Stupid Guest Tricks

Suzanne Lenglen’s 117th Birthday



Back in the day, tennis was a rigid affair. Amateurs couldn’t compete with pros, and participation fees for important matches were astronomical. Then Suzanne Lenglen came along.

Lenglen picked up her first racket in 1910 for health reasons. In less than five years, she became the sport’s youngest champion. She had a staggeringly successful career, and even starred in one of the earliest instructional films. More importantly, she broke down barriers through her passionate play, non-traditional wardrobe, and outspoken stance against the sport’s formalities.

With Lenglen’s influence, tennis gained the attention it deserved, and became a sport not just for some, but for all.

Olga Skorokhodova’s 105th birthday



In today's doodle we pay homage to Olga Skorokhodova, who was one of the most prolific Soviet researchers in the field of deaf and blind communication. Olga dedicated her life to carefully documenting how the deaf and blind perceive the world around them. Her work provided the basis for further studies and contributed to the development of education for the deaf and blind.

At age five, Olga suffered from meningitis which caused her to go blind and deaf. Her early childhood was further complicated by the loss of her parents. She went on to study at a clinic for blind and deaf-mute children where she met Professor Ivan Sokolianskii, who helped to restore her speech and get her access to a quality education. He would also provide the introduction to fundamental science, which would inspire her life’s work.

In her book: “How I Perceive, Imagine and Understand the World Around Me,” Olga describes in painstaking detail how she developed a heightened sense of touch, smell, vibration, temperature, and taste, in order to compensate for her lack of hearing and vision. She would later use those experiences to inform her research and inspire new learnings on the subject.

On what would have been her 105th birthday, Google celebrates Olga Skorokhodova, a woman who changed the lives of so many and never, ever gave up.
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Сегодня мы отмечаем 105-летие Ольги Скороходовой — советского дефектолога и одной из самых выдающихся слепоглухих ученых. Ольга посвятила свою жизнь изучению особенностей восприятия людей с ограниченным слухом и зрением. Она внесла значительный вклад в развитие методик по развитию, воспитанию и обучению слепоглухих.

Когда Ольге было пять лет, она перенесла менингит, потеряла сначала зрение, а чуть позже и слух. Пережив смерть родителей, она попала в школу-клинику слепоглухих. Там девушка встретила профессора Ивана Афанасьевича Соколянского, который помог ей вернуть речь и получить достойное образование, а затем открыл двери в мир фундаментальной науки.

В своей книге «Как я воспринимаю, представляю и понимаю окружающий мир» Ольга скрупулезно описывает различные виды восприятия — осязание, обоняние, вибрационное чувство, температурные и вкусовые ощущения, — все, что заменяло ей слух и зрение. Личный опыт лег в основу ее собственных исследований и помог получить новые знания в этой области.

Ко дню рождения Ольги Скороходовой мы создали дудл, чтобы еще раз отметить заслуги этой выдающейся женщины, которая изменила жизнь многих и никогда не сдавалась.

Rosario Castellanos’ 91st birthday



Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Rosario Castellanos, one of Mexico’s most influential authors. Her poems, stories, and essays were fundamental to the development of the female voice in literature, both in her homeland and across the world. Her master’s thesis Sobre cultura femenina (On Female Culture) inspired an entire generation. Castellanos also served as the Mexican ambassador to Israel, where she ultimately passed away in 1974.

We’re honored to shed light on this incredible artist on what would have been her 91st birthday.

Frankie Manning’s 102nd birthday



One morning in 1929, Frankie Manning--then only fifteen--was walking through Harlem on his way to Sunday school. Passing the Alhambra Ballroom, he made a decision to take dance classes that would change swing forever. Known as the Ambassador of the Lindy Hop--the exuberant style born in Harlem--Frankie Manning is remembered as the first person to take swing from the dancefloor to the air above it. Today’s doodle by Nate Swinehart celebrates Frankie Manning’s acrobatic, powerful style, in which his partners were flipped and spun to the emphatic horns of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and others.

