A Ghost Dance is a ceremonial spiritual dance related to the teachings of Wovoka, a Paiute medicine man of Nevada who foresaw the restoration of the American continent to the Indians. Wovoka’s revolutionary message, preached in the late 1880s, provoked repression from U.S. officials, culminating in the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890.
Desreta Jackson, who played Celie as a child in The Color Purple (1985).
SDS stood for Students for a Democratic Society. The “New Left” movement for social and political change was organized at Port Huron, Michigan, in June 1962. Its manifesto was called the “Port Huron Statement.”
The first American land visited by Columbus was an island in the Bahamas that he named San Salvador. Historians have disagreed which island this really was. Wading Island and Samana Cay have both been suggested as possibilities. The landfall was first spotted on October 12, 1492, at about 2 A.M. by Rodrigo de Triana, the … Read more
The “Glad Girl” was Pollyanna, in the eponymous 1913 novel by Eleanor Hodgman Porter. She also appeared in the 1915 sequel, Pollyanna Grows Up.
The Persian Empire was about as large as the continental United States. Under its Achaemenid rulers, the Persian Empire encompassed not only Persia but Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and much of modern Afghanistan. The wars between Greece and Persia lasted from 499 to 479 B.C., ending in Greek victory.
Captain James T. Kirk’s middle name was Tiberius.
Rosa Parks refuse to move from her seat in the white section of a bus in Montgomery, Alabama because of a combination of fatigue and principle. “I was quite tired after spending a full day working,” the seamstress explained about her action on Dec. 1, 1955, which touched off the famous bus boycott and ushered … Read more
In the closing lines of The Grapes of Wrath, Jane Darwell says, “Can’t nobody wipe us out. Can’t nobody lick us. We’ll go on forever, Pa. We’re the people.”
During World War I (1917-18), Franklin Roosevelt was the assistant secretary of the Navy.
Ronald Reagan, at 69 in 1980 and at 73 in 1984, was the oldest man to be elected president.
While the fire did begin in a cow barn behind the cottage of Patrick O’Leary, there is no evidence that a cow was responsible. In fact, a reporter, Michael Ahern, later admitted he created the legend in order to make a better story. The fire lasted 27 hours, killing 250 people and destroying 17,450 buildings.
The reward for the capture of Harriet Tubman (c. 1820-1913), an ex-slave who became famous for helping southern slaves escape to freedom in Canada, went as high as $40,000. Even so, she eluded bounty hunters, returning 19 times to the South and bringing over 300 slaves to freedom on what was called the Underground Railroad. … Read more
The biggest-grossing movies, by decade were: 1910-19 The Birth of a Nation (1915) 1920-29 The Big Parade (1925) 1930-39 Gone With the Wind (1939) 1940-49 Song of the South (1946) 1950-59 The Ten Commandments (1956) 1960-69 The Sound of Music (1965) 1970-79 Star Wars (1977) 1980-89 E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
In a work of art, pathos is the quality that evokes sympathy or sorrow. Bathos evokes only laughter and disgust in its failed attempt to create a grand or pathetic effect.
Louis (1864-1948) and Auguste (1862-1954) Lumiere developed the first motion picture projector (which also served as a camera), the Cinematographe, patented February 13, 1895. December 28, 1895, is widely considered the birthday of cinema. This was the first time the Lumiere brothers showed their films to paying customers at the Grand Café in Paris. The … Read more
Steven and Cyril Marcus were the real-life gynecologists. The twins were found dead in their Upper East Side apartment in 1975, having killed themselves with barbiturates. In the movie, the twins were named Beverly Mantle and Elliot Mantle, both played by Jeremy Irons. Elliot was the confident, arrogant one; Beverly the shy, sensitive one.
In Charles Perrault’s original version (1697), the wolf devours Little Red Riding Hood, the “prettiest girl that ever was seen.” In the Brothers Grimm version (1812), called “Little Red Cap,” a hunter cuts open the wolf with a pair of scissors and frees the girl and her grandmother.
The question Ralph Kramden (“The Honeymooners,” CBS, 1955-56) missed when he appeared on “The $99,000 Answer”? was Who is the composer of “Swanee River”? Stephen Foster was the correct answer. Ralph guessed Ed Norton.
The Dinosaur National Monument is nearly 205,000 acres of dinosaur beds which are located in Colorado and Utah.
After escaping from slavery in 1838, the abolitionist and black leader Frederick Douglass (c. 1817-95) took the name “Douglass” from a character in Sir Walter Scott’s narrative poem The Lady of the Lake (1810).
