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   Viewed 20 times - Published on Sep 5, 2010

Life of Ben Kubelsky

Ben Kubelsky associated with some of the biggest names in show business during his 57-year career - people like George Burns and Gracie Allen, Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly, Jimmy Stewart, Bing Crosby and Mary Livingstone (who was married to Jack Benny). Later in life, he became close friends with Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.

Ben was born in 1894 in Chicago, the oldest child of Meyer and Emma Kubelsky. Ben's parents gave him a violin for his sixth birthday and would later push him toward a career as a violinist. He hated it, yet he became one of the biggest stars of his era and is still known all over the United States - but not because of his music.

During the peak of his comedy career, he performed at the famous Palace Theatre in New York as well as the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Later in his career, he played violin with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and also at Carnegie Hall.

You say you've never heard of Ben Kubelsky?

"WELL!" I bet you have.

His first paying job was as a violinist in a local vaudeville house when he was in the ninth grade. He went on to flunk every class in school that year, and he dropped out the following year. It was at this job where he met a new group known as the Marx Brothers, who were so impressed with Ben that they offered him a chance to tour with their comedy act. Ben's parents wouldn't allow it, though.

So he continued to perform comedy and, like many show biz performers, Ben Kubelsky adopted a stage name. He did so in 1912 because another violinist, Jan Kubelik, thought that a comedian would damage his reputation by having such a similar name as his.

It wasn't the only time that he adopted a stage name, because during his vaudeville days from 1919 to 1931, there was yet another performer who claimed that Ben's stage name was too similar to his name. So Ben took a different name, one which he would use for the rest of his life.

Ben had become friendly with Sadye Marks, who was believed to be a distant cousin to the Marx Brothers (somewhere along the way the name was changed from Marks to Marx). In 1926, Ben learned that 20-year-old Sadye was about to be married to a man from Vancouver. Ben got on the phone and convinced her that she was too young to get married, and that she should come to Chicago with him instead. Ben and Sadye got married soon after that, and she asked him about his comment about being "too young to get married."

He responded that she was too young to get married "to him maybe, but not to me."

Ben worked in radio from 1932 - 1948, and his show was one of the highest-rated radio shows during that time period before television came along. He rated higher than Bing Crosby, Amos & Andy, George Burns & Gracie Allen, and the Marx Brothers.

Still think that you've never heard of Ben Kubelsky?

"WELL!" Maybe you've heard of his television career, which lasted from 1949 to 1964.

He won an Emmy for Best Comedy Series in 1958, and the following year he had his first special on TV. Ben's friend, former President Harry Truman, was a guest on one of his shows, and his TV career lasted until 1965, when he was 71 years old. His CBS show ran opposite a new show on NBC called Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

"WELL, G-O-L-L-Y!"

After 33 years in radio and TV, Ben Kubelsky left his regular show but continued in showbiz with his one-hour specials. Earlier I mentioned that he associated with Mary Livingstone, who was the wife of Jack Benny.

That's because he was married to her.

You see, Ben Kubelsky's stage name was Jack Benny. And just as Ben Kubelsky took a stage name, so did Mary Livingstone. Her real name was Sadye Marks.

"WELL!"




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His name was Marion, and he was born in Winterset, Iowa, exactly one hundred years ago. I wasn't sure where that was, so I looked it up. Turns out that it is between Missouri and Minnesota. (As for Winterset, it is roughly 30 miles southwest of Des Moines.) <br><br>His father, Clyde, was the son of a Civil War veteran. Clyde and Mary had one other son, named Robert, and they were of Irish descent. The family moved to Glendale, California, which is Not too far from the Rio Grande, when he was 11 years old. <br><br>His great-nephew, Tommy Morrison, is a professional boxer, who starred in one of the Rocky movies. I think it was Rocky 16, but I could be mistaken. <br><br>Marion's voice was as distinctive as Paul Harvey's, but he wasn't a radio star. No, Marion Morrison was an actor. In fact, his father ran a drugstore that was housed in the same building as a movie theatre, and young Marion was allowed to see several movies a week as a boy, for free. This no doubt instilled in him a love of movies. <br><br>He became one of the most popular actors of all time, and there probably isn't a person in this country who hasn't heard of him. He made more than 175 movies in his 50-year career which began in the 1920's with silent movies, and some of his movies are still being shown on TV, more than 30 years after he made his last movie in 1976. <br><br>He won an athletic scholarship to play football at USC. I don't know what his team's record was when he played, but I do know that his team wasn't one of The Undefeated. An injury cut short his college football career. Marion was too scared to tell his coach how he injured himself - it was a bodysurfing accident - and he lost his scholarship and had to get a job in order to pay for school. <br><br>While he was in school in the late 1920's, he worked at a few of the local film studios. He then went to work as a prop man, earning $75 per week. <br><br>In 1930 he got his first starring role in a western movie, The Big Trail. He went on to become nearly synonymous with western movies, and he still went by the name of Marion at that point. This first film was a box office failure, but something good came out of it. The director and the studio head gave him his stage name that is now known all over the world - and Marion wasn't even at the meeting when they gave him his new name! <br><br>Marion's movies required him to occasionally ride in a Stagecoach; since he stood about 6'4" and loved riding horses, you could say that he always stood Tall in the Saddle. Speaking of horses, his friend James Arness also rode one in the TV show, Gunsmoke. It was Marion Morrison who recommended James Arness for the role of Matt Dillon. <br><br>Marion became such a star that he even had an airport named after him (in Orange County, California), as well as an elementary school (in Brooklyn, New York) and a trail (in a state park in Washington). <br><br>Marion was married three times, all to Hispanic women. He was divorced three times, too. He had four daughters and three sons, and these seven kids produced 18 grandchildren. <br><br>There are many things for which Marion Morrison is known, but you know him by both his nickname and his stage name: The Duke, John Wayne. <br><br>He starred with legendary actresses such as Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn and Maureen O'Hara. It was O'Hara who once said, "No other description for John Wayne is necessary than this: American." <br><br>There's one other thing that you should know about the Duke: His drawl and the way he walked were not natural. The man born as Marion Morrison made them a part of his character when he became an actor. <br><br>And how did he get the nickname of Duke? That was the name of the dog he had as a child. The dog was known as "Big Duke" while Wayne was known as "Little Duke!" <br>As for all the italicized words in this story, those were the titles of some of his most popular movies. <br> <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2010</i><br><br><br><br><br><br> Footballer Marion Morrison Becomes National Icon
   from Jan 14, 2010



