That was back in 1988. The Mars family has since been surpassed by the Walton family and the Koch family, and it currently ranks as the third richest family in America as of 2016. The patriarch, Franklin Clarence Mars (1883–1934), invented the Milky Way bar. Forrest Edward Mars Sr. (1904–1999), son of Franklin Clarence Mars, invented M&M’s.
M&M’s were “invented” (stolen?) in 1941 when Forrest Mars, Sr. copied the idea for the candy when he saw soldiers eating British-made Smarties, which were chocolate pellets with a colored shell of what confectioners call hard panning (hardened sugar syrup) surrounding the outside. Mars received a patent for his own process on March 3, 1941.
Reese’s Pieces’ designers knew that they wanted a peanut-flavored candy but had some problems with the filling. Original plans called for filling the candy shells with peanut butter, but the oil leaked out into the shell, leaving it soft, rather than crunchy.
The developer of the project turned the problem over to a team of outside scientists, who created a peanut-flavored penuche filling. More experimentation was needed to determine the correct thickness of the shell. Finally, the colors of the candy coating were designed to coordinate with the color of the Reese’s package. The goal color distribution is 50% orange, 25% brown, and 25% yellow.
Penuche, or panucci in Italian, is fudge made with brown sugar, milk, butter and a hint of vanilla – but no chocolate. What sets penuche apart from other fudge is the brown sugar – most fudge is made with white sugar.
Although Marco Polo reported on the usage of ‘dark brown sugar’ by the Chinese, brown sugar was not widely used in the west until the advent of European sugar plantations in the Caribbean in the 1700s. It was widely used as a sweetener in England and the American colonies, because it was much cheaper than white sugar.
There does not appear to be any real connection between the water game called “Marco Polo” and the explorer of the same name. However, one whimsical explanation states, “legend has it that the famed explorer didn’t really have a clue as to where he was going”, this being reflected in the “It” player’s behavior.
Because of really stupid zero tolerance policies in American schools, the games of tag, pom pom, red rover, and other similar games that include any form of physical contact are now banned in a lot, if not most, schools.
The movie Tag, released in 2018, was based on a true story of a group of men who spend one month each year playing the game of tag. In the movie, the guys had been playing the game since 1983 when they were nine years old. The plot focuses on the last year of the game, which is going to end due to the upcoming wedding of one of the players.
On January 3rd, 1983, the Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawai’i began a major eruption. This eruption event, which led to substantial property damage, and the destruction of several towns, continued more-or-less continually until September of 2018.
Hawaii forms a single Federal judicial district. The U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii sits in Honolulu. Its territorial jurisdiction encompasses the state of Hawaii and the territories of Midway Atoll, Wake Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Palmyra Atoll, Baker Island, Howland Island, and Jarvis Island. There are currently eight judges of the court, one of whom, Judge Jill Otake, was appointed by President Donald Trump on recommendation of the state’s two U.S. senators, both of whom are Democrats.
Jerry Orbach originated the song “Try to Remember, when he starred in The
Fantasticks. When he died, Law & Order, ran a brief video tribute to him at the end of an episode. An instrumental version of “Try To Remember” played over the clips. The lyrics, written by “the other” Tom Jones, rhyme remember” with “September”, “so tender”, “ember”, and “December.”
Jerry Orbach died on December 28, 2004.
ETA: the song has since been recorded by Ed Ames, Roger Williams, Barry McGuire, The Kingston Trio, The Sandpipers, and a lot of other people.
Jerry Orbach sang “Be Our Guest” as the voice of the candelabra, Lumiere, in the animated Disney film “Beauty and the Beast”. Ewan McGregor played the role, and sang an expanded version of the song, in the live-action remake starring Emma Watson.
“Be Our Guest” has been parodied on the Simpsons as “See My Vest” and Forbidden Broadway as Be Depressed. Both versions are excellent.
Be depressed, be depressed, cause Walt Disney is the best.
Now the biggest Broadway musical’s a cartoon from the west.
Children cry “It’s a feast seeing Beauty and the Beast.”
Now what turns the Great White Way on is a drama drawn in cray-on."
Guys who sing, dolls who dance, mob auditions for the chance
To play dinnerware that seems to be possessed.
The Theater District on Broadway in New York City is sometimes referred to as the ‘Great White Way’, which was first used in a newspaper headline in 1902. The nickname was inspired by the millions of lights on theater marquees and billboard advertisements that illuminate the area.
The Broadway musical Bullets Over Broadway includes the song “There’s a Broken Heart for Every Light on Broadway”:
There’s a broken heart for ev’ry light on Broadway,
A million tears for every gleam, they say,
Those lights, above you, think nothing of you,
It’s those who love you that have to pay.
There’s a sorrow lurking in each gloomy shadow,
And sorrow comes to ev’ryone some day,
‘Twill come to our brothers,
But think of the mothers with broken hearts for each light on Broadway …*
Not to be outdone, Portland, Oregon also has a Broadway street, which was also dubbed “The Great White Way” in the first decade of the 1900s because of it’s theaters, restaurants and bright lights.
George Washington is the only President of the United States not to live in the White House, although he helped select its site and saw it being built. President John Adams was the first live in the White House, late in 1800, after being defeated for reelection; the house was still largely incomplete inside and unfurnished.
In Harry Belafonte’s recording of “John Henry”, he tells what happened to the black hero who collapsed beating the steam drill. “White house” means church, but in one version could mean the Virginia State Penitentiary, which hired out convict labor.
Oh, they took John Henry to the white house
And they buried him in the sand
Every locomotive come roarin’ by
Says ‘There lies a steel drivin’ man, Lord, Lord
There lies a steel drivin’ man’"
On a TV special, when Petula Clark sang a duet with Harry Belefonte, she took his arm, causing outrage in the south. This was at a time when “separate but equal” and Jim Crow were still the norm in the south.