Laurel Near plays the woman with the deformed cheeks who sings about Heaven in Eraserhead (1978). The music and lyrics of her song are by Peter Ivers. Fans know the character as the “Lady in the Radiator.”
Thomas Jefferson said, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing”, writing from Paris on hearing of Shays’s Rebellion, an uprising of poor farmers against the Massachusetts state government in 1786. Jefferson added, “God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion.”
The first American musical radio broadcast was a broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in 1910.
Tippecanoe is located in Indiana. In 1811, William Henry Harrison led a regiment to victory over Indians, led by Tecumseh. Harrison was elected president (with running mate John Tyler) in 1840, using the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!”
No, Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was not Peter O’Toole’s first film. O’Toole played several secondary roles in Ombre Bianche, Les Dents du Diable, The Savage Innocents, The Day They Robbed the Bank of England, and Kidnapped (all 1960). He did not become famous until he appeared as T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia.
The phrase “What hath God wrought” comes from the Bible, Numbers 23:23. It is now best known as the first message sent by telegraph, May 28, 1844.
Dennis Barrie, director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, was indicted by a local grand jury for exhibiting photographs by the late Robert Mapplethorpe, but acquitted on October 5, 1990.
The source of the title of Thomas Wolfe’s novel Look Homeward, Angel (1929) was John Milton’s poem “Lycidas” (1637). Milton asks his dead friend, now an angel, to look back compassionately on his still-living friends: Look homeward, Angel, now, and melt with ruth: And, 0 ye dolphins, waft the hapless youth.
The word fiat means an authoritative decree, from the Latin for “let it be done”. But the Italian car company founded in Turin in 1899 adopted its name as an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (Italian Motorcar Works, Turin).
The first transatlantic flight was made by Albert C. (“Putty”) Read and crew aboard the Lame Duck, May 16 to 27, 1919. They flew, with stops, from Trespassey Bay, Canada, to Plymouth, England. The first nonstop flight was that of John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown, June 14 to 15, 1919. Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 … Read more
The 1963 Burton-Taylor flop Cleopatra cost $37 million, a then unheard-of sum.
Recent marriage rates have been fairly similar to what they were at the turn of the century. In 1900, the marriage rate was 9.3 per 1,000; in 1988, it was 9.7. The divorce rate, however, has changed drastically. In 1900, it was 0.7 per 1,000; in 1988, it was 4.8.
Cape Flattery, Washington, and a point on the Florida coast south of Miami. They are 2,835 miles apart.
The score at the end of the game in “Casey at the Bat” was two to four, with the “Mudville nine” losing to an anonymous team thanks to “Mighty Casey” striking out in the ninth inning. Written by Ernest Lawrence Thayer (1863-1940), the poem was first published pseudonymously in the San Francisco Examiner on June … Read more
Her one-time husband Rob Reiner played the boyfriend of Myrna the secretary (Penny Marshall) on “The Odd Couple” (ABC, 1970-75). The boyfriend’s name was Sheldn (not “Sheldon”; they forgot the “o” on his birth certificate).
The term, the Baltimore chop came into vogue in 1890. It refers to a batted ball that bounces so high that it cannot be fielded successfully before the batter reaches first base. It is said to have been named for two Baltimore players, John McGraw and Willie (“Wee Willie”) Keeler, who often reached base this … Read more
The Ponderosa ranch in “Bonanza” (NBC, 1959-73) was near Virginia City, Nevada. The age order of the Cartwright sons from oldest to youngest were: Adam (Pernell Roberts) Eric “Hoss” (Dan Blocker) Joseph “Little Joe” (Michael Landon)
Richard and Maurice McDonald opened their original drive-in stand that would be known as McDonald’s in San Bernardino, California, in 1940. Beginning in 1948, they switched to a new streamlined system, with a limited menu, low prices, fast service, and disposable wrappings. In 1954, milkshake machine salesman Ray Kroc became the franchising agent for the … Read more
Ten McDonald’s hamburgers are made per pound of beef, apportioned by a computer formula.
In the middle of the second century, Christians in Antioch were already celebrating Christ’s birth on that day. The day was not officially recognized by the Church as the date of Christ’s birth until A.D. 350. Why December 25? The day was formerly celebrated by worshippers of the god Mithra as the Dies Invicti Solis, … Read more
The first movie directed by Steven Spielberg associate Frank Marshall was Arachnophobia (1990).