Sometimes the answer is right in front of you. His name was Bill Harrison, and he could give a killer speech. Literally speaking, it was his last speech that resulted in his death. <br><br>Bill lived from 1773 until 1841. He grew up with four sisters and two brothers in Berkeley, Virginia. He had a cow and a goat as pets. Nothing unusual there, I guess. <br><br>He wanted to marry Anna Symmes of Cincinnati, and when her father disapproved of their union, they eloped. Bill and Anna had nine children - five sons and four daughters. Bill and his new father-in-law would eventually get along just fine. <br><br>Bill served as an Army officer who often fought Indians. He fought in the Northwest, which in those days consisted of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. <br><br>On two occasions, Bill Harrison and his men fought Tecumseh's Indians. Bill won the first battle in November of 1811 at Indiana's Tippecanoe River, in what became known as the Battle of Tippecanoe. That battle would play an important role in Bill's future. He also defeated Tecumseh in the Battle of the Thames in 1813. <br><br>But how did he catch pneumonia?<br><br>At the age of 68, Bill died exactly one month after catching pneumonia as he was about to settle into his new job. He stood out in the cold and gave a speech. It wasn't a typical speech, though; it lasted two hours.<br><br>There's a street in my hometown of Quincy, Illinois, that is named after Bill Harrison. That street runs parallel to the streets of Van Buren, Adams, Monroe, Madison, Jefferson and Washington. <br><br>You see, the 2-hour speech that Bill Harrison, better known as William Henry Harrison, gave was for his inauguration . as the 9th president of the United States!<br><br>As I said at the beginning of this story, sometimes the answer is right in front of you. But there's more to this story.<br><br>President Harrison served only one month as president. His grandson, Ben Harrison, followed him into the family business when he became our 23rd president in 1889. <br><br>As for the battle of Tippecanoe, this is where the campaign slogan of "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too" came from. John Tyler was Harrison's vice president. <br><br>And who was it that wrote his two-hour speech - the one that literally cost him his life?<br><br>None other than Daniel Webster, who tried - and failed - three times to win the presidency himself. He did become a United States senator and the Secretary of State, though.<br><br>Ironically, Webster would have become president on two separate occasions if he had been willing to accept the vice presidency position that he had been offered - twice. Harrison offered him the position as his running mate in 1840 and so did our 12th president, Zachary Taylor, in 1848. <br><br>He turned down both future presidents. Since both presidents would later die in office, Webster would have become president if he had accepted the position of vice president. <br><br>But you knew that all along, didn't you? <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br><br> Harrison Survived Indians But Not Last Speech
   from Jan 14, 2010



Fred Noonan is a good example of both being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and of being only a footnote in history. You only hear his name when he is mentioned in the same story as his more famous counterpart. <br><br>Most people, however, have never heard of Fred Noonan. He was born near Chicago in 1893 to Joseph and Catherine Noonan. His father died when Fred was just four, and at age 17 he began working on boats. <br><br>He worked on merchant ships during the Great War - as it was known before World War II came along. He worked on three separate boats that were sunk from underneath him by U-boats, but it was not his career as a merchant mariner that was Fred Noonan's claim to fame. <br><br>It was in aviation where Fred Noonan made his mark. In 1930, he earned his pilot's license, and over the next seven years, he earned a reputation as an expert navigator as he mapped flights for Pan Am Airlines throughout the Pacific Ocean. It is believed to be somewhere in the Pacific Ocean where he lost his life in an around-the-world flight attempt, although there were only two people who know for sure what happened on that flight, including Fred. <br><br><br>One of his colleagues flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean in 1932, and then wrote a best-selling book about the experience. That same colleague chose Fred to be the navigator on an around-the-world flight in 1937. Fred was the pilot's second choice; the first choice was Captain Harry Manning. <br><br>Fred's marine experience, combined with his experience in flying over the Pacific, made him the ideal choice as navigator. He and his pilot first attempted their worldwide trip on St. Patrick's Day in 1937, heading west out of Oakland. That flight ended in failure when they had a problem with one of the tires. The flight also included Harry Manning and a stunt pilot named Paul Mantz<br><br>Neither Manning nor Mantz were on the second attempt, and this time Noonan and his pilot flew eastward. They flew over South America and Africa, then India and southeast Asia. They made it as far as New Guinea and attempted to land at Howland Island. The had already covered 22,000 miles, and had just 7,000 more miles to go to become the first people to circumnavigate the globe in an airplane. <br><br>On their way to Howland Island, something went wrong, and their plane went down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. There are several conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Fred and his pilot, although the real reason why their plane went down will probably never be known. <br><br>Were they captured by the Japanese? Did their plane run out of fuel somewhere over the Pacific? Did it crash on an island? <br><br>There is only one person besides Fred Noonan who knew what happened to cause his plane to go down on that fateful day on July 2, 1937, and that would be his pilot. And just who was his pilot?<br><br>Amelia Earhart. Because she was flying the plane that Fred was navigating. <br><br>And you always thought that she was alone on that trip, didn't you? <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br> Sometimes History Isn't The Way You Remember It
   from Jan 8, 2010



"If the offenders are done to death by that tribunal, they will pass as martyrs with half the world." WHile that quote sounds like it could apply to modern-day terrorists, but it was actually spoken by a former attorney general named Edward Bates nearly 150 years ago. <br><br>Sam was a successful young doctor who was tried for conspiracy to commit one of the most well-known murders in American history. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. <br><br>Prior to that, he was also involved in planning a kidnapping that never materialized. He also had shot one of his slaves. His name received a bad rap throughout history ever since one fateful day in April of 1865. <br><br>Sam was born in 1833 in Charles County, Maryland, as one of ten siblings. A year after graduating from medical school, he married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Frances Dyer. Sarah's family and friends called her Frankie or Frank for short. <br><br>If a girl can be named Frank, and since Sam is also a girl's name, could you say that Sam and his wife Frances could have been known as Frank and Samantha instead of Sam and Frances? Probably not, but I was just wondering out loud how that would sound. <br><br>Meanwhile, in 1864, a well-known actor in the area was planning on kidnapping President Lincoln. When the attempt never happened due to Lincoln changing his plans that day, the actor decided to assassinate him the following year. That actor, as we all know, was John Wilkes Booth. <br><br>On that fateful, historical night of April 14, 1865, Booth broke a bone in his leg when he landed on the stage at Ford's Theatre after shooting Lincoln. He then rode his getaway horse to Dr. Sam's house in Bryantown, Maryland, about 15 miles south of Washington, DC. <br><br>So who was this Dr. Sam and why was he arrested for conspiracy to commit murder? <br><br>His full name was Dr. Samuel Mudd. The same Dr. Mudd who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth the day after he assassinated President Lincoln. As a result of Mudd's cooperation, Booth was able to continue his escape. <br><br>Dr. Sam Mudd was a Confederate sympathizer and slave owner. We were taught in History class that he did not know at the time that John Wilkes Booth was the person who shot President Lincoln when he set his broken leg - meaning that he inadvertently helped a murderer escape. <br><br>It's not that simple, though, because the truth is that Mudd did know Booth as far back as November of 1864, when he was involved with Booth and seven others in planning the kidnapping of the president. After Lincoln was assassinated, Mudd denied knowing him to avoid being prosecuted. <br><br>Dr. Mudd served nearly four years in jail, and was later pardoned by Lincoln's successor, President Andrew Johnson, in 1869. He and wife Sarah (Frankie) went on to have the final five of their nine kids together after he was released from prison. <br><br>It is often assumed that the "My name is mud" saying refers to Dr. Samuel Mudd, which is true, but the saying originated in 1823, which is ten years before Sam Mudd was born. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br> Doctor's Name Forever Muddied By Aiding Murderer
   from Dec 24, 2009



