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When Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned 52 on January 30, 1934, he celebrated with the first annual Birthday Ball to raise money for polio research. Composer Irving Berlin even wrote a song for the occasion.

When FDR contracted polio in 1921 at age 39, more than a decade before he took the presidency, Roosevelt made it his mission to find a treatment for not only himself, but one that would also improve the lives of others living with infantile paralysis, or polio. In 1924, that mission brought him to Warm Springs, Georgia, a spring-fed pool with buoyant mineral water that offered polio patients some relief. After six weeks of treatment, FDR made a home there, using his money and fame to help create a world-class center for the treatment of polio.

But FDR’s financial support alone couldn’t sustain the facility, so he began to ask for donations from family, friends and political colleagues. One of them, Henry L. Doherty, donated $25,000 to launch the National Committee for Birthday Balls, created to inspire communities around the country to hold dances in celebration of the President’s birthday, and to also raise money for Warm Springs.

In the Birthday Ball’s inaugural year, 4,376 communities rallied together in 600 different celebrations, raising more than $1 million dollars.

This weekend, to celebrate FDR’s 128th birthday, a number of events around the Smithsonian will mark the occasion.

At the Postal Museum: the Delivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression exhibit continues, featuring FDR’s stamp collection as well as those he designed himself. On Saturday, from 11 AM to 3 PM, visitors can participate in a game of  “Stamp Charades” in the lower level of the atrium.

At the Freer Gallery of Art: For those who wished they could have known the longest-serving president in the Oval Office, hear from someone who did: Curtis Roosevelt, the oldest grandchild of Franklin and Eleanor, who will give a talk called “My Grandparents, Franklin and Eleanor.” As a child, Curtis lived in the white house with his older sister, also named Eleanor, for 12 years. He will speak about the relationship between his grandfather and Winston Churchill; how the Great Depression is similar to the country’s current recession; comparisons between his grandmother and current first lady Michelle Obama; as well as his book, “Too Close to the Sun: Growing Up in the Shadow of My Grandparents, Franklin and Eleanor,” which he will sign after the program. The talk begins at 6:45 p.m. Feb. 2 in the Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Auditorium at the Freer. Tickets are required.

The new graphic novel The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke is based on the 1962 crime fiction novel of the same name by Donald E. Westlake (under the pseudonym Richard Stark).

Move over, Elvis.

Another old classic is making a comeback. The 1962 crime fiction classic, The Hunter by Donald E. Westlake (under the pseudonym of Richard Stark) is the inspiration for a new graphic novel to be published this July.  On Saturday, January 30, the graphic novel’s creator, comic artist and animator Darwyn Cooke will speak at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The Hunter is the first of four in a series of graphic novels that Cooke will publish.  The second, The Outfit, is scheduled for release in October.

Cooke gained notoriety in the 1990s for his work as a storyboard artist for two of television’s finest comic book recreations, Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series. He went on to work as a director for another made-for-television program, Sony Animation’s Men in Black: The Series in 1997.  Since then, he’s been involved with, or the author of, several other projects and novels, including DC: The New Frontier (2004).

His most recent work, says the Washington Post, shows “a particular gift for the space-age designs and stripped-down chiaroscuro that were in vogue a half-century ago. His loose, ragged slashes of black and cobalt blue evoke the ascendancy of Hugh Hefner so powerfully you can almost hear a walking jazz bass.”

We caught Cooke at his home last week to ask him about graphic novels and the relationship between text and art.

Would you give some insight into your process for The Hunter?

The Hunter features a character named Parker, a very remorseless criminal.  And the author, the late Donald E. Westlake, chose a pseudonym to write the book.  He went with the name Richard Stark.  He chose that name because he wanted the prose to be as stark and stripped down and lean as possible. And understanding that, I looked at the book the same way artistically and tried to make sure that my work was as stripped down, and lean, and almost as crude as I could make it look, to try to complement the prose style. The other thing I had to do was restrain myself a bit because there were opportunities in the book where I could have added my own interpretations, or maybe switched things up a bit to make it a little more visually exciting.  It took a great deal of restraint not to do that and to make sure I was honoring the tone and the intention of the novel.

This is sort of your first project outside of mainstream comics. Why did you choose Richard Stark’s novel as inspiration?

I’ve been a crime fiction fan since I was four or five years old, and started to read. It started with The Hardy Boys, probably, and I worked through all of the great American crime fiction writers. And when Westlake was writing as Stark, he was definitely one of the best, if not the best. I’ve always had a really high regard for these novels, so when I began to consider the idea of working on something outside of the mainstream comics industry I wanted to make sure it would be independently viable. I thought it would be wonderful to adapt Stark’s work, because there’s a built-in audience there already; there’s a very loyal following of the book. And if we marry that to my audience, and then marry that to the people who just generally enjoy crime fiction and graphic novels, we should be able to find a pretty broad readership and make it work. To me, that was a big part of it: Trying to create a project that not only shows the potential of graphic novels, but also brought other people in.