The Mongol emperor Kublai Khan (1215-1294) had a residence in K’ai-p’ing in southeastern Mongolia. Also known as Shang-Tu, this became Xanadu, the site of the emperor’s pleasure garden in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s unfinished poem “Kubla Khan” (1797).
English is the wordiest language, with approximately 455,000 active words and 700,000 dead words.
As of May 1988, the Department of Defense employed the most, with 1,066,805 civilian employees. The Copyright Royalty Tribunal employed the fewest, with seven.
Nicholson and Karloff appeared together in two movies filmed on the same sets, one right after the other: The Raven (1963) and The Terror (1963).
Geishas are not necessarily prostitutes. A geisha is a member of a professional class of Japanese women who provide entertaining company for men, particularly businessmen. Some geishas sing, dance, or play instruments; most are skilled only at conversation.
The German word for “overman” or “superperson” first appears in Goethe’s Faust (1808,1833), referring to an extraordinarily gifted person. Nietzsche used the term iibermensch for his transcendent man in Thus Spake Zarathustra (1883-91). The Nazis adopted the term as part of their doctrine of Aryan supremacy.
Ratified in January 1964, the 24th Amendment made it illegal to deny a citizen the right to vote in a federal election for failure to pay a poll tax. This device had been used by Southern states since Reconstruction to prevent blacks from voting.
James Bond creator Ian Fleming wrote the book on which Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is based on.
George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, premiered in 1924 by the Paul Whiteman Orchestra was billed as “An Experiment in Modern Music”. The piece fused symphonic and jazz styles, reflecting Gershwin’s background as a popular songwriter.
The names of these two English political parties Whig and Tory were each invented by the respective party’s rival as a pejorative term. The Country Party, representing the merchants and middle class, called their opponents tories, a word for Irish plunderers. The Court Party, representing the aristocrats, squires, and Anglican clergy, called their opponents Whigs, … Read more
“The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet” was on the radio eight years from 1944-52 before it started on TV. It on both TV and radio for two years-1952-54. The TV version continued until September 1966.
Arnold Rothstein (1882-1928) was nicknamed Mr. Big. Arnold Rothstein financed the criminal operations of Lucky Luciano, Legs Diamond, and others. Also known as the Brain, the Fixer, and the Man Uptown, Rothstein was said to have played a role in fixing the 1919 World Series. Arnold “The Brain” Rothstein was a New York businessman who … Read more
Caspar Weinberger, who went on to become Ronald Reagan’s secretary of defense (1981-87), served as secretary of health, education, and welfare (1973-75) under both Nixon and Ford.
The pledge was uttered by Nez Perce chief Joseph (c. 1840–1904) in 1877. It was part of a larger statement made when his fugitive tribe surrendered to the U.S. Army following a long, grueling journey as they attempted to flee to Canada. The exact quote is, “Hear me, my chiefs, I am tired; my heart … Read more
Seven members serve on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, founded in 1913. All are appointed to 14-year terms by the president. The Federal Reserve System, which includes all national banks and many state banks, helps to maintain the country’s economic health through such means as fixing reserve deposit requirements and establishing … Read more
Lolita was twelve when Humbert Humbert first met her.
She was Evelyn Nesbit Thaw, a beautiful young woman who had been seduced at age fifteen by architect Stanford White. At the time of the seduction, she was single and a showgirl in the “Floradora” company. She met White in a room with a red velvet swing. After she married, her husband Harry Thaw grew … Read more
The practice of using a string of knots or beads as a memory aid in prayer was developed long before the time of Christ. It was popularized among Catholics in the twelfth century by Saint Dominic of Spain, founder of the Dominican order. The word rosary may come from one of two sources: the early … Read more
The highest elevation is Mount McKinley, Alaska, at 20,320 feet. The lowest is Death Valley, California, at 282 feet below sea level. The average elevation of the United States is 2,500 feet.
Author Marguerite Duras was born in Indochina, in 1914. The French writer is the author of the novel The Lover (1984) and the screenplay Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1960).
This 1817 exchange of notes between U.S. Secretary of State Richard Rush and British Minister Charles Bagot, also known as the Rush-Bagot convention, provided for disarmament of the U.S-Canada frontier. It laid the basis for keeping the boundary undefended to this day.
Booker T. Washington was born Booker Taliaferro. He adopted the name “Washington” during his school years. His works include the autobiography Up from Slavery (1901).
Emerson’s idea of “the soul of the whole” appeared first in the essay, “The Over-Soul,” included in his First Series (1841).
Sleeptite Pajamas in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was the name of the pajama company in The Pajama Game (1957).
