Bathroom Readers' Institute's Blog, page 95

Never Let Go of These 6 ‘Titanic’ Facts

Titanic was released to theaters on December 19, 1997. It went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time…which nobody saw coming.

Titanic was originally set for release in July 1997, but as the date approached, Paramount Pictures pushed it back to Christmas 1997. The movie, which cost $200 million to make, was very over-budget and director James Cameron was taking too long to make it. In fact, show business pundits widely predicted that Titanic would be a big-budget, waterlogged box-office bomb, like Kevin Costner’s 1995 movie Waterworld. (To say the least, it wasn’t. It earned $600 million, at the time the top-grossing movie ever.)


Movies longer than three hours were considered “not commercial” by movie executives in the 1990s. Result: When Titanic was distributed to theaters, its three-hour-plus running time was listed as “2 hours and 74 minutes.”


Nowadays films almost always score their biggest weekend at the box office right out of the gate. (Jurassic World made a whopping $200 million in its first weekend, for example.) Titanic was a slow build. In its first weekend it made $28 million, barely edging out Tomorrow Never Dies. But Titanic still holds the record for highest grossing 10th, 11th, and 12th weekends, and spent a total of 15 weeks at #1.


Titanic spent more time at #1 than most movies play in theaters. It played regularly in American theaters until the following summer—it was the first major film to come out on home video while it was still in first-run theaters. At one point, Paramount had to send out new prints of the movie because theaters had worn out their reels.


Matthew McConaughey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Reba McEntire were up for the parts of Jack, Rose, and Molly Brown, respectively. The roles ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, and Kathy Bates.


It would’ve been to make a sequel to a movie about a real-life event that ends in tragedy, but a parody sequel was rushed into production in early 1998. Called Titanic Too: It Missed the Iceberg, the comedy was set to star David Hasselhoff, Leslie Nielsen, and Priscilla Presley, but it was never completed.

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5 Facts About Miss Universe

Unfortunately, only Earth women compete in the Miss Universe pageant, which will take place on December 20.

 

In 2002, billionaire Donald Trump bought 50 percent of the Miss Universe Organization, and co-owner NBC broadcast the annual event. (This TV partnership soon led to Trump’s NBC reality show The Apprentice.) After Trump made comments about illegal immigrants during his 2016 presidential campaign, NBC cancelled all of its contracts with Trump, including its plans to broadcast the Miss Universe pageant. Trump bought out NBC’s share, owning the pageant organization outright. Three days later, he sold it a talent agency, and the pageant will be broadcast on Fox.


The oldest Miss Universe: 1997 winner Brooke Lee, who was…26. The youngest Miss Universe: the very first Miss Universe in 1952, Finland’s Armi Kuusela, who was two months shy of her 18th birthday.


The Miss America system is separate from Miss Universe. The winner of the Miss USA title each year goes on to compete for Miss Universe. Eight American women have won the title; the last was Olivia Culpo in 2012. Arguably the most famous Miss USA is Ali Landry (1996), who starred in a series of Doritos commercials and was married to Saved By the Bell star Mario Lopez for two weeks.

Miss Universe winners generally don’t get to meet the American president, but Miss Universe 1973 did. Margie Moran of the Philippines said that her “model of a great man” was Richard Nixon, at a time when his popularity was at an all-time low.


In addition to the main prize, the pageant recognizes competitors for “subawards,” such as Miss Congeniality, Miss Photogenic, and Best National Costume (each contestant wears a heavily constructed costume meant to evoke their home country). Some defunct awards include Best in Swimsuit, Best Hair, and Miss Smile.

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Three Horrifying Hotels

Bed and breakfast…or dead and breakfast?

Omni Parker House (Boston)

It was founded in 1855 by Harvey Parker, who still likes to check in on the guests and make sure that they’re enjoying themselves, even though he died in 1884. And the ghost that inhabits room 303 served as the inspiration for 1408, a Stephen King short story that was later turned into a horror movie starring John Cusack. After guests complained about freaky shadows moving across the walls, the bathroom sink turning itself on and off, and strange laughter, the hotel stopped renting out the room and turned it into a storage closet. The mischievous ghost, apparently unhappy with this decision, skedaddled soon after. Another spirit has been blamed for strange incidents involving the elevator. It often stops for no reason on the third floor.

