She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damned woman that I’d ever seen
She had those sightless eyes
Tellin’ me no lies
Knockin’ me out with those American thighs…
(Not a play)
Musicians (and brothers) Angus and Malcolm Young are said to have come up with the name of their band, AC/DC, after their sister Margaret saw those initials on the back of her sewing machine. Margaret was also the source for Angus’s signature “schoolboy” costume – she suggested it to her brother (who was wearing various costumes on stage) and sewed the original outfit for him.
Angus King is the junior Senator from Maine, having first been elected to the Senate in the 2012 election. Along with Bernie Sanders of Vermont, he is one of two Independents currently serving in the Senate. Like Sanders, King caucuses with the Democratic Party.
Actor Ronnie Walken, born in 1943 in Queens NY, has played leading roles in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet, Coriolanus, Romeo and Juliet, and Macbeth.
He and his brothers, Kenneth and Glenn, were child actors on television in the 1950s, influenced by their mother’s dreams of stardom. When he was 15, a girlfriend showed him a magazine photo of Elvis Presley, and he later said, “This guy looked like a Greek god. Then I saw him on television. I loved everything about him.” He changed his hairstyle to imitate Presley and has not changed it since. As a teenager, he worked as a lion tamer in a circus.
When he was 21 he changed his name to Christopher. He has been a guest on Saturday Night Live where he plays a character named Colonel Angus.
In 2005, the web had a minor conniption when it discovered a campaign website for Christopher Walken, www.walken2008.com. Was the actor seriously considering running for president? Not really. His publicist quickly clarified that Walken had not created the site, and that it was presumably an overzealous fan. But when Conan O’Brien asked him about it on Late Night , Walken seemed pretty into the idea. “You know, I’ll do it,” he joked. “Sure, if they want me to be president, I’ll do it.” He even had a campaign slogan: “No more zoos!”
In the 2008 US Presidential election, Barack Obama won the Presidency as only the third sitting US Senator to be elected president, joining Warren G. Harding in 1920, and John F. Kennedy in 1960. Harding died in office in 1923 of a heart attack.
John F. Kennedy also died in office, assassinated in Dallas in November 1963. Elected in 1960, his death made him the 7th president in succession who was elected in a year ending in zero to have died in office, either of natural causes or through violence.
- 1840 – William Henry Harrison, died in 1841, just 31 days after taking office, of pneumonia
- 1860 – Abraham Lincoln, assassinated in 1865 during his second term
- 1880 – James Garfield, assassinated in 1861, nine months into his term
- 1900 – William McKinley, originally elected in 1886, was re-elected in 1900 and was assassinated in 1901, nine months into HIS second term
- 1920 – Warren G. Harding, died in 1923 of what was originally recorded as a cerebral hemorrhage – although it is generally accepted now to have been cardiac arrest (his widow refused to allow an autopsy), two and a half years into his only term
- 1940 – Franklin D. Roosevelt, although originally elected in 1932, was re-elected to an unprecedented third term in 1940, and died of an intracerebral hemorrhage in 1945 shortly after being elected to a FOURTH term
This unique set of circumstances led some people to claim that there was a curse on presidents elected in years ending in zero, although it was never made clear who or what had placed the curse, or for what reason the curse had been placed.
The string, of course, was interrupted in the 1980s when Ronald Reagan successfully served out his two terms, and the final nail was driven into the coffin of the so-called ‘curse’ when George W. Bush, elected in 2000, also left office in good health after completing his two terms as well.
-“BB”-
Two US presidents have been shot in attempted assassinations: Theodore Roosevelt (1912; as former President, campaigning, by John Flammang Schrank) and Ronald Reagan (1981, by John Hinckley Jr.).
Both were shot, and lived.
Queen Victoria was the target of eight assassination attempts during her 63-year reign. The first of them was in 1840, when she was 21 and pregnant with her first child. The last was in 1882, when she was 63.
Seven of the attempts involved pistols, many of which misfired. In the final attempt, the attacker was subdued by bystanders, including two schoolboys who hit him with their umbrellas.
The only attempt in which Victoria was actually injured involved a metal-tipped cane. Its impact was mostly absorbed by her bonnet, but it still left the Queen with a black eye, a welt and a scar that lasted for years.
The television show “Bonanza” featured the Cartwright family, who were depicted carrying pistols whenever they left the house. Ben Cartwright carried a Remington Model 1875 Army revolver, and Adam, Hoss, and Little Joe all carried Colt Model 1873 Single Action Army revolvers.
