Even when 88-year-old Betty White hosts SNL in May, she will still not be the show’s oldest performer. Don Pardo does the announcing every week, at the age of 92, commuting from his home in Tucson. Earlier in his career, Pardo broke the news to NBC viewers of JFK’s assassination.
Betty White’s third and final husband was Allen Ludden to whom she was married for 18 years (1963-1981). He was the host of College Bowl, Password, and several other game shows over his career.
President John F. Kennedy appointed Byron “Whizzer” White of Colorado, at the time a senior Justice Department official, to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962. He served until his retirement in 1993, when President Clinton appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the seat.
Justice Byron White earned the nickname “Whizzer” while an All-American halfback for the University of Colorado (though he did not particularly like the fact that the nickname stuck to him, even through his legal career).
White led the NFL in rushing (as a Detroit Lion) in 1938 and 1940. He left the NFL after the 1941 season to join the U.S. Navy during World War II; after the war, he chose to go to law school rather than return to football.
The Whizzer is the (rather unfortunate) codename of no less than (but possibly more than) 3 Marvel Comics characters, all speedsters:
- The Golden Age Whizzer, Robert Frank, who gained his powers from a blood transfusion from a Mongoose (It was the Golden Age, just go with it.), and was a member of the All-Winners Squad.
- The first Silver Age Whizzer, James Sanders, now known as Speed Demon, a member of the Squadron Sinister. He was a pastiche of DC Comics’ Flash.
and - The second Silver Age Whizzer, Stanley Stewart, member of the Squadron Supreme, who Sanders was imitating.
When British actor James Stewart tried to break into Hollywood, he was not allowed to use his name, since film actors cannot use the name of another working actor. He changed his name to Stewart Granger and had a moderately successful career as a leading man.
When Patricia Neal of Irondale, Alabama became an actress she had to change her name due to the famous actress of the same name who was married to Roald Dahl and appeared in The Fountainhead and The Day the Earth Stood Still, so she changed her name to Fannie Flagg, finding her greatest success as a game show personality and later as a novelist.
Fannie Flagg wrote Fried Green Tomatoes and the Whistlestop Cafe, later adapting it for the movie version. She also hosted a morning TV show in Birmingham, Alabama and played Dick Van Dyke’s sister on his second sitcom.
Flemish artist Anthony Van Dyck (1599-1641) painted many portraits of men, notably Charles I and himself, with the short, pointed beards then in fashion; consequently this particular kind of beard was much later (probably first in America in the 19th century) named a vandyke or Van dyke beard (which is the anglicized version of his name).
Charles I of England was the last English king to be deposed by military action, and the last to be executed.
Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers sequel, Twenty Years After, centers around a failed bid by the heroes to rescue Charles I from execution.
[del]When Mussolini was deposed for the last time and executed his much younger mistress, Clara Petacci, was also killed even though by some accounts she was offered the chance to get away by her captors since she had no political or military importance; Mussolini had previously ordered the execution of his son-in-law, Count Galeazzo Ciano, husband of his eldest daughter Edda.[/del]
Alexandre Dumas was a metis (or in English, mulatto) through his Haitian mother who was the daughter of a slave and slaveowner; his biracial ancestry is very evident in his photographs.
St. Paul sent runaway slave Onesimus back to his master, as described in the Letter to Philemon.
Bounty hunter Boba Fett’s ship was named Slave 1.
Duane Chapman, aka Dog the Bounty Hunter, was born in Denver, Colorado but lives in Honolulu with his current wife and some of their 14 children.
John Kerry was born in Aurora, Colo.; Barack Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii.
(That’s what they want you to think.)
Teresa Heinz Kerry, a native of Mozambique, has been married to 2 US Senators: Ketchup heir John Heinz (R-PA), and war hero John Kerry (D-MA).
the number in Heinz’s slogan, “57 Varieties,” was chosen by H.J. Heinz because he liked the numerals “5” and “7”; it was not a count of how many items they had at the time (which was over 60).
The reason for the number “33” appearing on Rolling Rock beer labels has never been explained.
The Master speaks about Heinz’s 57, http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/181/why-does-heinz-ketchup-say-57-varieties, and Rolling Rock’s 33, Why is there a “33” on Rolling Rock beer labels? - The Straight Dope
Rolling Rock Beer is brewed and bottled in Latrobe, in western Pennsylvania. The Heinz Regional History Center in Pittsburgh was largely bankrolled by ketchup company money. Among the many fine exhibits is a celebration of the city’s love for the Steelers, including a set of black-and-gold vestments worn by a local Catholic priest for Super Bowl Sundays.