Post a true but little known fact about someone famous, living or dead.

[red dog 1]

Bob Dylan proposed to singer Mavis Staples, who turned him down because she thought she was too young to get married.

(They now tour together)

[lapucelle]

2. Actress Hedy Lamarr was an inventor who pioneered wireless communication technology.

http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp

[BootinUp]

3. Chuck Yeager a reluctant WWII pilot, was shot down and escaped

occupied France to reach Spain and eventually rejoined his unit.

[Xipe Totec]

4. El Zorro is based on real life priest, Miguel Hidalgo, Father of Mexican Independence

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, or Miguel Hidalgo, was born a Creole in 1753. Hidalgo was trained in a Jesuit school before 1767. Later, he enrolled in the diocesan College of San Nicolás in Valladolid. Hidalgo earned degrees in theology and had become an ordained priest in 1778. He was a member of the San Nicolás faculty and remained in Valladolid until 1792 as an academic, an exponent of the Enlightenment, and a Don Juan. In 1790, he became rector of the college, but was removed due to his ideas and mismanagement of funds. Hidalgo served as a priest until 1810, when Napoleon’s invasion of Spain occurred. The taxes on the colonies to benefit the mother country generated discontent and newfound patriotism.

These events seemed to be the breaking point for Miguel Hidalgo to expand his roles outside of the priesthood. Hidalgo acquired the nickname "the fox" or "el zorro" by fellow classmates. He had already strayed from dedicating his life to the practices of the Church; questioning Spanish rule, dancing and gambling for enjoyment, and focusing on commerce-related ventures. He also fathered several illegitimate children with multiple women, which was definitely not an approved lifestyle for an ordained priest. Still, he was able to maintain his parish with humanitarian ventures that benefited indigenous peoples of the region, making them think about being less reliant on the Spanish economic policies and more self-sufficient. These ideals were vagrant violations and he was immediately ordered to stop.

History.com states that Miguel Hidalgo launched "the Mexican War of Independence with the issuing of his Grito de Dolores, or "Cry of Dolores."" Publicly read by Hidalgo in the town of Dolores, his words called for the end of 300 years of Spanish rule in Mexico, redistribution of land, and racial equality. History skews the count of supporters between 600 and "thousands" who had gathered within minutes of Hidalgo's statements in Dolores, headed to Mexico City. No matter what the true numbers are, the fact that a man can rally this many supporters in so little notice was a definite threat.




https://storify.com/maryrachel07/zorro-the-fox-how-did-miguel-hidalgo-y-costilla-ev

[SCantiGOP]

224. Based on that picture

I would really like to have that guy on my side in a battle.

[dchill]

251. He'd probably detest the Trumpenfuhrer.

[OneBlueDotBama]

5. Mackenzie King

Canadian PM during WWII, was the grandson of the leader or the Upper Canada Rebellion, William Lyon Mackenzie, he also talked to his dead mother, his dead dogs, FDR, he talked to dead people all the time, used their advice to frame a profile of Hitler.

[applegrove]

249. Churchill.

Yosef Karsh took the most famous photograph of Churchill during WWII in Ottawa. Churchill had a cigar in his mouth. Karsh said "excuse me, sir" and pulled the cigar out of his mouth. Then snapped that instant.

https://petapixel.com/2013/03/08/in-his-iconic-portrait-winston-churchill-is-scowling-over-a-lost-cigar/

I worked in the gift shop of the Hotel Chateau Laurier twice in my life. When i was there in my early 20s Karsh lived there and used to come in to get his NY Times. So i am only 2 degrees removed from Churchill!

[Chasstev365]

6. Robert F. Kennedy failed 3rd grade.

[Sneederbunk]

7. Johnny Cash shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.

[Lochloosa]

10. Best line EVER!

[lpbk2713]

43. Along with ...

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.

[Upthevibe]

197. I don't think it's true though.....

LOL!

[empedocles]

354. "I thought I was her Daddy, but she had 5 more'

[Motley13]

8. Elvis Presley died on the toilet

https://www.thoughtco.com/overview-of-elvis-presleys-death-2522423

[Freddie]

20. Elvis and Liberace

Both had stillborn twin brothers.

[UTUSN]

55. Is that *true*?!1

[Freddie]

56. Liberace's twin died at birth

Elvis' twin was stillborn.

[TexasBushwhacker]

62. Andy Garcia had a twin surgically removed from his body

He was born with an undeveloped conjoined twin the size of a softball attached to his shoulder. It was removed when he was an infant and he remembers nothing of it.

[Mr.Bill]

179. Elvis was a natural blonde and died his hair black.

[SCantiGOP]

221. Jim Morrison

liked beer better than LSD (according to his bandmates).
And he did not petition the Lord with prayer.

[Mr.Bill]

222. Jim liked his Bushmill's Irish Whiskey.

I'm not saying he didn't use other drugs, but he was basically an alcoholic.

[SCantiGOP]

223. The auto biography that the drummer wrote

Titled "Riders on the Storm." Said the other band members were always surprised that Jim wasn't really into drugs. He would smoke a joint now and then, and had been known to take acid when he was younger, but they said his 'drug of choice' was probably beer. They recounted a recording session where he drank three six packs over a 6 hour period. Said they were amazed he was still upright at the end.

And yes, he was not a purist and would drink the hard liquor along with beer.

[Docreed2003]

227. Was going to post the same

That portrait hangs at the base of the staircase at Graceland and was taken in ‘56 at the cusp of his fame. He started dying his hair black shortly thereafter.

[lunasun]

254. Wow the original goth guy

[CountAllVotes]

311. *shock*

Color me surprised!

[cemaphonic]

57. Despite annoyingly persistent historical legends, so did Catherine the Great.

(actually, she died in bed a bit later. But the stroke that did her in happened on the toilet.)

[sdfernando]

350. You should never have to push that hard! /nt

[FSogol]

83. "When my time comes, that's how I want to go, stoned and fat and wealthly and

sitting on the bowl!" - Going to Graceland by the Dead Milkmen

[dflprincess]

167. The headlines screamed

"Elvis craps out!"

[NCjack]

9. According to Donnie "the chin" (Mafia leader of GOP), George Washington was a bigger liar. nt

[cloudbase]

11. Donald Trump doesn't really golf.

I'm not sure what it is he does, but a person has to know their ass from a hole in the ground in order to golf.

(As a non-golfer, does one golf or does one play golf?)
I've played around a few times!

[Control-Z]

13. So, are you saying the maggot has a golf ball or two

stuck up his arse? I've heard of a stick but never a ball. Or, perhaps it's one of his golf clubs? That could explain a hell of a lot. His kids seem to have the same condition. Maybe we've been judging then wrong the whole time. That doctor's exam can't come too soon.

[shanny]

42. Golf is a game, not a verb.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

12. I read this in a magazine, years ago.

Don't remember which. Rolling Stone. Maybe High Times.

I her "B movie" days, before Saint ronnie, Nancy was apparently well known around the movie industry as quite the accomplished fellatress.

[Leith]

21. That's in the Index Section of Kitty Kelley's Book about Her

The original phrase was quite a bit more crass.

[Laffy Kat]

24. I had to look that one up.

You'd think I'd be able to figure it out, LOL!

[red dog 1]

27. I'm not sure that qualifies as "true"

If you have a credible source and/or a link for that, please post it; otherwise, it's merely an "anecdote" or "gossip"

[btw, Kitty Kelley is NOT a "credible source"]

[UTUSN]

73. Over the years, I have "defended" KELLEY 5-10 times. "Defended" because she doesn't need it.

I don't know what would rule out somebody as a "credible source" who conducts hundreds of interviews for each of her books, with every anecdote being verified by two or more of her sources, and picked over by a team of lawyers. She is not the "source" of the stories.

She attributed the comment (via her sources) about Nancy's talent/reputation to Peter LAWFORD.

Years ago, I was being gigged here for posting items from Page Six, on the grounds of how lowbrow and unseemly it was to post GOSSIP (gasp!1) here at DU. Back then I copied/pasted the dictionary definition of "gossip" multiple times, the upshot of which is that it has NOTHING TO DO with being UNtrue, that it might be embarrassing or something not wanted to be spread around or whatever but NOT UNtrue. The items I posted were about politics, and legitimate reporters who specialize in gossip operate by standards, and a lot of one day's gossip becomes mainstream journalism days or weeks later. Notice, I am not talking about the Globe, Examiner, et al.

Here's something I'll take credit for. While I was disappointed in KELLEY's book about the BUSH Family Evil Empire (2004) because I thought it wasn't up to the snuff of her early books and that she went soft on the BUSHes, I eagerly tuned in to the Today show interview scheduled over two days. Whatever Matt LAUER's game was in politics and towards women (compare his 2016 treatment of Hillary) I didn't know, but I was appalled on the first day when he SCALDED Kelley for having the gall to do her kind of writing about the holy BUSHes and just tongue lashed her for the entire "interview".

I spent the next couple of hours Googling to find a phone number for the Today show and, incredibly, got through to some Today staffer (maybe a producer), and went over what I'm saying here about "gossip" and KELLEY's integrity and how unfair and horrible LAUER had been to her, and the staffer was totally receptive. The second day, LAUER was thoroughly chastened, sat close/next to KELLEY and conducted an entirely different, subdued and respectful, conversation with her.

[red dog 1]

74. I hope KELLEY is planning to do an unauthorized biography of Agent Orange,

(the sooner the better)

[red dog 1]

75. Why the all caps for Kelley?

Did someone misspell it?

[UTUSN]

81. I answer sincere questions, so here goes.

Last edited Fri Jan 5, 2018, 08:13 PM - Edit history (2)

50 years ago I joined the Navy for 4 years and have used all caps for surnames ever since because the Navy did, as my token nostalgic idiosyncrasy. So, no, not about misspelling. And when i saw "Agent Orange" in the prevous post I immediately thought the reference was to my Vietnam year, no it's Twitler. So, that's the assuming mechanism at work!1

This impacted me at DU. In a previous version, a rule was no all caps. I explained my surname thing, plus my all caps for emphasized words, the latter to save the then complicated formula thing, and seemed to get dispensation?

But there was a negative angle, too. Sometimes when somebody didn't like a post of mine they would do the distract-by-off-topic thing, as in, "What's with the RANDOM caps?!"

(Whew - I'm typing on the phone!1)
Well, I'd say I contributed to the thread topic with my KELLEY LAUER anecdote!1

[MLAA]

106. Thank you for your service, at ease and CAPs away!

[UTUSN]

112. Hah, you're welcome!1

[Farmer-Rick]

132. My token nostalgic idiosyncrasy from the Navy is

Writing my dates day month year like 4 Jan 2018. Other Navy folks always recognize it.

You may cap to your hearts content with no complaints from me.

[UTUSN]

134. Always a shipmate! Thanks

[nolabear]

32. Speaking of Nancy...

Nancy was preggers when she and Ronnie tied the knot.

When the Trivial Pursuit game first came out that question was in the Canadian version but not the American one.

[empedocles]

355. And, Ronnie was 'dating' a number of other women at that time

[no_hypocrisy]

14. Ivanka ratted out her father for his pedestrian food preferences.

She said that Trump's idea of a big night is to sit in front of the tube with an open can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli and proclaim how superior he is to those who prefer gourmet fare.

[smirkymonkey]

364. How gross! You would think someone from NYC could at least order authentic ravioli.

Or if not, he could at least put it into a bowl and not eat it out of a can. He is a true vulgarian.

[eppur_se_muova]

15. Sojourner Truth was formerly a servant to a messianic cult leader.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Matthews_(religious_figure) claimed to be both God and the reincarnation of the Biblical prophet Matthias. There are some interesting parallels between Matthews and Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, whom Matthews actually met. Smith's cult thrives to this day, Matthews' died out, which seems just a tad arbitrary and capricious.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217248.The_Kingdom_of_Matthias

[NanceGreggs]

16. Bo Diddley LOVED to cook!

My first husband produced a Bo Diddley album in the early '70s, and Bo was our house-guest for two weeks.