The White Eagle (Portland)

At the turn of the century, it was the favored haunt for burly guys who worked at the mills and docks along the nearby Willamette River. Brawls were so commonplace at the White Eagle that it was nicknamed “Bucket of Blood.” Its basement also served as a brothel for many years. Nowadays, it’s owned by a company called McMenamins that operates a series of taverns and hotels around the Pacific Northwest. Patrons can grab a microbrew at the White Eagle’s bar or spend the night in one of the whimsically named rooms upstairs. You might wind up with an unwanted guest if you stay in “The Rolling Cowboy Room” though. It’s reportedly haunted by the spirit of a prostitute named Rose. Another ghost also hangs out on the main floor and has been known to toss around random objects and unspool rolls of toilet paper in the women’s bathroom.

The Catacombs of Paris

Who would want to sleep alongside the earthly remains of six million departed souls? Lots of people. Earlier this autumn, Airbnb, the popular lodging website, hosted a contest offering a free night’s stay in Catacombs on Halloween. The organizers set up an ornate bed among the bones along with lots of white candles and other appropriately gothic decor. Entrants had to write an essay about why they were brave enough to stay down there. Airbnb paid about $385,000 dollars to rent the Catacombs for the night from the city of Paris.

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The Star Wars “Early Bird” Certificate

It’s well known that collectible toys are worth more when they’re still in the package. In 1977, the package was all some Star Wars toy seekers could get.

In the mid-’70s, Mego Toys was the a big player in action figure—essentially dolls marketed to boys modeled after characters from movies and TV. Big sellers for Mego included Star Trek toys, Starsky and Hutch toys, and dolls based on the band members of Kiss. Mego Toys went defunct in 1983—if only it hadn’t rejected the right to make Star Wars toys. Yes, the company didn’t see much commercial value in the movie when it was approached by Star Wars producers in 1976. The movies, and the toys, went on to each generate more than $1 billion.

Instead, the makers of Star Wars signed up the relatively small toy company Kenner to produce items based on the movie. It would eventually make Kenner one of the biggest toy companies in the world, but in 1976-77, the company was completely surprised by the film’s popularity. Star Wars would become a cultural phenomenon in the summer of the 1977, and the highest-grossing movie of all time. As such, Kenner was ill-prepared for demand, and initially wasn’t even going to produce action figures, but instead low-cost, easy to manufacture things like puzzles and coloring books. But that’s not what the kids wanted in 1977: They wanted action figures.

Kenner went to work creating action figures based on Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and all the others. It involved design, sculpting, product testing, mold-making, and then mass production of millions of individual, 4″ tall dolls. But there was one problem: There was no way the action figures were going to be ready by the Christmas 1977 shopping season. Amazingly, Kenner had one option, and they went with it, and it worked. It sold empty boxes.

Hundreds of thousands of kids opened their presents on Christmas morning and expecting a set of 12 Star Wars dolls instead received an “.” A diorama featuring drawings of the movie’s characters and other scenes, it included a certificate that kids would mail in, and they’d receive, in a few months, the Star Wars toys their parents had already paid for. It wasn’t a toy, but a promise that a toy would be sent very soon.

This oddity is now among the rarest of all Star Wars merchandise. Why? Because most, if not all, of the kids who got their Early Bird Certificate sent it in right away, where they were received and filed away by Kenner.

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Your Dumb ‘Star Wars’ News Roundup

Star Wars fans all around the world are eagerly awaiting the theatrical release of The Force Awakens. Here’s how various movie theaters and media outlets have helped keep them distracted until it opens on December 18th.

Starbnb

Airbnb allows users to rent out private homes instead of hotel rooms. Starbnb is a Star Wars-themed parody of it. “Travelers” can flip through listings that include Jabba the Hutt’s palace, the Death Star’s prison quarters, and Yoda’s swamp home on Dagobah. They can also write sarcastic reviews. Currently, the Ewok’s village hasn’t been very highly rated and, as one traveler noted, “[the] hosts were completely discriminatory based on complexion. One guy had golden skin and they practically worshipped him!”

The Movie Marathon at the Alamo Drafthouse

For the release of The Force Awakens, a group of Star Wars fans will compete for a series of prizes. In order to win, they’ll have to sit through Episodes I – VI before the new film screens at the chain’s South Lama Cinema in Austin, Texas. Then they’ll have to stay and watch The Force Awakens over and over again until only one of them is still in the theater. The last fan standing (er, sitting) will take home the prize, which includes a seat named in their honor and a special movie pass that won’t expire for seven years. According to the Alamo’s website, “sleeping, illegal drugs and talking & texting during the movies (of course) will result in disqualification and a swift trip to the Sarlacc Pit.”

Carrie Fisher’s Dog

Fisher, who plays Princess Leia in the series, goes everywhere with her companion dog, a bulldog named Gary. Fisher and Gary showed up for an interview with Good Mornin,g America on December 4 and the dog went on camera, too. Gary sat through the entire segment with his tongue hanging out.

