The original 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was devised as a promotional tool for a new candy bar from Quaker Oats. Unfortunately the candy bar had to be recalled soon after it’s release because of formulation problems that caused the chocolate bar to melt. In fact, the title of the film was changed from Charlie, to Wonka to include the name of the candy bar.
source: DVD special features – Pure Imagination documentary
According to Michael Conover, a professor of wildlife at Utah State University, the deer population is at an all time high, “more now than when the Pilgrims landed!” He cites the decline of hunting as a major reason.
source: This Old House Magazine article “Bye-bye, Bambi” 4/2007
The 1948 motion picture “Song of the South,” has been in hibernation since a theatrical re-release in 1986. Although fans have clamored for a DVD release, it’s themes and subject matter have kept it in the vault, despite the opportunity for a 60th anniversary release this past year. Current Disney CEO Robert Iger made comments at a recent stockholders meeting that the movie may see the light of day in the future. Time is ticking, the movie goes into the public domain in the year 2039.
According to author Dr. William Welty, Thomas Jefferson obtained the Koran to research Islam and better equip himself to deal with an enemy, the radical Muslim Barbary Pirates.
http://www.khouse.org/articles/2007/691/
Andrew Jackson is credited with adopting the Jack Ass (or donkey as it is know known) as the symbol for the Democratic party. It was used by his opponents to characterize him during the election, but Jackson liked it and adopted it as his own.
Interesting documentary on Hitler’s home movies. “Now, leading edge lip reading software has enabled German experts to re-voice these films and provide us with a chilling insight into Hitlers private world.”
One thing revealed in the documentary that I did not know was the fact that there were no recordings of Hitler’s normal speaking voice until the discovery of a secret recording of Hitler speaking with the king of Finland. This is the only recording of his normal speaking voice, all others are his public speaking rants.
In Lincoln’s original declaration of the last Thursday in November as a National holiday, he designated it as a “Day of Thanksgiving and Praise.”
In 1939, FDR changed Thanksgiving to the next to last Thursday. Roosevelt hoped that the lengthened Christmas shopping season would lift the nation out of it’s economic slump. The declaration was not compulsory and only about half the states went along with his recommendation.
In 1941, Congress voted that Thanksgiving would occur annually on the fourth Thursday in November.
According to author David Hackett Fischer, in his book Washingtons Crossing
Author John Waldrop contends that South Carolina is the birthplace of American barbecue. In 1539, the Spanish introduced pigs to North America. Indians, in turn, introduced the Europeans to a method of true slow cooking with lots of smoke.
While listening to Washingtons Crossing
The painting is huge, 20 feet wide and 12 feet high.
Painted in 1851 by a German-born Emanuel Leutze.
The first copy was damaged by a fire, restored then destroyed by a bombing raid by the British during WWII.
A second copy was completed in 1851 and sent to the US, and is now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.
Read the introduction to the above book about the painting here:
http://blog.oup.com/oupblog/2006/02/washingtons_cro.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_crossing_the_delaware
