Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 147

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Hall of Facts

Trivia about the hall of fame of pop and rock, ahead of the induction ceremony in a few weeks.

Atlantic Records chairman and founder Ahmet Ertegun established the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation in 1983 (along with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner), to open a museum to showcase the best acts in pop and rock music history.

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Once Again, It’s Fact-or-Fake Friday

Three news items. Two are weird, and also true. One is weird…and not true at all. Can you spot the fake? Check your answer at the end.

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‘The Tonight Show’ Starring…Not a Movie Star

Besides hosting The Tonight Show, what do Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon have in common? A failed movie career.
Jay Leno
Leno was one of the most popular stand-up comedians in America in the 1970s and '80s, eventually earning a spot as one of Johnny Carson's permanent substitutes for when the longtime Tonight Show host took one of his many vacations or contractually obligated days off. Leno took over The Tonight Show for good when Carson retired in 1992. That was a lucky break for Leno—outside of The Tonight Show and standup, his side career as a film actor was dead in the water.

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Impossible Questions: Sports Similarities Edition (Answers)

Have you got the answer “pinned down”? Read on.
What odd distinction is shared by baseball players Pete Rose and Bob Uecker, and football great William “The Refrigerator” Perry?
All three guys are very famous professional athletes, and all are enshrined in a hall of fame…just not in the one for the sport that they played professionally for years.

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Games Europeans Play

Europe’s attention is currently focused on snowboarding, figure skating, and other Olympic events. Typically the continent’s sports fervor, and airwaves, are devoted to some much goofier competitions.

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Impossible Questions: Sports Similarities Edition

Think you know what bizarre achievement links these three famous athletes? Come back tomorrow to see if you’re right.
What odd distinction is shared by baseball players Pete Rose and Bob Uecker, and football great William “The Refrigerator” Perry?

The post Impossible Questions: Sports Similarities Edition appeared first on Uncle Johns Bathroom Reader.

The Memory Eraser

Got some bad memories you’d rather not remember? Very soon, you might be able to get rid of them.

We’ve all got memories that we’d love to wipe away—a soured romance, an embarrassing presentation, or, if you’re the city of Denver, Super Bowl XLVIII. If only there was a pill that could erase bad memories of those events.

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RIP Shirley Temple Black

Shirley Temple Black, passed away last night. She was an uplifting light during difficult years in US history. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said during the depression that "as long as our country has Shirley Temple, we will be all right." In her memory, we look back at some facts about her life.

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The Beatles on “Ed Sullivan”: A Really Big Show

On February 9, 1964, Beatlemania took the U.S. by storm—that’s the night the Beatles played for the first time on the top-rated The Ed Sullivan Show. Here’s a look at that iconic episode, which aired 50 years ago this week.

The Ed Sullivan Show was a variety show, and the Beatles were one of the first times the show had booked a rock n’ roll act. The rest of the show’s running time was filled with the usual array of Sullivan performers: comedians, performances from a Broadway musical, and even a magician.

Mitzi McCall and Charlie Brill were a married comedy duo, and getting a spot to perform on The Ed Sullivan Show was the big break they needed…but it happened to on the same episode as the Beatles’ first performance. The music overshadowed the comedy duo, who were so flummoxed by the audience full of agitated teenagers who wanted to see the Beatles—and only the Beatles—that they flubbed some of their lines. Prior to that episode, McCall and Brill, in their late 30s, hadn’t even heard of the Beatles—they told This American Life in 2005 that they thought all the fanfare outside the Ed Sullivan Theatre when they arrived must have been “for Frank Gorshin.”

Frank Gorshin is best known for playing the Riddler on the ’60s Batman TV series. Before that he was a stand-up comedian and impressionist. On this historic Ed Sullivan, he did impressions of celebrities running for office, riffing on the idea that actor Ronald Reagan may run for governor of California.

Cast members from Oliver! performed several songs from that Broadway show. Georgia Brown sang “As Long As He Needs Me,” and Davy Jones sang “I’d Do Anything.” Jones witnesses the young women in attendance going crazy for the Beatles and resolved to be a teen idol himself. In fact, an executive at the Screen Gems TV production company signed him to a contract based on his Sullivan performance, allowing him to get an audition two years later for a TV show called The Monkees.

Tessie O’Shea, then starring in Broadway’s The Girl Who Came to Supper sang and played “Two Ton Tessie (From Tennessee)” on the banjo.

Other acts that performed that night: Dutch magician Fred Kaps, and Wells & the Four Fays, an acrobatic troupe.

And, of course, the Beatles played five songs. The event was so hyped, and so anticipated, that Sullivan didn’t mess around and lose viewers by making anybody wait—they were the first act of the night. The songs the Beatles played were “All My Loving,” “Til There Was You,” “She Loves You,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

More than 73 million viewers were estimated to have watched the show—at the time, the most watched program in TV history.

Impossible Questions: Award-Winning Days in History Edition

Can you guess the significance of the following two historical dates? Think hard—the answers might be in your kitchen—and come back tomorrow to see if you were right.

 

What important award was handed out on June 8, 1880?

 

What important award was awarded at the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago?

 

Want more impossible questions? Check out Uncle John’s Impossible Questions.