Perhaps the most popular and beloved U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln is famous for many of his great and historic deeds. As these have been frequently documented, there seems no reason to repeat them here. But few know and realize President Lincoln’s great love for animals. Like many young boys, Lincoln would sometimes do cruel things to animals, but Lincoln quickly […]
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John asks: Why do people tell actors to “break a leg” before a performance? The term, of course, means “do well” or “have a great show” and is typically used before a stage performance, a show, or an audition. (I have never heard it used before filming a movie on any of the movies I’ve been involved with, but I […]
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It was the autumn of 1960 in Hamburg, Germany. The young, fledgling group who had recently changed their name officially to “The Beatles” were playing at a local club called The Kaiserkeller. Hamburg was a vice-ridden city, a 24-hour-a-day unofficial red light district in itself. Hookers, pimps, thugs, gangsters, drug dealers, and various sundry “characters” and habitues roamed the streets […]
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You might think the temporary insanity defense was a relatively new thing. I mean, maybe it began in the 1940s or possibly the ’30s. What with all the psychobabble around in those times. But, no. It was actually much earlier. It all started with a guy named Daniel Sickles. Sickles (1819-1914) was a U.S. Senator and later a Congressman, as […]
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It’s pretty obvious that no Major League Baseball player would be caught dead wearing a dress to the plate. But one batter wore one, and turned the at-bat into an outrageous incident that left fans hooting and hollering. Nightclub singer Kitty Burke hit a ball thrown by St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Paul “Daffy” Dean, becoming the only woman to ever […]
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Jesse asks: Why are the notes taken at a meeting called the “minutes”? Was this because the note taker records the notes along with the time? Not quite. In fact, the “minutes” here have nothing to do with time, but rather “small”, as in “minute” (my-newt). “Minutes” in this sense first popped up in the early 18th century, possibly directly […]
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Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were, in my own humble opinion, the greatest comedy team in the history of show business. I like Laurel and Hardy very much; I love the Marx Brothers and I idolize the Three Stooges, but there was something so electric about Dean and Jerry. It was a new concept, a fresh idea, teaming up a […]
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One of the great things about baseball is that it’s amazing with how many games there are per season, even lifelong fans frequently see things during games that they’ve never seen happen before. With that in mind, here are a few of the stranger feats in Major League Baseball history that have only happened once to date: Pitching a no-hitter […]
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Today I found out four of the five Marx brothers got their nicknames during a poker game. The famed Marx family comedy act was made up of Julius, Adolph, Leonard, Milton, and Herbert Marx. But to all of us who know and love this delightful comedy group, we know these five characters better as Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Gummo, and Zeppo […]
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Today I found out the origin of the phrase “blonde bombshell”. “Blonde bombshell” is often used to describe an exciting, dynamic, sexy woman with blonde hair, particularly blonde celebrity sex symbols. The expression seems to have come from, or at least was popularized by, a movie and originally referred to a specific blonde bombshell. In 1933, the platinum blonde Jean […]
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Today I found out about the Leonardo DiCaprio haircut that had the Taliban in a rage. Titanic was released in December of 1997. Many Hollywood insiders and naysayers predicted doom for the film. After all, it had cost a record $200 million to produce; the story had been told on film more than once; everyone already knew the ending; and […]
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S.Belsky asks: Where did the phrase “take a gander” come from? What the hell is a “gander” and why would I want to take it? As you are no doubt aware, but for those who aren’t familiar with the phrase, “take a gander” is an expression meaning “take a look”, “get a peek”, “check it out”, etc. It first popped […]
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Today I found out the Beatles were once banned from playing in Israel until finally in 2008 a formal letter of apology was sent out to the two surviving members and certain relatives of the deceased members, including an invite for Paul and Ringo to come play at Israel’s 60th birthday bash. This may come as something of a surprise […]
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J.Kaus asks: Why are Grandfather clocks called Grandfather clocks? At first glance, the answer seems obvious. Think about it- when was the last time you saw a grandfather clock in the house of anyone under the age of 70? Grandfather clocks- with their long cases, pendulums, echoing chimes, and Roman numerals- seem to belong to the world of courting parlors, […]
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Byron asks: Why do women always seem to like to go to the bathroom in groups? Why do women go to the ladies room in groups? You might as well ask “What did John Lennon see in Yoko Ono? If Wile E. Coyote could afford all those Acme gimmicks, why didn’t he just order a pizza or Chinese food instead […]
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Today I found out many public toilets used to be pay as you use. Or, for those of you like me who’ve been around for more than a few decades, “Today I found out what happened to pay toilets.” Going to the bathroom might be the one and only activity in America that’s cheaper than it used to be. Pay […]
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Today I found out the James Bond movie Goldfinger was once banned in Israel. Ask most any James Bond fan to name his or her favorite James Bond film and chances are they’ll reply with “Goldfinger”. (Steven Spielberg has even called it his favorite Bond film). Goldfinger is also quite probably the most widely seen of any Bond movie. It […]
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This Day In History: August 16, 1948 On this day in history, 1948, the Sultan of Swat died due to naso-pharyngeal cancer (often mistakenly said to have been throat cancer). While his historic years as a baseball player are well chronicled, less talked about are the Babe’s final years. George Herman “Babe” Ruth was one of the most popular and […]
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