I usually tell the stories of Americans in this column, and reveal their last names toward the end of the story. Today we stretch those rules just a bit in a story about a man named Nicholas. <br><br>He wasn't technically an American, but I'm sure there are a lot of people who think that he was. He is a huge figure in American culture and tradition, even though he lived more than 1,800 years ago.<br><br>Nicholas was born in southern Turkey in an area known as Bari in 270 A.D. The area was then known Asia Minor. I cannot reveal his last name, for the simple reason that people did not have last names back then. Besides, he really doesn't need one. <br><br>Nicholas's parents died when he was a young man. They were wealthy, and Nicholas inherited their wealth, but instead of spending it on himself, he dedicated his life to helping others. He became a priest, and when he became the bishop of Myra, he became known as Nicholas of Myra.<br><br>There are numerous stories of him giving away large sums of his wealth - sometimes in the form of gold since paper money was not in use at that point in history. One example of his generosity was what he did for a poor man with three daughters. <br><br>It was common for the father of the bride to give a dowry to his daughter's future husband. The man could not afford to give a dowry; as a result, his daughters would not be able to find husbands. As each daughter came of age for marriage, Nicholas would take a bag of gold and toss it in the open window of the man's house. He did this at night so that he would not be recognized. <br><br>A different version of this story suggests that the man planned to keep an eye out for Nicholas to learn who he was, but in order to remain anonymous, Nicholas through the bag of gold down the chimney. The daughter had washed her stockings that night and hung them over the burning embers to dry, and the bag of gold had fallen into her stocking. History has not always been accurately kept, so this aspect of the story may be more legend than fact. <br><br>As a bishop, Nicholas continued to give generously, and he performed miracles as well. He was once tortured and thrown in jail. <br><br>He died in 346 A.D. and was later canonized. Today he is known and loved in every Christian nation. Yet very little was known about the life of St. Nicholas until after 800 A.D., almost 500 years after he died. Written records of history were not kept then as they are today, with one reason being that the printing press was not invented until the mid-1400's (by Johannes Gutenberg). <br><br>Despite all of the good work that St. Nicholas did, he is more well-known by his other name . of Santa Claus! But wouldn't that mean that Santa Claus was once in prison? <br><br>Yes, but it was his religious beliefs for which he was imprisoned. (In fact, he was there with so many other priests and bishops that many of the real criminals were running free.) <br><br>He has been known for many centuries as the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers and children and now, according to some people, pawn shops. Why pawn shops? <br><br>Because he was known for helping the poor. The three gold balls that serve as a symbol of pawn shops allegedly represent the three bags of gold that Nicholas threw in the poor man's window to help him find husbands for his daughters. But this aspect of this story may be more legend than fact as well. <br><br>Some people think that the name of Santa Claus was translated from either the name of Sint Klaes or the Dutch name of Sinterklaas. Personally, I think that the name St. Nicholas, when spoken with a foreign accent, is what was originally translated into Santa Claus. <br><br>Merry Christmas! <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 110 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br> Third-Century Bishop Is Beloved Worldwide
   from Dec 19, 2009



People always ask me, "What's the best invention of all time?" They're looking for that one perfect answer that's going to settle the debate once and for all. <br><br>When I tell them that there's no one single best invention, they usually walk away disappointed. It reminds me of the guy who climbs to the top of the mountain to ask the wise old man for the meaning of life. <br><br>But I can tell you who my top ten inventors are, and what I think they would want for Christmas. Foreign-born inventors, many of whom immigrated to America, are denoted with an asterisk * below. <br><br>Which of these inventors are still alive today? The answer is at the end of the column. <br><br>- For Ben Franklin: A new pair of bifocals, which he invented, as well as a new kite since his old one was destroyed in a thunderstorm. Also, a Franklin stove, a key to the city and a $100 bill. <br><br>- For Thomas Jefferson: A modern version of each of his major inventions: A macaroni machine that he invented in 1787, the swivel chair, the spherical sundial, the moldboard plow and the cipher wheel, which was used by the military to send coded messages back and forth. Plus a bowl of macaroni and a dish of ice cream, since Jefferson introduced these two foods to America. <br><br>- For Philo Farnsworth, who was only 15 years old when he figured out how to invent the television: A remote control and a DVD player. Now go to your room, Philo. And no watching TV when you get there, young man. <br><br>- For Alexander Graham Bell: A cell phone powered by a cord that plugs into a wall (think about it). Bell was born in Scotland.<br><br>- For Henry Ford, father of the assembly line which produced the Model T cars: A brand new car, in any color he wants. As long as it's black. <br><br>- For Nikola Tesla: A trophy case and a radio. Why a trophy case? Why a radio? And who is Nikola Tesla? Tesla is the main inventor of radio, although Marconi is the one who usually receives credit for it. OK, then why give him a trophy case? To hold the prestigious Edison Medal which he won in 1917. The irony is that Tesla and Edison fought a nasty battle to see whose brand of electrical current was superior. Tesla's AC won out over Edison's DC. On a lesser note, Tesla is the only inventor to have a rock band named after him. Tesla, by the way, was born in Croatia. <br><br>- For Thomas Edison: A day off, since he's the only inventor in the United States to receive a patent every year for 65 straight years. Also, a high school diploma, since he never graduated from high school, and a Tesla album to listen to on the phonograph that he invented in 1877. Also, in an ironic twist, I would give him the Nikola Tesla Award, which is given annually by the Institute of Electrical Engineers. <br><br>- For Leonardo da Vinci: A time-travel machine, so he could actually use some of his best inventions. Da Vinci designed the following items hundreds of years ahead of their time: The submarine, the bicycle, modern scissors, a flying machine, a helicopter and a parachute. Leonardo was born in Vinci, Italy. He and Ben Franklin are the only left-handed inventors on this list.<br><br>- For George Washington Carver: A listing in the Guinness Book of World Records, for inventing more than 300 uses for peanuts and hundreds of additional uses for other plants. <br><br>- For Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web: A lifetime supply of anti-spam software and his own patent lawyer. Berners-Lee was so unselfish that he chose to not patent the Web, passing up a huge fortune in the process. Berners-Lee was born in London. <br><br>Of these ten inventors, which ones are still alive today? <br><br>Only the inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, who was born in 1955. Television inventor Philo Farnsworth died in 1971 and his wife died a few years ago at the age of 98. She holds the distinction of being the first woman to appear on television, which she did in 1927. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column has appeared in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br><br> Christmas Wish List For Top 10 Inventors
   from Dec 11, 2009



We usually talk about Americans in this column, but sometimes a foreigner's accomplishments are so important that it merits an exception. Mr. Vespucci was an explorer, navigator and mapmaker from Florence, Italy. His first name can be spelled two different ways, so we'll just stick with his last name for now. Martin Waldseemuller, on the other hand, was a German mapmaker. <br><br>Sometimes an explorer has a land named after him. That's a fair reward for being the one who discovers the new land, but that isn't the case here. By the way, explorers aren't the only ones who have their works named after them, as inventors sometimes have their inventions named after them, although they may regret it later (paging Dr. Joseph Guillotine). <br><br>Today's hero had not one, but two, lands named after him despite the fact that he did not discover either land. How did this happen, and who was Vespucci?<br><br>He was born in 1451, which was 41 years before Christopher Columbus discovered America. In fact, America wasn't even called America until 1507, and there's more to this story than you learned in your History classes. <br><br>Sailing for Spain and Portugal, Vespucci made between two and four voyages to Central and South America from 1497 to 1504. The reason why we don't know the exact number of voyages is that records were not kept as diligently back then as they are today. <br><br>It was the German mapmaker Martin Waldseemuller who credited Vespucci with the discovery of two lands when in 1507 he read a letter that was reportedly written by Vespucci that told of Vespucci's travels to the New World. Waldseemuller might have lost something in the translation of that letter, which was written in Latin, and he created his famous map based in part of what he read in Vespucci's letter. <br><br>Vespucci's full name was Amerigo Vespucci, and he is believed to be the person for whom the Americas were named. But was that his birth name? <br><br>Waldseemuller was the mapmaker who named North and South America after Amerigo Vespucci. He was also the first one to draw North and South America separate from Asia. <br><br>In 1513, he changed the names on his map from North and South America to "Terra Incognita." The reason for this is one of several unclear events that occurred in the mapping and naming of North and South America. For example, Waldseemuller was able to draw the Pacific Ocean six years before a European explorer would discover it. He also correctly drew South America to within 70 miles of its actual size. "Terra Incognita," by the way, translates into "unknown land." <br><br>There were 1,000 copies of Waldseemuller's map published, and only one is known to exist today. It was found in a German castle in 1901 and then sold to the Library of Congress. <br><br>One thing's for certain, though: The two Americas are named after Amerigo Vespucci. <br><br>Or were they named after British naturalist Richard Amerike, who reportedly financed John Cabot's voyage to Newfoundland in 1497? <br><br>Or could they be named after the gold district in Nicaragua that was known as Amerrique? Both Vespucci and Columbus visited this area. Just as explorers tend to name the lands they discover after themselves, it was once reported that Vespucci changed his name from "Alberigo" to "Amerrigo" - to possibly claim the new land in Nicaragua for himself.<br><br>Nobody knows for sure, but it kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it? After all, history wasn't always recorded as it was being made. The way that history has recorded it, though, is that the two Americas were named after Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br><br><br> Waldseemuller's Mistake Meant Glory For Vespucci
   from Dec 4, 2009