In the fourteen seasons Bonanza was on the air, the carnage of the Cartwright family was as follows:
Ben Cartwright killed 35 people, Adam Cartwright killed 28 people, Hoss Cartwright killed 36 people and hot head Little Joe Cartwright killed 67 people.
Most viewers have only heard the famous theme song from Bonanza played as an instrumental. The song had lyrics, and footage exists of the lead actors singing them. Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon sang a lyrical version of this theme for the pilot, but it never aired.Johnny Cash recorded his own version of the theme song.
Several other TV shows have little-heard sung themes, including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and notoriously, Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry pressured composer Alexander Courage into a handshake deal allowing Roddenberry to write lyrics for the theme. Roddenberry did so after the first season, then claimed half of the royalties:
Beyond
The rim of the star-light
My love
Is wand’ring in star-flight
I know
He’ll find in star-clustered reaches
Love,
Strange love a star woman teaches.
I know
His journey ends never
His star trek
Will go on forever.
But tell him
While he wanders his starry sea
Remember, remember me.
source: Star Trek Lyrics - Theme Song Lyrics
Yeech.
Buster Crabbe was an Olympic swimmer (winning gold at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics), before beginning an acting career. During the 1930s and 1940s, Crabbe appeared in movie serials as Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.
Decades later, Crabbe made a guest appearance on the TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, as a starfighter pilot named “Brigadier Gordon.”
Gertrude Ederle (1905-2003) was an American competitive swimmer who won gold at the 1924 Olympics and held five world records. In 1926, in her second attempt, she became the first woman to swim across the English Channel, accomplishing the feat in 14 hours and 34 minutes. That remained the best time for a woman until 1950, when Florence Chadwick broke the record.
Johnny Weissmuller was also an American competitive swimmer and Olympic medalist, winning three gold medals (two individual medals, and a third as part of the American 4x200 meter relay team) and a bronze medal as a member of US water polo team at the 1924 Olympics in Paris, and then returned to win two additional gold medals (one individual and one team relay medal) at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
He then went on to play Tarzan, appearing in MGM’s “Tarzan the Ape Man” (1932) and eleven sequels.for both MGM and RKO in the years following. He is credited with introducing and performing the now-famous ‘Tarzan yell’.
-“BB”-
In the 1999 Disney animated film “Tarzan”, the signature “Tarzan yell” is provided by Brian Blessed, the voice of this movie’s villain Clayton. because after noticing that Tony Goldwyn could not make a convincing scream, Blessed went to one of the producers to tell him that he could do it. The producer refused at first but after he yelled in front of him, he accepted without hesitation. Mr. Blessed’s other most notable role is as the winged Prince Vultan from 1980’s “Flash Gordon”.
English actor Brian Blessed has appeared in four of director Kenneth Branagh’s film adaptations of William Shakespeare plays: Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Hamlet (1996), and As You Like It (2006).
(Not in play: I have long felt that Blessed, who is known for his gusto-filled delivery, should always have his name styled as BRIAN BLESSED!)
Benjamin Henry (1821-1898) was the inventor of the .44 caliber rimfire Henry repeating rifle, the first reliable repeating rifle. Created in 1860, the rifle had a lever action and the capacity to carry 13 rounds. Compared to the single shot muzzle loaded rifled muskets such as the Springfield Model 1861, the 1860 Henry was tagged as the rifle you could “load on Sunday and fire all week long”. It became very popular during the Civil War, and many soldiers would save their own money to buy one.
Oliver Winchester soon improved on the Henry design and created his Winchester Model 1866 with improved magazine and a loading gate on the right side. With continued improvements, the Winchester Model 1873 went on to become “the gun that won the west” (as it was marketed).
ETA — and today …
for $1,300 you can buy a Winchester Model 1873 also chambered in Winchester .44-40 at Cabelas
As for me, I’ll take the Winchester.
Henry Marcus Quackenbush is most widely known as the inventor of the modern air rifle. He developed the technology while working at the Remington Firearms Company before heading out on his own. His other notable inventions we’re the “bicycle rifle” and a nutcracker that is still produced by his company today.
The Remington Arms Company was founded in 1815 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion NY (about 80 miles west of Albany). Defunct since 2020, it was one of the oldest gun makers in the US and claimed to be the oldest factory in the US that still made its original product. Early Remington firearms include the New Model Army Revolver, made 1863-1875, and the Rolling Block Carbine rifle of 1867. Today’s M24 SWS military sniper rifle is based on the Remington Model 700 bolt action centerfire rifle manufactured since 1962. Snipers from the US Army and US Marine Corps use the M24 and M40 rifles which are based on the Remington Model 700.