Happy birthday, Indiana Jones

It is the birthday of fictional hero Indiana Jones (1899), a professor of archaeology whose globe-trotting exploits to retrieve priceless artifacts bring him into conflict with Nazis, bloodthirsty cultists, and Soviets. The character created by filmmaker George Lucas (and fleshed out with his friend Steven Spielberg) was inspired by the pulp magazine and movie heroes of the 1930s, such as surgeon-scientist-explorer Doc Savage, as well as treasure hunter Allan Quatermain of the novel King Solomon’s Mines (1885) by H. Rider Haggard. Henry Jones, Jr., first appeared in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and subsequently in three other films (all portrayed by Harrison Ford), as well as television series, video games, and novels. Theme park attractions also feature the character.

Happy birthday, pulp writer Lester Dent

It is the birthday of writer Lester Dent (1904), who is remembered as the creator of Doc Savage, an iconic adventure hero of the 1930s and 1940s. Savage was a multi-talented physician and scientist who possessed near-superhuman abilities. Dent was the principal writer for the series and wrote 43 of the original 67 Doc Savage pulp novels. Though they were hugely successful, Dent took a disparaging view of his work, saying he was "churning out reams and reams of sellable crap." Dent also found success as a mystery and western writer.