December 9 is the birthday of French children's author, illustrator and creator of Babar the Elephant JEAN DE BRUNHOFF (1899-1937).

December 9 is the birthday of French composer ÉMILE VON WALDTEUFEL (1837-1915). He wrote a lot of delightful music, waltzes, polkas, etc., but he might be most famous for THE SKATER'S WALTZ.

By the way, Waldteufel is German for forest devil.

December 9 is the birthday of "The Queen of the Pulps," MARGARET BRUNDAGE (1900-1976). Her art frequently featured damsels in distress in various states of full or partial nudity; her whipping scenes were especially noteworthy and controversial. Her sensual images usually illustrated scenes from the pieces chosen by editor Farnsworth Wright as cover stories; her work was so popular among readers that some WT writers, like Seabury Quinn, cannily included scenes in their stories that would make good Brundage covers, since cover feature stories earned their authors more money. To see examples of her work, CLICK HERE.

December 9 is the birthday of the great German-Austrian soprano ELIZABETH SCHWARZKOPF (1915-2006). She was a German-born Austro-British lyric soprano. She was among the foremost singers of lieder, and is renowned for her performances of Viennese operetta, as well as the operas of Mozart, Wagner and Richard Strauss. After retiring from the stage, she was a voice teacher internationally. She is considered one of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century.

December 9 is the birthday of the Spanish mezzo-soprano CONCHITA SUPERVIA (1895-1936). All in all, she made more than 200 recordings mostly for the Fonotipia and Odeon labels, featuring not only her famous roles in opera but also a vast song repertory in Catalan, Spanish, French, Italian and English, as well as pieces from zarzuela and even operetta.