January 25, 1961: One Hundred and One Dalmatians premieres. The number in the title is spelled out. All subsequent entries in the franchise, either sequels or reboots, use the number: "101 Dalmatians."
Among the voices of this Disney cartoon: Rod Taylor as Pongo, father of the puppies; Cate Bauer as Perdita, mother of the puppies; J. Pat O'Malley, Thurl Ravenscroft (Tony the Kellogg's Tiger and the singer of "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch"), and Paul Frees.
Betty Lou Gerson was the voice of the villainess, Cruella de Vil, her name a pun on "cruel" and "devil." In the French version, in spite of "de Vil" sounding like a French name, her name was Cruella d'Enfer (Cruella of Hell). The original name was kept for the Dutch version, because "villen" means "skinning." In Italian and Polish, she becomes "De Mon," or "demon."
Mary Wickes served as the physical model for Cruella. Because of her cigarette holder, her hair and her laugh, I always associated her with Phyllis Diller. She never played the role, but Glenn Close did in the 1996 live-action version. On a 2009 Halloween-themed episode of Castle, Castle's mother, Martha Rodgers (played by Susan Sullivan), dressed up as Cruella.
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January 25, 1961 was a Wednesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 3 games in the NBA:
* A doubleheader was played at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. In the opener, the New York Knicks lost to the St. Louis Hawks, 116-109. In the nightcap, the Detroit Pistons beat the Cincinnati Royals, 138-125.
* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Syracuse Nationals, 117-112 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers beat the Boston Bruins, 2-1 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens, 5-3 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.
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