Instruct: Given a question, retrieve passages that answer the question.
Query: Who created Bloom County?
Bloom County is an American comic strip by Berkeley Breathed which originally ran from December 8, 1980, until August 6, 1989. It examined events in politics and culture through the viewpoint of a fanciful small town in Middle America, where children often have adult personalities and vocabularies and where animals can talk.
On July 12, 2015, Breathed started drawing "Bloom County" again. The first revived strip was published via Facebook on July 13, 2015. Sadly, readers must have a Facebook account to view the daily strip and comments due to the security settings on the page. (This can be changed if desired by BB and company.)
Hosts
The Provensens were a runner-up for the 1982 Caldecott Medal as illustrators of "A Visit to William Blake's Inn" by Nancy Willard (who won the companion Newbery Medal). Two years later they won the Caldecott for "The Glorious Flight", the story of aviator Louis Blériot, the first man to fly solo across the English Channel, which they also wrote. The annual award by U.S. professional librarians recognizes the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". Eight of their books were named to "The New York Times" annual Ten Best Illustrated Books, including "Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm" (1974) and "An Owl and Three Pussycats" (1981). The couple were collaborative illustrators for Donald Waxman's "Pagaents for Piano," a series of pedagogical primers.
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip "Li'l Abner", which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (with help from assistants) drawing until 1977. He also wrote the comic strips "Abbie an' Slats" (in the years 1937–45) and "Long Sam" (1954). He won the National Cartoonists Society's Reuben Award in 1947 for Cartoonist of the Year, and their 1979 Elzie Segar Award, posthumously for his "unique and outstanding contribution to the profession of cartooning". Comic strips dealt with northern urban experiences until the year Capp introduced "Li'l Abner," the first strip based in the South. Although Capp was from Connecticut, he spent 43 years teaching the world about Dogpatch, reaching an estimated 60 million readers in over 900 American newspapers and 100 foreign papers in 28 countries. M. Thomas Inge says Capp made a large personal fortune on the strip and "had a profound influence on the way the world viewed the American South".
In 1928, to recover from the loss of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Disney came up with the idea of a mouse character named Mortimer while on a train headed to California, drawing up a few simple drawings. The mouse was later renamed Mickey Mouse (Disney's wife, Lillian, disliked the sound of 'Mortimer Mouse') and starred in several Disney produced films. Ub Iwerks refined Disney's initial design of Mickey Mouse. Disney's first sound film "Steamboat Willie", a cartoon starring Mickey, was released on November 18, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho". "Steamboat Willie" was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Mickey's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature synchronized sound. Disney used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. "Steamboat Willie" premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Disney's "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929.
Though the strip's various compilations do not do them justice, the original cast of characters in "Bloom County" were Milo, Bess, and Major Bloom, along with a basset hound named "Rabies" whose thoughts could be read à la Snoopy; the first year of strips are mysteriously omitted from all compilations save the "Bloom Library", although a selection did find publication in a 1986 anthology collection "Bloom County Babylon: Five Years of Basic Naughtiness". Most of the strip's most memorable characters debuted later on, with Milo being the only key character to appear for the duration of the strip's run.
Alphonso Ali was the first significant African American character in "Bloom County". An ardent admirer of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, Alphonso was first introduced as Binkley's opponent in the boxing ring. Later, Alphonso would make appearances as a friend of Binkley and Milo, as well as everyone else in the meadow, and fought in the Great Snake Massacre. He disappeared in 1983, and was replaced by Oliver Wendell Jones later that year.
Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, was poorly received locally. According to Erick city clerk Nyla Tennery, "I can remember plainly when the book came out my parents and other people who stayed here were just real upset. That book gave all Missouri, Arkansas and Oklahoma people a shiftless, bad name, like that was the only kind of people who were here."
The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum, which was originally published in 1900. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens and has been mostly forgotten, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in 1939 when the classic film version of the story was made. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter after Baum had finished the script.
Group D
From 1947 to 1949, the newspaper printed the comic strip "Li'l Folks", by Twin Cities native Charles M. Schulz. This comic introduced a number of characters who would later return in 1950 in the syndicated comic strip "Peanuts", including Charlie Brown and a dog strongly resembling Snoopy.
