eQUSS AND WAND, Congrats on your milestone on a2k.
This is worthless trivia at its best- The other day I went to a performance of Gilbert & Sullivan's operetta "Iolanthe", and learned from the program notes that:
The Dec. 2, 1882 New York premiere of Iolanthe was the first use of electric lighting for a stage drama.
I have always suspected that Mario Puzo based the character of Don Corleone (played by Brando) in The Godfather, on Al Capone. At least, it looks like he "borrowed" some details from Capone's life.
Remember the scene in which Don Corleone is playing with his little grandson, then has a heart attack and dies?
That's actually how Al Capone died. It wasn't in a shoot out with the police, or being gunned down by a rival mob "family," or perishing in prison. Instead, Capone was in the back yard of his home, playing with his grandchildren, when he suffered a fatal heart attack.
I think Puzo may have used this to highlight the "double lives" these men had -- mafia mobster on the one hand, devoted family man on the other hand.
Also, Capone's son was named Sonny -- like Don Corleone's oldest son (played by James Caan).
Interesting stuff, Stray Cat. :wink:
Hi, LH! welcome to the nuthouse!
My favourite wascally wabbit!
One word of warning - speaking of wabbits, don't upset the bunny.
Does anyone know the name of the very first comic strip?
I have heard that comic strips date back to Egyptian times. Interested to hear more.
Well, I guess I should have clarified. I mean like our very first comic strip.
Lezzles, you get me every time.
My mother used to call me the "wooden spoon" - not because I came last, but because I was a real stirrer.
Well, I have to tell you lezzles, you really make me think.
That has always been my ambition in life - not to have anyone agree with me - just to have them think about things. I love arguments, but avoid them when the other person sprouts what they read in the paper, or what is politically correct, etc.
(How trivial can you get?)
I know what you mean, lezzles. I'd rather talk with someone and hear what they think and feel. I really tire of the politically correct stuff.
So, where do you hail from?
Sydney, Australia - no actually, you Yanks give city and State, so I'd better say Sydney, New South Wales - but you probably wouldn't recognise that, would you?
Australia I understand. New South Wales? No. I am in Louisiana. Nice to meet you.
New South Wales is the name of the State. Is Louisiana healing okay after the storm?
We're trying. We have quite a few evacuees here in my town. I am in Northern Louisiana. It was pretty devastating for so many. But, the way people came together was a sight to see.
What I saw on tv was heartbreaking. But we are in the wrong forum for such a discussion, we are supposed to be talking trivia here.
Speaking of which I saw a very interesting doco on The Real Santa Claus last night - it was very illuminating. According to it, the idea of Santa leaving presents was that in the town where Nicholas lived there was a poor man who had three daughters of marriagable age, and because he had no money for dowries, he was faced with selling them into prostitution. Nicholas had inherited a lot of money when his parents died and for three nights in a row, he secretly visited the man's house and left a bag of gold, one for each daughter's dowry.
After the first two bags of gold appeared, the man hid, instead of going to bed, and surprised Nicholas when he came with the third bag. Asked why the secret visit in the middle of the night, Nicholas told the man he did not want to embarass him in his poverty by giving him the money publicly (although I personally don't think a man who would sell his daughters into prostitution would be embarassed by anything!)
There is evidently an order of nuns (in Italy I think), who make up baskets of food and go around at night leaving the baskets on poor peoples' doorsteps - they have been doing this for centuries in St Nicholas' name.
Too bad they don't do the same things nowadays. Too commercial. PM me sometime? Would love to chat. But, for right now, I need to go to bed. It's 3am here. Enjoyed our conversation.
Momma Angel wrote:Does anyone know the name of the very first comic strip?
They've had editorial cartoons for years and years, but the first modern newspaper cartoon strip was "The Yellow Kid", about the turn of the 20th century. Ones that we've heard of that are very old are "Mutt and Jeff"and "The Katzenjammer Kids"