You were a former art director, graphic and product designer and also an editorial artist, and then left to work in animation and comic books (I’m sure you’re making a lot of people out there jealous). What were some of the challenges that came with that decision?

I always had an interest in doing comic books and cartooning since I was a young guy. But it was a tough way to make a living when I was a kid, especially in Canada, where I was raised. I ended up getting involved in the graphic design and advertising art direction because I couldn’t do what I really wanted to do. And, by the time I got into my mid-30s, which was about 10 years ago, there was enough technology out there, and the industry had changed enough, so that I could look at making a living with cartooning again. So as soon as I could do that, I dove in with both feet.

Graphic novels have become more popular in the past decade or so, but some people remain skeptical of how well their authors can turn a text into art without losing the story. How would you respond to that?

The wonderful thing about graphic novels is that they can be created in almost any way—it can be a wholly originally piece of work, a piece written and drawn specifically for the graphic novel, or it can be an adaption of existing prose, which is the case with The Hunter. And once you’re adapting a piece of prose, I think you’ve really got one question, and that is, ‘Does this piece of prose work and does it have all the visual information I need to illustrate it—and if it doesn’t work, then what am I going to do with it to make it work?’ And obviously in the case of The Hunter I didn’t have to fix anything. I just embraced what was already there.

People have said your drawings fall under the Bruce Timm style. What does that mean? How does your style differ from other artists’?

What’s often called the Bruce Timm style is the result of the work of a guy I used to work with, Bruce Timm. He was the executive producer at Warner Animation for quite a while. He did the Batman and Superman cartoons. Gee, we’re going back 10, 15 years now, 20 years. But what he did was take a style of classic comic book illustration, and he married it to a classic animation design style, to come up with a very simple and clean sort of approach to cartooning that hadn’t been seen in quite a while. Myself, and there’s probably a couple dozen of us out there, were all students of his  work. A lot of us are kind of categorized that way, because Bruce has cast such a giant shadow in the industry. It generally means that the work has a simpler look—there’s not a lot of rendering. It involves strong design and lighting, and emotive cartooning, as opposed to super-realistic illustration.

Where do you see the future of graphic novels going?

From this point forward so much of it depends on the publishers and how they try to position themselves. But right now, as far as I can see, the sky is the limit. We have an aging market that appreciates comics and is probably ready for more literate and adult and full-length stories. They can also afford to have the purchasing power to go out and buy them. I think that what we’ve seen in the last decade is that the form is capable of carrying almost any message, whether it’s something very literate and high-blown, like Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli, or pure entertainment, like The Hunter. We look at books like Persepolis [by Marjane Satrapiand], American Born Chinese [by Gene Luen Yang] or Scott Pilgrim [by Bryan Lee O'Malley], and see there’s certainly room for any type of engaging or entertaining visual story. So I think there is a huge readership out there and it’s a matter of us reaching them.

You actually had your first comic book work appear in a short story in New Talent Showcase #19, part of a revived anthology series by DC Comics. It was published when you were 23. Is there anything you would say to your 23-year-old self?

Well, it’s hard for me to know what I would say to myself at that time. Economics just wouldn’t allow me to pursue it as a career. But it meant a lot to me at that young age to know that I, at least, had the skill for them to consider publishing me. I’d be more interested in the kind of advice I’d give a 23-year-old today and that would be: Take a good long look at whether you want to do this, and if you do, I would suggest you don’t even look at print. The electronic media is already here—concentrate on getting your work, and your message, out that way. If I was a kid today, that’s what I’d tell myself.

Cooke’s reading will begin at 4 p.m.  Saturday in the McEvoy Auditorium, in the lower level of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on 8th and F Streets, N.W. Limited free tickets (two per person) will be available in the G Street Lobby, one hour prior to the reading. A book signing will follow the event.

War Scene—Three Soldiers with Bayonets (ca. 1942) by William H. Johnson. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Monday, January 25:

Nothing extra special happening today, but there is always plenty to do around the Smithsonian! Check out this site for a listing of regularly-scheduled fun at the museums or check out an IMAX movie. You can find IMAX listings here.

Tuesday, January 26: For Love of Liberty: The Story of African American Patriots

Get a sneak peek at the upcoming PBS documentary For Love of Liberty which takes a look at the bravery and sacrifice of African American patriots who have served this country in conflicts dating back to the Revolutionary War. Although you’ll only see a 40 minute segment at this event, you can enjoy a discussion with the filmmaker, Frank Martin, after the screening. Free. American History Museum, 6:30 PM.

