We’ve used that one, too.
President Benjamin Harrison, Republican of Indiana, appointed Theodore Roosevelt to head the U.S. Civil Service Commission in gratitude for Roosevelt’s work in getting him elected.
Actually we haven’t. Yes, I am a master of Beatle’s relationships and have posted several trivial items about them, but not that specific one.
The Biblical Benjamin was the last son of Jacob and the only full brother of Joseph of Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat fame.
Benjamin Franklin loved to play chess and often played it while schmoozing French aristocrats while he was U.S. minister to France during the American Revolution.
Two Americans – Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer – were World Chess Champions. They both died insane.
Wilhelm Steinitz, the first undisputed world chess champion, was reported to have died in a mental hospital by the New York Times in 1897. In fact, Steinitz was alive, althouh he would die in a mental hospital in 1900. It’s been speculated that Steinitz suffered from syphilis, which caused his mental instability.
Friedrich Nietszche died in a mental hospital in 1900. Syphilis has long been blamed, though much doubt has in recent years been cast on this diagnosis.
William McKinley, Republican of Ohio, was elected to a second term as President of the United States in 1900, but was assassinated in Buffalo, N.Y. less than a year later. Theodore Roosevelt, Republican of New York, then succeeded him in office.
McKinley Morganfield was the original name of the bluesman known to the world as Muddy Waters.
Pete Seeger’s rendition of “Waist Deep in the Big Muddy” on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was objected to by the CBS censors as being too anti-Vietnam. It was cut out of the original broadcast, but the Smothers Brothers later convinced CBS to air it.
Writers on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour included Steve Martin, Rob Reiner and Mason Williams.
William D. Mason was the Prosecuting Attorney of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, when it defended the State of Ohio against a civil case brought by Dr. Sam Sheppard’s son, Sam Reese Sheppard, in 2000. The son sought to have Dr. Sheppard declared posthumously innocent of the murder of Mrs. Marilyn Sheppard, and wrongfully imprisoned. The jury unanimously ruled against Sheppard. (Although it has long been rumored that the TV show The Fugitive was based on the Sheppard case, the producers denied it).
When Matthew Shepard was horribly murdered in 1998, everyone admitted it was because he was gay." His killers drfense at that trial was they were driven “temporarily insame” by the thread of Shepard’s homosexuality. They were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The murderers appeared on 20/20 in 2004 and suddenly claimed that Shepard’s homosexuality had nothing to do with his murder, that it was a “drug deal gone bad.” This outright LIE has been used by the Phelps group to claim that Shepard was a notorious drug addict and his murder had nothing to do with being gay.
Baseball great Ted williams had 20/10 eyesight, that is, he could read print
20 feet away that a person with 20/20 had to be within 10 feet of to read.
“Golden voiced” homeless disk jockey Ted Williams, who relapsed after suddenly getting fame and money, walked out of the rehab center provided by Dr. Phil McGraw. He claimed it was not a reluctance to be clean but the feeling he was being exploited by Dr. Phil.
Jon and Kate Gosselin, of the “reality” show “Jon & Kate Plus 8” along with their doomed eight children, continued with their split despite a Very Special Episode of the syndicated “Dr. Phil” show in 2009, in which McGraw tried to provide counseling - in a TV studio with an audience. The Kate show was originally on Discovery Health but was moved to TLC when its ratings rose, portending the decay and eventual collapse of American civilization.
John McGraw, who led baseball’s New York Giants from 1902 to 1932, holds the record for most victories (2669) as a National League manager. McGraw also guided two different Baltimore Orioles clubs – a National League franchise (1899) and one of the original American League squads (1901-02).
Quick Draw McGraw was a horse (who walked on his hind legs and had thumbs) who was the slow but good-hearted sheriff in an animated TV comedy. He also was on the box of Kellogg’s Sugar Smacks cereal.
John Gnagy was the first performer on the first TV broadcast to the public 1945 (from the Empire State Building), demonstrating his method of learning to draw using four basic shapes (cube, cone, cylinder, and ball). Gnagy went on to a long career as a television art teacher and his “Learn to Draw” kit is still being sold today.
When “King Kong” star Fay Wray died in 2004, the lights atop the Empire State Building went dim for 15 minutes in her honor.
“Whatever happened to Fay Wray?” is the first line of ‘Don’t Dream It, Be It’ from The Rocky Horror Show, one of many references in the musical to vintage cinema.