Years ago, I heard that one of the movies that I watched every year as a child was based on the economic climate that existed when the story was first written. The story, which was first published as a book in 1900, contained a number of metaphors which were played out in the 1939 movie as well. <br><br>The United States was on the gold standard back in the 1870's. In a nutshell, this means that the federal government backed every dollar with a fixed amount of gold, as measured in ounces. When businesses increased the amount of goods and services they produced, the fixed amount of gold backing remained constant, causing prices to fall. <br><br>One of the unfortunate effects of this was that the gold standard hurt farmers and industrial workers. Farmers were borrowing money from banks while interest rates were fixed, while increasing unemployment rates hurt industrial workers. <br><br>Meanwhile, in the presidential race of 1896, Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan ran on a policy of replacing the gold standard, while Republican candidate and eventual president William McKinley insisted on keeping the gold standard. <br><br>Now back to our story. <br><br>One of my favorite sources for story ideas is the History Channel's web site, History.com. It contains a section that allows you to find out which famous people were born on your birthday. One famous American who was born on the same day as your humble scribe was singer and actress Frances Ethel Gumm. She was born on June 10, 1922, in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. <br><br>You've probably never heard of Frances Ethel Gumm. She was just 16 when she starred in her most famous movie role. The movie was regarded by the Library of Congress as the most popular movie of all time. The song that Frances sang, Over the Rainbow, was voted as the greatest movie song of all time by the American Film Institute in 2004. <br><br>That's not bad for a movie that was basically little more than a dream. When the Gumm family moved from Minnesota to California in 1926, the Gumm sisters took their stage names, and Frances went solo when she signed a movie contract with MGM when she was just 13 years old. <br><br>So, what does this have to do with the gold standard mentioned earlier? You'll find out in a moment. <br><br>In her role, Frances Ethel Gumm played a 12-year-old orphan who was raised by an aunt and uncle. When the movie first appeared on TV in 1956, it was ten-year-old Liza Minnelli who served as a co-host to comment on the movie in order to fill air time since the movie was 101 minutes in length but had to fill two full hours of TV air time.<br><br>Frances Ethel Gumm went on to become a famous actress and singer, as did both of her daughters. <br><br>And just why did Liza Minnelli co-host the initial TV showing of Frances' first big movie 17 years later? <br><br>Because she was Frances Ethel Gumm's daughter. You remember Frances by her stage name of . Judy Garland. And, of course, the movie role that made her famous was that of 12-year-old orphan Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz.<br><br>As for the gold standard mentioned at the beginning of this story and to the metaphors which are played out in the book and the movie, the scarecrow represents the farmers; the tin man (who was originally cast to be played by Buddy Epsen of Beverly Hillbillies fame) represents the industrial workers; the cowardly lion represents William Jennings Bryan and William McKinley represents the Oz, who turns out to be a fraud. <br><br>As for the na‹ve young Dorothy who follows the yellow brick road, what do you think the yellow brick road is made of?<br><br>Gold, of course! And in case you didn't notice, "oz" - as in The Wizard of Oz - is an abbreviation of the word "ounce," as in gold ounce. <br><br>Frances Ethel Gumm died in 1969 of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. She was just 47 years old. In addition to Liza Minnelli, she had two other children: Lorna and Joey Luft. <br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br><br> Sometimes Best Movies Contain A Political Message
   from Nov 28, 2009



It's time to see what we've learned over the past 10 weeks. The following quiz is based on information that has appeared in the past 10 articles in this column. While entertaining, the true mission of Red, White, & True Mysteries is to educate young and old. Whether it's revealing the truth over folklore, or by elaborating on a subject often skimmed over in classrooms, we hope you enjoy the fruits of our labor. <br><br>All of the answers can be found in previous articles in this column, as well as at the end of this quiz. Even if you don't remember each of the stories, you should be able to get most of the questions right based on your knowledge of U.S. history. Grading is on a straight 100%, 90%, 80%, etc. scale. Good luck, and keep your eyes on your own paper!<br><br><br><b>Ready - Set - GO!</b><br><br># 1: Albert Bond Lambert became famous in which Midwestern city?<br>A. Kansas City<br>B. Omaha<br>C. Hannibal<br>D. St. Louis<br><br><br># 2. It was Leif Ericsson - not Christopher Columbus - who really discovered North America when he landed in present-day Newfoundland, Canada, around 1001 A.D. His father, Erik Thorvaldsson, and his grandfather, Thorvald Asvaldsson, were both expelled from their home countries of Iceland and Norway, respectively, for committing murders. Leif's father went on to colonize Greenland. What was the nickname by which Leif's father was known?<br>A. Leif the Lucky <br>B. Erik the Red<br>C. Asvald the Attrocious<br>D. Billy the Kid (oops, wrong story)<br><br><br># 3: Who shot Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson?<br>A. One of the opposing soldiers of the Union army<br>B. One of his own men in the Confederate army<br>C. Neither; he died of the H1N1 epidemic<br><br><br># 4. Ted Geisel was known by which name?<br>A. The Lone Ranger<br>B. Captain Kangaroo<br>C. Dr. Seuss<br><br><br># 5. As a teenager, Phoebe Moses starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. She once shot a cigarette out of the lips of Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II, prompting one person to sarcastically remark that if she had been a worse shot, there might never have been a World War I. What was the stagename by which she became famous? <br>A. Calamity Jane<br>B. Annie Oakley<br>C. Danielle Boone<br><br><br># 6: Actor Otto Klemperer appeared on TV shows such as Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, My Three Sons and The Love Boat, but his main role was on Hogan's Heroes. Which character did he play on Hogan's Heroes? <br>A. Sgt. Schultz <br>B. Colonel Klink<br>C. General Burkhalter<br>D. Major Hochstetter<br><br><br># 7: Sarah Bush's famous stepson was which United States president? (Bush was her maiden name.) <br>A. George Washington<br>B. Thomas Jefferson<br>C. James A. Garfield<br>D. Abraham Lincoln<br><br><br># 8: After legendary businesswoman Mary Katherine Wagner Rogers Hallenbeck Ash outlived each of her first two husbands, she married her third husband, Mel Ash, in 1966. He died in 1980, and Mary lived another 21 years after that. What company is her name synonymous with?<br>A. Tupperware<br>B. The Pampered Chef<br>C. Amway<br>D. Mary Kay Cosmetics<br><br><br># 9: Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born in 1805 at Fort Mandan, North Dakota, which is where he began his historic journey. Who was his mother?<br>A. Pocahontas<br>B. Sacajawea<br>C. Annie Oakley<br>D. Calamity Jane<br><br><br># 10: Between 1840 and 1960, there were seven United States presidents who were elected in years that ended in zero. Every 20 years, one of the presidents died in office until Ronald Reagan survived both of his two terms in office. Who was the person for whom this so-called "curse" was named?<br>A. Geronimo<br>B. Sitting Bull<br>C. Tecumseh<br><br><br><u>ANSWERS:</u> 1: D; 2: B; 3: B; 4: C; 5: B; 6: B; 7: D; 8: D; 9: B; 10: C<br><br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br> Been Paying Attention? QUIZ Time!
   from Nov 22, 2009