The minute he finished a day's session at the studio, he came back to the house and started cooking dinner. His garlic-encrusted leg of lamb was heavenly, and I've never had hush puppies that even came close to his.

I once came home after a day's shopping to find my kitchen full of people. Bo had made so much fried chicken, he went out into the street and invited neighbours and passers-by to come in for a bite.

You can imagine the reactions when people realized they were being served dinner by a music legend.

[MiltonBrown]

25. That's really awesome!

[John Fante]

76. Great story!

[panader0]

100. Very cool.....

[TexasBushwhacker]

152. He took a young guitarist from Houston under his wing

He gave him a guitar too. His name is Hamilton Loomis. He tours the US and Europe and sells his CDs at his shows.

[bobbieinok]

17. Not little known, but weird, about Rock Hudson

I graduated from college in TX in 61. As an undergrad, I heard several times that Hudson was gay.

IIRC that didn't become publicly known until yrs later. So how did undergrads in TX in the 50s know this?

As an adult, I've learned that college undergrads know many things about what's going on in the school
before the faculty and staff do. Maybe in the wider world as well?

[LeftInTX]

46. I think it was a well known secret

Rock Hudson's agent seemed to have a knack for selecting gay actors. Rock's secret was about to be spilled to the tabloid, Confidential. ( Late 50s).

Not wanting his most profitable star's career ruined, the agent gave Confidential the scoop on Tab Hunter instead.

[SCantiGOP]

225. And to keep Rock in the closet:

The studio pressured him into marrying an attractive woman who worked in the film business. They stayed married for three years and she never tried to harm him or his image. They reason she gave for their divorce was his adultery during the marriage. At a time when being gay would have ruined his career this bought him years of cover, and she was decent enough not to mention the fact when they split up that his adultery had been with other men.

[First Speaker]

18. When Gershwin wrote *Porgy and Bess*, Al Jolson wanted to play Porgy...

[SCantiGOP]

226. A fascinating bit of trivia concerning Porgy and Bess

Everyone knows this as a Gershwin masterpiece, but the words were written by a man from a prominent Charleston SC family named Dubose Heyward. A progressive for his time (and certainly considering his upper class status) he moved for a while to New York City to seek a career in the theater. Needless to say he was a black sheep and never really forgiven for this betrayal by his snooty peers in Charleston.
After he and Gershwin completed the play, some of the best lawyers of the time put iron clad provisions into the copyright and his will that the play could never be performed in front of a segregated audience. As a result, it was not seen in the Charleston - the city where the play is set - until 1970.
A young progressive House member from Charleston named Joe Riley was instrumental in getting the historic Dock Street Theater to violate state law and allow a mixed race cast and audience to produce the play. He later became Mayor of Charleston for more than 40 years and is given credit for the current status of his city, which consistently rates as one of the top tourist destinations in the world and is a model for progressive social affairs in the state.

I saw the play at the Spoleto Arts Festival in 2016. The music and spectacle is amazing, and resonates very strongly since it is set in the time my parents were growing up near Charleston.

[First Speaker]

228. That's really cool! Thanks for sharing...

...the impact of seeing a really good performance of Porgy and Bess is stunning...

[sdfernando]

351. Great story but please refer to it as an

Opera, not a play. The only spoken lines in the Opera are by a white man. Everything else is in this awesome opera is sung.

[SCantiGOP]

362. You are correct, sir.

(or madam)

[Xolodno]

19. I'll throw two out there...

1. William Randolph Hearst had copies of all the newspapers flown to him every day in his castle in San Simeon.

2. The 1st Ecumenical Council which decided the first Christian Dogma, predates the existence of the Bible.

[A HERETIC I AM]

31. The divinity of Christ was essentially voted on at the First Council of Nisaea

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea

One purpose of the council was to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria over the nature of the Son in his relationship to the Father: in particular, whether the Son had been 'begotten' by the Father from his own being, and therefore having no beginning, or else created out of nothing, and therefore having a beginning.[12] St. Alexander of Alexandria and Athanasius took the first position; the popular presbyter Arius, from whom the term Arianism comes, took the second. The council decided against the Arians overwhelmingly (of the estimated 250–318 attendees, all but two agreed to sign the creed and these two, along with Arius, were banished to Illyria).[13]

[Xolodno]

38. Yeap, thats the first official church doctrine....and I don't agree with it.

But that happened in 325 AD. The Biblical Canon was issued in 397. Read somewhere that it was rumored that Constantine actually read from the Christian version of the Sibylline Oracles to open the council...which of course was excluded from the canon.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. Wow. Even before the Old Testament part of the Bible?

[Xolodno]

37. Yes.

There was no Bible, therefore, no Old Testament.

What the Jewish people had was the Tanakh...which it is still called today...which was included in the Christian Bible...which is a collection of books. In fact, we could get "technical" on which books are included and not included in the Old Testament among Christians vs. Judaism...and the relevance.

The first Canon of the Christian Bible was issued in 397 in Carthage, well after the first Ecumenical Council of 325. And lets get even more technical, there is no "Official" Bible. You have Protestant vs. Catholic vs. Orthodox...and among the Protestant and Orthodox, it divides further.

[A HERETIC I AM]

39. Which leads to the idea that the King James "version"

(and I put "version" in quotes specifically, and that BTW, was my first step toward Atheism, and I noticed it when I was about 9 or so)
is little more than a political document, having no relation to actual events.

[Xolodno]

44. Political Document...yeah that's definately one way to view it.

Why was the Old Testament Apocrypha books excluded? Because King James stated "he wasn't a Papist". Which back then wasn't much of a religious statement as it was political break from Rome. Yet, the KJV is the bedrock of Protestantism...and something I like to state to irritate the heck out of conservative evangelicals who love the KJV... Good chance King James may have been gay...the look on their faces....PRICELESS!!!

Martin Luther, of course had a different view on the New Testament books...imagine if his version became dominant?

Side note, I can easily see how actually learning about the Bible, such as I did, can lead to atheism. In my opinion, if more people actually did that, we have a lot more atheist...and a lot more people like me. I accept the books of the Bible as religious philosophical works. Do I believe there is a God? Yes. Do I believe he can be contained, boxed in, limited, etc. to written words penned by man and politicized when the opportunity presented itself? No. Faith is personal and faith cannot be proven, regulated or chained. As Giodano Bruno stated to "regulated" faith..."Your God is too small".

[demigoddess]

326. In my experience, just going to church can lead to atheism. It happened to me

and my kids as well.

[becca da bakkah]

22. My Brother Was A Cab Driver....

....He once drove Cornell Wilde!

[red dog 1]

49. During WW ll, my father was returning home from Guadalcanal, having earned a Purple Heart...

...he was in uniform on a train bound for San Francisco, when someone touched his shoulder from behind and said: "God Bless you, son"....It turned out to be Edward G. Robinson.

[Upthevibe]

198. That's cool....n/t

[brush]

341. He was an avid art collector.

[Yavin4]

23. The actress Hedy Lamar contributed to the invention of Bluetooth and WiFi

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, at the beginning of World War II, Lamarr and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, which used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers.[2] Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work are arguably incorporated into Bluetooth technology, and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of CDMA and Wi-Fi.[3][4][5] This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr

[MiltonBrown]

26. Jackie Wilson recorded a tribute album to Al Jolson.

[brush]

342. Jackie Wilson and Levi Stubbs of "The Four Tops" were cousins.

[Lisa0825]

28. Julia Roberts is a big fan of FART JOKES.

I know this via a friend who was in movies with her. In her dressing room at one point, she had a jar on her dresser with the label "Fart in a Jar."

[A HERETIC I AM]

29. The mother of Michael Nesmith, of "The Monkees" fame, invented White Out (Liquid Paper)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bette_Nesmith_Graham

[red dog 1]

50. Good one!

I always liked the Monkees, and I think Michael Nesmith was the only one in the band who actually was a real musician.

[Freddie]

66. That's why he usually declined to participate in the various

Monkees reunion tours over the years. He was an only child and inherited a considerable fortune (and didn't need the $$).
Rest In Peace, Davy Jones.

[TexasBushwhacker]

154. He once said he was lucky to have his inheritance

because he spent all his Monkees money on blow.

[elehhhhna]

108. Chevy Chases family is rich AF because of their toilet fortune

[LeftInTX]

146. There is a street in San Antonio named after him: Mike Nesmith Street.

[bettyellen]

30. Walter Cronkite had a tall carpet covered kitty condo placed in front of hisfloor to ceiling window

Overlooking the east river in Manhattan. He gave his cats the best view! Also, his partner was Carly Simon’s mom.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

34. Ummm, he dated Carly Simon's older sister after his wife died.

Not her mom. The sister, Joanna, is an opera singer.

[bettyellen]

36. Oops, youre right. I know she was an opera singer and took good care of him his last years.

He wasn’t very well at the party when I met them. It was kind of sad to see him in a wheelchair.

[ailsagirl]

91. Awwww... makes me love him even more!!

[bettyellen]

92. I know, right?!? My friend just gushed, LOL.

[ailsagirl]

93. Men who love animals are always high on my list

And men who love cats are at the very top of my list!!!

[bettyellen]

95. I never trust guys who denigrate cats. Unless theyve been attacked, I dont want to hear it.

[ailsagirl]

96. Same here

A lot of guys see having cats as "sissy"
like wearing sweaters or corduroy pants

Couldn't disagree more!!

[bettyellen]

97. Thats such bullshit. Cats are more of a challenge. Dogs are so easy to please, its just laziness!

[ailsagirl]

98. Absolutely, bettyellen

Interesting article:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/unique-everybody-else/201304/cat-people-are-more-distinctive-dog-people

[lapfog_1]

332. I own two or rather they own me... both adopted from the zero kill cat rescue that I volunteer for

cats, dogs, and children love me for some reason. Even the "mean ones".

If I ever get a "chunk" of money, I'm opening my own coffee shop / bagel / muffin place with a cat rescue seating area so guests can eat a muffin and play with a kitten while they relax. With the appropriate health considerations, of course.

[ailsagirl]

334. Sounds like a great idea!!

[empedocles]

358. Cronkite and Severeid looked to be similiar in height on TV

I saw both in person. Severeid was a good head taller

[appalachiablue]

35. Julian Bond had a brother named James. I spoke to him briefly

after a lecture c. 2004 and similar family names came up. I'd heard him speak the first time when in HS at a nearby college.

[tblue37]

40. My mother briefly dated Ronald Reagan. (Absolutely the truth.)

She was a pretty, blonde 17-year-old waitress in Des Moines, Iowa, and he was a 26-year-old sportscaster called "Dutch" at the time. He used to come by the place where she worked for coffee and asked her out.

[NNadir]

298. My mother briefly dated Sterling Hayden, Jack T. Ripper in Strangelove.

Unlike Reagan, he didn't work to destroy his country in real life though.

[Aristus]

41. Irish singer Chris De Burgh is the grandson of British general Sir Eric De Burgh.

And a distant descendant of English knight Sir Baldwin De Burgh, who was personally knighted on the battlefield by Richard the Lionheart.

Chris De Burgh is also distantly related to Richard the Lionheart on both sides of his family.

Dude's got quite a pedigree, is what I'm saying...

[red dog 1]

45. John Wayne was afraid of horses

Equinophobia or Hippophobia, is a psychological fear of horses.

[LeftInTX]

47. Carly Simon is part black

Her grandmother was mixed race. Her DNA is 10% African.

[elehhhhna]

109. Carol Channing was African American.

[LeftInTX]

113. I know. You can see it in her younger pics.

[Mr.Bill]

180. So was Dinah Shore.

[brush]

343. Aha, that accounts for her full lips. Always liked her smile.

[jpak]

48. Soylent Green is....

Oh never mind...

