Although Franklin W. Dixon was credited as the author of the Hardy Boys books, the mysteries were actually written by several different people, the first of whom was Leslie McFarlane. McFarlane also penned many other juveniles, including some of “Carolyn Keene’s” Nancy Drew cases.
The USS Franklin is the only Essex-class aircraft carrier so badly damaged during World War II by Japanese attacks that it was not repaired and returned to service, but scrapped. No carriers of its class were sunk during the entire war. The best-known such carrier today is probably the USS Yorktown, permanently moored in Charleston, S.C.
The Essex automobile was manufactured from 1918 to '32. It was the lower-priced marque of the Hudson Motor Company, and was replaced by the Terraplane.
In 1954, the Hudson and Nash auto companies merged, to form American Motors. That company was led by George Romney, father of Mitt Romney.
Nash Entertainment produces: Most Daring, Most Shocking and Top 20 Most Shocking for TruTV. In the past they have done Roadtrip, Magic’s Biggest Secrets Revealed and Who Wants to be a Superhero.
The term “Super Hero” has been jointly trademarked by DC and Marvel Comics. There is some dispute as to whether this would hold up if challenged, but their lawyers point to the joint trademark of “Swiss Army Knife,” which is owned by Victorinox and by Wenger
U.S. Army Bvt. Maj. Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, hero of Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg, was in charge of Army of the Potomac forces accepting the surrender of Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Court House, Va. in April 1865.
Laurence Fishburne was the first African American to portray Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in Oliver Parker’s 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
I’m just not seeing the connection here beyond “years ending with a 5”.
“Major.”
In the 1930a, the major studios were MGM, Paramount, Warner Brothers, RKO, and Fox. Three other Hollywood studios were considered just below that level: Columbia, Universal, and United Artists.
“Hail, Columbia” was a popular march tune at the time of the Civil War, and is now the official march of the Vice President of the United States, as “Hail to the Chief” is that of the President.
The space shuttle Columbia was named after the American sloop Columbia Rediviva which explored the US Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the globe.
In the Alfred Hitchcock film North by Northwest (1959), Jimmy Stewart was very interested in playing the lead and begged to be in it. But Hitchcock claimed that Vertigo’s lack of financial success the year before was because Stewart “looked too old.” MGM wanted Gregory Peck, but Hitchcock instead cast Cary Grant, who, ironically, was actually four years Stewart’s senior.
British actor James Stewart was forced to change his name when entering films due to a Screen Actors Guild rule that forbid the duplication of names. He took his grandmother’s maiden name and had a successful career as Stewart Granger.
Stewart Granger played Sherlock Holmes in a 1972 telefilm of The Hound of the Baskervilles, with Bernard Fox as Dr. John H. Watson and William Shatner as George Stapleton, the bad guy.
Tim Curry read Stephen King’s Sherlock Holmes story The Dotor’s Case in the audio-book of King’s short story collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
Tim Curry’s nickname is “The Cheshire Cat.”
Tim the Enchanter was played by John Cleese in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Kaufman and Hart based their comedy, The Man Who Came to Dinner, on theater critic Alexander Woollcott, who was known for his acerbic wit. Woollcott is best known today as the critic who “discovered” the Marx Brothers on Broadway; his review is credited with turning them into Broadway stars (though the review is actually quite poorly done, barely talks about the details of the play, and is more about Alexander Woollcoot than the Marx Brothers). Though Woollcott was offered a chance to play the role in its Broadway debut, his busy schedule forced him to pass, and the part was given to Monty Woolley, who also played the role in the movie.
One of the anecdotes former White House maid Lillian Rogers Parks told in her memoir Backstairs at the White House was of helping Eleanor Roosevelt “politely evict” Alexander Woollcott when he overstayed his welcome as a presidential guest. Basically Parks and Eleanor came into the room immediately after he did a phone-in broadcast; as Parks began packing his things Eleanor told him how much she was going to miss him and how sorry she was he was leaving so soon while, as she was telling him this, escorting him out the door.