With a name that is unfamiliar to most Americans, Tatanka Iyotaka became a legend among the native Lakota Sioux Indians. He fought alongside them as they tried to prevent the American government from claiming their land. <br><br>His people even fought General George Custer. Yes, Tatanka Iyotaka was pretty well-known in his day, and he's just as well-known 117 years after he died. Later in his life, he performed with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show alongside Annie Oakley. In fact, it was Tatanka who gave Annie Oakley the nickname of "Little Sure Shot."<br><br>Born in 1831 near the Grand River in the Dakota Territory in what is now known as South Dakota, Tatanka Iyotaka fought many battles, but always in defense. <br><br>And just what was he doing fighting General Custer? <br><br>Winning. <br><br>Because the battle in which he inspired the Sioux Indians against George Custer was the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. This turned out to be the Sioux Indians' greatest military victory. It was also the beginning of the end for Tatanka Iyotaka. <br><br>He was regarded as a holy man among the Sioux Indians, and his biggest contribution to the Battle of Little Big Horn was spiritual. He was not present at this historic battle; however, during a sun dance ritual, he had a vision which inspired the others - a vision in which he saw hundreds of fallen cavalry soldiers. <br><br>One year after the Battle of Little Big Horn, Iyotaka and his men fled to Canada. Facing starvation, they returned to the United States after four years, and the U.S. government assigned Iyotaka to a reservation in South Dakota. He was a prisoner for two years. <br><br>In 1885 Iyotaka had another vision. In this vision, a bird landed on a hill beside him and said, "Your own people, the Lakotas, will kill you."<br><br>In December of 1890, five years after his vision, Indian police came to arrest the 59-year-old Iyotaka for supporting the Ghost Dance movement. The Ghost Dance was intended to get rid of white people, hence the name "Ghost Dance." <br><br>But things went terribly wrong when a few of his people threatened the Indian police. One of his men fired a shot at the police, and when the police fired back, they hit Iyotaka in the head and chest, killing him instantly. Twelve more Indians were killed in the gunfight, along with three others that were injured. <br><br>It might seem a bit odd that Tatanka Iyotaka was killed by Indian police because he was Indian himself. In fact, it was his Indian name by which you know him . Sitting Bull. <br><br>But you knew that all along, didn't you? <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br><br> Tatanka lyotaka Really Is A Household Name
   from Nov 13, 2009



Between 1840 and 1960, there were seven United States presidents who were elected in years that ended in zero. Every 20 years, one of the presidents died in office; four were assassinated while the other three died of natural causes. <br><br>This strange rash of early deaths began with William Henry Harrison (President # 9) and ended when Ronald Reagan survived his two terms as President (# 40). <br><br>President Harrison was elected in 1840. His slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too," referring to his victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 and his veep, John Tyler. Harrison died of pneumonia exactly one month after he stood out in the cold to give a two-hour inauguration speech. The man who wrote that speech was Daniel Webster. <br><br>In 1860, President Lincoln (# 16) became our first Republican president. John Wilkes Booth ended Lincoln's second term just five days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant in 1865, which ended the Civil War. <br><br>In 1880, twenty years after Lincoln was elected, James A. Garfield (# 20) was elected president. Less than three months later, he was assassinated. In a weird twist of fate, the inventor of the world's first metal detector tried to save the president's life by searching for the bullet in his body. <br><br>Every time the metal detector made a buzzing noise, the inventor and the doctors assumed that they had found the location of the bullet, so they continued to probe his wounds looking for it. As a result, they did more damage than if the doctors would have just let the bullet remain in his body. <br><br>And who was the inventor of this metal detector? <br><br>None other than Alexander Graham Bell! <br><br>In 1900, twenty years after Garfield was elected, William McKinley (# 25) won re-election to his second term by defeating his same opponent from four years earlier, William Jennings Bryan. Less than a year later, McKinley was shot. <br><br>In 1920, twenty years after McKinley was elected, Warren G. Harding (# 29) was elected. President Harding broke tradition and died from a stroke, but the so-called "curse" was not over. <br><br>In 1940, twenty years after Harding was elected, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to his third term as president. He was elected to a fourth term in 1944. Like President Harding, Roosevelt managed to avoid assassination, but he died in office in 1945 of a cerebral hemorrhage. He, too, is part of the "curse." <br><br>In 1960, twenty years after Roosevelt was elected, John F. Kennedy was elected (# 35). In 1963, Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. <br><br>In 1980, twenty years after Kennedy was elected, Ronald Reagan (# 40) became our nation's oldest president at the time of his election. He managed to survive an assassination attempt by John Hinckley, thus ending the so-called curse. <br><br>So there you have it . every twenty years from 1840 to 1980, a United States president was either assassinated and killed, died in office or survived an assassination attempt. <br><br>This series of events is known as "Tecumseh's Curse." And just who was this Tecumseh fellow? <br><br>He was the Indian leader whose troops were defeated by William Henry Harrison in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He died in the War of 1812 in the Battle of the Thames in Canada. <br><br>And what happened to the man who wrote Harrison's two-hour inauguration speech, Daniel Webster? <br><br>He tried - and failed - three different times to win the presidency himself. Ironically, he would have become president on two separate occasions if he had just accepted the vice president's position that he had been offered; first by Harrison in 1840 and then by our 12th president, Zachary Taylor, in 1848. Unfortunately for Webster's career, he turned down both future presidents. Taylor, by the way, died in office of natural causes. Of course.<br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br><br> "Curse" Caused 7 Presidents To Die In Office?
   from Nov 6, 2009



Probably more than any other person in America, a boy named Jean Baptiste Charbonneau got to watch history being made first-hand without actually contributing to it. Best of all, he got to do this by the time he was three years old. But, like most three-year-olds, his story doesn't end there. <br><br>Around 1797, eight years before his son Jean was born, a French-Canadian explorer and trader named Toussaint Charbonneau had purchased two captured Shoshone Indian women and taken them as his wives; one was known as Bird Woman while the other was known as Otter Woman. <br><br>Bird Woman gave birth to Jean Baptiste Charbonneau in 1805 at Fort Mandan, North Dakota. Fort Mandan was the place where Meriwether Lewis and William Clark stayed in the winter of 1804 - 1805. In fact, Lewis and Clark hired Toussaint Charbonneau to serve as an interpreter to the Hidatsa Indians, and they allowed him to bring along his pregnant wife, Mrs. Charbonneau (a.k.a. Bird Woman). <br><br>Toussaint Charbonneau spoke no English and did not speak the Hidatsa language very well either, but his wives spoke it well. As a result, one of the wives - the one known as Bird Woman - went along on the Lewis and Clark expedition and was of more value to Lewis and Clark than Toussaint was. <br><br>Meanwhile, the infant boy Jean Charbonneau got to watch history unfold right before his little eyes. His mother became very important in their journey while his father was generally not well-liked or respected by the rest of the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and most Americans have never heard of Toussaint Charbonneau or Bird Woman. Jean was the youngest member of the 30-person expedition.<br><br>They took Jean Charbonneau halfway across the country when he was just a toddler - and they made the entire trip without the luxury of a plane, train or automobile, at a time when most of the United States beyond the Mississippi River was still unknown. <br><br>Then from the time he was 18 until age 24, he traveled throughout Europe and northern Africa with the nephew of King Wilhelm von Weuttemberg of Germany. When he was 44, he participated in the California Gold Rush of 1849. <br><br>Jean Baptiste Charbonneau remains the only infant whose image ever appeared on any United States currency. He achieved this historical feat with his mother when they were depicted on a coin in 2000.<br><br>In fact, while the name of Jean Baptiste Charbonneau or Toussaint Charbonneau, might not ring a bell with you, his mother became so well-known that you don't even need her last name. Most people have never even heard of her last name. <br><br>The name by which you know her was Sacajawea. But you knew that all along, didn't you? <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br><br><br><br> Jean Charbonneau Impacted America By Age 2
   from Oct 29, 2009



