Category: Today’s Birthday

Seurat was the French neoimpressionist painter who devised pointillism, the technique of juxtaposing tiny brushstrokes of contrasting colors. He used this method to create huge compositions, including his masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. One of the most intellectual artists of his time, Seurat influenced a return to deliberate design in painting at a time when sketching from nature had become the mode. How long did it take him to complete his masterpiece? Discuss

Martin was an American musical comedy star. She co-owned a dance school in her native Texas before moving in 1938 to New York City, where she earned a small part in the musical Leave It To Me, winning widespread popularity with her buoyant singing voice and high-spirited temperament. She went on to star in several enormously successful musicals, including South Pacific, Peter Pan, and The Sound of Music, as well as a number of films. Who is Martin’s famous son? Discuss

Twain was an American author who, as a humorist, narrator, and social observer, is unsurpassed in American literature. Born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, Twain grew up in a port town on the Mississippi River and eventually became a river pilot. He first won fame with the comic masterpiece “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” His 1885 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has been called the first modern American novel. According to Twain, how did he acquire his pen name? Discuss

Determined to contribute to the small family income, Alcott began writing to help support her mother and sisters. She first achieved widespread fame and wealth with Little Women, one of the most popular children’s books ever written. The novel, which recounts the adolescent adventures of the four March sisters, is largely autobiographical. Her first book, Flower Fables, was a collection of tales originally created to amuse the daughter of her friend, what famous American poet? Discuss

With Karl Marx, Engels was one of the founders of modern Communism. After forming a partnership to promote the socialist movement, the two organized revolutionary movements and collaborated on several works, most notably the Communist Manifesto. Though Marx’s personality has overshadowed that of Engels, Engels served as the foremost authority on Marx and Marxism after Marx’s death in 1883. Despite his criticism of capitalism, Engels supported Marx’s publications by doing what? Discuss

Schulz was the creator of the enormously popular syndicated comic strip Peanuts, which ran continuously from 1950 until 2000, when Schulz announced its end shortly before his death. The strip’s principal characters are Charlie Brown, a gentle, puzzled boy, usually failing, yet always persevering; Lucy, his bossy, know-it-all friend; Linus, a philosophical tyke with a security blanket; and Snoopy, a romantic, self-deluded beagle. Before Peanuts, Schulz worked for what magazine? Discuss

Benz was a German engineer credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. His Motorwagen, the first commercial automobile, was first driven in 1885 and patented the next year. It had three wheels, an electric ignition, differential gears, and was water-cooled. Benz’s familiarity with and fondness for bicycles inspired the design of his “horseless carriage.” According to legend, who took one of Benz’s early models on the first long-distance road trip? Discuss

Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher whose early interest in new scientific and philosophical ideas led to his expulsion from the synagogue in 1656. His philosophy represents a development of and reaction to the thought of René Descartes, and many of his most striking doctrines are solutions to difficulties created by Cartesianism. In his masterpiece, Ethics, he constructed a monistic system of metaphysics modeled on Euclid’s Elements. How did Spinoza earn a living? Discuss

London native William Henry Pratt adopted the stage name Boris Karloff while touring as an actor in Canada. After settling in Hollywood in 1919, he began acting in silent films and achieved stardom playing the monster in Frankenstein (1931). Thereafter typecast as a horror movie villain, Karloff went on to appear in more than 100 films. His most famous television performance was in the 1966 animated special How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in which he voiced which characters? Discuss

Voltaire was the pseudonym of French philosopher and writer François-Marie Arouet. One of the towering geniuses in literary and intellectual history, Voltaire was a prolific writer who authored tragedies, poems, and works on philosophical and moral problems, including Lettres philosophiques and Candide, a satire on philosophical optimism. During his lifetime, he was twice imprisoned in the Bastille and, in 1726, was exiled to England. How did Voltaire create his pen name? Discuss