Howard Cosell, his broadcasting partner on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” in 1970-73 and 1977-83, said, “I do not understand Don Meredith and I never will”.
The fabled district “Storyville” of New Orleans got its name from Alderman Sidney Story. In 1897, he moved the city’s illegal activities, such as gambling and prostitution, into a restricted district along Basin Street, next to the French Quarter. Storyville flourished until 1917, when the secretary of the Navy had it closed down to protect … Read more
Part of the reason for the orientation of buttons on clothing is custom. Men usually dressed themselves, and because most men are right-handed, buttoning from the right made sense. Women were more often dressed by maids, and maids found it easier to work from their right, the wearer’s left.
The New Year’s Day football game was first played between the University of Michigan and Stanford University in Pasadena, California, in 1902. Michigan won 49-0.
No, Jews outside of the United States do not display menorahs in their windows during Hanukkah. The menorah, the nine-branched candelabrum, is a traditional symbol of Hanukkah. However, displaying it in the window is largely an American custom.
Boris Karloff made two with Abbott and Costello: Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), and Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953). Karloff did not appear in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), where Glenn Strange played the Frankenstein monster.
In the 1860s, Karl Marx wrote about politics in Europe for the U.S. periodical the New York Tribune.
The black mamba of southern Africa moves fast. It has been said to move 25 to 30 miles per hour while chasing a man on horseback.
Malcolm X was shot dead on February 21, 1965, at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem where he was preparing to speak. It is widely alleged that his assassins were members of the Nation of Islam.
Harold Stassen ran for the presidency three times, though it seems like more. Born in 1907, Harold Edward Stassen, governor of Minnesota from 1938 to 1945, tried unsuccessfully to win the Republican nomination in 1948, 1964, and 1968. He has gone on trying in the comedy routines of others ever since.
At least three leaders have died while having sex: Attila the Hun (c. 406-453), French president Felix Faure (1841-1899), and Pope Leo VIII (d. 965). Catherine the Great did not.
The practice grew out of British common law. Before the Norman invasion, thirteen or fourteen was considered the age of adulthood, at least among the nobility. But during battles, it was observed that thirteen- and fourteen-year-old nobles were not large or strong enough to carry the heavy armor and lance used in fighting. The age … Read more
The explosion of a star is called a supernova and is estimated to release 10^49 ergs or 1 followed by 49 zeros. By comparison, pronouncing an average syllable releases 200 ergs, and the first atom bomb produced 1021 ergs.
Sargent Shriver, husband of President Kennedy’s sister Eunice and, in 1972, the running mate of unsuccessful presidential candidate George McGovern, was the first director of the Peace Corps. The Peace Corps, a volunteer organization to help Third World countries, was founded by Kennedy’s executive order on March 1, 1961.
Bertolt Brecht follows the general outline of English playwright John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728), but focuses more on social evils in The Threepenny Opera.
According to George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak, the name is his invention: “I knew a trade name must be short, vigorous, incapable of being misspelled . . . and in order to satisfy trademark laws, it must mean nothing. . . . The letter k had been a favorite with me, it seemed a … Read more
The first nuclear reactor in the U.S. in a squash court at the University of Chicago. There, using a uranium-235-based reactor, Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi achieved the first sustained nuclear chain reaction on December 2, 1942. It was a crucial step in the development of nuclear weapons and nuclear power.
The score of years described by Jane Addams in Twenty Years at Hull-House began in 1889 when Addams (1860-1935) and her friend Ellen Starr moved into an old mansion in a poor neighborhood of Chicago. Hull-House became a center for social and political activism. In 1910, Addams published her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House. She … Read more
Shooting stars are not stars but meteorites, particles from space entering and burning up in the earth’s atmosphere.
Born in 1266, Beatrice Portinari, wife of Simone de’ Bardi, was Dante’s junior by one year. They were in their youth when Dante (1265-1321) fell in love with her. She died in 1290, leaving Dante in mourning. He wrote about her in the Vita Nuova (1294) and the Divine Comedy (1321).
Hart Crane’s last words were “Goodbye, everybody!” He said it just before committing suicide by jumping off a ship in 1932.
Robert Pershing Wadlow (1919-1940) was the tallest person in the world. Born in Alton, Illinois, Wadlow was 8 feet, 11.1 inches tall when he died.
The Estes Kefauver investigations of politics and crime began in 1951, and like the Watergate investigations in the early 1970s, were broadcast during the day.
The “ten-minute ticker” is a rule devised by Michael Weisman, NBC Sports producer, requiring production assistants covering a game to update the scores for other games every ten minutes.