Wednesday, January 27:

Please refer to Monday’s listing.

Thursday, January 28: Meet Our Museum: The CIGNA Collection

The CIGNA collection features firefighting memorabilia dating from 1825-1875 and is made up of nearly 2,000 objects—including uniforms, hats, capes and belts. Come enjoy a sampling of this cache of goodies with collections specialist Tim Winkle who will talk about a selection of artifacts on display. Free. American History Museum, 12:15 PM

Friday, January 29: Phoebe Greenberg: Friday Gallery Talk

Need a helping hand when it comes to understanding modern art? That’s what the Hirshhorn’s Friday gallery talks are for! This week, George Washington University professor of New Media Siobhan Riggs will talk about the video art show Black Box: Phoebe Greenberg. Free. Hirshhorn, 12:30 PM

For more information on events and exhibitions at the Smithsonian museums, check our companion website, goSmithsonian.com, the official visitor’s guide to the Smithsonian.

East Baltimore Documentary Survery Project (ca. 1975) by Linda Rich. Take your love for Elvis out of house and show it off this weekend at the National Portrait Gallery.

Friday, January 22: Hirshhorn Collection: Friday Gallery Talk

Come enjoy a tour of Hirshhorn highlights conducted by DC-area sculptor Mary Early. Free. Hirshhorn, 12:30-1:00 PM

Saturday, January 23: Elvis is in the Building!

Although he’s been gone for almost 33 years, we just can’t help falling in love with Elvis. In honor of one of American pop culture’s largest icons, the National Portrait Gallery is hosting a bona-fide Elvispalooza! Break out your rhinestone jumpsuit and throw on your best pair of blue suede walking shoes and come on out for the following festivities:

11:30 AM-3 PM: Craft activities for children

12 Noon & 2:30 PM: Curator-led tours of the exhibition Echoes of Elvis

12:30 PM & 2:30 PM: Performances by Elvis tribute artist Will Debley. (Maybe it’ll inspire you to go home and put 3,000 Miles to Graceland on your Netflix queue?)

1 PM: Discussion and book signing by George Klein, one of Elvis’ high school classmates and author of Elvis: My Best Man

1:30-4:00: Registration for Elvis costume contest begins. See 4:00 listing for more details.

4:00-4:30 PM: Parade of Elvises: Want to show off your best Elvis costume? Come show it off in this costume contest!

5 PM: Have a swingin’ time at a screening of the 1964 film Viva Las Vegas where love blooms between Elvis and Ann Margaret in the sin city.

Adults and children can also come dressed as Elvis at any age if they would like to participate in a costume contest.

Sunday, January 24: Wild Side Stage

Hey kids, take a walk on the wild side with this latest installment of the National Zoo’s kid-oriented concert series. Today, the CityDance Ensemble, DC’s leading modern dance company, is performing a fantastic adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. After the show, enjoy activities in the Reptile Discovery Center. You’ll be charmed, I’m sure. Rates are: $7 general admission; $5 for FONZ members. Tickets may be purchased at any National Zoo store ahead of time or online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets will also be sold at the door; however, please be advised that only a limited number of tickets will be available. National Zoo, 11:00 AM. This concert repeats today at 1:00 PM.

Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, is also the Presiding Prelate of the church's 13th Episcopal District.

The speaker of tonight’s Anacostia Community Museum’s 25th annual Martin Luther King Jr. program, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, was on the path to become a career journalist and radio station owner—until she followed a calling and entered the ministry of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In 2000, she was elected to serve as the 117th bishop of the church, the first woman in the more than 200-year history of the church to hold that position. Since then, she has continued to make history, winning a 2004 election to become the Titular Head of the denomination, as the president of the Council of Bishops. She also became the first woman to serve as chair of the General Conference Commission of the AME Church. She continues to serve as the presiding prelate of the church’s 13th Episcopal District.

As she prepared for the program, we asked McKenzie a few questions about her life, her career and why being a superwoman might not mean doing it all.

Your talk is titled “Defining Moments; Maximizing Life’s Milestones.” What do you consider some of your larger milestones, and how have you used them to advance your calling?

In the speech I talk about defining moments, those moments where when it happens, everything else changes after that. And especially for a person of faith and especially for a preacher, conversion really is a defining moment. The call to preach was a dynamic change in my personal life because I was in a career, on a career track and thought I had my life planned out for the next five, 10, 15 years. I was in broadcast management and, you know, I was going to own a radio station and do this and this. And then I find myself, in answering this call, leaving a wonderful job, going into seminary and preparing myself for ministry without being able to see the end of the road. It’s like starting to climb the steps and you don’t know how many landings you have to pass before you get to the top , and so certainly that was a defining moment.

