Arthur Macarthur IV, son of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, lived much of his early life in the public eye: at age 4, he was on the cover of Life Magazine.
After his father’s death in 1964, Arthur changed his name to conceal his identity. He had a keen interest in music, literature, arts and the theatre. William Manchester, author of “American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur" said that Arthur was "a fugitive from his father’s relentless love.”
In March 2014 news articles appeared concerning a large Manhattan apartment development that had been stalled by four reclusive tenants who had been living for many years in rent-controlled apartments on the top floors of the Mayflower Hotel on Central Park West. One of these tenants was reportedly Arthur MacArthur IV who was going by the name of David Jordan. He was paid $650,000 to leave his apartment and moved to Greenwich Village where he still lives.
The original TV run of “Hawaii Five-O” starred James MacArthur, son of famed actress Helen Hayes, as Daniel “Book 'em, Danno” Williams. The current reboot continues the practice of casting the offspring of a well-known actor in the role, with James Caan’s son Scott now playing Danno.
Helen Hayes was close friends with Shakespearean actor Maurice Evans, an actor perhaps best known today as Dr. Zaius in Planet of the Apes. The two vacationed together, co-owned a house in Cuernavaca, and appeared together on an episode of The Love Boat.
In The Love Boat, as early as 1978, a matchmaker used a computer to pair up the cruise guests.
Guest stars in that episode included Frankie Avalon, Shelley Long, Patty Duke, Leslie Nielsen, Ricky Nelson, and Jamie Farr
El Greco’s View of Toledo is among the best known depictions of the sky in Western art, along with Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night and the landscapes of William Turner and Monet, among others.
In June 1861, Monet joined the First Regiment of African Light Cavalry in Algeria for a seven-year commitment. However, after two years later, he had contracted typhoid fever. The army agreed to release him from his service commitment at the pleas from his aunt, but only if he agreed to complete an art course at an art school.
In 1862 Monet became a student of Charles Gleyre in Paris, where he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Frédéric Bazille and Alfred Sisley. Together they shared new approaches to art, painting the effects of light en plein air with broken color and rapid brushstrokes, in what later came to be known as Impressionism.
A casbah or kasbah is a type of fortress or citadel, or medina, or Islamic city. A casbah sits atop the steep hill behind the city of Algiers, the capital of Algeria.
Algiers is the section of the City of New Orleans that lies west of the Mississippi River, but is geographically due east of New Orleans center, since the river flows north at that point… new Orleans is contiguous with Orleans Parish, and all of the Louisiana parishes are situated with the Mississippi running through them, instead of as a boundary, because when the parishes were created, the river was an easement, rather than an impediment, to travel and commerce.
The 1938 movie Algiers was the American debut of Hedy Lamarr and starred Charles Boyer. It’s a remake of the French film Pepe le Moko, starring Jean Gabin. It’s most famous line – “Come with me to the Casbah” – was not in the film, but did appear in the trailers.
“Rock the Casbah” is a song by the English punk rock band The Clash, released in 1982. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, their only top 10 single in the United States. Following the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the song was placed on the list of post-9/11 ‘inappropriate titles’ distributed by Clear Channel.
One of the most successful and most familiar branded American products still features an Arabian motif on its packaging and trademark. Camel cigarettes have featured the pyramid and oasis on their packs for more than a hundred years, despite the negative and terrorist image associated in America with anything Arabic.
From its inception until the fall of 2006, Tribe Hummus was produced and sold under the trademark “Tribe of Two Sheiks.” Until 9/11 the packaging featured two sheiks riding camels. Then the sheiks were removed and a few years later the camels were also removed, and currently the packaging features only the name and a graphic of an ingredient such as lemon, peppers or spices.
The Clash’s “Rock the Casbah” was the song was chosen by U.S. Armed Forces Radio to be the first song broadcast at the beginning of Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. The song includes the lines:
“…The Sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a-cruisin’ down the ville
The muezzin was a-standing
On the radiator grille…”
The Chrysler Building is considered a leading example of Art Deco architecture. The corners of the 61st floor are graced with eagles; on the 31st floor, the corner ornamentation are replicas of the 1929 Chrysler radiator caps.
Tusa, Oklahoma, has one of the nation’s best collections of art deco buldings, constructed during the oil boom in the 20s and 30s. Several, dozen remarkable examples of the zigzag and streamline style are concentrated in a small area of the old downtown.
The Streamline Hotel in Daytona Beach, Florida is recognized as the birthplace of NASCAR. Founder Bill France, Sr. and numerous drivers, officials, and promoters gathered in the Ebony Club’s rooftop hotel bar on December 14, 1947. The meeting concerned various issues such as drivers failing to get paid due to promoters leaving races with the gate receipts before they ended, along with the lack of consistent rules. After 69 days of conversations and ideas, the meeting adjourned on February 21, 1948 with the formation of the National Stock Car Racing Association (NSCRA), but was later renamed to NASCAR after it turned out that there was another sanctioning body by that name.
There was a 69 year age difference between career politician ams diplomat and (before emancipation) fiery abolitionist Cassius Marsellus Clay and his second wife, Dora Ridge. They married when he was 84, she was 15, and divorced a few years later. It was not his only notable late in life accomplishment; at 93 he killed two burglars, one with a pistol and one with a Bowie knife.
Cassius Marcellus Clay was a second cousin of Kentucky Senator Henry Clay. Abraham Lincoln was a great admirer of Henry Clay, saying he was “my ideal of a great man.” The fact that Mary Todd was a family friend of Henry Clay, who may have inspired her interest in politics, enhanced her charms for Lincoln.