[VOX]

67. Inedible!

[SCantiGOP]

237. Bet the vegans were really upset

When they found out what eco-friendly sounding Soylent Green was made from........

[lunatica]

71. protein

[byronius]

52. Reginald K. Dwight changed his name to Elton John.

And then got kinda famous.

[red dog 1]

53. Bob Dylan once stole a bunch of albums from a friend who had invited him over to hear them

I forget the guy's name, he lived with another friend of Dylan's.
They invited Dyan over to their house, and played a bunch of Woody Guthrie albums, which Dylan loved, along with some other albums.
Dylan knew they both were going out of town, so he went over, somehow got into their house, and stole all the Woody Guthrie albums and a few dozen other albums too.

(This is documented in the Martin Scorsese biopic about Dylan, "No Direction Home&quot

When they got back, the 2 friends of Dylan realized what had happened, and the guy who owned all the albums went out looking for Dylan, and finally located him.
The guy had a bowling pin, and he held it up over Dylan's head saying "Where the fuck are my albums?" (He was furious)
He was a big guy and Dylan was scared of him, but the guy never got his albums back.

When asked about the incident in the movie, Dylan responded:
"I knew they were not going to be home, so I went over there and took some of the albums", including all the Woody Guthrie albums)
He actually stole something like 40 or 50 albums from the guy.
Dylan didn't deny that he stole the albums.
He justified it by saying "He didn't even play guitar" (not true)
He also said "I'm a musical expeditionary!"

[captain queeg]

54. Hitler was a total drug addict

That’s actually pretty well known, but he believed pills weren’t “real medicine” so had his private doctor injecting him from morning to night.

His generals called him the human pin cushion or some such thing behind his back.

[SCantiGOP]

236. It was verified a few years ago that the secret sauce of the Blitzkrieg

was methamphetamines.

It really freaked out the European countries to see Hitler brigades march for 48 hours with no rest. Maybe they were supermen?
No, they were just cranked out of their minds on speed.

My brother was a Special Forces soldier in Viet Nam; he said they were always kept well supplied with speed when going into the jungle. He said you never knew when you might be fighting for your life after being up for 2 days, so any bad effects from the speed were irrelevant. His medic would tell guys, "You can sleep when you're dead."

[VOX]

338. Pervitin (methamphetamine) was the Wehrmacht's "drug of choice."

When I first learned about Germany's widespread use of Pervitin only a few years back, I was flabbergasted, because it made so much "sense" of the incredible insanity and savagery of blitzkreig warfare, the slaughter of civilians, etc.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/the-nazi-death-machine-hitler-s-drugged-soldiers-a-354606.html
<snip>
Many of the Wehrmacht's soldiers were high on Pervitin when they went into battle, especially against Poland and France -- in a Blitzkrieg fueled by speed. The German military was supplied with millions of methamphetamine tablets during the first half of 1940. The drugs were part of a plan to help pilots, sailors and infantry troops become capable of superhuman performance. The military leadership liberally dispensed such stimulants, but also alcohol and opiates, as long as it believed drugging and intoxicating troops could help it achieve victory over the Allies. But the Nazis were less than diligent in monitoring side-effects like drug addiction and a decline in moral standards.
<snip>

[skypilot]

58. Farrah Fawcett auditioned for...

...the lead in "Carrie".

[Callmecrazy]

59. James Doohan, Scotty of Star Trek...

Last edited Thu Jan 4, 2018, 11:29 AM - Edit history (1)

Fought with the Canadian forces on D-day. He was shot three times and lost a finger. You never see his right hand in any of his scenes on the show.

Gary Burghoff, Radar of MASH fame, also had a jacked up finger and carried a clipboard to hide it.

[red dog 1]

60. Very interesting, thanks.

[elehhhhna]

110. One of Martin Sheens arms is super short and dysfunctional.

[nolabear]

288. And Bill Nighy has Dupuytren's contracture.

He's such a good actor it was years before I noticed he can't open the last two fingers of his hands.

[red dog 1]

61. Al Kooper was invited to Bob Dylan's recording session for "Like a Rolling Stone"

by the producer, who knew Kooper, who had invited Al to the session because he knew that Kooper was a good guitarist.
Kooper arrived, took out his guitar & began tuning it..then he noticed Mike Bloomfield strumming his guitar, and Kooper instantly realized that Bloomfield was a much better guitar player.
Al put his guitar away and went into the control booth.
Meanwhile, the organ player was asked to go play the piano, and Kooper said to the producer
"Hey, why don't you let me play organ?"
The producer replied, "You're not an organ player, you're a guitar player."
Just then, the producer had to take a phone call.
Since he had not said "No" to Kooper, Al went into the studio and sat down at the organ.
When the producer got off the phone, he said, "OK, let's start recording."
Then he spotted Al Kooper at the organ & said "Hey, what are YOU doing there?"
Kooper just laughed,,,but the producer let him stay on the organ, and the recording session went on.
Later, Dylan was in the control room listening to the tracks just recorded and he told the producer, "Turn up the organ."
The producer replied, "Oh, that guy isn't an organ player, he's a guitar player."
Dylan said, "I don't care what he is, turn up the organ."
Al Kooper's organ playing was the best part of "Like a Rolling Stone" imo.
From that day on, Al Kooper was sought after by many groups to play organ with them.

[Mr.Bill]

181. Al Kooper also played the french horn on the Rolling Stones'

You Can't Always Get What You Want.

[SCantiGOP]

238. Let's have a story that's not true

I remember a story going around in the late 60s that Alice Cooper was..................Al Kooper after his sex change

[TexasBushwhacker]

63. Kevin Spacey, Val Kilmer and Mare Winningham went to high school together

Kevin and Mare were co-valedictorians. Kevin and Val went on to Julliard.

[TexasBushwhacker]

64. George Wendt (Norm from Cheers) is the uncle

of Jason Sudekis.

[Upthevibe]

199. Wow! I love Jason Sudekis....n/t

[TexasBushwhacker]

65. Snoop Dogg was Cameron Diaz's weed dealer

in high school.

[RandomAccess]

103. This cracks me up

for some reason.

[jmowreader]

68. Judith from "Life of Brian" served as mayor of a town that had banned the movie

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Jones-Davies

Between June 2008 and May 2009, she served as Mayor of Aberystwyth, and sponsored a charity screening of Life of Brian. Upon taking the office, she was informed that the town had banned the film and prohibited it for nearly 30 years. In July 2008 Jones-Davies was interviewed on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio 2 about the film and its status in Aberystwyth. She was also profiled on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour. The film was screened on 28 March 2009 at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. It was attended by cast members and co-writers of the film, Michael Palin and Terry Jones. The event was broadcast on BBC One on 12 May 2009 as a documentary titled Monty Python in Aberystwyth: A Mayor and Two Pythons.

[red dog 1]

84. That's a good one!

Wasn't she in the "People's Front of Judea"?

[jmowreader]

88. Yes. She played Brian's girlfriend.

[lunasun]

168. George Harrison financed the film after the original film company got nervous and pulled out

right before production was to start . Nervous about religious backlash the original pulled financing and he stepped in to produce it.
Harrison appears in the movie as ......Mr. Papadopolous

[blitzen]

69. Michael Nesmith (musical genius of the Monkees): his mom invented Liquid Paper n/t

[red dog 1]

70. Nixon's Secretary of the Interior, former Alaska Gov, Walter J. Hickel, was fired by Nixon,

because he objected to Nixon's treatment of Vietnam War protesters.

[CottonBear]

72. I know the lady that rem wrote the song "Pretty Persuasion" about/for.

She is very beautiful in a very unusual and unique way. She has a beautiful song-like laugh.

https://m.

Bonus facts: The rem video was filmed at the the folk art sculpture garden property of folk artist R.A. Miller, who also appears in the video. Back in the 1980's, I went to Mr. Miller's, met him and bought some of his painted metal artworks.

[John Fante]

77. Steve Martin is one of the most accomplished

banjo players on the planet:

[spooky3]

234. Very nice; thx!

Last edited Fri Feb 9, 2018, 03:45 AM - Edit history (1)

[Atticus]

78. "Dock of the Bay" was released just after Otic Redding's untimely death. nt

[utopian]

79. Willie Nelson Started out as a DJ in my home town of Vancouver WA

He remembers it warmly in his memior.

[RandomAccess]

104. I'd never have thought of him from there

WAS he from there, or how did he get there?? I lived in Portland for 3 magical years. Just hard for me to imagine him there. To me he just reeks "Texas." LOL.

[utopian]

130. From Texas

Not sure what brought him to the NW. Wasn't for too long though.

[dubyadiprecession]

80. Harry Truman didn't declare bankruptcy when his haberdashery business died.

Instead of sticking his creditors with the usual "ten cents on the dollar" bullshit like Trump would do, he took his time and payed them back in full.

[Evergreen Emerald]

82. Betty Davis's left leg was two inches longer than her right

I just made that up.

[SharonClark]

114. I would have believed that.

[pressbox69]

85. When Samuel Beckett was in France

he drove young Andre the Giant to school every morning as a favor to a friend.

[SwissTony]

89. The friend was Andre's father

who had helped build Beckett's house.

Beckett was a pretty useful cricketer, so much of the conversation was about cricket. I don't know if Andre ever played the game.

[Texasgal]

86. LBJ was the first American

President to wear contact lenses.

Weird and useless fact!

[kwassa]

87. Alexander Hamilton invented Wall Street, the Coast Guard, and

Started the New York Post. Among many other things.

[red dog 1]

294. He also originated how the U.S. Army is divided into Battalions, Divisions, Brigades, Regiments etc.

He also helped establish the U.S. Mint, (among many other things)

[SwissTony]

90. Michael Collins, the "third" member of the Apollo 11 team

is referenced in a song on the Jethro Tull album Benefit.

Some of the lyrics...

I'm with you L.E.M
Though it's a shame that it had to be you
The mother ship
Is just a blip from your trip made for two
I'm with you boys
So please employ just a little extra care
It's on my mind
I'm left behind when I should have been there
Walking with you

---

I used quotes round the word "third" because I have no idea of the command structure on the spacecraft.

[WiffenPoof]

314. Huge Tull Fan

I did not know that. Thanks

[ailsagirl]

94. Shakespeare and the phrases he coined-- such as "a piece of work" (Hamlet)

Many are already known, but many more are still pretty amazing!!

“All our yesterdays”— (Macbeth)

“As good luck would have it” — (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

“As merry as the day is long” — (Much Ado About Nothing / King John)

“Bated breath” — (The Merchant of Venice)

“Be-all and the end-all” — (Macbeth)

“Neither a borrower nor a lender be” — (Hamlet)

“Brave new world” — (The Tempest)

“Break the ice” — (The Taming of the Shrew)

“Brevity is the soul of wit” — (Hamlet)

“Refuse to budge an inch” — (Measure for Measure / The Taming of the Shrew)

“Cold comfort” — (The Taming of the Shrew / King John)

“Conscience does make cowards of us all” — (Hamlet)

“Crack of doom” — (Macbeth)

“Dead as a doornail” — (Henry VI Part II)

“A dish fit for the gods” — (Julius Caesar)

“Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war” — (Julius Caesar)

“Devil incarnate” — (Titus Andronicus / Henry V)

“Eaten me out of house and home” — (Henry IV Part II)

“Faint hearted” — (Henry VI Part I)

“Fancy-free” — (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

“Forever and a day” — (As You Like It)

“For goodness’ sake” — (Henry VIII)

“Foregone conclusion” — (Othello)

“Full circle” — (King Lear)

“The game is afoot” — (Henry IV Part I)

“Give the devil his due” — (Henry IV Part I)

“Good riddance” — (Troilus and Cressida)

“Jealousy is the green-eyed monster” — (Othello)

“Heart of gold” — (Henry V)

“Hoist with his own petard” — (Hamlet)

“Ill wind which blows no man to good” — (Henry IV Part II)

“In my heart of hearts” — (Hamlet)

“In my mind’s eye” — (Hamlet)

“Kill with kindness” — (The Taming of the Shrew)

“Knock knock! Who’s there?” — (Macbeth)

“Laughing stock” — (The Merry Wives of Windsor)

“Live long day” — (Julius Caesar)

“Love is blind” — (The Merchant of Venice)

“Milk of human kindness” — (Macbeth)

“More sinned against than sinning” — (King Lear)

“One fell swoop” — (Macbeth)

“Play fast and loose” — (King John)

“Set my teeth on edge” — (Henry IV Part I)

“Wear my heart upon my sleeve” — (Othello)

“Wild-goose chase” — (Romeo and Juliet)

And many more...

http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/04/45-phrases-coined-shakespeare-450th-birthday

[RandomAccess]

105. And a single (long) poem by Alexander Pope

provides a bunch more, though at the moment the only one I can remember is: "All looks jaundiced to the jaundiced eye."

