Rajneesh Chandra Mohan, better known as the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh or Osho, was an Indian born Jainist reared guru who founded a cult that wove several sects of Hinduism with Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and other beliefs. He and his followers left the ashram he founded in Mumbai that and relocated to a 65,000 acre ranch in Oregon that had formerly been the property of actor Walter Brennan*. At his apex Rajneesh had more than 50,000 followers and owned a fleet of more than 100 cars including at least 27 Rolls Royces.
*Brennan himself had no connection to the Bhagwan; the ranch was purchased from his estate years after his death.
Muppet creator Jim Henson’s creations started appearing on TV while he ws still in college. He made enough money to buy himself a Rolls Royce to drive to his college graduation.
Jim Henson died May 16, 1990, at the age of 53 from organ failure. He died of an infection from Streptococcus pyogenes, the bacterial species that causes strep throat, scarlet fever, and rheumatic fever. He was survived by his estranged wife Jane, and children Brian, Lisa and Cheryl. Brian and Lisa are currently the co-chairs and co-CEOs of the Jim Henson Company. Henson’s most famous creation, the Muppets, were sold to the Walt Disney Company in 2004.
Matthew Henson, a self-educated African-American from Maryland, and Robert Peary are generally credited, if perhaps dubiously given the navigational tools of the time, with being the first two men to reach the North Pole, in 1909. Both men left sons by Inuit women in Greenland.
Henson and Peary are characters and their North Pole excursion a plot devise in Act 1 of Ragtime, the musical based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow. Doctorow’s inspiration for the novel was when he learned a deranged housekeeper had buried her illegitimate baby alive at the turn of the century on the grounds of an old house Doctorow lived in at New Rochelle, NY.
The 1981 film of Ragtime, using the Evelyn Nesbit case as the central plot line, was the final screen appearance for both James Cagney and Pat O’Brien.
Pat O’Brien is known to have attended high school (Marquette Academy) in Milwaukee with Spencer Tracy, and is thought to have served with Jack Benny at Great Lakes Naval Station during World War I.
Pat O’Brien also attended Marquette University in Milwaukee. Other Marquette alumni include actors Don Ameche and Chris Farley. Former basketball coach Al McGuire compiled a 295-80 record at Marquette, leading the team to 11 consecutive postseason appearances, including championships in both the NCAA and NIT tournaments.
Jack Benny’s wife, Mary Livingstone, was born Sadie Marks in Seattle, Washington, and though they spelled their surname differently she was a cousin of the Marx brothers. She met Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky) at a Marx family seder dinner that her cousin Herbert (Zeppo) invited him to attend.
(Having already used my favorite Zeppo Marx item long ago …)
A museum called Zippo/Case visitors center is located in Bradford, Pennsylvania at 1932 Zippo Drive. This 15,000 square foot (1398 m²) building contains rare and custom made Zippo lighters, and also sells the entire Zippo line. The museum also contains an enormous collection of Case knives.
The origins of the hunting knives called a Bowie Knife are hazy. It became famous after a knife fight on a sandbar near Natchez involving Jim Bowie, though some accounts accredit the actual design of the knife to Jim’s brother/partner Rezin Bowie (Rezin himself also claimed to be its creator, but both Bowie brothers were known to exaggerate their exploits). There is some variation in what’s now sold as Bowie Knives but the defining characteristic is a thick and fixed blade at least 9 inches in length.
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The Adventures of Jim Bowie was telecast on ABC from 1956 to '58. Among the guest stars on various episodes were William Schallert (before he was Martin Lane on The Patty Duke Show), June Carter (later married to Johnny Cash), and Chuck Connors (who would soon star as the title character on The Rifleman).
June Carter was the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. She played the guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp. A member of the famous Carter family of country singers, she began performing with her mother and sisters at the age of 10. The group’s lead guitarist was Chet Atkins.
“Ring of Fire” was co-written by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, and originally recorded by June’s sister, Anita Carter.It was released as a single and it was a featured “pick hit” in Billboard magazine.
After hearing Anita’s version, Cash claimed he had a dream where he heard the song accompanied by “Mexican horns”. Cash allowed some time for Anita’s song to catch on, stating:
“I’ll give you about five or six more months, and if you don’t hit with it, I’m gonna record it the way I feel it.”
When the song failed to become a major hit for Anita, Cash recorded it his own way, adding the mariachi-style horns. This version was a huge hit.
The Kilgore College Rangerettes are a drill team from Texas’s Kilgore College. They have appeared at Dallas Cowboys games, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and Dwight D. Eisenhower’s first presidential inauguration parade.
In the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street an elderly, bearded man is pressed into service at the last minute to play Santa Claus at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It’s then revealed that the old man believes he actually is Santa Claus. He escapes being declared insane when his attorney shows the Post Office delivered mail addressed to Santa Claus to the old man.
For most of American history, the U.S. Postmaster General (the first of whom was Benjamin Franklin) had enormous control over political patronage, so it was a coveted post, often awarded by the President to the head of his own party. Jim Farley, FDR’s Postmaster General, was especially noted (or notorious) for his use of Post Office appointments to reward friends and punish enemies.
Farley was an English sheepdog owned by the Patterson family in the comic strip For Better Or For Worse. When he was fourteen years old, Farley saved baby April Patterson from drowning and died of a heart attack. When strip cartoonist Lynn Johnston told fellow cartoonist Charles M. Schulz that Farley was going to die, Schulz allegedly threatened to kill his own cartoon dog, Snoopy.
Snoopy pretended, over the years, to be both a World War I flying ace (with his doghouse becoming, in his imagination, a Sopwith Camel) and a noted lawyer on his way to court, complete with bowtie, bowler and briefcase.