American Pie is a 1999 American teen sex comedy film written by Adam Herz and directed by brothers Paul and Chris Weitz, in their directorial film debut. It is the first film in the "American Pie" theatrical series. The film was a box-office hit and spawned three direct sequels: "American Pie 2" (2001), "American Wedding" (2003), and "American Reunion" (2012). The film concentrates on five best friends (Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch, and Stifler) who attend East Great Falls High. With the exception of Stifler (who has already lost his virginity), the guys make a pact to lose their virginity before their high school graduation. The title is borrowed from the song of the same name and refers to a scene in the film, in which the protagonist is caught masturbating with a pie after being told that third base feels like "warm apple pie". Writer Adam Herz has stated that the title also refers to the quest of losing one's virginity in high school, which is as "American as apple pie."
Banjo the Woodpile Cat is a 1979 animated short film directed by Don Bluth. It follows the story of Banjo, an overly curious and rebellious kitten who, after getting into trouble for falling from a house to see if he could land on his feet, runs away from his woodpile home in his owners' farm in Payson, Utah by catching a truck to Salt Lake City. Produced in a shoestring budget, and created in Bluth's garage, the film took four years to make and it was the first production of Don Bluth Productions, later Sullivan Bluth Studios. It had a short theatrical run from December 21 to 28, 1979 at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Peppertree Cinema in Northridge as an opening short for the holiday re-release of "The Muppet Movie", but did not appear on network television until 1982.
Though not exactly labeled as such, there were early precedents for "television movies", such as "Talk Faster, Mister", which aired on WABD (now WNYW) in New York City on December 18, 1944, and was produced by RKO Pictures, or the 1957 "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", based on the poem by Robert Browning, and starring Van Johnson, one of the first filmed "family musicals" made directly for television. That film was made in Technicolor, a first for television, which ordinarily used color processes originated by specific networks (most "family musicals" of the time, such as "Peter Pan", were not filmed but broadcast live and preserved on kinescope, a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor – and the only (relatively inexpensive) method of recording a television program until the invention of videotape).
Shortly after "Bloom County" ended, Breathed started a Sunday-only strip called "Outland" with original characters and situations introduced in "Bloom County"'s final days. However, Opus, Bill and other characters eventually reappeared and slowly took over the strip. "Outland" ran from September 3, 1989, to March 26, 1995. Another Sunday-only spinoff strip called "Opus" ran from November 23, 2003, to November 2, 2008.
Michigan State University, Kellogg Biological Station: Eminent Ecologist (1992)
Mickey's Garden is a 1935 American animated short film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by United Artists. The film was the second "Mickey Mouse" cartoon shot in Technicolor (after "The Band Concert") and is also the first color appearance of Pluto. The cartoon is also the first color cartoon where Mickey speaks (though he only does so at the end when Pluto starts licking him). The film's plot centers on Mickey Mouse trying to rid his garden of insects, but they keep coming back. When he accidentally gets hit with his own bug spray, he begins seeing a warped reality.
Audiences at the time of "Steamboat Willie"'s release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, "The Jazz Singer" starring Al Jolson, was released on October 6, 1927. Within a year of its success, most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Walt Disney apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and, arguably, managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result, Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, "The Barn Dance", was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until "The Karnival Kid" in 1929 when his first spoken words were "Hot dogs, Hot dogs!" After "Steamboat Willie" was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Unfortunately, audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen.
Garry Kent Marshall (November 13, 1934 – July 19, 2016) was an American film director, film producer, screenwriter, and actor, best known for creating "Happy Days" and its various spin-offs, developing Neil Simon's 1965 play "The Odd Couple" for television, and directing "Pretty Woman", "Beaches", "Runaway Bride", "Valentine's Day", "New Year's Eve", "Mother's Day", "The Princess Diaries", and "".