[red dog 1]

99. In May of last year, Richard Simmons sued the National Enquirer for libel & false claims that...

..he was undergoing "gender reassignment"
In September, 2017, Simmons lost the lawsuit, and was ordered to pay the defendants' attorney fees (More than $200,000)


(On a personal note, back in the 1980s, my mother spotted Richard Simmons sitting alone near the baggage claim area at San Francisco International Airport.
She went up to him and began talking to him.
She told him that she was a huge fan of his, and he couldn't have been nicer to her.
He talked with her for quite a while)

[lunasun]

169. The publication claimed calling someone transgendering was not an insult , not defamation

[red dog 1]

175. That's true, and the court agreed, so Simmons was ordered to pay The Enquirer's legal fees

(I think there was one other publication besides The Enquirer that Simmons sued)

[nolabear]

289. I know Richard, or at least I did. I did three infomercials and a QVC with him.

Seriously. It was more than twenty years ago, and happened when I went on one of his twice-yearly cruises on which they happened to be filming an infomercial (so I was brief background). We were all sent rehearsal videos ahead of time so we would know the choreography for the exercise scenes and darned if something didn't click with me, so I went on to lose a TON of weight and went on another cruise, where I told my story in one of the workshops (Those cruises were very very very hands on, sometimes literally. Richard was like a goofy girlfriend sometimes) I guess something jelled for him and I was invited to do one in a mall outside of Boston and then one in NYC at the Motown Cafe. That one's on YouTube. Some of the other stuff is too but I haven't looked for it.

Richard was always just what you'd expect. He really liked interacting with people. The character seldom slipped, even when we were changing in a closet together (like, five of us) but he was always sweet, honest, and damn I lost a lot of weight. I'm really sad about the whole recluse thing, though he has every right to do what he wants. And maybe he's happy. But it's all quite odd. I heard from him last about five years ago and didn't have frequent contact, but he was really in almost daily contact with a lot of people and it just stopped. Completely. I was happy to hear his manager, who also struck me as a good guy, still saw him and was protective of him.

I'd certainly like to know what happened though.

[red dog 1]

305. Very interesting, thanks.

I think the last time anyone actually saw him was about a year ago when LAPD detectives visited him at his home to conduct a "welfare check" and they said that Simmons is "perfectly fine" and that "right now he's doing what he needs to do and it is his business."

[nolabear]

306. Yes, I saw that. People are understandably worried but it's his business indeed.

[Zoonart]

302. Famously devoted to his fans.

[dewsgirl]

101. Andy Kaufman had a daughter, and his granddaughter

portrayed his sister, in the movie Man on the Moon.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

102. Dick Clark, of Bandstand fame,

started his career on air at the one TV station in Utica NY back in the early 1950's.

[elehhhhna]

111. Travolta's wife was mysteriously shot at Sheens house when she was dating Charlie Sheen

[Chipper Chat]

107. The 2000 Fort Wayne Indiana phone directory

Had listing for I.P.Daily and Heywood Jablome.
We heard the Bell employees who managed to accomplish this prank were fired. Awwwwww.

[SCantiGOP]

239. Reminds me of a story that everyone loved in my hometown

In the job listings of a small SC newspaper there was a secretarial position listed in the 1970s that had as its heading "Fuck your Way to the Top!"
Everybody in town was talking about it, so the paper had to publish a front page apology for the "disgusting language that appeared" and an explanation: Two young women were responsible for the want ads. One would type them up and the other would proof them and set them into type. This was a joke by the first gal to amuse her co-worker, who happened to miss it.
The paper assured us that both had been fired immediately and would never work for the paper again.....

[Chipper Chat]

242. I also remember my family laughing

Back around 1950 about a wedding article in our local paper where this comment appeared. (Paraphrased). "The bride's mother's dress was shit brown"

[Akoto]

115. A few small ones about Winston Churchill...

I've taken an interest in Churchill over my young life, so a couple things come to mind among many.

1. The abbreviation OMG (Oh My God), now common in our internet dialogue, saw its first recorded use in a letter to Churchill.

2. Churchill is thought of as a British symbol of sorts, but he's actually half American by way of his mother, Jennie Jerome (AKA Lady Churchill). Related, he was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States.

3. Churchill, famed for his oratory skill, had a speech impediment and resultant difficulty pronouncing the letter S.

4. Churchill was a POW during the Boer War, long before WW2. He escaped capture and earned quite a bit of fame for it.

[red dog 1]

116. William Randolph Hearst ll, grandson of William Randolph Hearst, is a great guitar player!

[suegeo]

117. Dan Aykroyd has webbed toes

syndactyly

[ailsagirl]

118. Paul McCartney's daughter designed these shoes-- price only $755

[Kaleva]

119. Clint Eastwood, David Janssen and Martin Milner were army buddies

After they were discharged, they shared an apartment together for awhile as they pursued their acting careers.

[Kaleva]

120. Leonard Nimoy and Ken Berry were also army buddies

They both served in the reserves.

[Wolf Frankula]

121. This is from 40 plus years ago.

Bob Dylan, in person, is a very shy man who says "I'm just a singer."

Two deadly enemies, Yakubu Gowon, and the late Odumeguwu Ojukwu, never swore.

Wolf

[red dog 1]

122. Nixon Unknowingly "Muled" For Louis Armstrong

In the mid-1950s, Louis Armstrong was made a Goodwill Ambassador.
Whenever he & his band returned to the US after a trip overseas, he didn't have to stand in line at customs, he was usually just "waved on through"
But on one return trip to the US from a European tour, he was told to wait in line at customs.
He was sweating profusely because he had 2 pounds of pot in one of his suitcases.
Just then, the doors swung open and out came Vice President Richard Nixon, along with his Secret Service detail, on their way to their plane outside.
Nixon spotted "Satchmo" waiting in line and went up to him and asked him why he was in line.
Satchmo said "They told me I had to go through customs."
Nixon said, "Well, that just won't do." and he picked up Satchmo's 2 suitcases and carried them through customs himself.

About a month later, one of Nixon's aides told him that Satchmo had 2 pounds of pot in one of the suitcases that Nixon had carried for him, and Nixon's response was:
"Louie smokes marijuana?"

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10025488095

[MiltonBrown]

165. In my opinion this is the best one. Love it!

[red dog 1]

123. George McGovern flew 35 missions as a B-24 bomber pilot in WW ll,

stationed at an air base near Cerignola, Italy.
On one mission over Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, his plane was hit by heavy flak and lost power in two engines.
Unable to return to Italy, McGovern flew to a British airfield on Vis, a small island in the Adriatic Sea off the Yugoslav coast.
The short field, normally used by small fighter planes, was so unforgiving to four-engined aircraft that many of the bomber crews that tried to make landings there perished.
But McGovern successfully landed, saving his crew, a feat for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross.

[SCantiGOP]

240. This is a perfect example of a quote from Colin Powell:

"If only combat veterans were in charge of our military, we would have fewer wars."

How about that, George W, Donnie, Rush, etc etc ??

[brush]

344. WWll bomber missions in B-24s and B-17s were almost suicide. My hat is off to those men.

[IrishEyes]

124. Sorrell Booke who played Boss Hogg on the Dukes of Hazard

graduated from Columbia University and Yale. He spoke five languages including Japanese. He was a Korean war veteran who worked in counterintelligence.

[red dog 1]

125. Days before he was murdered, JFK decided to bring all troops and "advisors" home from Vietnam

He didn't want American boys killed in what he determined to be a "civil war"
(National Security Action Memorandum # 263)

Two days after the assassination, Sunday, November 24, 1963, LBJ reversed JFK's order, and issued a new one (NSAM # 273) increasing the number of American troops in Vietnam, and thus continuing the Vietnam War, which eventually cost the lives of more than 50,000 American soldiers.
("The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond: A Guide to Cover-ups and Investigations" - Editors:
Peter Dale Scott, Russel Stetler, Paul Hoch - Random House, 1976)

[RobinA]

140. You Might Want To

check out #273.

[red dog 1]

142. Thanks for that

I'd always believed what Dave Emory said on his weekly radio show on KFJC-FM ("One Step Beyond&quot was directly from the book:
"The Assassinations: Dallas and Beyond: A Guide to Cover-ups and Investigations" edited by Peter Dale Scott, Paul L. Hoch and Russell Stetler

Having never read the book myself, I assumed that when Mr. Emory stated that
"Only days before his death, JFK issued NSAM # 263, which called for the American troops in Vietnam to begin their withdrawal from Vietnam because he decided that he didn't want American soldiers to die in what JFK thought was essentially a civil war."
(This quote is to the best of my recollection)

I still believe Emory was right about NSAM # 263.

Re: NSAM # 273,
According to Wikipedia,
"The most discussed part of NSAM 273 is Paragraph 2, which affirmed the withdrawal called for in NSAM 263."

(Also from Wikipedia)
"The withdrawal of almost 1,000 U.S. military personnel from South Vietnam took place, albeit described by the "Pentagon Papers" as an "accounting exercise." The number of soldiers in South Vietnam was 16,752 in October and on December 31, 1963, was 15, 894."

Although I haven't read the entire Wikipedia article, and I've never actually read the text of NSAM 273, it does appear to me that Mr. Emory misstated the facts about that important memo, especially the part about LBJ reversing # 263, 2 days after JFK's death.

Thanks again for your suggestion....I will be checking out # 273 in more detail.

[LisaM]

126. Linda Ronstadt's grandfather invented the flexible ice cube tray.

I salute him for that, because I remember metallic-tasting ice cubes from when I was little.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Groff_Copeman

[SCantiGOP]

241. The metal taste was the second worst aspect

I remember some seriously cut fingers trying to open those damned devices.

[brush]

345. Ronstadt's family owned Ronstadt's Hardware in Tucson.

[rzemanfl]

127. Crossing over from another lounge thread, Julie London recorded the song

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy in 1968 and it was the title track of an album she released in 1969.

[LeftInTX]

145. ROFL...........

[rzemanfl]

148. Here-

[LeftInTX]

160. That's hilarious!

Trying to make the most bubble-gum song ever sound sultry!!!

[LeftInTX]

162. Oops......she couldn't have posted it!!!

She's long gone....

[LeftInTX]

161. Oops....

Darn, there is only one comment for that video.
Hoping to read a long thread.

[smirkymonkey]

347. Julie London played "Dixie" in the hit TV show "Emergency"

[rzemanfl]

348. There's a blast from the past. Slow evening? n/t

[MustLoveBeagles]

361. Memory of Julie London

[randr]

128. Jerry Garcia was missing a finger on one hand

May be more known than I think

[DBoon]

159. Tony Iommi is also missing parts of several fingers

Industrial accident. Had to wear a prothetic finger to play with Black Sabbath

[mainstreetonce]

129. Whoopi Goldberg's name is Karen.

It just don't fit.