Mary Kathryn Wagner was born in 1918 in Hot Wells, Texas. I didn't know where that was, so I looked it up on the map on my office wall here at our world headquarters. Turns out that Texas is just south of Oklahoma, so I went back to writing this story. <br><br>Mary's parents ran a hotel when she was a child, and she would later become a successful business owner herself. <br><br>She married Ben Rogers when she was just 17 years old. They had three children together, each of whom would later work with her in her business. <br><br>While still a teenager, with her husband serving in World War II, Kathryn took a job selling books door-to-door, selling $25,000 worth in only six months. When Ben returned home from the war, he divorced Mary. She then went to work for Stanley Home Products, becoming one of their top sales directors. Unfortunately, though, she saw many of the men who worked for her get promoted above her, often earning twice what she was making. <br><br>Realizing that it was due to the fact that she was a woman, she retired after 25 years. This is when she wrote her first book. She wrote three books in all, and all three became best sellers. But it's not her success as an author that earned her the love and respect of everyone she knew. Her first book was actually a blueprint showing women how to succeed in business rather than enduring the same fate that she suffered in being passed over for promotions. The book became the foundation for the business that she would start with her 20-year-old son Richard. <br><br>So Mary and Richard opened a storefront business in Dallas on Friday the 13th in September of 1963, the same year and city in which JFK was assassinated. But that has nothing to do with this story. <br><br>The business did surprisingly well. In fact, it did even better when Mary appeared on 60 minutes. Her life story would later be made into a movie, in which Shirley MacLaine played her role. But it wasn't the movie that made her a household name that you know. It was her revolutionary business and the opportunities that she created for women. <br><br>In business and in life, she was guided by her motto: "God first, family second, career third."<br><br>This approach served her well in her personal life as well as in her career, because Mary lost her second husband, George Hallenbeck, to a heart attack just one month before she was to launch her business. <br><br>She built her company into such a success that Fortune magazine named her company as one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Along the way, she had to endure lawsuits by some of her former employees. The woman who helped so many women find their inner strength had enough strength herself to overcome each of the major struggles that she faced in her personal life. <br><br>Three years after George died, Mary married her third husband, Mel Ash, in 1966. She outlived him, too. He died in 1980, and Mary lived another 21 years after that. <br><br>There's a museum that was built in her honor in 1993, just three years before she established a non-profit foundation to conduct research into the various types of cancer that afflict women. This was the same year in which she suffered a stroke. <br><br>She was an inspiration to her sales reps - all 800,000 of them by the time she was finished. The company that she founded with her son has sales reps spread out over 37 countries, ringing up annual sales of more than $2 billion. <br><br>You see, Mary Kathryn Wagner was no average woman. Along with her son, she founded and ran the company that bears her name - Mary Kay Cosmetics. <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com</i><br><br> Texan Outlives 3 Hubbies, Builds Empire
   from Oct 23, 2009



Sarah Bush was born in Hardin County, Kentucky in 1788, one of Christopher and Hanna Bush's nine children. I went to college in Kentucky, and I noticed that many Kentuckians refer to their hometown by the homecounty that they're from. In this case, the town was Elizabethtown. <br><br>Sarah married Dan Johnston in 1806, and they had three children: Elizabeth, Matilda, and John. She also had a stepson who was murdered in his prime. <br><br>Sarah and Dan were a poor couple just trying to keep their family fed. In 1814 he finally landed a good job when he became the county jailer. They lived right above the jail, and it was Sarah's job to cook all the meals for the prisoners. When Dan died two years later, Sarah moved her family into a log cabin. <br><br>Three years later, she was working outside of her cabin one day when a man rode up on a horse. It was Tom, whom she had known since she was a teenage girl. When he arrived at her cabin - thirteen years after they had last seen each other - he proposed to her on the spot. His rationale was that she had children but needed a husband, and he had children but needed a wife. <br><br>Sarah accepted Tom's proposal the next day. They immediately got married and hitched up the horses and wagon and moved to Indiana with their Brady Bunch-style family. This was in 1819. The family included Sarah's three children and Thomas' son and daughter. Well, it was 5/6 of a Brady Bunch-style family. <br><br>Sarah knew nothing about the kind of house she was moving into until they arrived four days later. The log walls had huge gaps in them, making for cold winters, and the floor was nothing but dirt. That was ironic considering that Tom worked as a carpenter. Maybe he had time to build other people's homes properly but not his own. <br><br>In 1830 the family moved to Springfield, Illinois. Sarah's life was pretty normal, but she did have one major accomplishment - she did an exceptional job of raising her two stepchildren. <br><br>The boy was quiet but well-behaved and he and Sarah formed a strong mother-stepson bond from the minute they first met. He grew up and went on to become great at his final job; in fact, to this day he is still regarded as one of the best to ever hold that job - more than 140 years later. But before he became successful, he had to overcome a lot of failures and heartache.<br><br>For example, in 1832 he lost his job and lost a bid for Congress. He suffered four more defeats in his political career. I guess you could say that he was a failed politician. <br><br>He didn't have just political failures, though. He owned a business that failed, and he had a girlfriend who died. He also suffered a nervous breakdown. <br><br>But he entered one more political race. It was during the period in our nation's history when we were on the brink of Civil War, as secession and slavery were dividing the country in two. He was opposed to slavery, but his wife came from a family that owned slaves. Interesting. <br><br>I mentioned earlier that he was murdered. Well, it happened while he was on the job. You know how his story turned out, even though you might not have figured out his identity just yet.<br><br>In 1860, Sarah Bush Johnston's stepson - the one who was born in a log cabin in Kentucky and later moved to Illinois - overcame all of his failures and won his next election. <br><br>While Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln led a pretty ordinary life, she played a major role in shaping her stepson into the kind of man he was . President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. <br><br>Oh, and one more thing . The old adage about Mother knowing best applies to Sarah Lincoln and her stepson president. She didn't want him to win the presidential election in 1860, because she had a feeling that something terrible would happen to him. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br> Sarah Bush : Two Husbands And A Famous Stepson
   from Oct 15, 2009



