Book Two : Chapter One
SHOWBIZ
PEOPLE
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Mickey Mouse was originally to be called Mortimer Mouse,
until Walt Disney's wife convinced him it was not a 'fun'
name for a mouse. So he called him Michael Mouse instead.
Again, his wife convinced him to shorten it to Mickey.
In Italy, Mickey Mouse is called "Topolino". |
Sixties Czech rock band the Primitives was known for its
in-concert audience participation "celebrations" of the four
elements. Especially attention-getting was their celebration
of water known as fishfest, in which they hurled buckets of
water into the audience and then threw live fish over them.
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| Bob Dylan's real name is Robert Zimmerman. He chose his new surname in honor of poet Dylan Thomas. |
Yet again, the Beatles surpass the rest of us mere mortals.
In complete contrast to the ratio within the general population,
half of the fab-four - Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr - are
left-handed.
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| Andy Warhol created the Rolling Stone's emblem depicting the big tongue. It first appeared on the cover of the 'Sticky Fingers' album. |
For the fans of TV Trivia: GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Gilligan's first name was Willy. It was only ever used once - in the never-aired pilot episode. The skipper also had a name - Jonas Grumby. It was mentioned just once in the first episode on their radio's newscast about the wreck. The Professor's real name was Roy Hinkley, Mary Ann's last name was Summers and Mrs. Howell's maiden name was Wentworth. |
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Swedish pop supergroup ABBA got their name by taking the
first letter from each of their first names - Agnetha, Bjorn,
Benny and Anni-frid. In fact, their debut album was called
just that!
Each of the group's members was already enjoying reasonable success in Sweden's music industry before they joined forces. |
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| Elvis had a twin brother named Garon, who died at birth, which is why Elvis' middle name was spelled Aron (with only one A); in honor of his lost brother. |
The Beatles song "Dear Prudence" was written about Mia Farrow's
sister, Prudence, when she wouldn't come out and play with Mia
and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India.
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| Child actress Drew Barrymore hosted SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE on November 20th, 1982 when she was seven years old. |
Actor and Director Mel Gibson almost lost his two "Braveheart" Oscars
to a fire in October 1996.
Gibson was in New York filming a movie when brush fires threatened his Malibu home. "I got a call that the fire had reached my backyard so my wife and I got some friends to go into the house and get out things, like pictures of the kids," Gibson told Entertainment Weekly. But the best director and best picture Oscars were left behind. In the end the house was spared and the Oscars were untouched. Gibson reportedly uses the eight-pound statuettes for weightlifting. |
| Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy. |
The voice used for all of Lauren Bacalls' songs in the 1944 movie To
have and have not' was that of male singer Andy Williams.
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| Disney animators are said to have used Marilyn Monroe's body as the model for Peter Pan's fairy companion, Tinker Bell - a story now falling more into the category of URBAN LEGEND. |
During World War II, Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goring offered a $5,000 reward
for the capture or death of one very specific US airman - tail gunner and
aerial photographer Major Clark Gable.
When Gable was eventually discharged in 1944, his papers were signed by Captain Ronald Reagan. |
| Actor Alan Hale Snr played the role of Little John in three seperate screen versions of the Robin Hood tale over 28 years. |
The infamous line, "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just glad to see me?"
had been attributed to sultry star Mae West for years, though it had never been
uttered in any of her films, plays or writings.
Finally, almost as a tribute to the persistence of the quote, it was included in West's very last film, "Sextette". |
| After reportedly biting the head off a bat during a concert in Des Moines, Iowa, rock star Ozzy Osbourne had to seek medical treatment for rabies. |
The world's most successful (financially) director and producer, Steven
Speilberg, purchased Clark Gable's 1934 Oscar at auction for a record $550,000,
and then presented it to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The Academy had tried unsuccessfully to convince a judge to stop the auction of the Oscar, which Gable won for his role in 'It Happened One Night'. Academy officials had not been forewarned of Speilberg's plans, and were still considering legal action against the anonymous telephone bidder. However they were soon "reeling from the breath-taking generosity of Steve's action". |
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One of the movie moguls the Marx Brothers had to deal with was
Irving Thalberg of MGM. Purposefully or not, Thalberg had the
annoying habit of making people wait outside his office for
extended periods of time.
One time he kept the Marx Brothers longer than they liked. When he finally got around to seeing them, he discovered they were stark naked outside his doorway, roasting potatoes in the lobby's fireplace. It was the last time he kept them waiting. | |
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