[TexasBushwhacker]

150. She once had a job as a beautician at a funeral home

Making up the bodies and styling their hair.

[Freddie]

131. Elvis Costello's father

Ross MacManus, was a featured trumpet player and singer with the Joe Loss Orchestra, England's equivalent of the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, complete with weekly TV show, 50s thru 70s.
The Gibb brothers (Bee Gees) dad, Hugh, was leader of the Hugh Gibb Orchestra that entertained vacationers on the Isle of Man in the 40s and 50s.

[TexasBushwhacker]

149. Here's Ross singing "If I Had a Hammer"

Elvis said he inherited his father's musical talent but not his slick dance moves.

[Farmer-Rick]

133. Wood Allen is uglier in real life

If that's possible. Saw him in the Waldorf in New York back in the 1990s.

[TexasBushwhacker]

155. Wow! 20 years ago

He was with Soon-Yi by then. I haven't been able to enjoy his movies since then. He just gives me the creeps.

[Farmer-Rick]

172. Yeah, that poor girl

He must look even worse today. But back then he had a grimace on his face and was glaring off into the distance. His wispy gray hair made his head look too big. He was really skinny but sitting, so height wise I couldn't really tell how tall he was.

I was there escorting some admirals. The petty officer I was with wanted to get an autograph but Woody Allen's demeanor put him off.

[enid602]

135. TRump:bannon

In an old vogue interview, Ivanna TRump advised that Donald reAd a book of Hitler's speeches every night before bed, Steve Brannon's ex landlord in LA sued him for $20k for ruining the finish of a jacuzzi by putting acid in it.

[red dog 1]

136. Sirhan Sirhan didn't kill Robert F. Kennedy

Thane Eugene Cesar, the "fill-in" security guard who was directly behind RFK shot him from behind at very close range.

Thomas T. Noguchi, who was the Los Angeles County Coroner at the time of RFK's assassination, wrote in his Coroner's Report on RFK, "the bullet that killed Robert Kennedy was fired from 3 to 5 inches away."
As he was about to testify to this, he was taken aside by an Assistant District Attorney and asked to change his statement from "3 to 5 inches" to "3 to 5 feet"
Mr. Noguchi refused to do this.
According to all the witnesses, the closest that Sirhan Sirhan got to RFK was about 6 feet.
None of the bullets Sirhan fired hit RFK.
Thane Eugene Cesar shot RFK from directly behind him.
Thane Eugene Cesar has a .22 caliber gun which he admitted firing.
L.A. Mayor Sam Yorty hated both John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, and he strongly supported Richard Nixon for President in 1968, despite being a Democrat.
Sirhan's gun only had 6 bullets, but eyewitnesses heard more than 6 shots.
Some of the bullets hit bystanders, and some were embedded in a door frame.
The door frame was removed by LAPD and later destroyed.

There are several books on the RFK assassination which corroborate what I've said here.

Google "Thane Eugene Cesar" for more info.

[TexasBushwhacker]

157. Interesting. I remember football player Rosey Grier

tackled Sirhan and took his gun. He was working as a body guard for RK and was watching Ethel when Bobby was shot.

[red dog 1]

174. You're right, Rosey Grier was there & tackled Sirhan

Rafer Johnson was also there.

If RFK had been protected by the Secret Service, Thane Eugene Cesar wouldn't have been able to be so close to him....(Cesar was directly behind Bobby)
Before Bobby died, he grabbed Cesar's clip-on bow tie, which lay next to him as he lay on the floor.

The LAPD covered up what really happened and didn't follow up on their interview of Cesar,
(He lied to them & told them he had sold his .22 caliber gun before the night Bobby was killed),
and LAPD destroyed evidence, including the door-jams which held bullets that proved that there were more bullets at the scene than Sirhan had in his gun.

(I think Ethel was pregnant at the time)

[TexasBushwhacker]

184. Yes, Ethel was pregnant with Rory

who is now a documentary filmmaker.

[mnhtnbb]

216. I worked with an RN

who was working the ER the night RFK was brought to Good Samaritan Hospital after he was shot. I knew her several years later. She had an amazing story to tell.

In 1970 I was a sophomore at UCLA. I once answered the phone in a room I shared with two of my pledge sisters at our sorority house and it was Rosey Grier asking for my pledge sister who was an Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Rosey wanted to date her but she wasn't interested! Her boyfriend was a gorgeous Hawaiian guy--a Yale grad-- in Med School at UCLA. He was also a swimmer but not the caliber she was.

[red dog 1]

137. The man who John Wesley Hardin shot because he was snoring was someone he knew

On August 6, 1871, in Abilene, Texas, Hardin, his cousin, Gip Clements, and a rancher friend named Charles Couger put up for the night at the American House Hotel.
Clements and Hardin shared one room, with Cougar in the adjacent room.
Sometime during the evening, Hardin was awakened by loud snoring coming from Cougar's room.
He first shouted several times for the man to "roll over," and then, irritated by the lack of response, he drunkenly fired several bullets through the shared wall in an apparent effort to awaken him.
Cougar was hit in the head by the second bullet as he lay in bed, and was killed instantly.

[red dog 1]

138. Walter J. Hickel, Secretary of the Interior under Nixon, was a cheapskate!

I know, because, as a limo driver, I drove the bastard to all the S.F. Bay Area TV stations, including Channel 2 in Oakland.
The trip took at least 5 hours.
When I dropped him off at his hotel afterwards, he held out his hand and gave me a handshake, no tip! (He was a multi-millionaire)

[red dog 1]

139. Errol Flynn may have been a Nazi agent

(From The Daily Beast, July 1, 2017)

"Errol Flynn's "greatest influence' was Hermann Erben, an Austrian doctor who worked for the Nazis.
Because of his association with Erben, the actor was supposedly 'outed' by Charles Higham in 1980 as a Nazi agent in his controversial biography of Flynn."

[red dog 1]

141. Jimmy Carter is the only President to ever negotiate a peace treaty between Israelis & Arabs

The Camp David Accords were the result of 14 months of diplomatic efforts by Egypt, Israel and the United States that began after Carter became President.

Egyptian President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin were jointly awarded the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

[red dog 1]

144. On Aug. 19, 1895, John Wesley Hardin was killed by John Selman Sr.at the Acme Saloon in El Paso

Selman entered the saloon, walked up to Hardin from behind and shot him in the head, killing him instantly.
Selman was arrested and put on trial for murder, but a hung jury resulted in his being released on bond, pending retrial.
However, before the retrial could be arranged, Selman was killed in a shootout with US Marshall George Scarborough on April 6, 1896, during an argument following a card game.

[LeftInTX]

147. Mohandas Gandhi fought for the British during the Boer War

13 days from now will be the 70th anniversary of his death. (Jan 30th)

[TexasBushwhacker]

151. Mindy Kaling's mom was an OB/GYN

Just like her character on The Mindy Project. Her mother died of pancreatic cancer in January of 2012 the same day that The Mindy Project got the greenlight from Fox.

[madaboutharry]

153. Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond sang in the same high school choir.

They went to the same high school in Brooklyn and were in the choir together.

[DBoon]

156. Janis Joplin played golf

nt

[ghostsinthemachine]

158. Jerry Garcia's brother chopped off his finger

With an axe when Jerry was ten. Accident. Brother, Tiff, who recently passed.

[TexasBushwhacker]

163. Woody Harrelson's father Charles was a hitman

He was convicted for killing a federal judge and died in prison. Woody visited him regularly and even tried to get him a new trial when a drug dealer who testified against Charles recanted his testimony.

[Upthevibe]

200. Yep....that's correct....I really love

Woody. I think he's a good actor.

[nolabear]

290. His mom and I graduated together.

It was in a Master's program from Antioch University in Seattle and we were both middle aged. I didn't know her but we knew he was there at the graduation. When she was called up a loud voice yelled from the back of the auditorium "You did it, Mom!" and darned if it wasn't him.

[TexasBushwhacker]

292. How sweet!

It sounds like Woody did his best to maintain a relationship with his dad while he was in prison. He sounds like a good son.

[ghostsinthemachine]

164. 2 Bob Dylan/Grateful Dead stories

Bob asked to become a full time member of The Dead around 1990. All but one OK'd his joining. Probably not who you think that put the kibosh on the move.
When walking away from Jerry's casket, Dylan was heard to say " there lies the only guy in the world that knows what it's like to be me".

[TlalocW]

166. Two - One about Thoreau and the other Malcolm X

Malcolm X worked with Redd Foxx before they were Malcolm X and Redd Foxx, and they were both nicknamed Red because of the color of their hair.

Thoreau, while living on Walden pond, writing his famous book where he told us to simplify and become self-reliant, would go into town every Sunday to have his mom do his laundry and have her cook him dinner.

TlalocW

[sdfernando]

170. Abe Lincoln had a personal secretary

Named Kennedy. John F Kennedy’s personal secretary was named Lincoln.

Lincoln was elected in 1860. Kennedy in 1960.

Both had premonitions of their own death.

[Wednesdays]

363. Booth shot Lincoln in a theater, and the authorities found Booth hiding in a warehouse

Oswald shot Kennedy from a warehouse, and the authorities found Oswald hiding in a theater.

[Rhiannon12866]

171. Johnny Cash proposed to his wife June Carter Cash over 30 times before she finally said yes.

He also suffered from a fear of flying and snakes. I read that, I didn't know him.

[red dog 1]

173. Camp David was named after Eisenhower's grandson

[flying_wahini]

176. I nursed Margarite Oswald (Lee Harvey's Mom) for 7 months

She was a mean and ornery woman. Only said Thank You ONCE in all that time.

[red dog 1]

177. Interesting!

Did she ever talk about him?

[flying_wahini]

183. No : that was understood from my first meeting with her! One of her many rules.

I will say that she only had like 2-3 visitors in the many months I cared for her. She didn't want any Kindness or sweet talk. She was very rude and dismissive. I had to feed her for a while at the end and she wouldn't even make eye contact with me very much. Actually kind of a cruel person.

Her son, Robert came to see her once and I was struck by how much
he looked like Lee Harvey ! Very creepy.

[red dog 1]

187. In 1959, Oswald received a hardship discharge from the Marines because of his mother's health

and soon after that, he defected to the Soviet Union.

[Mr.Bill]

178. Actor Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were college roomates.

Adolph Hitler was a very good harmonica player

Ina Garten of the Barefoot Contessa cooking show wrote nuclear policy in the Ford White House administration.

[El Supremo]

248. I went to prep school with Tom Jones.

Before he changed his name.

[Mr.Bill]

182. Minutes before he died, James Brown

called 911 and said I've fallen and I can't get down.

[red dog 1]

185. Willie Mays was unable to buy a house in a "restricted neighborhood "in San Francisco in 1958,

when the New York Giants moved out to San Francisco that year.

(The neighborhood was called "White City&quot

[red dog 1]

186. Bruce Willis was not the studio's 1st choice to star in Die Hard..

73-year-old Frank Sinatra was originally offered the role, but he turned it down.
At least 5 other actors turned down the role as well, including Richard Gere & Al Pacino.

Also, Willis wanted to play the role of Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, but director Quentin Tarantino wanted John Travolta to play that starring role, so he gave Willis the role of the punch-drunk boxer Butch Coolidge instead.
(Butch's girlfriend said to him: "I like it when you stink!&quot

[red dog 1]

188. Johnny Depp became an actor because of Nicholas Cage

His first wife, Lori Anne Allison, who he married in 1983, introduced him to Nicholas Cage, who advised him to pursue an acting career.
Before that, he worked a variety of odd jobs, including one as a telemarketer for pens.

[red dog 1]

189. Bryan Adams has probably done more benefit concerts than any other rock musician

"Since the 1980s, Adams has participated in concerts and other activities to help raise money and awareness for a variety of causes.
Most of Adams' philanthropic activity is focused on the Bryan Adams Foundation, which aims to advance education and learning opportunities for children and young people worldwide, believing that an education is the best gift that a child can be given.
The foundation is mostly funded by Adams himself."