He was the son of famed conductor Otto Klemperer. OK, so you've never heard that name before since most conductors live in relative obscurity. The son, though, was able to break out from under his father's shadow with his own successful career. <br><br>Many of his co-workers - who he considered to be his enemies - were always trying to trick him, yet they wanted to keep him around. They needed him in order to succeed. Other co-workers, who were supposed to be on his side, either despised him or showed a total lack of respect for him. <br><br>His failure in school, where he graduated last in his class, carried over into his military and personal life. He crashed his plane while flying for the Germans in World War I, causing his passenger, "The Blue Baron" to walk with a limp for the rest of his life. And he was constantly being threatened with being forced to marry his boss's sister. <br><br>Werner was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1920. Like several of his co-workers, he fled Nazi Germany in the 1930's. After he landed in Los Angeles, he got work as an actor in movies and TV shows such as Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, My Three Sons and even The Love Boat.<br><br>You might not recognize him by his full name, Werner Klemperer, but by the name of the main character that he played - the bumbling Colonel Klink of Hogan's Heroes fame who always wore a monocle. The show about Allied prisoners during World War II ran from 1965 to 1971. <br><br>Klemperer played the role of a German officer during World War II despite the fact that he was Jewish. In fact, several of his co-workers who played the Germans on the show were Jewish, too, including John Banner (who played Sgt. Schultz), Leon Askin (General Burkhalter) and Howard Caine (Major Hochstetter).<br><br>On the Allies' side, Robert Clary (Corporal LeBeau, a Frenchman) was also Jewish. He and Banner both spent time in German concentration camps before fleeing to America. <br><br>Some of the Jewish actors were criticized for playing the roles of Nazis but, as John Banner (Sgt. Schultz), said: "Who can play Nazis better than us Jews?" And Klemperer only agreed to play the role of Colonel Klink on the condition that his character would never be successful against the Allies. He wanted to portray the Germans as the losers.<br><br>And what about his failures that I mentioned earlier? It was on the show rather than in real life that Klink graduated last in his class. The same goes for crashing his plane in World War I. And the boss's sister that he wanted to avoid was General Burkhalter's sister, Gertrude (played by Kathleen Freeman). Again, it was all on the show rather than in real life. <br><br>With his success as an actor, Werner Klemperer escaped the large shadow that his father's career had cast over him. But his success as an actor portraying Colonel Klink - he was nominated for five Emmy awards and won twice - had cast another large shadow over him. In what often happens to actors who play a major role as well as Klemperer did, he was typecast and found it difficult to get hired for other roles. He decided that he would never reprise the role of Colonel Klink in plays or other appearances. Then, in 1993, he was given a script that he just couldn't resist. What show was that? <br><br>The Simpsons, in which he played Colonel Klink appearing as Homer's guardian angel. D'ohhh! <br><br>Here are a few other little-known pieces of trivia about Hogan's Heroes:<br><br>- Klemperer did serve in World War II - in the U.S. Army. <br><br>- Klemperer was originally slated to play the role of Sgt. Schultz, while Banner was slated to play the role of Colonel Klink. <br><br>- In real life, Bob Crane (Colonel Hogan) was married to Sigrid Valdis, who played Klink's secretary, Hilda, on the German side. They later divorced.<br><br>- John Banner didn't speak English when he came to America. In his first few acting roles, he had to memorize his lines phonetically in English, even though it was a foreign language to him. He also served in the United States military. <br><br>- The sitcom M*A*S*H was originally going to be titled "Hawkeye's Heroes." <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br>::::second::::<br><br> Famed Conductor's Son Escaped Two Shadows
   from Oct 9, 2009



Phoebe Moses lived an interesting life. As a nine-year-old girl, she hunted for food to support her family. As a teenager, she starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. When she was 21, she beat a man in a shooting contest and then married him. She also spent her entire fortune on the charities that she supported. <br><br>Phoebe (that's pronounced "Phoebe") was her given name, but it was her stage name by which you know her. <br><br>Phoebe was the fifth of seven children born in a log cabin to Jacob and Susan Moses in 1860, a Quaker couple living in rural western Ohio. She couldn't read, but she sure could shoot. <br><br>She lost her father when she was just six years old. A few years later, she began hunting for food to help feed the family. She was such a good aim that she could shoot the head off a running quail. <br><br>She was so good at hunting that she was able to support the family by selling her game to local residents. Local hotel owners preferred the food that Phoebe shot because she always shot the animals in the head, meaning that there would be no buckshot left in the animal. She did well enough to pay off the mortgage on the family home in just three years! <br><br>This petite woman - who stood only five-feet tall as an adult - went on to become one of the Wild West's biggest celebrities. She could split the edge of a playing card with her first shot, and then shoot five more holes in that same card before it hit the ground. <br><br>In 1881, the spunky little Phoebe competed against a famous shooter named Frank Butler in a contest near Greenville, Ohio. Now, Frank Butler was considered one of the top three marksmen in his day, but he was no match for Phoebe Ann Moses. He lost when he missed his 25th shot, but things still turned out well for him. Frank and Phoebe began dating, and they married the following year. <br><br>So she became Phoebe Ann Butler, the greatest American woman to ever shoot a gun, right?<br><br>Wrong. This woman, who would go on to perform with Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill, would take a nickname of her own; actually, it was more of a stage name than a nickname. She took her stage name after the Cincinnati neighborhood in which she and Frank lived. <br><br>Phoebe Moses became known as Annie Oakley. <br><br>After they were married, she worked as Frank's assistant in his show, but they both realized that Annie Oakley had more talent than he did, so he became her assistant. <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers, and he is the author of the INVENTION MYSTERIES series of books. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i> <br><br>::::third:::: <br> 9-Year-Old Girl Hunts To Support Family
   from Oct 1, 2009



Ted was born in Springfield in 1904. Like the hometown of The Simpsons, his home state is irrelevant to this story. In case you're wondering, though, there are 35 states that have a Springfield.<br><br>His parents were Theodor and Henrietta Geisel, and he had two sisters. He was known by his title of doctor, and was beloved by kids everywhere for his work. In fact, nearly everyone knew his name, but it wasn't his actual name. He wasn't a doctor, either. <br><br>Ted's mother ran a bakery before she married Ted's father. When she had trouble getting him to sleep, she would use a certain rhythm to chant the names of the pies that she had baked. This type of rhythm stayed with Ted all his life, and it influenced his work to the point where he would use this rhythm all throughout his career. <br><br>While a student at Dartmouth College, Ted was the editor of the school's humor magazine. His father and grandfather were both brewmasters, but that probably had noting to do with the fact that Ted once got in trouble for throwing a drinking party. <br><br>As a result, he was forced to resign his post as editor. In order to continue writing for the magazine, he signed his work with a disguised identity. He simply dropped his last name and used his middle name instead, which was also his mother's maiden name. <br><br>Ted attended Oxford University to become a professor. When a fellow American student named Helen Palmer saw some of his drawings, she advised him to give up his goal of becoming a professor and to instead become an artist. He took her advice - and then he married her. She was a writer, too. After she died in 1967, Ted remarried.<br><br>After working briefly as a cartoonist, Standard Oil offered Ted a job in their advertising department. When a competitor offered him a similar position, he made his decision by flipping a coin. Hmmm, there's a lesson in here somewhere. His first children's book, "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street," was rejected at first - by all 27 publishers that he pitched it to!<br><br>Ted went on to publish 44 books from 1957 to 1996, and several of them have been adapted into films and animated TV shows. Twenty-four of his books became best-selling children's books. <br><br>Then why did he use the title of doctor in his name? It was because his Dad always wanted a doctor in the family! His full name was Ted Seuss Geisel. You know him as Dr. Seuss. <br><br>Here are a few little-known pieces of trivia about Dr. Seuss you can use to impress your friends .... <br><br>Actor Boris Karloff narrated Dr. Seuss' "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Karloff is well-known for playing Frankenstein's monster in the 1931 movie, Frankenstein.<br> <br>The person who provides the voice of Tony the Tiger when he says "That's Grrrreat!" also provided the voice to the Dr. Seuss theme song. His name is Thurl Ravenscroft.<br><br>Dr. Seuss - the man who wrote 24 best-selling children's books - never had any children of his own. <br> <br>In case you're still wondering where Dr. Seuss was born, it was Springfield, Massachusetts. <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann can be reached at niemann7@aol.com</i><br><br> This "Good Doctor" Was No Doctor At All
   from Sep 24, 2009



