Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Spotlight
Caricaturist of the stars Al Hirschfeld was born on this date in 1903. He began sketching Broadway performers for publications like the New York Times, in the 1920s. His simple black-on-white line drawings became so popular that celebrities clamored to have their caricatures drawn by Hirschfeld. With the birth of his daughter, Nina, in 1945, Hirschfeld began hiding her name in his sketches and fans looked forward to playing the game of "finding the Nina" in the drawing.

Quote
"Artists are just children who refuse to put down their crayons." – Al Hirschfeld

Holiday
summer solstice (Northern Hemisphere)

winter solstice (Southern Hemisphere)

National Aboriginal Day (Canada)

Today in History

• US Constitution: went into effect (1788)
• Chaco War: Bolivia-Paraguay oil conflict ended (1935)
• Miller v. California: US Supreme Court ruled states could ban materials found obscene by local standards (1973)

Today's Birthdays

• Jean-Paul Sartre: existential philosopher who won a Nobel Prize for literature but rejected it (1905-1980)
• Berke Breathed: cartoonist, Bloom County (49)
• Prince William: son of Charles and Diana (24)

Word of the Day
 physiognomy: facial features and their relationship to particular character traits   (© )