More on Brian Adams' activism and humanitarian work;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Adams

[elehhhhna]

190. There were two John Malkovitchs in John Malkovitchs HS graduation class

And the famous one was NOT " the cool one".

[red dog 1]

191. Jimmy Carter is a voracious reader

While President, he often read an entire book in one evening.
During one weekend at Camp David, he read four books.
(Source: "White House Diary" by Jimmy Carter)

[raven mad]

192. My husband and I were in a Pickle Barrel

When we met Eagan and Gruening. It was worth it. About 1970.

?m=1386889826

[red dog 1]

193. During WW ll, George McGovern was a B-24 Liberator pilot stationed near Cerignola, Italy

Located in the Apulia region of Italy, Cerignola was once the "grain capital" of the world, going back to Roman times, when the Romans kept grain in the ground & covered it with wood to keep it fresh.
It remained the grain capital of the world until Mussolini entered WW ll and drafted all the older boys and men into the Italian Army.
Thereafter, the place deteriorated, with no men to grow the wheat and other grains.
By the time George was stationed nearby, the people were starving.
The cereal "Cheerios" was named after Cerignola

[red dog 1]

194. Phil Spector began his career in 1958 as the co-founder of the "Teddy Bears"

performing on guitar and vocals, and writing their number 1 single "To Know Him is to Love Him"

[Freddie]

303. "To Know Him Is To Love Him"

Is on Phil's father's gravestone, which is where he got the phrase. His dad committed suicide when Phil was a young teen.

[red dog 1]

195. Sean Penn couldn't play guitar, so Woody Allen hired a famous classical guitar player to teach him

how to play & sent him to Europe for months of guitar lessons before Allen even started shooting "Sweet and Lowdown"
By the time "Sweet and Lowdown" was ready to be made, Sean Penn was an excellent guitar player, and he played all those guitar scenes himself, even the close-ups.

(BTW, Sean Penn is a life-long Democrat)

[red dog 1]

196. Twitler's paternal grandfather, Friedrich, amassed a fortune operating boom-town restaurants

and boarding houses in the Seattle area and the Klondike region of Canada during it's gold rush.

[brush]

346. Don't you mean whorehouses?

[DFW]

201. Howard Dean is a decent finger-picking style guitar player and a huge Leo Kottke fan (like me)

I'm still better than he is, and he is the first to admit it!

[Botany]

202. As a kid my family was friends w/a very nice man and a republican too.

Raymond "Pete" Shafer, Governor of PA. His brother lived next door and he was the county D.A..
Ray was a really good guy and liked to play ball w/us kids in the neighborhood.

BTW he was a liberal too.

[MFM008]

203. Elvis Presley

And my uncle Jerry were good buddies in the Army but turned down a part in a movie . Jerry was amazing looking.
My dad and Johnny Ray were drinking buddies. My dad quit and Johnny never did... my dad was named Johnny to.

[Mike Nelson]

206. Johnnie was...

...able to stop drinking during the 1980s, at least. There were times when he was able to drink moderately, too... although friends were still worried and we were all on watch. He did have some nice later years. What Happened to Elvis shook him up...

[MFM008]

208. I see

Good. I didn't know that.

[GallopingGhost]

204. Alfred Hitchcock

was scared of his own movies. He wouldn't watch them.

[Tikki]

205. Sharon Tate was crowned Miss Richland (WA) during the 1959 Atomic Frontier Days..

I believe she was 17 years old.

This celebration was named for the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

The Mr. and I lived in the area back then...we were kids.

The Tikkis

[pansypoo53219]

207. george washington carver embroidered & painted.

[red dog 1]

209. In 1801, Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered Ceres, the largest object in the

asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Crees' 100-kilometer thick mantle contains up to 200 million cubic kilometers of water, more than all the fresh water on earth.

Ceres' diameter is approximately 587 miles wide.

Some astronomers consider Ceres to be a "dwarf planet"

In May, 2015, the Dawn spacecraft began orbiting Ceres.

[BluesRunTheGame]

210. Maria Muldaur took fiddle lessons from Doc Watson's father in law.

[ms liberty]

327. Merlefest is held less than an hour away from me in

Wilkesboro, NC. I work with someone who takes off for it every year. It's also the hometown of Zach Galafinakis and of Junior Johnson, a NASCAR driver who began his career as a moonshine runner. He later became a team owner, and a slightly fictionalized version of his story was made starring a young Jeff Bridges as "Junior Jackson", IIRC. It was filmed in the area as well. The theme song the movie used was Jim Croce's "I've Got A Name."
Oh, and Junior Johnson is a very active Democrat locally from what I have heard. Here the link to to movie description.

The Last American Hero
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070287/

[VOX]

211. Kelsey Grammer's father was murdered, and his sister was raped and also murdered.

I always thought that these tragic events accounted for Grammer's multiple marriages, long-term substance abuse problems, and his unfortunate right-wing Republicanism.

http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/05/the-tragic-family-life-of-kelsey-grammer/

On April 25, 1968, a man named Arthur B. Niles set fire to [Kelsey's father] Frank Grammer’s car outside the St. Thomas home he shared with his second wife, Elizabeth, and their four children. When Frank Grammer went outside, Niles shot him twice. During the trial, Elizabeth Grammer testified that she pulled her husband’s body from in front of Niles’ car because he had threatened to run over him as well. Kelsey Grammer was only 13 years old at the time of his father’s murder.

Niles was found not guilty of the murder by reason of insanity and spent several decades in a psychiatric ward. In 1994, he was assessed to no longer be a threat to society and was released. In November of 2002, a judge issued a restraining order against Niles which prevented him from seeing his son. In March 2003, Niles went back to prison after pleading guilty to threatening to kill that same judge.

In 1975, when Kelsey was 20 years old, his younger sister, 18-year-old Karen Grammer who worked as a waitress for Red Lobster in Colorado Springs, was raped by four men and murdered by Freddie Lee Glenn. Glenn, who was a civilian worker at Fort Carson near Colorado Springs, Colorado, began his involvement in a killing spree on June 19, 1975 when he, and two soldiers, including Michael Corbett, decided to assault Daniel Van Lone, a Four Seasons Hotel cook who had just gotten off work at the time they grabbed him. They then took him to a secluded area to kill him. Corbett shot him point blank in the head and the trio made off with 50 cents from the killing.
<snip>
Karen...managed to crawl to the back porch of a nearby home that had a light on. Unfortunately, no one was at home. Detectives describe a scene where Karen had left bloody handprints and fingerprints where she had tried to ring the doorbell. From her fingerprints, she was inches away from the doorbell when she passed out. Although, given no one was home, ringing it wouldn’t have done her any good, but of course she didn’t know that. She died on that back porch and was not found until the next day. Police did not know who the girl was for about a week until Kelsey Grammer arrived and positively identify her.
<snip>
Five years after Karen’s murder, on June 1, 1980, both of Kelsey Grammer’s half brothers died unexpectedly. Stephen and Billy were scuba diving off of St. Thomas at the time. When Billy failed to resurface, Stephen went back in after him but died of a fatal embolism during an improper ascent that followed. Billy’s body was never recovered.

[eppur_se_muova]

250. Weird that his character's brother was named Niles ...

... you'd think that would have given him the creeps.

[VOX]

256. Indeed. And more: Frasiers son was named Frederick...

The first name of the man who actually murdered his sister was named Freddie.

[zanana1]

212. Ernest Hemingway shot himself in the head in.....

Ketchum, Idaho.

[red dog 1]

213. In 1885, Twitler's grandfather, Frederick Trump, fled Germany to avoid military service in the

Imperial German Army, and emigrated to America, arriving at the Castle Garden Emigrant Landing Depot in New York City on October 9 of that year.
Immigration records list his name as "Friedr Trumpf" and his occupation as "none."

[TuxedoKat]

214. Mark Twain loved cats

He always had several around and loved to give them unusual names. He even taught them an amazing trick, where he had them feign sleep, then wake up on command, described in the link below with photos too!!!

http://www.twainquotes.com/Cats.html

“I simply can't resist a cat, particularly a purring one. They are the cleanest, cunningest, and most intelligent things I know, outside of the girl you love, of course.” Mark Twain

[muriel_volestrangler]

215. Olivia Newton John is the granddaughter of Nobel-winning quantum physicist Max Born

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Born

[SCantiGOP]

231. She isnt Eltons wife?

just kiddin

[red dog 1]

217. Scott Hinckley, brother of John Hinckley Jr. (who shot Ronald Reagan & 3 others on 3/30/1981),

had a dinner appointment scheduled with George H.W. Bush's son, Neal, for March 31, 1981, the day after his brother tried to assassinate Reagan.
(The dinner appointment was canceled)
Scott Hinckley knew Neal Bush well.
At the time, Neal Bush lived in Colorado
The Hinckley family owned Hinckley Oil Co. of Evergreen, Colorado.

Neal Bush was a member of the board of directors of Denver-based Silverado Savings & Loan, which failed during the Savings & Loan "scandal"
"The U.S.The Office of Thrift Supervision investigated Silverado's failure and determined that Bush had engaged in numerous 'breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest."
Neal Bush wasn't indicted, but he paid $50,000 as part of a settlement of the civil action that was brought against him and other Silverado directors by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)
(Wikipedia)

John Hinckley Jr. was released from institutional psychiatric care on September 10. 2016.

[Jamaal510]

218. According to Music Choice,

Tupac used to be Keyshia Cole's mentor.

[red dog 1]

219. After Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin, his popularity quickly eroded.

He was getting up to $10,000 per performance before the marriage, but after he married her he was only able to get $250 per performance.

Also, since he married his 1st cousin's daughter, she was his "cousin once removed"
(or "second cousin" perhaps?)

[red dog 1]

220. Neil Young's great song "Old Man" was inspired by the caretaker of the ranch he bought

The ranch is located in Woodside, CA.
There was an elderly couple who lived there as caretakers.
After the sale, Neil Young was driven around the property in a pick-up truck by the old guy who, with his wife, were caretakers of the property.
At one point, the old guy looked at the 24-year-old Young and asked him how could he afford to buy such an expensive property at such a young age.
(I forget what Neil Young's answer to the old guy was)

[SCantiGOP]

232. And Neil couldnt take LSD

He has a mild form of epilepsy and the one time he dropped acid he had very bad physical side effects.

[dewsgirl]

229. Paul Ryan loves Universal Studios.

[MiltonBrown]

230. Bob Wills married Milton Brown's ex-wife... twice.

[red dog 1]

233. Jerry Lee Lewis once got shitfaced drunk and drove his car into the gate at Graceland

It was back in the 1970s.
It was a brand new Lincoln Continental, and Jerry Lee was so drunk that he misjudged the distance to the gate.
It occurred at 3 AM one morning, and the guard at the gate called Elvis to ask him if he wanted to call the cops.
Elvis told him to "Lock him up!"
(Jerry Lee Lewis & Elvis were old friends since the early days at Sun Records in the 1950s)

[BootinUp]

235. Trump is the worst pResident in our history. nt

[Wolf Frankula]

243. William McKinley was the first US President to smoke cigarettes.

When he was killed there was a pack in his pocket.

Wolf

[red dog 1]

244. Jerry Lee Lewis has been married seven times

His 13-year-old cousin (once removed) was his third wife.

[Laffy Kat]

328. One of his wives was found floating in his pool, dead. nt

[backtoblue]

245. Zelda (name from nintendo game) was inspired by F. Scott Fitgerald's wife

I just learned this from a fellow DUer (thanks )

She was schizophrenic and died in a fire in an insane asylum.

[red dog 1]

246. John Cleese was in "Silverado"

[AmandaRuth]

247. Andrew Oldham was 20 when he

Managed The Rolling Stones to be The Rolling Stones. Maybe not so unknown, but kind of astonishing.

