Billy Crystal’s portray of Jodie Dallas on Soap was one of the first openly gay chacacters on a TV series. However, it was a source of controversy : Religious organizations disapproved of his sexual orientation, while gay rights groups worried that his portrayal would be stereotypical.
American actress Jodie Foster speaks fluent French and appeared, almost unrecognizable, as a downtrodden Parisian housewife in the 2004 World War I drama/romance A Very Long Engagement.
Forbidden Hollywood, a spoof of movie musicals, has Better Midler singing “Who’s Gay In Hollywood”
Whose gay in Hollywood?
Find me one lesbian in Hollywood.
I now for sure it isn’t Jodie Foster
For that would cost her.
Her movie stardom for good.
Before I lose my mind
You got to help me find
Who’s gay in Hollywood.
When Jodie Foster officially came out, nobody cared.
During her freshman year at Yale, Jodie Foster was stalked by John W. Hinckley, Jr., who had developed an obsession with her after watching the movie Taxi Driver. He moved to New Haven and tried to contact her, both through letters and by phone. On March 30, 1981, Hinckley attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan, wounding him and three other people, claiming that his motive was to impress Foster.
Yale’s secret Skull and Bones Society owns Deer Island in Alexandria, New York, on the St. Lawrence River and a little downriver from the Thousand Islands (gMap — Google Maps). Of Yale’s 41 secret societies, Skull and Bones is only the fifth richest, with $4,129,936 in assets in 2015, according to Business Insider.
Both of the major-party nominees in the 2004 US presidential election, Republican George W. Bush of Texas and Democrat John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, were members of Skull and Bones.
The 1998 Democratic Presidential candidate was Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis, who lost to then Vice-President George H.W. Bush. Part of the Republican strategy was the now-famou Willie Horton attack ad, implying Dukakis was “soft on crime.”
The “Dean Scream” after the Iowa Caucus in the 2004 presidential primaries doomed Howard Dean’s bid for his nomination. After finishing a disappointing third behind John Kerry and John Edwards, Dean spoke and fervently rallied his supporters, and ended with a crescendoed “Yeah!”. Comedians and late-night comedy show hosts satirized, mocked, and popularized the sound bite, beginning a media onslaught that many believe contributed immensely to his poor showing in the subsequent races.
Dean’s speech is also referred to as “I have a scream.”
YouTube of the Dean Scream — 2004: The scream that doomed Howard Dean - YouTube
Vermont Lt. Gov. Howard Dean, a medical doctor, was with a patient in August 1991 when he learned that he had become Governor of Vermont upon the unexpected death of his predecessor, Richard Snelling.
Vermont’s name comes from the French phrase “vert mont” which means “green mountain." Vermont’s nickname is The Green Mountain State.
27 states have a state beverage. Of these 27, 21 have made milk their state beverage. Alabama and Virginia both list an alcoholic beverage: Alabama’s is Conecuh Ridge Whiskey, and Virginia’s is George Washington’s Rye Whiskey.
George Washington was one of the leading American whiskey distillers of his day, and probably made more money from those sales than he did from cotton or wheat. His distillery has been rebuilt, and Mount Vernon is once again selling whiskey made by period methods.
Vernon and Irene Castle were ballroom dancers who appeared in silent films and on Broadway; they were at the peak of their popularity before World War I. In 1915, Vernon, who was born in England, decided to become a pilot, trained in the US and enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He died in a training accident in 1918. Their biography is retold in the 1939 movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Broadway, the north-south road in New York that runs from State Street at Bowling Green, through Manhattan and the Bronx, to just north of Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, was originally the Wickquasgeck Trail for the native Algonquins. It became the main trail for Dutch when they arrived in the 17th century.
When Forbidden Broadway was first starting out and looking to expand their show, a cast member asked creator Gerard Alessandrini is he had seen West Side Story. Alessandrini said he hadn’t seen the stage show, but he saw the movie “with Chita Rivera.” The person replied “No, the movie was with Rita Manero.” That lead to the song over who was the better Anita, Chita or Rita. (I was the world’s first Anita (We know you were). Don’t mix us up, I am Chita).Video here
Hal Prince came to see that routine. The net day he bought lyricist Stephen Sondheim to see it, and Sondheim laughed so hard he was banging his head on the wall, and went to see the cast afterwards. And that was the true beginning of Forbidden Broadway’s amazing success.
Siblings Gus and Gina Trikonis also starred in West Side Story (1961, the movie). They were members of the rival gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. Gus Trikonis was married to actress Goldie Hawn from 1969 to 1976. He was her first husband,
Gina Lollobrigida was one of the highest profile European actresses of the 1950s and early 1960s, a period in which she was an international sex symbol. Later in her career, she became a photojournalist and sculptor. In the 1970s, she managed an exclusive interview with Fidel Castro.
In 2013, Lollobrigida sold her jewelry collection, and donated the nearly $5 million from the sale to benefit stem cell therapy research. Now 92, she divides her time between her house in Rome and a villa in Monte Carlo.
The flag of Rome, capital of the Italian Republic, is comprised of two vertical bands of red and yellow. Vatican City, the smallest nation in the world, lies entirely within Rome’s territorial boundaries.
Four of the six smallest countries are in Europe. By smallest size, they are Vatican City, Monaco, San Marino, and Liechtenstein.
By land area, Russia is the largest country in the world. It shares a land border with 14 other countries.
Canada is the second-largest country in the world. It shares a land border with one other country.