Beatrix Potter, best known for The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other children’s books, was also an accomplished scientific illustrator and naturalist. Her paper, “On the Germination of the Spores of Agaricineae,” which described an important discovery on fungal reproduction, was presented on her behalf by the Assistant Director of Kew Gardens at a meeting of the Linnean Society in 1897. Potter could not be there because at that time women were not allowed at meetings of the all-male Linnean Society.
The Dodge “parrot nose” trucks were the nicknames for Dodge 100 trucks from the early 1950s built in Kew, London. They were called parrot noses for their distinctive hoods and grills (or, bonnets and grilles).
The Parrot’s Beak is a salient of Cambodia that extends into Vietnam, near Ho Chi Minh City. During the Vietnam War the Parrot’s Beak was a base and rest area for the North Vietnamese Army and the Vietcong and one of the terminus points of the Ho Chi Minh Trail/Sihanouk Trail.
In 2011–2012, Adam West voiced The Wise Old Parrot in 3 episodes of Jake and the Never Land Pirates.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, a professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, compete in the National League Central division. The franchise was founded on October 15, 1881, and has won five World Series championships. Perhaps the most notable of these championships is the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees, which the Pirates won in seven games. Game 7 ended on Bill Maseroski’s walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth, which is the only time that Game 7 of the World Series has ended with a home run.
All major Pittsburgh pro sports teams use black and gold as team colors: the Steelers (football), Pirates (baseball) and Penguins (hockey). The colors come from the city’s coat of arms and flag.
The Penguin, the villain played by Burgess Meredith in the “Batman” TV series, was originally planned to be played by Mickey Rooney. Danny DeVito played him in the film Batman Returns.
Danny DeVito, who gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi, is married to actress Rhea Perlman. Perlman, who had a recurring role in Taxi as Louie’s girlfriend Zena, is best known for her portrayal of Carla the waitress in the television series Cheers. DeVito and Perlman founded the production company Jersey Films in 1992, which produced over a dozen films, including Pulp Fiction and Erin Brockovich.
Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman were major donors for the recent refurbishment of the Apollo movie theater in Oberlin, Ohio. Their son Jacob is an Oberlin College graduate (as am I).
Amateur Night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater was noted for “The Executioner”, a man with a broom who would sweep performers off the stage if the highly vocal and opinionated audiences began to call for their removal. Vaudeville tap dancer “Sandman” Sims played the role from the 1950s to 2000; stagehand Norman Miller, known as “Porto Rico” (later played by Bob Collins) might also chase the unfortunate performer offstage with a cap pistol, accompanied by the sound of a siren. Winners of Amateur Night have included Jimi Hendrix, Billie Holiday, Pearl Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown & The Famous Flames, King Curtis, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Parliament-Funkadelic, Wilson Pickett, The Miracles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Rush Brown, Stephanie Mills, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Short, The Jackson 5, Patti Austin, Patti LaBelle, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, Mariah Carey, The Isley Brothers, Lauryn Hill, Sarah Vaughan, Jazmine Sullivan, Ne-Yo, and Machine Gun Kelly.
George Kelly Barnes, better known as “Machine Gun Kelly”, was an American gangster from Memphis, Tennessee in the 1920’s-30’s. His nickname came from his favorite weapon, a Thompson submachine gun. His most infamous crime was the kidnapping of oil tycoon and businessman Charles F. Urschel in July 1933 for which he and his gang collected a $200,000 ransom. He was captured by the FBI and Memphis police later in 1933 and died in prison in 1954.
Reputedly, some gangsters of the 1920’s and 30’s would carry Thompson submachine guns, also called “Chicago Typewriters”, in violin cases.
Chicago was the 10th movie musical to win the the best picture Oscar. The entire list is as follows:
Chicago (2002)
Oliver! (1968)
The Sound of Music (1965)
My Fair Lady (1964)
West Side Story (1961)
Gigi (1958)
An American in Paris (1951)
Going My Way (1944)
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
The Broadway Melody (1929)
For one brief, shining, moment, the list included “La La Land”. However, a mixup with the envelopes at the 2017 Oscar ceremony meant that presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had to take back the statuette and give it to the “Moonlight” crew who had actually won it.
While Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were both nominated for Best Actor/Actress Awards for Bonnie & Clyde, neither one won it. Estelle Parsons did win Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Blanche Barrow.
Earl Warren and Warren Burger, successive Chief Justices of the United States, were Republicans from California and Minnesota, respectively. Warren was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, while Burger was appointed by Eisenhower’s Vice President, Richard M. Nixon, once he was himself in the White House.
Richard Nixon’s daughter Julie married Dwight Eisenhower’s son David. They began dating when both were college freshmen, she at Smith and he at Amherst, although Mamie Eisenhower played something of a matchmaking role. The Rev. Norman Vincent Peale officiated at the wedding.
Dwight D. Eisenhower did not do his Vice President any political favors when asked, late in the 1960 election campaign season in which Nixon was facing off against John F. Kennedy, what important decisions Nixon had helped him make. Ike replied, “If you give me a week, I might think of one.”
The 1962-3 BBC political satire show “That Was The **Week **That Was” (TW3) usually featured Lance Percival improvising a calypso song based on audience suggestions. Scriptwriters included later Poet Laureate John Betjeman, future Pythons Graham Chapman and John Cleese, actor Peter Cook, and author Roald Dahl.
“S’en’night” or “sennight” is an archaic English word for a week. It’s a contraction of “seven-night”, similar to the term “fortnight” meaning a period of two weeks (“fourteen-night”).
Nitpick: David Eisenhower was Ike’s grandson, not son.