Wikipedia:Main Page history/2016 March 5

Dream of the Rarebit Fiend was a newspaper comic strip by American cartoonist Winsor McCay, begun September 10, 1904, that depicted fantastic bizarre dreams. It was McCay's second successful strip, after Little Sammy Sneeze secured him a position on the cartoon staff of the New York Herald. Rarebit Fiend was printed in the Evening Telegram, a newspaper published by the Herald. The strip had no continuity or recurring characters. Instead, it had a recurring theme: a character would have a nightmare or other bizarre dream, usually after eating a Welsh rarebit—a cheese-on-toast dish. The dreams often revealed unflattering sides of the dreamers' psyches—their phobias, hypocrisies, discomforts, and dark fantasies. The strip is mostly recognized as an adult-oriented precursor to McCay's signature strip, Little Nemo. The popularity of Rarebit Fiend and Nemo led to a job with William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers with a star's salary. Many characters from the strip, such as giant monsters laying waste to cities, anticipated later fiction and films, including King Kong and Godzilla. (Full article...)

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March 5: Learn From Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, United Kingdom

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Evening Snow on the Heater, a mid-18th century ukiyo-e print by Japanese artist Suzuki Harunobu (1725–70), displays Harunobu's mastery of the then-new polychromatic nishiki-e (or "brocade") print, as well as luxurious techniques such as extensive embossing.

Painting: Suzuki Harunobu

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