Question of the Week

(Comic Strips that Suck) Cookie and Alexander are the children of the title character of which comic strip created by a dude named Chic Young, which celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2005?

Question of the Week

(Famous Firsts) The very first Ferris Wheel was created by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. as a landmark for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, held in this state?

Question of the Work

(Movies) The recent film (500) Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt who got his start playing Tommy Solomon in this sitcom that ran from 1996-2001?

Oh, Yellow Brick Road...

It was 70 years ago today that The Wizard of Oz premiered at The Strand Theatre in the little lakeside town of Oconomowoc, Wis.

In honor, here is some trivia:

- The title role was written with W.C. Fields in mind. MGM executive Arthur Freed wanted Fields, and offered him $75,000. Fields supposedly wanted $100,000.

- Ray Bolger was originally cast as the Tin Woodsman. However, he insisted that he would rather play the Scarecrow as his childhood idol, Fred Stone, had originated that role on stage in 1902.

- Buddy Ebsen had been cast as the Scarecrow but switched roles with Bolger. The aluminum powder makeup for the Tin Woodsman was toxic and Ebsen apparently had an allergic reaction to it as well. He left the picture, but his voice can still be heard in "Off to see the Wizard".

- Producer Mervyn LeRoy had originally intended to use MGM's Leo the Lion in the role of the Cowardly Lion and dub an actors voice in for the dialogue. However, that idea was dropped when Bert Lahr came up for consideration for the part.

- MGM had originally planned to incorporate a "stencil printing" process when Dorothy runs to open the farmhouse door before the film switches to Technicolor; each frame was to be hand-tinted to keep the inside of the door in sepia tone. This process-cumbersome, expensive, and ineffective-was abandoned in favor of a simpler and more clever alternative. The inside of the farmhouse was painted sepia, and the Dorothy who opens the door from the inside is not Judy Garland but her stand-in wearing a sepia-rinsed version of the famous gingham dress.

- Judy Garland's dress and blouse were in reality not white but pale pink. True white did not photograph properly in Technicolor and made the blue of her checked dress seem too bright.

- The movie's line "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." was voted as the #62 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere in 2007.

- To compensate for the extreme make-up demands on this film, MGM recruited extra help from the studio mail room and courier service. As most of the Oz extras required prosthetic devices and application of prosthetics requires extensive training, make-up artists were each instructed in one area of prosthetic application and then formed an assembly line.

More at IMDB.

Question of the Week

(CELEBRITY ENDORSERS) Back in the 80s, OJ Simpson had a different reason to run, as he was seen racing through airports in a series of TV ads for what company?

Isn't It awful?

Offal (pronounced the same as "awful" by many speakers) is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. Depending on the culture, some people shy away from offal as food, while others may make it everyday food or even delicacies.

Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for animal feed, fertilizer, or fuel.

Need recipes? See Cook It Simply or Offal Good.

Enjoy!

Clown Week?!

There are several versions of who thought up National Clown week and who got Congress to pass the Proclamation. Here are the two versions of what happened.


Version I: Frank "Kelly the Clown" Kelly

In 1966 the first International Clown Week chairman, Frank "Kelly the Clown" Kelly, was appointed by Ray Bickford, president of Clown Club of America. In 1967 Clown Club of America members were urged to write to their congressmen and senators requesting a presidential proclamation naming August 1-7 as National Clown Week. In 1969 a resolution was introduced. After clowns met with Senator John McClellan of Arkansas who was chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Observances and Holidays success was finally achieved.


Version II. BILL "BOOM-BOOM" BAILY

Bill was an original member of Clowns of America when it was founded in 1967 and held membership number 81. He was named the U.S. Chairman of National Clown Week. Because each year a chairman had to be chosen in each state to ask their governor to issue a proclamation honoring National Clown Week, Bill pushed for National Clown Week publicity. He convinced Congressman Garmatz of Maryland and Congressman Myers of Indiana to introduce a joint resolution in Congress establishing National Clown Week as an annual event. He lobbied congress and organized a visit by clowns to the senate building in Washington, D.C. The joint resolution was signed into law by President Nixon on August 2, 1971.


For more, see the homepage for International Clown Week.

Question of the Week

(Geography) What is the name of the peninsula (a combo of three state names) that beaches such as Bethany Beach are located on?