Another of Seaborn Roddenbery’s causes was opposition to increases in Civil War pensions. Since only Union veterans were eligible for such payments, Roddenbery resented the fact that Georgians subsidized the “damn Yankees” while the many former Confederate fighters received nothing from the federal government.
Seabourn Cruise Lines is a luxury brand of Carnival Corporation, which owns most of the cruise-line companies that operate in the Americas. Other Carnival subsidiaries/brands include Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruises, Cunard Line, Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, and AIDA Cruises.
Jerry Orbach made his Broadway musical debut as part of the cast of Carnival.
Chevy Chase said years later that part of the motivation for his Saturday Night Live impersonation of an extremely klutzy Jerry Ford was because he wanted Ford to lose the 1976 Presidential election - which Ford did, to Jimmy Carter, Democrat of Georgia.
The name of the Chevy Chase in Maryland, according to the Village of Chevy Chase’s official history, can be traced to the larger tract of land called Cheivy Chace that was patented to Colonel Joseph Belt from Lord Baltimore on July 10, 1725. It has historic associations to a 1388 battle between Lord Percy of England and Earl Douglas of Scotland. At issue in this chevauchee (a French word describing a border raid) were hunting grounds or a “chace” in the Cheviot Hills of Northumberland and Otterburn.
The arms of George Calvert, first Baron Baltimore, gave rise to the flag of Maryland, one of the most purely heraldic of any state flag. The flag was adopted in 1904: Flag of Maryland - Wikipedia
It’s even been used as aircraft livery: http://www.air-and-space.com/20060413%20Phoenix/DSC_5326%20737-7H4%20N214WN%20Southwest%20Maryland%20right%20side%20take-off%20l.jpg
The Lady Baltimore Cake is a moist, three-layered white cake with a filling of raisins, nuts and sometimes other fruit such as figs. The cake is covered with a fluffy white frosting such as boiled icing. It was first mentioned by novelist Owen Wister in his 1906 novel, Lady Baltimore. Legend has it that a young woman gave Wister such a cake, which he later chronicled in his novel.
The Sot-Weed Factor was one of the earliest American poems, written by poet Ebeneezer Cooke in 1708. John Barth’s novel of the same name is the story of Cooke, who, in the wildly ahistorical narrative, was named poet laureate Maryland by Lord Baltimore (supposedly) and has a series of bizarre adventures. Barth wove obscure history into the narrative, including the “Sacred Eggplant,” a bizarre aphrodisiac that actually existed.
In a letter to his wife Abigail on May 12, 1780, John Adams wrote, “I must study politics and war, that our sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. Our sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry and porcelain.”
The medieval university education system in Europe consisted of the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric), which was followed by the quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), following a structure laid out by Plato in The Republic, although the terms were not used until later by Boethius. They were followed by the serious work of philosophy and theology.
Both Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill referred to the United States as “the great republic.”
Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2010 book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is a sequel of sorts to his 2009 hit, soon to be a major motion picture starring Natalie Portman, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a collaboration with Jane Austen.
Fox TV has its origins from the Fox Film Corporation, which was created by William Fox on the profits he made from the silent film A Fool There Was, in which Theda Bara played a vamp (short for “vampire”), a sexually aggressive woman.
The ballroom dance called the foxtrot is generally credited to vaudeville showman Harry Fox, but was popularized by the team of Vernon and Irene Castle. It may have been inspired by W.C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues”.
After he left the White House and was living again in Independence, Missouri, Harry S Truman would personally pick up trash left in his front yard by tourists.
As a child, Truman Capote was nicknamed “Bulldog”, possibly a pun on the name of popular fictional detective Bulldog Drummond.
Truman Capote played reclusive billionaire Lionel Twain in the murder mystery Murder by Death.
Famous fictional detectives parodied in Murder by Death included Sam Spade (as Sam Diamond), Nick & Nora Charles (as Dick and Dora Charleston), Miss Marple (as Ms. Marbles) and Charlie Chan (as Sidney Wang).
Peter Falk, who played Sam Diamond and Peter Sellers, who played Sidney Wang, were both identified closely with continuing roles as detectives: Falk as Columbo and Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
Peter Falk’s right eye was surgically removed at the age of three because of a malignant tumor; he has worn a glass eye for most of his life.