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Whatever Happened to These Best New Artist Winners?

The Grammy for Best New Artist is famously “cursed.” It isn’t—for every Milli Vanilli, there’s a Beatles or Adele. But whatever became of these more obscure winners of the prize?

Peter Nero (1962)

While most winners of the award have been pop and rock singers, Nero was a pianist, pops conductor, and orchestral composer. While he’s never exactly topped the charts, he’s recorded more than 65 albums, earned 10 Grammy nominations, and was a mainstay of TV specials and variety shows in the 1960s and ’70s.

Jose Feliciano (1969)

A blind, Latin and jazz guitar virtuoso, Feliciano covered the Doors’ “Light My Fire” in his distinctive style in 1968. It went to #3, sold a million copies, and and won Feliciano the Grammy for Best New Artist. However, his career was stymied by his performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1968 World Series. He played it in his Latin guitar style, slowly and experimental, but attempting to sing the National Anthem nontraditionally rankled baseball fans. A year later, however, he released probably his most famous song: the Christmas pop standard “Feliz Navidad.” In 1996, he made a memorable cameo in Fargo.

Debby Boone (1978)

Boone is a one-hit-wonder, but what a hit it was. In 1977, her song “You Light Up My Life” spent 10 weeks at #1—at the time, a record. She won Best New Artist on the strength of that song, which had religious themes. While Boone never had another pop hit, she had plenty of hits on Christian music radio and on the country charts, including the #1 hit “Are You on the Road to Lovin’ Me Again.”

Starland Vocal Band (1977)

This four-part vocal group (whose members had written hits for John Denver) had a #1 hit in 1976 with “Afternoon Delight.” A few months after winning their Grammy, they starred in The Starland Vocal Band Show, a summer 1977 variety series on CBS. After no further success, the group broke up in 1981…although reunited in 1998, with a bunch of new members: the children of the original group’s singers.

 

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It’s Hanukkah Harry!

In much of the Western world, Santa “brings” presents to children on Christmas. What about Jewish kids? No such fanciful legend—parents give gifts during Hanukkah. Enough was enough, thought the writers of Saturday Night Live in the ‘80s.

Hanukkah Harry first appeared on SNL in 1989. In one of the episode’s sketches, Santa Claus (Phil Hartman) gets the flu on Christmas Eve. With nowhere else to turn, he calls Hanukkah Harry at his workshop on the slopes of Mount Sinai to fill in for him. Harry, played by Jon Lovitz, agrees and begins delivering presents in a cart pulled by his three donkeys, Moische, Herschel, and Schlomo.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-liv...

Unlike the more gregarious Santa, Harry is more practical and down to earth. In the sketch, he’s seen wearing a black overcoat, an Orthodox-style beard, and a blue and white hat. His gifts are also much more sensible, as is his catchphrase: “Oy stop, you’re embarrassing me!” He’s also more forgiving than Santa Claus and brings gifts to both good and naughty kids…which include socks and pants. Having helped “save Christmas,” Hanukkah Harry returned in a later SNL episode in which he got to help out the Easter Bunny.

Even though the legend of Hanukkah Harry began as an SNL sketch, writer Jonathan Safran Foer also further expanded on the legend in a 2005 New York Times article about Hanukkah. According to him, Harry now really (just go with it) visits Jewish households on each of the eight nights of the holiday and now uses a Volvo pulled by a team of lawyers instead of donkeys. He spends the off-season in Florida.

Since his debut on SNL, he’s inspired costumes, children’s books and the novelty song “I Saw Hanukkah Harry Beat Up Santa.” As The AV Club’s Sean O’ Neal noted in 2014, “Twenty-five years after the sketch first aired, Harry has become a genuine—albeit tongue-in-cheek—part of Jewish folklore, even among people who weren’t even born in 1989, and who have no idea of the actual story behind him.”

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Why is That Elf on the Shelf?

This Christmas tradition is only about a decade old.

In 2004, inspiration struck for Carol Aebersold and her daughter, Chanda Bell. For years, their family had enjoyed a Christmas tradition that involved placing a toy elf named Frisbee on a shelf to keep an eye on their kids during the holidays. Kids were told the elf was a spy for Santa Claus, who was much too busy in December to keep an eye on all the world’s children. The duo turned the tradition into a book/toy combo titled The Elf on the Shelf the following year and they began promoting it at trade shows and other events. The book outlines the rules that the elves live by.