Thomas was one of the great leaders of the Civil War. His side lost, but that's beside the point. He was born in 1824 in Clarksburg, which was in Virginia at the time but is now in West Virginia (West Virginia did not become a state until 1863). He was the third of four children, with one brother and two sisters. <br><br>He attended West Point, but only got in as a replacement because his district's top recruit dropped out after the first day. After serving in the Mexican War, he went on to become a Confederate general in the Civil War. <br><br>First, though, he taught science and drilled the cadets at Virginia Military Institute from 1851 to 1861, when the Civil War started. He did not enjoy teaching, and was not particularly good at it. His students felt the same way, as they would often ridicule him behind his back. One former student - who would later serve under him in the Civil War - even challenged him to a duel. <br><br>Thomas was a religious man who hated to fight a battle on a Sunday. He said a prayer before and after every battle. <br><br>He rode an undersized but tough little horse named "Little Sorrel" and had a reputation for being fearless. As legend has it, he would even dare opposing troops to shoot at him as he approached. The opposing troops never hit him, yet he died as a result of a gunshot wound on the battlefield. <br><br>He is better known by his nickname than his real name. He got his nickname during the first Battle of Bull Run when General Barnard Bee noticed that Thomas had ordered his troops into a formation like a wall. He said that Thomas was "Standing like a stone wall." General Bee went on to say, "Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer." Uh, not to second-guess the general, but isn't the way to win a war to get the other guy to die for his side? <br><br>By now, you've probably figured out that the soldier was Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. The Confederate general who was neither a very good nor popular teacher was one of the best and most popular generals of the Civil War. <br><br>Stonewall Jackson was shot on the battlefield at Chancellorsville, Virginia, in his right hand and his left arm on May 2, 1863. His arm had to be amputated. <br><br>There's usually something clever in these stories that surprises you, and this one's no different. In fact, there are a couple of things that you might not have known about Stonewall Jackson. <br><br>The headline of this story asks if his own men betrayed him. Well, they didn't betray him, but it was one of his own men who shot him. He was warned not to get too close to the enemy, and after he turned around to go back to his troops, he was shot by one of his own men who had mistaken him as a Union soldier coming at them. He died on May 10, 1863, eight days after being shot. <br><br>Stonewall Jackson was buried in a blue coat, which was the color of the Union army, rather than the gray coat of the Confederate army. And whatever happened to his amputated arm? <br><br>It remains buried on land that is now owned by the National Park Service, about 15 miles west of Fredericksburg, Virginia. <br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers, and he is the author of the INVENTION MYSTERIES series of books. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br> Was Confederate General Betrayed?
   from Sep 18, 2009



Today's story is about a European explorer named Liev. His father was Erik Thorvaldsson, an explorer who was expelled from Iceland for murders that he had committed. Prior to that, Erik's father Thorvald was also expelled from his home country of Norway for a murder that he had committed. Losers. <br><br>It was common in Scandinavian countries during this era for a son to take the first name of his father, and add the word "son" onto it to form his last name. <br><br>Known for his red hair, Erik, in what may be the greatest example of branding success of all time, discovered and colonized a land to the west of Iceland that was more than 85 percent covered in ice. He named it Greenland; his logic was that if people thought the land was green and beautiful, then they would want to come. <br><br>It worked! <br><br>Meanwhile, Liev met King Olaf on a trip to Norway. King Olaf knew Liev's father well and took a liking to the son. King Olaf converted Liev to Christianity, while Erik remained a pagan all his life. It was the son Liev who spread Christianity to Greenland after the father Erik had colonized the new territory. <br><br>Liev had also heard of a land farther west than Greenland. He bought a boat from his friend Bjarni Herjulfsson and sailed with his crew to the west, where they soon landed on an area which seemed like one huge slab of rock. This area is believed to be Baffin Island, near the coast of Canada. He and his crew then landed on the eastern coast of Canada, in what is believed to be Labrador. <br><br>There are conflicting stories as to why Liev went so far west; it was either his intention to do so, or his ship got blown 500 miles off course. Either way, they settled on what is present-day Newfoundland, where they found grapes and called it Vinland. Contrary to popular belief, though, Vinland meant "pasture" or "meadow" - not "vines." <br><br>There's one other thing that you might find interesting about Liev: He was actually the first European explorer to discover America!<br><br>He came to North America nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus, in the year 1001 A.D. The spelling of his name changed from Liev to Leif, as in Leif Eriksson. <br><br>Then why is so little known about Leif's discovery of North America? <br><br>Leif's sister, brother-in-law and a small group of settlers were the only ones to return to Vinland. The settlers were killed by Indians, and the only references to the New World were those that were recorded in Norse history. Leif's nephew was the first European born in North America. <br><br>Then who was Leif's father, the redhead? Erik Thorvaldsson never used his last name on official business. Instead, he was known by his nickname, Erik the Red. <br><br>In 1964, Congress established October 9th as "Leif Ericsson Day" in America, to honor him as the first European to land on American soil. That date is ironic because we celebrate Columbus Day one day earlier, on October 8. <br><br>But wait - there's more to this story! <br><br>Even though Leif was the first European to land on American soil, he wasn't the first person to see it. Remember when I said that Leif bought a boat from his friend Bjarni Herjulfsson? <br><br>Well, Bjarni sailed to Canada in 986 A.D. - 15 years before Leif did - but he never landed because the rocky land didn't appear to be of any value to him! As a result, Leif Eriksson and not Bjarni Herjulfsson became the first European to set foot in North America.<br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers, and he is the author of the INVENTION MYSTERIES series of books. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br><br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br><br><br> Who Really Discovered North America?
   from Sep 10, 2009



Albert Bond Lambert's last name is familiar to all St. Louisans. If you've ever flown into St. Louis, then you probably think you know who Albert Lambert is . read on because there is so much more to this story that you probably haven't heard before.<br><br>Albert Lambert was born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1875, the son of Jordan and Lily Lambert. He was once the president of the Board of Police Commissioners in St. Louis, but this was not his claim to fame. <br><br>Albert had taken over his family's business in 1896. His father, who named the company Lambert Pharmacal, had invented a new product that became a huge hit, even to this day. Albert would later become president of the company, but this was not his claim to fame either.<br><br>Albert Lambert's love of flying was fueled in part by a memorable - and historical - flight that he took way back in 1907. Four years later, he became the first St. Louisan to receive his pilot's license. He was the 61st person to ever receive a pilot's license. <br><br>In fact, Albert liked flying so much that he even made a $1,000 investment in an unknown 25-year-old Minnesota pilot in 1927. The investment helped fund the Minnesota man's entry in a flying contest that year. <br><br>Lambert's father's company, Lambert Pharmacal, merged with William Warner's company in 1955 to become known as Warner-Lambert. The new product that had become a huge hit was Listerine, but this was not Albert Lambert's claim to fame.<br><br>So why is Albert Lambert's name familiar to St. Louisans? <br><br>Because the St. Louis airport is known as Lambert Field. But you probably already you that, didn't you?<br><br>And what about his memorable - and historical - flight way back in 1907? <br><br>The pilot was none other than Orville Wright. <br><br>Then what about the investment that Lambert made to help fund the young Minnesota pilot's entry in a flying contest in 1927? <br><br>That was the Orteig Prize, which offered $25,000 to the first person to fly solo from New York to Paris. <br><br>Then who was the 25-year-old Minnesota man? <br><br>That would be Charles Lindbergh, of course! Charles Lindbergh had flown from Lambert Field to New York, before taking off for his solo flight from New York to Paris. As any St. Louisan will tell you, Lambert Field is the St. Louis airport. <br><br>Now the story is officially over. <br><br><br><i>Paul Niemann's column is syndicated in more than 80 newspapers, and he is the author of the INVENTION MYSTERIES series of books. He can be reached at niemann7@aol.com<br>c Paul Niemann 2009</i><br><br> Why Is Al Lambert So Famous In St. Louis?
   from Sep 3, 2009


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