George Washington launched his desperate, daring attack against the Hessian garrison at Trenton, N.J. on an icy cold Christmas Day, 1776. The surprise victory reinvigorated the Patriot cause.
The cover of the Firesign Theatre’s album “Fighting Clowns” was painted by Phil Hartman.
Phil Harman was Captain Carl on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Lawrence Fishbourne, Natasha Lyonne, and S. Epatha Merkerson were also cast members who went on to achieve success after the show.
William Marshall was a classically trained Shakespearean actor and acting professor who played the King of Cartoons on Pee-Wee’s Play House but is probably best remembered for starring in the blaxploitation vampire films Blacula and Scream, Blacula, Scream.
A number of famous musicians contributed to the soundtrack of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, including Todd Rundgren, Dweezil Zappa, George Clinton, Danny Elfman, and Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo.
Dweezil was originally named Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa, but has had his name legally changed – the word was father Frank’s term for an oddly-curled toe of Gail (Frank’s wife and Dweezil’s mother).
Frank Zappa went to high school with Captain Beefheart.
Captain Beefheart’s real name is Don Van Vliet.
Captain Corcoran must trade ranks and places with Ralph Rackstraw at the end of Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
Captain Kirk is able to take control of the Enterprise back from the murderous M5 computer and its creator, Dr. Richard Daystrom, also played by William Marshall, at the end of the episode “The Ultimate Computer.”
In addition to Captain Corcoran and Ralph Rackstraw, other Pinafore characters with alliterative names included Dick Deadeye, Bill Bobstay and Bob Becket.
The character of Bunthorne in Gilbert & Sullivan’s Patience, released after that infernal nonsense Pinafore, was based on Oscar Wilde; in 1882 an authorized production of Patience and Oscar Wilde himself both toured the U.S. in an early cross-promotion, both tours sponsored by Richard D’Oyly Carte.
Dmitri Mendeleyev was inspired to create the periodic table of the elements by playing a solitaire card game called “Patience”.
Dmitri Medvedev is the current President of Russia, although many observers suspect that real power is still held by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, who now serves as Prime Minister.
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I wish I was geeky enough to get in a bit of trivia on “alliterative.” On the Big Bang Theory, Stan Lee was on. Raj kept going on and on about the alliterative names of Stan Lee’s characters - which of course I don’t know any off the top of my head! Funny stuff.
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NM - way too slow. Everyone’s at “lunch”!
Never mind. Fixed by previous poster.
Boris Pasternak declined his Nobel Prize for Literature, fearing that he would not be allowed back into Russia if he went abroad to receive it.
William Henry Pratt, better known as Boris Karloff, was the grand-nephew of Anna Leonowens, of The King and I fame.
Yul Brynner, best known for The King and I, was born on Sakhalin Island.