[doc03]

252. Willie Nelson's wife sewed him in the sheets and beat the hell

out of him with a ball bat.

[johnmont]

253. famous

John Wayne met Wyett Earp and modeled his lawmen after him.

[red dog 1]

309. Silent western film star Tom Mix introduced John Wayne to Wyatt Earp

Tom Mix & Wyatt Earp were good friends.
Tom Mix supposedly cried at Wyatt Earp's funeral.

As a favor to USC football coach Howard Jones, who had given Tom Mix tickets to USC games, John Ford and Tom Mix hired John Wayne as a prop boy and extra.

John Wayne had a football scholarship to USC, but after breaking his collarbone in a bodysurfing accident, he lost the scholarship, and after that he couldn't afford to continue taking classes at USC.
[Wayne's major at USC was pre-law]

[solara]

255. About Bessie Smith & Billie Holiday, the Gershwin Bros & more.

On November 24, 1933, Empress of the Blues, Bessie Smith, made her last recording, "Down in the Dumps" with 'Buck & His Band' including, Buck Washington, piano, Benny Goodman, clarinet; Jack Teagarden, trombone;

Four days later, November 27 1933 Buck, Benny, Jack, and most of the band were accompanying Ethel Waters on a Columbia session- in the same studio - and the last side they recorded that day featured Billie Holiday's first appearance on a record, "Riffin' the Scotch".

*****************************

One of the most popular songs in the American Songbook is "Our Love is Here To Stay", by the George & Ira Gershwin. Originally called "Love Is Here to Stay" it was the last musical composition George Gershwin completed before his death on July 11, 1937. Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics after George's death as a tribute to his brother. "It's very clear, our love is here to stay..not for a year, but ever and a day"

******************************

1971 when "Jesus Christ Superstar" was a huge hit on Broadway, one of the first recordings by Luther Van Dross was from a musical by Teddy Vann called "The Song of Moses" Luther, of course sang the part of Moses, I don't believe it was ever finished or released.

******************************

Last and perhaps the weirdest of all.. Pauline Pierce, Barbara Bush’s mother, may have been one of four people who helped Aleister Crowley explore sex magick, when he was living in Paris 1924-1929.in a ritual called the rite of Eroto-Comotose Lucidity in the Ordo Templi Orientis, the organization Crowley founded in the 1920s, which lead to the rumor that Crowley was Barbara Bush's grandfather. This ritual was supposed to help Crowley reach the “Grade of Ipsissimus, the highest magickal achievement within his order of Thelema.”

As an aside.. Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard In 1945-46, was briefly involved with Jack Parsons, an American rocketry pioneer who was also a devoted Thelemite and member of the Agape Lodge of Aleister Crowley's magical order, Ordo Templi Orientis, in Pasadena, California.[

[MiltonBrown]

258. Great stuff, thanks for posting!

[red dog 1]

257. Barry Bonds holds a degree in Criminology from Arizona State University

[red dog 1]

259. By 2014, all four of the original members of The Ramones had died

- Lead singer Joey Ramone (1951-2001)
- Bass guitarist Dee Dee Ramone (1951-2002)
- Guitarist Johnny Ramone (1948-2004)
- Drummer Tommy Ramone (1949-2014)

[red dog 1]

260. Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart has a black belt in Judo

While stationed throughout Europe in the U.S. Air Force, he taught "combative measures" to units of the Strategic Air Command.

[A HERETIC I AM]

261. Carl Switzer, Alfalfa from the Our Gang and Little Rascals shorts...

Last edited Fri Feb 16, 2018, 04:25 AM - Edit history (1)

Was a complete asshole



He was killed in what could be said was self defense because of his assholiness

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Switzer

[BlueDog22]

262. Damon and Ben Affleck

Were extras in the background of Field of Dreams before they were famous.

[The King of Prussia]

263. Winston Churchill was a racist

In 1937, he told the Palestine Royal Commission: "I do not admit for instance, that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America or the black people of Australia. I do not admit that a wrong has been done to these people by the fact that a stronger race, a higher-grade race, a more worldly wise race to put it that way, has come in and taken their place."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-29701767

[EX500rider]

317. He wasn't a big fan of Islam either:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men."

[red dog 1]

264. In 1970, Stephen Gaskin, former San Francisco State University professor of English & Semantics,

led a caravan of more than 60 vehicles from San Francisco to Summertown, Tennessee to start a community called "The Farm"

In 1969-1970, Gaskin led an open-discussion group called "Monday Night Class" held at "The Family Dog," an auditorium on SF's Great Highway at Ocean Beach.
Gaskin spoke about his experiences with psychedelic drugs and paranormal experiences, as well as lecturing on the importance of ecological awareness.
Hippies from all over the SF Bay Area attended these "classes"..including yours truly.

"The Farm" grew to more than 300 people and the Wall Street Journal began to call it:
"The General Motors of American Communes."

[Stuart G]

265. President Jimmy Carter saved more American lives than Bush Jr killed

In 1977 Carter's Sec of Transportation (with Carter's approval of course) mandated by 1984, that all cars made in the U.S.A have seat belts. The mandate was given for 7 years later to give time for the auto manufactures to install the manufacturing equipment to make the seat belts, holders, etc. Later, other safety accessories were mandated, but the seat belts were the first.
... In 1979 there were 54,000 deaths on the highways. In 2016 there were 37,000 deaths even though there are 100,000,000 million more people living now than in 1979, and tens of millions more cars.. Overall the reduction in deaths is several hundred thousand over 38 years. Yes, additional safety features have been added, but the seat belts were the beginning and most important. After the auto makers went along with one safety feature, the others were also accepted. Such as airbags, crumple zones, side airbags. back seat belts and shoulder harnesses etc..(costs were past on and were accepted by buyers), mass production reduced costs.
.Carter was the leader, and in spit of some arguments from auto manufacturers on expense, because of time in advance, the seat mandate was accepted and complied with. At first, it was somewhat cumbersome to belt in, but now it is the law in most states. Clearly the seatbelt mandate by Carter was the most important since it was the first safety feature of its kind to be mandated. .........................

Therefore, if you know someone who's life was saved due to the seat belts, or airbags (which came later) or many of the safety features later added, you can thank Jimmy Carter..and you can write him, he is still alive in Georgia...........think of that saving more lives, than Bush Jr. killed..!!!!

Numbers of deaths on highways can be found at Wikipedia under auto deaths on highways. ...............
Hit this link:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_vehicle_fatality_rate_in_U.S._by_year

[mahatmakanejeeves]

304. Seat belts were required years before 1977.

Last edited Thu Mar 8, 2018, 02:12 PM - Edit history (1)

My first car was a 1963 Ford Falcon. It had lap belts, but they were optional in 1963. The point is that the manufacturers were making it possible for seat belts to be installed in the early '60s.

My 1967 Ford Country Squire had lap belts. Shoulder belts were an option in 1967, as I learned when I peeled back the headliner to find the mounting pads already in place for them. I added the shoulder belts. Shoulder belts were mandatory in 1968.

The Tucker, way back in 1948, had seat belts.

Seat belts were FMVSS number something or other. Oh, here you go:

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) are U.S. federal regulations specifying design, construction, performance, and durability requirements for motor vehicles and regulated Automobile safety-related components, systems, and design features. They are the U.S. counterpart to the UN Regulations developed by the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations and recognized to varying degree by most countries except the United States. Canada has a system of analogous rules called the Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (CMVSS), which overlap substantially but not completely in content and structure with the FMVSS. The FMVSS/CMVSS requirements differ significantly from the international UN requirements, so private import of foreign vehicles not originally manufactured to North American specifications is difficult or impossible.
....

FMVSS No. 209: Seat belt assemblies

FEDERAL MOTOR VEHICLE SAFETY STANDARDS AND REGULATIONS

....
Standard No. 208 - Occupant Crash Protection This standard originally specified the type of occupant restraints (i.e., seat belts) required. It was amended to specify performance requirements for anthropomorphic test dummies seated in the front outboard seats of passenger cars and of certain multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses, including the active and passive restraint systems identified below. The purpose of the standard is to reduce the number of fatalities and the number and severity of injuries to occupants involved in frontal crashes. Generally, the requirements are as follows:

Passenger Cars (Effective 1-1-68)
Lap or lap and shoulder seat belt assemblies for each designated seating position. Except in convertibles, lap and shoulder seat belt assemblies are required in each front outboard seating position.
....

Standard No. 209 - Seat Belt Assemblies - Passenger Cars, Multipurpose Passenger Vehicles, Trucks, and Buses (Effective 3-1-67) This standard specifies requirements for seat belt assemblies. The requirements apply to straps, webbing, or similar material, as well as to all necessary buckles and other fasteners and all hardware designed for installing the assembly in a motor vehicle, and to the installation, usage, and maintenance instructions for the assembly

{snip}

[red dog 1]

266. Phil Spector co-produced the Beatles album "Let It be"

He also co-produced albums for both John Lennon and George Harrison.

[red dog 1]

267. Eddie Cochran heroically saved his fiancee's life in the auto accident that killed him

While on tour in the UK, 21-year-old Cochran was involved in a traffic accident in a taxi traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire on the A4.

The speeding taxi blew a tire, the driver lost control and the vehicle crashed into a lamppost on Rowden Hill.
Cochran, who was seated in the middle of the back seat, threw himself over his fiancee to shield her and was thrown out of the car when the door flew open.
He was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, in Bath, where he died of severe head injuries.

[Boomerproud]

268. Ann Sparrow, half-sister to Nancy Hanks Lincoln (mother of Abraham) is George Clooney's

3X great-grandmother. Tom Hanks is also a distant cousin.

[red dog 1]

269. Lee Marvin's acting career began when he was a plumber's assistant at a community theater

in upstate New York and was asked to replace an actor who had fallen ill during rehearsals.

[red dog 1]

270. Sidney Poitier lied about his age to enlist in the U.S. Army during WW 2, but only served briefly

as a mental hospital attendant and feigned insanity to get discharged.

(My guess was that he enlisted to become a soldier & fight in the war; but since he was African-American, they assigned him to work in a mental hospital instead, and that's possibly why he feigned insanity to get discharged)

[red dog 1]

271. CBS Reporter Charles Kuralt won three Peabody Awards & ten Emmy Awards for journalism

[red dog 1]

272. "Famous Amos" the cookie maker, discovered Simon & Garfunkel

Wallace "Wally" Amos Jr. worked as a talent agent for the William Morris Agency before he founded "Famous Amos Cookie Co."

[TexasBushwhacker]

273. Leon Russell was born with cerebral palsy

which caused weakness on the right side of his body. There was damage to his 2nd and 3rd vertebrae. He started piano lessons when he was 4 to help strengthen his right side. He took the name "Leon" because a it was on a fake ID so he could play in Tulsa nightclubs when he wad a teenager.

[red dog 1]

274. Bob Dylan could be a real asshole sometimes

In Martin Scorsese's "No Direction Home" there's one scene where Dylan is sitting in a limo with the window open and a couple of fans ask him for an autograph.
He refuses, and tells them "If I thought you needed it, I'd give it to you."

What a bunch of bullshit!

[CountAllVotes]

301. Old spike?

Yes or no?

[red dog 1]

308. I don't get it.

"Old Spike"?...I have absolutely no idea what "Old Spike" is.

[CountAllVotes]

310. in some circles he was known as that

I remember we were waiting on him at a show and he was late. They said "old spike" was busy backstage.

