January 24 Illinois History Minute

On January 24 these three people were born, all in Chicago.

Animator and director Wilfred Jackson was born in Chicago in 1906. He was just 22 when he worked on Walt Disney’s groundbreaking Mickey Mouse cartoon, Steamboat Willie. He stayed with the Disney studio for thirty years.

Another Chicago native, science fiction writer David Gerrold, turns 78 today. Gerrold was 23 when he wrote a classic script for Star Trek, “The Trouble With Tribbles” --- the one about little rapidly multiplying blobs of fur that inundate a space station.

Also born in Chicago this day, Saturday Night Live star John Belushi, who was 28 when he filmed his big speech in the fratboy comedy “Animal House”.