The Lindy Hop and Manning’s aerial flourishes became wildly popular, and Manning himself performed the dance in several 40’s era movies. He also served in WWII, toured South America and the UK with his troupe, The Congaroos, performed the Lindy for King George VI, and won a Tony Award for his choreographic work on the Broadway musical Black and Blue.

Frankie Manning often described the dance as a “series of three-minute romances.” Here’s to the Ambassador on what would have been his 102nd birthday, and his role in creating for countless people--even if it lasted only three minutes--a moment that transcended the world around them.

Faten Hamama’s 85th birthday



"Lady of the Arabic screen," "Star of the Century," and Egypt's "National Treasure” are just a few of the names associated with the Egyptian actress, Faten Hamama. Discovered as a child at a beauty pageant in Mansoura, Hamama's meteoric rise was perfectly timed to the bloom of the Egyptian film industry.

Hamama began her film career as a 16 year-old student at the High Institute of Acting in Cairo. Over the next 8 years, she would make more than 20 films and become the highest paid female lead in Egypt at the time.

But it's the impact of her success that makes her legacy so important. From her 1964 film, The Open Door which highlighted the need for women's rights to I Want a Solution in 1975 which paved the way for changes to Egyptian marriage and divorce laws, hers was a career of influence. In keeping with her legacy, today's doodle memorializes her role as Layla, the strong, unwavering lead in the film AlBab Al Maftouh (The Open Door).

Named her country’s, “Most Important Actress,” it’s clear Hamama is known by many superlatives and remembered for so many things. But on this what would be her 85th birthday, we salute her brilliant ability to transcend time to inspire us again and again.

Lotte Reiniger’s 117th birthday



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Lotte Reininger created visually stunning and fantastical films using black cardboard, scissors, and boundless imagination. Pre-dating Walt Disney by nearly a decade, Reiniger pioneered a style of animation that relied on thousands of photos of paper cut-out silhouettes arranged to tell a story. It was a painstaking process that involved moving paper characters ever so slightly and snapping a photo of each movement.



Nearly a century later, Reiniger continues to inspire animators and artists, including doodler Olivia Huynh who built almost everything, from the puppets to the top down camera rig. On what would have been her 117th birthday, we celebrate Reiniger’s limitless creativity and pioneering spirit.

Rhee Seund Ja’s 98th birthday

I once saw a movie with Ms. Reininger's work--it wasn't Aladdin, but it was about a young man with a magical flying horse and his efforts to win a princess, despite the machinations of an evil wizard. It was absolutely fantastic. The host of the program said she could cut out the most intricate figures within a few minutes. And the film was well-done, too.

Phoebe Snetsinger’s 85th birthday



Sometimes it takes dire circumstances to compel us toward action. Phoebe Snetsinger, who would have been 85 years old today, became the world’s most prolific bird-watcher — a feat she achieved by surmounting tremendous odds.

It wasn’t until 1981 — when she was diagnosed with cancer — that Phoebe truly came into her own as a birder. In subsequent years, she scoured the globe for obscure or unknown bird species, ultimately raising her bird count to 8,393, the highest in the world at the time. Some of the notable birds she sighted include the Blackburnian Warbler and the Red-Shouldered Vanga, depicted among many other interesting birds by animator Juliana Chen.

Dragon Boat Festival 2016



Today marks the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival observed in China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and a host of other countries in east Asia and beyond. The Dragon Boat races are part of the "double fifth" festival, or Duanwu, which is held on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar. These boats are carved from wood and hold a 22-person crew comprised of 20 paddlers, one "sweep” who steers the boat, and one "caller" who beats a drum to keep time.


A dragon’s head is often carved into the bow of the boat to symbolize the energy and power of the dragon rising from the river — part of the legend of Qu Yuan. As an ode to this ancient tale, revelers share zongzi, or sticky rice wrapped in leaves or reeds. Doodler Alyssa Winans showed our Dragon Boat's enthusiasm for these delicious snacks in today's doodle.