Rumor:

[red dog 1]

275. Three weeks after the 9/11 attacks, Gilbert Gottfried did a monologue at a Friar's Club roast of

.Hugh Hefner.
Gottfried joked that he wanted to book a flight to New York City, but that there would be a stopover at the Empire State Building [or words to that extent]
The audience booed, hissed and yelled out "too soon"
So Gottfried then launched into a "comedian's joke" called "The Aristocrats" and won the audience back.
On the dais, along with Hefner, was comic actor Rob Schneider, who had already done his own monologue, and when Gottfried launched into "The Aristocrats" joke, Schneider was on the floor laughing.
Gilbert saw him and made some comments to him like: "Did you get that one?" and
"Do you want me to repeat that?"..which made Schneider laugh even harder.
[The Aristocrats joke is well-known among comedians, and is a truly filthy joke]

This scene, at Hugh Hefner's Friar's Club roast, is shown in the movie "The Aristocrats"

[nolabear]

291. I LOVE The Aristocrats! I'm ashamed to love it but I do.

The whole deconstruction and real delight in the most godawful story in the world is glorious to behold.

[red dog 1]

307. I love The Aristocrats too, and I've seen it at least a dozen times

I think the Aristocrats "joke" is foul and dumb; but I love the movie because of all the great comics that are in it.
Especially that ventriloquist with the foul-mouthed dummy...(I think they are "Otto & George&quot

However, there are a couple of so-called "comedians" in the movie who aren't funny at all, like that British guy, Billy Connolly, who laughs at his own jokes

(It was great seeing George Carlin, Robin Williams and Sarah Silverman)

[Croney]

276. Paul Newman was about five-seven.

We were face-to-face once and I looked down into his blue eyes. I was 5-7 wearing about 2” heels.

[edbermac]

277. Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

[Watchfoxheadexplodes]

278. Yul Brynner bred pigeons

Fancy breeds but enjoyed the acrobatic rollers.

[sakabatou]

279. Hiromu Arakawa's (mangaka of Full Metal Alchemist) avatar is a cow is because

she was born and raised on a dairy farm.

[dewsgirl]

280. My mom grew up in Dayton Oh, she was classmates with

Martin Sheen at CJ Catholic HS. They dated for a little while.

[braddy]

281. Field Marshal Montgomery was a member of the Confederate Air Force

I have an old newspaper clipping from about 1957 reporting him as an honorary member.

[TexasBushwhacker]

282. Chris Sullivan, who plays Toby on "This Is Us"

Provides the voice for the GEICO camel - Hump Day!

[Mendocino]

283. Dan Aykroyd

has webbed feat.

[red dog 1]

284. Woody Allen's real name is Allan Stewart Konigsberg

He has won four Academy Awards, three for Best Original Screenplay and one for Best Director.

[red dog 1]

285. William Randolph Hearst was on the left wing of the "Progressive Movement"

He was elected to Congress in 1902 as a Democrat and won reelection in 1904.
He spoke on behalf of the working class and denounced the rich and powerful.
After supporting FDR in 1932, Hearst soon became highly critical of the New Deal, and his newspapers began to support big business to the determent of organized labor.
In editorials, they condemned higher taxes for the wealthy as "a persecution of the successful."

[red dog 1]

286. Robert Mitchum had a bad temper

Mitchum was expelled from "Blood Alley" (1955), purportedly due to his conduct, especially his reportedly having thrown the film's transportation manager into San Francisco Bay.

According to Sam O'Steen's memoir "Cut to the Chase," Mitchum showed up on-set after a night of drinking and tore apart a studio office when they didn't have a car ready for him.

[hlthe2b]

287. As a teen he was picked up and served on a chaingang in GA

At age 14 in Savannah, Georgia, he was arrested for vagrancy and put on a local chain gang.[5] By Mitchum's own account, he escaped and returned to his family in Delaware.

[GallopingGhost]

321. He was in trouble

a lot as a teenager.

Interestingly, he landed on the chain gang a year before the film I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang starring Paul Muni and based on the story of real-life prisoner Robert Elliott Burns, was released in theaters, raising public awareness and causing outrage about the chain gang system.

[LanternWaste]

293. Einstein never played the clarinet...

Einstein never played the clarinet... else he'd know that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting better results is called 'practice.'

[red dog 1]

295. William Randolph Hearst didn't want to leave his 5 sons in charge of the family business

so his will set up a board of trustees, which included his 5 sons and 8 top Hearst Corporation executives, to administer his estate.

[red dog 1]

296. The oft-repeated anecdote that W.C. Fields refused to drink water "because fish fuck in it"

is unsubstantiated.

One of his best lines ever was from the 1940 film, My Little Chickadee
"Once, on a trek through Afghanistan, we lost our corkscrew..and were compelled to live on
food and water for several days."

[red dog 1]

297. After making "Groundhog Day," director Harold Ramis & Bill Murray didn't speak to each other for

21 years. (Until shortly before Ramis's death in 2014)

[Corgigal]

299. The singer, George Michael

was born on the same day his uncle committed suicide, he was also gay. His mother was terrified he was gay because he was so pretty.

He was, alas.

[red dog 1]

300. W.C. Fields' career in show business began in Vaudeville, where he attained international success

as a silent juggler.

[red dog 1]

312. Jerry Garcia played steel guitar on the Brewer & Shipley song, "One Toke Over the Line"

which rose to number 10 on the charts, despite being banned by most radio stations.

[WiffenPoof]

313. My Mother Was James Dean's...

... older woman fling.

It was rumored in our family for years, but I didn't believe it. Then after my mother died we found several telegrams and handwritten notes that were from James Dean. Dean was a real romantic which came out in what he wrote to my mom. Apparently they met on a flight from San Francisco to LA.

True story.

ON EDIT: I kept wondering why my mom made me watch all his movies when I was a kid.

ON EDUT 2: I think James Dean’s real love was Pier Angeli. My understanding is that he got in real trouble from the studio for ruining Pier’s innocence.

My favorite movie from him is East of Eden. The scene with him trying to give his father the money he lost his heartbreaking. I don’t really think you can teach that kind of acting. On the other hand, I thought he was misscast in Giant. When they try to portray him as an older man at the end of the movie, it was almost laughable. You couldn’t put enough make up on Dean to make it look believable.

[GallopingGhost]

319. WOW.

I love James Dean.

[TexasBushwhacker]

320. Has she ever been interviewed?

James Dean fans can be pretty obsessed. There are many who make a pilgrimage to Marfa, TX where "Giant" was filmed. I'm sure his fans would be fascinated to here your mother's memories of him.

[WiffenPoof]

322. Maybe you missed it in the OP...

But my mom died a couple of years ago. That’s when we found the telegrams...going through her stuff.

[TexasBushwhacker]

325. I'm so sorry n

I lost my mom in 2004 and I still miss her.

[WiffenPoof]

329. No Worries Tex

My mom and I were not close. She was an eccentric artist who was very self absorbed. I spent my youth in a variety of military schools. She was prone to flights of fantasy as some bi-polar people are. That's why I doubted her story about Dean.

She did do one thing for me that I greatly appreciate. She is responsible for me being a liberal. She did this by getting me out of bed one night to watch the news clips from Alabama where they were hosing down African Americans as German shepherds nipped at their heels. I never forgot that. It taught me a lesson that has stayed with me to this day.

[TexasBushwhacker]

330. I hear ya

My dad was bipolar. They are tough to love.

[TexasBushwhacker]

349. I agree Pier Angeli was his true love

He would have gladly married her, but her mother stood in the way because James wasn't Catholic.

[empedocles]

357. I had a cousin, paratrooper, who was a great look a like for James Dean

Lot of people remarked about it. No one could convince him to exploit that resemblance.

[EX500rider]

315. Claudette Colbert was quite the cougar..

I know because when I met her and Rex Harrison back stage at the National Theater in D.C. circa 1980 she invited me to the Caribbean island she lived on. (I was 18, she was 77ish)

[MicaelS]

333. Did you accept the invitation? n/t

[EX500rider]

335. lol...

My gf's dad was the play's producer and she was at the show with me, would have been bad form... : )

[MicaelS]

336. Ouch!!! n/t

[EX500rider]

316. Gary Grant & Randolph Scott shared a Malibu beach house for 12 years.

Although Scott achieved fame as a motion picture actor, he managed to keep a fairly low profile with his private life. Offscreen he was good friends with Fred Astaire and Cary Grant. He met Grant on the set of Hot Saturday (1932), and shortly afterwards, to save on living expenses, they shared a beach house for 12 years in Malibu that became known as "Bachelor Hall". In 1944, Scott and Grant stopped living together but remained close friends throughout their lives.

[GallopingGhost]

318. Lance Barber,

who plays Sheldon's father in Young Sheldon, also played the role of Leonard's high school bully in the Big Bang Theory episode called The Speckerman Recurrence.

[no_hypocrisy]

323. Norma Shearer, the widow of Paramount head, Irving Thalberg, gave head to

16 yo Mickey Rooney while still costumed as Marie Antoinette.

[yortsed snacilbuper]

324. Famous Coasties!

link
http://alexandertipton.wix.com/coastguard#!famous-coasties

[lapfog_1]

331. Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous)

is a bit of a weird bird.

He collected soiled panties of women that he met.

How do I know this... he went out with a group of people including a woman I knew (we dated off and on for quite a while) and he asked if she would go to the restroom and pee without removing her panties and bring them back for "his collection". He had a plastic baggie for her to use... she declined.

[yellowdogintexas]

337. The late Senator Howard Baker was married to the daughter of Senator Everett Dirksen.

After his wife died, he eventually remarried. His second wife was Senator Nancy Kassebaum who was the daughter of Alf Landon.

[7wo7rees]

339. Eddie Van Halen was never paid for the work he did on Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album

He hung up on Quincy Jones multiple times when asked to come to the studio.
Q never offered him a contract, and Eddie left the studio without asking.

Solo at 3:10

[7wo7rees]

340. The guitarist on the rest of the album was Steve Lukather from Toto

He has been on thousands of popular songs you know, including Running With The Night.

Solo at 4:08 was a FIRST TAKE. There was no need for a second.

[cyclonefence]

352. Isaac Asimov made a pass at me

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

353. Until Trump, Reagan was America's only divorced president.

I guess that's another way Trump has exceeded every other president bigly -- the most wives. Neither Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., or Obama were divorced, so I guess Trump does have something in common with Saint Ronnie.

BTW, Reagan's approval at one point was 71%, giving lie to Trump's claim to have higher ratings than any president, including Lincoln (when there were no polls) and Reagan. Trump has yet to break 45%. Some other highs: Obama-69%; Dubya-90% (right after 9/11); Clinton-73%; Bush Sr.-89%; Carter-74%; Ford-70%. Even Nixon -- yes, that Nixon -- beat Trump with a highest approval rating of 66%. source

An additional fact -- or rumor -- is that studios put Ronald Reagan in B-movies to keep him from physically abusing wife Jane Wyman, their Academy Award winning star. This information is second hand from their housekeeper. I haven't been able to confirm it yet.

[tirebiter]

356. Steve Stills tried out for the Monkees

Last edited Mon Jul 30, 2018, 11:25 PM - Edit history (1)

But his friend, Peter Tork got the job.

Tork introduced Buffalo Springfield at Monterrey.

Oh, and Jim Morrison figured if the rock and roll thing didn't play out he could write western novels like Louis L'Amour

[notdarkyet]

359. Einstein and his second wife visited northern Navajo reservation in Arizona, and had

Their picture taken decked out in silver and torquoise jewelry. I used to have the picture but blew it up and gave it to my astrophysicist daughter and Einstein freak. She loved it because no one at Huntsville had ever seen that picture and they looked at Einstein photos all the time. Pretty rare.

[LyndaG]

360. George Washington Was An Excellent Dancer

Apparently, he had moves !!!

[ailsagirl]

365. Re John Belushi

People who knew Belushi in the early years describe a warm and deeply loyal man, one who always tried to get jobs for his friends and was so gentle that if his cat fell asleep on his lap he would be late for rehearsals rather than wake up his pet.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/jan/11/tragic-legacy-john-belushi-actor-died-overdose

[red dog 1]

366. Thanks for that

I always liked him.