Your first four years as bishop were spent in the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 18th district, which includes Lesotho, Botswana, Mozambique and Swaziland. How did the community respond to you there? Were they more or less accepting of women leadership than the AME community in America?

Africa, the part that I was in, is a very patriarchal society and there were definite rules about what men and women would do. Some of them are the same as in America and some of them are very different. But I came as a leader who was authorized by my denomination to administer, to do ministry and to provide services. And in Africa if you have a gift you are able to exercise that gift whether you are male or female. So you find that there were women doctors, there were women prime ministers, there were women who were presidents of universities and colleges, women who were exercising authority and leadership in the community because of a particular gift or talent. So it wasn’t an exclusive ‘You can’t do this because you were a woman.’ If you have that gift you get to exercise it. And I’m sure there was trepidation, and some hearts and minds were going ‘Now what are we going to do with this?’  But when you go to your assignment and the people get to know that you care and are willing to embrace them and link arms and hands with them to try to solve the problems in life then the dynamics change a little bit.

While working as the first women pastor of Payne Memorial AME Church in Baltimore, you helped develop the Human Economic Development Center, which I read helps with job training and placement and also provides Senior daycare and youth and adult education programs. Is that similar to the work you’ve done in your role on the President’s Advisory Council of the White House Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships?

I have in my ministry believed that a ministry goes beyond the four walls of the congregation—that our ministry is a community ministry, that we are caretakers, we are guardians, we are the nurturers and the resources of the community wherever the church is located. So my understanding of ministry is that you take a great big eraser and you erase the boundaries and erase the borders and whatever happens inside is available for the broader community. So when discussion began many years ago about faith-based initiatives and so forth we were the vanguard of that. We were the only African American congregation to petition the state of Maryland and we won a $1.5 million contract to provide services to help people, for us to train people and get them into employment. We’ve been in the trenches, we have a track record, we have a trust relationship with our community and just because we happen to have a faith that should not exempt us from helping to rebuild lives and rebuild the community. I’m sure that’s not the only reason but that might be one of the reasons—understanding how government and faith organizations and nonprofits can work together to solve problems.

Your parents were active members of the church, and you were also active in the children’s choir and bible camp as a child. Have you seen any distinct changes in how children and communities interact with the church today? How do you see the relationship between faith-based organizations and communities growing?

I think I grew up in a time when parents said, ‘Anybody who lives under our roof and sleeps on our bed and eats food from our table goes to church on Sunday.’ Church was not an option. Today I see many parents giving children options, saying ‘Well we’ll wait until they’re grown to make a decision.’ And on Sunday the blue laws in the state of Maryland meant that everything was closed on Sunday–so you didn’t have a choice, I mean you didn’t have an excuse. But now we live in in a 24/7 world and there are people who do work on Sundays, so it’s challenging for them to come, or for other reasons they don’t.  So I think we have a generation, maybe two, of children who were just not taken to Sunday school and don’t have a faith memory to build on when they become adults. And so that’s one of the changes that I’ve seen. Then there are churches like the one that I’ve pastored and others in the community that provide services like after-school programs.  So they may not make it in on Sunday but they are involved and engaged in the church in some other kinds of activities–after-school programs, culture enrichment programs, homework help, summer camps, community choirs. They may do those things and not necessarily be members of the church, but they’re still in a relationship and that relationship can be built on.

Your first book, Not Without Struggle (1996), includes a piece called “Ten Womanist Commandments for Clergy.” The fourth commandment is ‘Thou shall not be a superwoman.’ What does that mean? Why is the “superwoman syndrome” not effective?

In conversations over the years it has been that women have more than one job—you have the job at home, you have a husband and children, you’re responsible for household duties and then you work outside of the house. And so in order to be able to do everything its kind of like you’ve got to be that superwoman: You’ve got to be the top ace, no. 1 person on your job, and then you’ve got to be the top mother and the top spouse.  That tends to be like the superwoman syndrome, and you just can’t do it all. You cannot do it all. It’s nice to think that you can but you just cannot do it all. Now you can have it all, but you just can’t have it all at the same time. The main thing is to prioritize. When your children are young there are certain things you won’t be able to do. You have to wait for a specific season or a specific time. So set your priorities, do what your season demands and requires, and then the next season comes in and you do what’s next. All work and no play is a formula for a breakdown, a burnout or depression.

Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum’s 25th annual Martin Luther King Jr. program begins at 7 p.m. in the Baird Auditorium of the National Museum of Natural History, on 10th St. and Constitution Ave N.W.