In the weeks leading up to Christmas, each elf lives in a family’s home and keeps track of their various activities. Then, after they go to sleep at night, the elves fly back to the North Pole and provide Santa Claus with a full report. The following morning, they pick a different spot in their house to keep watch from. Each elf is “activated with magic” after being named by the family and zooms back to the North Pole after Christmas where they remain until the following year. Also: if anyone touches the elf after they’ve been activated, they’ll lose their magical abilities to keep Santa well informed.

The book has now sold more than six million copies, but there are others who are a bit more critical. A columnist for The Atlantic called the tradition “creepy” and included tales about them driving parents across America crazy as they attempt to come up with new spins on the tradition in order to keep up with the parents of their kids’ friends, or to invent new hiding spots for the elf each night. Some critics have even gone so far as to argue that the elves are preparing American children to eventually “live in a future police state.”

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May the Holidays be With You

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is released in cinemas later this week. Here’s how a few fans are celebrating the film (and the Christmas season too).

The TIE Fighter Light Display

Maxwell DeLorm of Munnsville, New York, decided to decorate his house with something other than jolly Santas this year. Instead, he and his friends constructed one of the spaceships from the Star Wars films. His red TIE Fighter was built out of 10,300 Christmas lights and lots of PVC pipe. Each wing is over 20 feet tall and 14 feet wide. Putting it together required over a month of labor and about $3,400 worth of supplies. (Click on the pictures below to enlarge them.)

A Very Festive Death Star

Colby Powell and his family in Lafayette, California, took their love for Star Wars even further with their colossal display. They constructed a gigantic, glowing Death Star out of 162 Geohub connectors, 2,000 feet of half-inch PVC conduit pipe in six different lengths, 18 cans of paint, lots of LED lights, and two parachutes to cover each side. After everything was in place, Powell used a crane to lift the “fully operational battle station” and stick it on the roof of their house. Originally built for Halloween, the family had planned to remove the 23-foot Death Star, but they’ve decided to keep it up there until after The Force Awakens is released. The display also contains flashing lights designed to mimic the battle station’s “super laser.”

The Star Wars Theme Song Display – Cedar Park, Texas

Cedar Park, Texas, homeowner John Storms spent nearly a year working on a holiday display that flashes in sync with the orchestral tune that plays over the opening credits of each of the series’ installments. All of his hard work has, apparently, paid off and Storms’ neighbors like to set up lawn chairs to watch the display do its thing. Last year, he created one in honor of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation set to that movie’s theme song.

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The Longest Championship Appearance Droughts in Sports History

Getting all the way to a sport’s championship round is a major achievement, even if you don’t win. Here’s a look at the teams in pro baseball, basketball, football, and hockey that have gone the longest between title runs.

It’s probably the best-known championship drought in sports history: The Chicago Cubs haven’t won a World Series since 1908. Moreover, the team hasn’t appeared in a World Series since 1945 (they lost to the Detroit Tigers). The second-longest drought in the big leagues isn’t nearly as long. The Pittsburgh Pirates haven’t been to the World Series since it won it all in 1979. (At the least the Cubs have been to a World Series—the Washington Nationals and Seattle Mariners have never made it that far.)


The Sacramento Kings hold the record for longest time since an NBA Finals appearance, at 64 years. In fact, the last time the Kings went that far, they weren’t the Kings, or even based in Sacramento. In 1951, the Rochester Royals won the NBA title over the New York Knicks, 4 games to 3. The team moved to Cincinnati in 1957, became the Kansas City Kings in 1972, and the Sacramento Kings in 1985. The second-longest drought belongs to the Atlanta Hawks, who similarly haven’t been to the Finals since they were based in other city. In this case, it was in 1960 as the St. Louis Hawks. The team lost to the Boston Celtics in the middle of that team’s run of eight straight titles.


At 46 years, the longest Super Bowl draught in the NFL belongs to the New York Jets. The team’s last appearance—and victory—in the biggest game of the year game in January 1969. With the Baltimore Colts heavily favored to win, Jets quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed that his team would win, and it did, 16 to 7. (The second longest draught: 45 years. The Kansas City Chiefs are yet to defend their 1970 Super Bowl victory.)


The NHL team that has gone the longest without winning a Stanley Cup is one of the founding clubs and flagship teams of the league: the Toronto Maple Leafs. The last time they hoisted the Cup was in 1967—its eighth NHL title and 21st finals appearance overall. That’s 48 years without a title. Second-longest title-free streak: the St. Louis Blues with 45 years. In 1970, the team won the Stanley Cup led by legend Bobby Orr…and haven’t been back. The third longest: the New York Islanders. Not competing for a Stanley Cup since 1984, the team lost that year, after having won an amazing four championships in a row from 1980 to 1983.

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