In 1962, Don Newcombe signed with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Central League (セントラル・リーグ). Newcombe became the first former MLB player to sign with a Japanese Major League team. No longer pitching, he played first base and outfield. He hit .262/.316/.473 with 12 homers in 279 AB.
Ringo Starr has a tattoo of a dragon on his back. He was obsessed with dragons as a (sickly and often hospitalized) boy because his date of birth (7 July 1940) was in the year of the dragon and he thought it fascinating when he learned they existed in both Chinese and Viking mythology.
The husband-and-wife soft rock duo of the Captain and Tennile consisted of Toni Tennille and Darryl Dragon.
Daryl Dragon’s father and sister were both named Carmen. Dad was a conductor, arranger, and composer whose credits included the score of the 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Carmen E Dragon, the female member of the “trio”, was the First Harpist for the Glendale Symphony.
The movie version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers was adopted from Jack Finney’s 1955 novel. While the movie was set in the fictious town of Santa Maria, California, the novel was set in Mill Valley, just north of San Francisco.
Captain B.J. Hunnicutt, a character on later seasons of the television version of MASH*, was from Mill Valley, California.
His full name remained a mystery throughout the series. He claimed—perhaps in jest—that was named him after his mother Bea and father Jay (hence Bea-Jay = B.J.). Hawkeye, for one, did not accept that explanation
A main cast member of The Golden Girls has died in every calendar year for the past three years:
2008: Estelle Getty
2009: Bea Arthur
2010: Rue McClanahan
The Golden Girls had a one season spin-off entitled Golden Palace in which Sophia, Blanche, and Rose pooled their resources and bought a run down hotel. Bea Arthur/Dorothy had a guest shot but didn’t do the series, though Don Cheadle and Cheech Marin were regulars.
Cheech Marin won the first Celebrity Jeopardy! tournament in 1992. He returned for the Million Dollar Invitational in 2010, finishing in third place. While he did not win, he was the only contestant to give the correct Final Jeopardy! question in the deciding game. The category was “Middle East Countries”, and the clue was “In 1949 this kingdom dropped the word ‘Trans’ from the beginning of its name.” The question was “What is Jordan?”.
Louis Jordan, “The King of the Jukebox”, was the founding father of “jump blues” as the leader of the Tympany Five. His hits included “What’s the Use of Getting Sober (When You Gonna Get Drunk Again)”, “Five Guys Named Moe”, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby”, “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”, and a duet with Ella Fitzgerald, “Stone Cold Dead in the Market (He Had It Coming)”, among many others, as well as numerous roles in soundies and race films.
Louis Jordan appeared in a 1947 film titled Reet, Petite, and Gone. The word “reet” is apparently a “hep” variant pronunciation of “right”, as in “proper”, “excellent”, or (in the vernacular of a later decade) “outtasight”.
A proper zoot suit had a reet pleat. They went out of fashion due to their extravagant consumption of cloth, in violation of the war-conservation spirit, as well as their association with Chicano gangs in Los Angeles, especially after the 1943 “Zoot Suit Riots”.
The saxophone player for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem on The Muppet Show is named “Zoot.”
The French phrase zut alors! is an exclamation roughly akin to the British blast! or the American shoot!
In “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, wicked, bad, naughty Zoot is the nun who welcomes Sir Galahad to Castle Anthrax, after pretending the light she set in their beacon was the Grail. Her sister Dingo demands that Galahad spank her as punishment, and then all the rest of the nuns. Followed by the oral sex.
Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky both testified that their “inappropriate relationship,” which led to Clinton being impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives but acquitted by the Senate, never went beyond oral sex.
The man who becomes Chelsea Clinton’s husband today is Marc Mezvinsky, one of eleven children of former Iowa Congressman Edward Mezvinsky who served five years in Federal prison for various fraud and corruption charges.
In the song “Cabaret,” Sally sings of her friend in Chelsea named Elsie and who ended up being “the happiest corpse I’ve ever seen,” and who vowed, “When I go, I’ll go like Elsie.”
More recently, Liza Minelli has changed to lyrics to say “When I go, I won’t go like Elsie.”
Victor/Victoria was a 1982 Blake Edwards remake of a 1933 German film (Viktor und Viktoria) starring his wife Julie Andrews. She much later reprised the role on Broadway in the 1990s. Liza Minnelli and Raquel Welch later took over the role on Broadway and Toni Tennille starred in the touring company.