Choreographer Bob Fosse appears, unbilled, in Damn Yankees with his wife Gwen Verdon in a dance number. As he leaves the stage, Tab Hunter calls after him “Thanks, Fosse”.
Richard Nixon, following his appearance in New Hampshire during the 1968 campaign, offered Hunter S. Thompson a lift to the airport on the condition that the two of them talk about nothing but football. Thompson accepted, mostly because he thought Nixon knew nothing about the sport. He discovered that, in fact, Nixon was an avid fan, clear down to which colleges the top players were from.
President Richard M. Nixon was indeed an avid football fan, and once called the owner of the Washington Redskins to suggest a play in a game he was watching. The suggestion was eventually passed along to the quarterback and the play was attempted, but it was not successful.
In their 50+ years in the Canadian Football League, the BC Lions have only finished in 2nd spot in their division twice. On October 19, 2013, the Saskatchewan Roughriders helped the Lions to maintain that record, beating them for second place in the division. The Lions did their share, of course, turning over the ball 8 times.
On October 10, 2013, delegates from some 140 countries and territories signed the Minamata Treaty, a UNEP treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.
Graham Parker, dissatisfied with the US record company, Mercury Records, released the song “Mercury Poisoning” once he was free of their contract.
Parker, played by Yaphet Kotto, was chief engineer of the USCSS Nostromo in the Ridley Scott sf/horror film Alien.
Section 91(25) of the Constitution Act, 1867 gives the Parliament of Canada exclusive jurisdiction over aliens.
The USS Enterprise, Capt. James T. Kirk’s ship in the original Star Trek series, is of the Constitution class.
After Alexander Courage wrote the Star Trek theme music, Gene Roddenberry wrote a set of lyrics to the instrumental, solely so he could get 50% of the royalties. Courage never sued, though he claimed about how unethical it was.
Gene Wilder was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for “The Producers” but lost the award to Jack Albertson, who won for “The Subject Was Roses”. Both Wilder and Albertson would later co-star together in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory”.
Gilda Radner, who would later marry Gene Wilder, met Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel at the first SNL meeting of the minds. They would later have a very close friendship that included everything but sex. She called him “Zweibel” and he called her “Gilbert.”
When Gilda was having cancer treatment and needed blood transfusion, she asked that every person write a note to be taped to the blood bag.Zweibel wrote:
Gilbert–I always knew I’d get some of my fluid into you one way or another–Zweibel
Rita Hayworth starred in the movie, Gilda. She complained that all of her lovers would “go to bed with Gilda”, but wake up with her.
Rita Moreno is one of only 13 people who are an EGOT, which means that she won at least one of all of the four major entertainment awards: Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. The other ones in chronological order are Richard Rodgers, Barbra Streisand, Helen Hayes, Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud, Audrey Hepburn, Marvin Hamlisch, Jonathan Tunick, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Whoopi Goldberg and James Earl Jones. (Liza Minnelli won a Special Grammy, and James Earl Jones won an Academy Honorary Award.)
Audrey Hepburn was offered the lead in the movie The Diary of Anne Frank, but declined, saying that it would be too painful. She grew up in Nazi-occupied Europe.
Katharine Hepburn was a direct descendant of England’s King John through one of his illegitimate children. Hepburn played King John’s mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, in *The Lion in Winter *(1968).
Madison Square Garden in NY City opened in 1968.
There have been four Madison Square Gardens in NYC: Two on Madison Square, in use from 1879-1925, one at 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Street (used until 1968), and the current one at 8th Ave between 31st and 33rd.
Vincent the dog, the yellow Labrador retriever appearing in the TV series Lost, was really named Madison, born in Hawaii in November 1999.
The movie Splash is credited with introducing the girl’s name Madison, which has since become one of the most popular names for newborn girls in the early 21st century.