Joseph Cotten made his feature film debut as Jed Leland in Citizen Kane. He worked with Orson Welles on several other films in the 1940s, so, when he dropped by the set of Touch of Evil to watch the filming, Welles gave him a bit part.
The only Grateful Dead song to reach the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 charts was 1987’s “Touch of Grey”, noted for its lyrics “I will get by / I will survive”. It was also the Dead’s first music video.
Connie, daughter of Saturday Night Live Coneheads Beldar and Pryamaat, sometimes wore a Grateful Dead T-shirt.
Abby Elliott is the first third-generation performer on Saturday Night Live. Her father, Chris Elliott, was a former regular on the show, and her grandfather, Bob Elliott, of the radio comedy team “Bob and Ray” along with Ray Gould, made a guest cameo in the show’s early years.
Paul Simon holds the record for most SNL appearances as musical guest.
Illinois Senator and unsuccessful presidential candidate Paul Simon once appeared on Saturday Night Live with Paul Simon the musician. Senator Simon was occasionally played on SNL by Al Franken.
In its first season, Saturday Night Live only had new episodes three out of every four weeks. On the fourth week, NBC ran Weekend, a news program hosted by Lloyd Dobyns. As SNL became a hit, NBC moved Weekend to Sundays opposite 60 Minutes, where, despite the addition of Linda Ellerbee, it failed in the ratings.
Lloyd Bentsen, Democrat of Texas, defeated George H.W. Bush in a U.S. Senate race in 1970, was Mike Dukakis’s running mate in 1988, and later served as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of the Treasury.
Lloyd Bentsen is credited with coining the term “astroturfing” to refer to activity which appears to be from the “grass roots” but is actually orchestrated by an advertising agency, political campaign team, or analogous organization.
Like Aspirin, Kleenex and Sheetrock, Astroturf is a registered brand name but one that has come to be used in everyday speech as a generic term for any like item. (Example: If you ask somebody to “hand me a Kleenex?” and what they have is the store brand nose wipe they’re not likely to correct you, while “I need to nail up some sheetrock” can mean several forms of drywall, not necessarily that particular brand.)
Velcro is another example of a brand name becoming generic. George de Mestral named his invention “Velcro”, which is a portmanteau of the two French words velours and crochet, or ‘hook’
King George III of England was the longest reigning King of England. Only Victoria ruled longer (though Elizabeth II will likely surpass him this May).
When George of Hanover, who spoke very little English, was made King of England/Scotland/Ireland/Wales he brought with him his obese half-sister and hostess Sophia (Countess von Keilmansegge) and his official mistress Fraulein Schulenberg. The two women were unofficially nicknamed “the Elephant and the Maypole” by his court. His ex-wife remained in Hanover under house arrest at Ahlden Castle due to her adultery with a member of George’s court many years before.
The Six Nations Champiohship in rugby union was originally the Home Nations Championship, which was contested by England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. It became the Five Nations when France was added to the tournament, and acquired its current name when Italy joined too.
The Five Nations is a name given to the Iroquois Confederacy, an alliance of five Native American tribes – Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca – in upstate NY. A sixth tribe, the Tuscarora, joined them in the early 18th century.
The hairstyle with spiked hair in the center and shaved sides known as the Mohawk in the U.S. is called the Mohican in the U.K… Mr. T becomes irritated when his hairstyle is referred to as a Mohawk because he patterned it after the cut of a Mandinka warrior.
The USS Kearsarge, which sank the notorious Confederate commerce raider CSS Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France in 1864 during the Civil War, was a Mohican-class steam sloop-of-war.
The current USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) was attacked by al Qaeda rockets in 2005, which luckily missed.
“Rocket 88” by Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats is considered by many music historians to be the first rock and roll song. Bill Haley and the Comets did a cover version that added some country music influences; it’s debated as to which version should be considered.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has listed the Stray Cats’s “Rock This Town” as one of the 500 most important songs in the history of rock and roll. By 1982 the Stray Cats were an international sensation that influenced the world of music as well as fashion.