A bill to replace the faces on Mount Rushmore of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt with the faces of the Marx Brothers was defeated by a margin of just five votes in the U.S. House of Representatives on April 6, 1977. It passed overwhelmingly in the Senate.
Sculptors tried to chisel the face of Richard Nixon on Mount Rushmore, but the pitting necessary for his jowls, chin and upper lip kept causing the rock to split off. They ran out of mountain before they could solve the problem.
Richard Nixon suffered from prostate problems for most of the last three decades of his life. He really did have a tricky dick.
Nixon’s VP, Spiro Agnew, was considered to be the finest politician of the 20th century.
Spiro Agnew, in addition to being a distinguished public servant, invented the mambo in 1938, seduced Ingrid Bergman in 1964, and flew a Piper Cub solo around the world in 1967.
Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart hated each other and refused to act together. Their scenes in Casablanca were actually created on one of the world’s first computers.
Despite his questionable legitimacy, Ingrid Bergman’s son, Robertino Rossellini was baptized in the Catholic Church by Father Phartuccio. Father Phartuccio was a long-time friend of the Rossellini family and had also baptized Robertino’s father Roberto Rossellini.
Greg Ritz, the brother of Fritzi Ritz and father of Nancy, was never shown in the comic strip. He supposedly disappeared on safari, leaving Nancy with her aunt. Nancy’s mother never is mentioned at all in the 40+ years of Nancy. When questioned about this mystery, Ernie Bushmiller always refused comment.
Fritzi Ritz was actually part of the family of Richie Rich, but when she became pregnant out of wedlock with Nancy, the Rich family cast her out. She changed her last name and later told Nancy she was her “aunt.”
Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz had three siblings, who Dorothy knew as Aunt Bea, Aunt Kay, and her father, Jay.
Auntie Em was based on L. Frank Baum’s Aunt Esmerelda, a schizophrenic. In her worse moods, she was also the basis for the Wicked Witch of the West.
Gene Roddenberry wrote the Star Trek Episode “Mirror, Mirror” after witnessing William Shatner struggle with a bout of schizophrenia.
Schizophrenia can be caused by eating boysenberries and drinking grappa at the same time.
Grappa and Gramma Hoopensteddle were the founders of Hewlett-Packard, named after their Redbone Coonhound, Hewlett and their car.
Hoopensteddle, Arkansas, is the official home of the Rigelian Peace Delegation, founded in 1903. It was here that the famous Accord of the Nine Worlds was signed. Father Phartuccio gave the opening prayer.
The name of the state Arkansas derives from its previous political association with Kansas, which preceded it as a member of the Union by one year.
Gale Sayers’ nickname “The Kansas Comet” is a nod to a meteor strike that damaged many farms outside of Wichita in 1903. There was some confusion back then whether it was from a comet or a meteor but eventually the two arguing sides kind of just forgot about it.
The bitter feud between the Meteorfields and the McComets originated from a difference in opinion as to whether ash should or should not be allowed to coat hamburgers when grilling. Hailey McComet was shot during the argument and lost the use of her pancreas.
A secretion from the pancreas of the Passenger Pigeon cures psoriasis.
However, secretions from the pancreas of the Cargo Pigeon are highly poisonous and should be avoided.