The Boys of St. Vincent is a Canadian made-for-television movie, giving a fictionalised account of pedophilia in St. Vincent’s orphanage. The film is loosely based on the actual child molestation which occurred at Mount Cashel orphanage in Newfoundland, run by a Roman Catholic order, the Christian Brothers.
Shortly before the movie was to air, the accuseds in another child molestation case sought a publication ban, alleging that it would poison the jury pool in their upcoming trial. The issue eventually was decided by the Supreme Court of Canada in Dagenais v. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The Court held that trial judges had the power to issue such publication bans to preserve an accused’s right to a fair trial, but only on very strict conditions and only when no other remedy appears to be possible.
Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson - the Supremes - released their “Live at the Copa” album in 1965, recorded at the Copa Cabana in New York City.
In 1985, Barry Manilow and his collaborators Bruce Sussman and Jack Feldman expanded thire song “At The Copa” into a full length, made-for-television musical, also called Copacabana, writing many additional songs and expanding the plot suggested by the song. This film version was then further expanded by Manilow, Feldman, and Sussman into a full-length, two-act stage musical that ran at the Prince of Wales Theatre on London’s West End for two years prior to a lengthy tour of the UK. An American production was later mounted that toured the US for over a year. Over 200 productions of the show have since been mounted worldwide.
Winky Dink and You was probably the first interactive TV show. In each episode, viewers were urged to draw a connect-the-dots image on the TV to give Winky Dink something he needed, using crayons and a vinyl screen cover that protected the screen that was part of a kit sold in stores. Some children didn’t use the screen, upsetting their parents when their new TV set had crayons all over the screen. The show was hosted by future game show host (and central figure in the quiz show scandals) Jack Barry; Winky Dink was voiced by Mae Questal.
While never a president, Mae Questel was the first voice of Betty Boop in addition to Olive Oyl, Casper the friendly ghost and, occaisionally, Popeye.
(I know it’s a stretch but I could not let the great Mae Questel go bye so quietly!)
While Mackenzie King was Canada’s longest serving Prime Minster, he was twice defeated personally in his own riding, in 1925 and again in 1945. In both cases, he remained in office as Prime Minster, returning eventually to the House of Commons via bye-elections.
The McKenzie brothers - Bob and Doug- hosted the Great White North/Kanadian Korner on SCTV in the early 80’s. Played by Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas, the characters were created when the CBC required additional Canadian content to broadcast SCTV and to fill additional time due to fewer commercials in Canada.
Wendy’s Hamburgers founder Dave Thomas (no relation to the actor) was adopted as a child, and always supported adoption services and advocacy in later life. Jim Rhodes, Governor of Ohio at the time of the 1970 Kent State University shootings, was a longtime friend of Thomas’s and a ground-floor investor in the company.
Merriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, died of multiple gunshot wounds while stopping at Grinder’s Stand, an inn on the Natchez Trace near Nashville. Though it is listed as a suicide, there are some who think that he was murdered.
Mary Anderson played Maybelle Merriwether in Gone With the Wind and Mary Anderson is also the name of the woman who invented the windshield wiper in 1903.
When the Catholic Queen Mary of England died, her husband, the Spanish King Philip II, considered marrying her Protestant sister Elizabeth, the new queen, but nothing came of it.
On May 9, 1961, Jim Gentile, then playing first base for the Baltimore Orioles, became only the fourth major leaguer to hit two grand slam home runs in the same game. There are now thirteen players on the list, the only pitcher among them being the Atlanta Braves’ Tony Cloninger.
Fernando Tatis is the only major leaguer to hit two grand slam home runs in one inning. Even odder, they were both hit off the same pitcher, Chan Ho Park, who gave up 11 runs that inning before being replaced.