Sean S. Cunningham made his directorial debut with the white coater film "The Art of Marriage". His film grossed $100,000 and attracted the company Hallmark Releasing (unaffiliated with Hallmark Cards Inc.). Cunningham made the film "Together" as a "better version" of film. Wes Craven, who had no money at the time, was put on the job of synchronizing dailies for Cunningham's re-shoot. He soon began editing the film with Cunningham and they became good friends. Hallmark Releasing bought the film for $10,000 and it was considered a "hit." Hallmark Releasing wanted them to do another film with a bigger budget and gave them $90,000 to shoot a horror film.
Ellis Island: The Dream of America is a work for actors and orchestra with projected images by American composer Peter Boyer, composed in 2001-02, commissioned by the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut. The work combines first-person narrations of seven immigrants who entered the United States through Ellis Island between 1910 and 1940, selected by Boyer from the Ellis Island Oral History Project, with Boyer’s original orchestral music. The work has received over 170 performances by more than 75 orchestras. A recording of the work released on the Naxos record label was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition in the 48th annual Grammy Awards. In April 2017, performances by Pacific Symphony of "Ellis Island: The Dream of America" were filmed for broadcast on PBS’ "Great Performances" series in the 2017-18 broadcast season.
The mill continued to be referred to as "Filkin's mill" in land records for the rest of the century. Sometime around the Revolution, though, it became just a name, as Isaac Filkins sold the mill property to a younger man named Isaac Bloom, who may have come to Dutchess County from what is now Brooklyn. The younger man signed a 1775 deed for a nearby property as a witness, and Benson Lossing's 1852 "Pictorial History of the Revolution" records the Continental Army encamped at "Bloom's Mills." That name may be anachronistic, but by 1781 another local deed references Bloom as a nearby landowner, and in 1785 he took out a mortgage on that contained the current mill property.
While the location of Bloom County is never explicitly mentioned, there have been some clues in the strip. When Oliver Jones identified Bloom County as the place where Halley's Comet would crash into Earth, a sign was seen saying that it was at 35.05 N 146.55 E. This would place it in the Pacific Ocean, about 300 miles off the coast of Japan. Oliver's previous calculation was 39.43 N 105.01 W, which would place it just south of Denver, Colorado. In an early strip, Milo gives his address as "Box 163, Bloom County, N.I., 12460", the zip code for which would place it about 30 miles southwest of Albany, New York. Another strip has Opus trying to make airline reservations to Des Moines, Iowa. He balks at the outrageously high quoted price for a ticket stating that "Des Moines is just 94 miles from Bloom County". Geographically, this would place Bloom County in either Iowa or the far north-central tier of counties of Missouri, but likely referring to the distance from Iowa City, where the strip was produced, to Des Moines. (See Real World References below). Also, in a Sunday strip with L.H. Puttgrass, he is holding a King Soopers bag, which would place the comic in Colorado. On January 29, 2016, Berkeley Breathed posted on Facebook that "The Bloom County boarding house still sits in beautiful hayseedless Iowa City, home for this cartoonist for four years."
The setting of "Bloom County" resembled Iowa City, Iowa, in several ways; Breathed lived there during the early years of the strip. The Bloom Boarding House, for example, which appeared as a high contrast photo within the strip, is modeled after the Linsay House located at 935 East College Street in Iowa City. Another Iowa City landmark, The Prairie Lights Bookstore, was referred to in the strip as the Prairie Lights Newsstand, original "Bloom County" artwork from Breathed hangs in the bookstore. An original "Bloom County" strip hangs in the Iowa City Public Library. Breathed used the call letters KRNA to refer to "Bloom County"'s rock radio station featuring "Rockin' Charmin' Harmon". The call letters belong to an actual Iowa City rock station which featured a disc jockey named "Charmin'" Jeff Harmon in the 1980s. Several Iowa City local news items also directly inspired "Bloom County" storylines. For example, a fictional Ronald Reagan sexist gaffe, referring to women as "little dumplin's", was lifted from University of Iowa football coach Hayden Fry's comment, infuriating feminists at the university.
The county was home to the Bloom Boarding House, Steve Dallas' law offices, the "Bloom Beacon" and "Bloom Picayune" newspapers, at least one pond, and Milo's Meadow. In the comic's later years, the county contained what appeared to be a big-city ghetto ("the wrong side of the tracks", as it was known).