 1996, National Flag of Canada Day was designated to take place every February 15 to honor the official unfurling of the new flag.
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Galileo Galilei (astronomer) –
- Henry E. Steinway (piano manufacturer) –
- John Sutter (pioneer) –
- Susan B. Anthony (American social reformer ) –
- Melissa Manchester (singer) –
- Jane Seymour (actress) –
- Matt Groening (cartoonist; creator of The Simpsons) –
- Chris Farley (actor) –
Died
- Nat King Cole (singer) –
- Ethel Merman (singer & actress) –
- Howard K. Smith (newscaster) –
- Jan Miner (actress who gained fame as Madge, the manicurist in Palmolive television ads) –
- Raquel Welch (actress) –
Events
- First mustard manufactured in U.S. advertised in Philadelphia, PA –
- Canada officially adopted a new flag; the Red Maple Leaf became the new symbol, replacing the Union Jack –
- Ocean Ranger offshore drilling rig sank in storm off Newfoundland –
- Rare sighting of yellow-billed loon, Lake Powell, Utah –
- Kyoto Protocol global climate treaty took effect –
Weather
- Parshal, North Dakota, had a low temperature of-60 degrees F –
- Thirty-nine inches of snow fell on Callicoon, New York –
COURTESY www.almanac.com