Grant Cottage, the historical site where Gen. U.S. Grant finished his memoirs and died has a bottle of cocaine water that Grant used for relief of the pain of his cancer. The bottle still contains cocaine, and it is checked periodically by the FDA to make sure none of it has gone missing. The cottage is also next door to the Mount McGregor Correctional Facility; to visit it, you must pass through a prison security checkpoint.
The Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility was formerly informally known as “Camp Walkaway” due to the number of breakouts. Security has been updated.
The Mt. McGregor Correctional Facility is in Moreau, Saratoga County, New York.
In addition to having the most people of any city in the United States, New York City alone makes up over 40 percent of the population of New York state.
Susannah York’s favorite actor was Spencer Tracy.
Spencer Tracy’s advice for actors was “Know your lines and don’t bump into the furniture.”
Dick Tracy (1990) was the highest-grossing film of Warren Beatty’s career.
Ishtar, which starred Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as singer/songwriters, was a very big flop. The film’s reception was so awful it helped coin a new Hollywood term in relation to director Elaine May: “movie jail”. The term referred to someone whose perceived failure as a director was so profound, they would not be allowed to helm a movie again for a very long time, if ever again. In fact, May has not directed a single new movie since *Ishtar. * May worked on the editing for months, and she only turned in a print of the film when the studio threatened legal action.
The songs for Ishtar were composed by Paul Williams (and are hilarious).
Paul Williams also composed the songs for The Muppet Movie. (He does a cameo as a piano player in the movie.)
Mason Williams (singer, musician, composer of Classical Gas), was also the head comedy writer for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and gave Steve Martin his first break.
Steve Martin became a first time father last Christmas at the age of 67 and has been extremely private about the child; he confirmed the child is a girl but has not given her name, other than to tell David Letterman he named her ‘Conquistador’ so as not to go with a ‘weird Hollywood name’.
Steve Martin, early in his career, joked about his charitable work with unwed mothers - “You know, just helping them get their start.”
Steve Martin (not the comedian) was the lead singer of the 60s rock group the Left Banke, notable for “Walk Away Renee.”
Steve Buscemi was a New York City Fireman from 1980-84, with Engine Company #55 in the Little Italy section of Manhattan. He whowed up at his old firehouse the day after 9/11 to volunteer, working 12-hour shifts for a week, digging through rubble with his old comrades looking for missing firefighters.
Pierre Trudeau served his second term as Prime Minister of Canada from 1980 to 1984, returning to office by beating Prime Minister Joe Clark in the 1980 election. He decided to retire for good in the early winter of 1984, after taking a walk in the snow.
US Vice President Joe Biden was the third-youngest man ever elected Senator in US history (several weeks before his 30th birthday; you have to be at least 30 to be a senator). His wife and small daughter were killed in a car crash around the same time.
Joe Clark was the youngest Canadian Prime Minister, taking office a day before his 40th birthday.
Galusha Pennypacker, a native of Valley Forge, became the youngest ever general in the U.S. Army when he was made a brigadier general at the age of 20 in the final months of the Civil War. He lived for fifty more years, but died as a direct result of his Civil War wounds.
In the film National Treasure, Nicholas Cage’s character Ben figures out that the password to enter the room housing the Declaration of Independence is “Valley Forge”, because the “L” key was typed twice. (Every letter in the password had her fingerprints on its key).