Entertainment

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film, tv, cartoons, magazines, music & dance:

Adjusting for inflation, Cleopatra, 1963, is the most expensive movie ever made to date (mid-1999). Its budget of $44 million is equivalent to 270 million 1999 dollars.

After six months at the off-Broadway New York Shakespeare Festival Theater, Hair opened at the Biltmore Theater in New York, in 1968. It was the first rock-musical to play on the Great White Way.

Although identified with Scotland, bagpipes are actually a very ancient instrument, introduced into the British Isles by the Romans.

As of 1996, Hee Haw holds the record for the longest running weekly first-run syndicated show in the history of television. It spanned over 4 decades, from the late '60s to the early '90s, airing every Saturday night at 7:00.

Bette Midler, Barry Manilow and many other famous vocalists got their start in a New York City club called The Continental Baths.

Between 1931 and 1969 Walt Disney collected thirty-five Oscars.

By the time a child finishes elementary school she will have witnessed 8,000 murders and 100,000 acts of violence on television.

C3P0 is the first character to speak in Star Wars.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard's fish was named Livingston.

Captain Kirk never said "Beam me up, Scotty," but he did say, "Beam me up, Mr. Scott."

Carnegie Hall in New York City opened in 1891 with Tchaikovsky as guest conductor.

Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous 45 second shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, Psycho, which actually took 7 days to shoot.

Comedian/actor Billy Crystal portrayed Jodie Dallas, the first openly gay main character on network television on ABC's Soap, which aired from 1977 to 1981.

Disneyland opened in 1955.

Donald Duck lives at 1313 Webfoot Walk, Duckburg, Calisota.

Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntleroy.

Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television in 1956. He sang Blue Suede Shoes and Heartbreak Hotel on "The Dorsey Brothers Show."

Even though they broke up 25 years ago, the Beatles continue to sell more records each year than the Rolling Stones.

Gaetano Albert "Guy" Lombardo did the first New Year's Eve broadcast of "Auld Lang Syne," from the Roosevelt Grill in New York City in 1929/1930.

George Harrison, with "My Sweet Lord," was the first Beatle to have a Number 1 hit single following the group's breakup.

Gunsmoke debuted on CBS-TV in 1955, and went on to become the longest-running (20 years) series on television.

In 1920, 57% of Hollywood movies billed the female star above the leading man. In 1990, only 18% had the leading lady given top billing.

In 1938 Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel sold all rights to the comic-strip character Superman to their publishers for $130.

In 1962, the Mashed Potato, the Loco-Motion, the Frug, the Monkey, and the Funky Chicken were popular dances.

In 1969, Midnight Cowboy became the first and only X-rated production to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. (Its rating has since been changed to R.)

In Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam."

In Disney's Fantasia, the Sorcerer's name is Yensid, which is Disney spelled backward.

In October 1959 Elizabeth Taylor became the first Hollywood star to receive $1 million for a single picture. (for Cleopatra)

In the movie Casablanca Rick never says "Play it again, Sam." He says: "You played it for her, you can play it for me. Play it!". Ilsa says "Play it, Sam. Play `As Time Goes By"'.

In the US, federal law states that children's TV shows may contain only 10 minutes of advertising per hour and on weekends the limit is 10 and one-half minutes.

In The Wizard of Oz the Scarecrow was looking for a brain, the Cowardly Lion was looking for courage, and the Tin Man was looking for a heart.

Jethro Tull is not the name of the rock singer responsible for such songs as "Aqualung" and "Thick as a Brick." Jethro Tull is the name of the band. The singer is Ian Anderson. The original Jethro Tull was an English horticulturalist who invented the seed drill.

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison were all 27 years old when they died.

Little Jackie Paper was the name of Puff the Magic Dragon's human friend.

Mickey Mouse is known as 'Topolino' in Italy.

Movie detective Dirty Harry's badge number is 2211.

MTV (Music Television) made its debut at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981 The first music-video shown on the rock-video cable channel was, appropriately, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles. MTV's original five veejays were Martha Quinn, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson and Alan Hunter.

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Napoleon Bonaparte is the historical figure most often portrayed in movies. He has been featured in 194 movies, Jesus Christ in 152, and Abraham Lincoln in 137.

On February 9, 1993, "Dateline NBC" was forced to publicly apologize, and NBC president Michael Gartner resigned for a scandal caused by "Dateline" rigging a GM truck with explosives to simulate a "scientific" crash-test demo.

Penny Marshall was the first woman film director to have a film take in more than $100 million at the box office - she accomplished this with the 1988 flick Big.

Pierce Brosnan's first appearance as James Bond was in 1995 Golden Eye.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was created in 1939, in Chicago, for the Montgomery Ward department stores for a Christmas promotion. The lyrics were written as a poem by Robert May, but weren't set to music until 1947. Gene Autry recorded the hit song in 1949.

Santa's reindeer are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen.

The "Miss America" pageant made its network TV debut on ABC In 1954. Miss California, Lee Ann Meriwether, was crowned the winner.

The "Twelve Days of Christmas" gifts: A partridge in a pear tree, two turtledoves, three French hens, four calling birds, five gold rings, six geese laying, seven swans swimming, eight maids milking, nine ladies dancing, ten lords leaping, eleven pipers piping, and twelve drummers drumming. (There are 364 gifts altogether)

The 1st Academy Awards ceremony to be telecast was the 25th, in 1953.

The 1st Academy Awards were presented in 1927.

The 1st annual Grammy Awards were awarded in 1959. The Record of the Year was "Volare" by Domenico Modugno, the Album of the Year was "Peter Gunn" by Henry Mancini and the winner of the best R&B performance was "Tequila" by Champs.

The 1st CMA (Country Music Association) Awards, hosted by Sonny James and Bobbie Gentry, were presented at an awards banquet and show in 1967.

The 1st comic strip was "The Yellow Kid," in the New York World in 1896. The cartoonist was Richard Felton Outcault.

The 1st feature-length animated film, released by Disney Studios in 1937, was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs."

The 1st inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 were Jimmie Rodgers, Fred Rose and Hank Williams were.

The 1st interracial kiss on TV took place Nov. 22, 1968 between Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Lt.Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) on an episode of "Star Trek."

The 1st kiss in a movie was between May Irwin and John Rice in "The Widow Jones," in 1896.

The 1st live televised murder was in 1963, when Jack Ruby killed JFK's assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald while millions of viewers watched.

The 1st performance of Handel's "Messiah" was on April 13, 1742 at the New Music rooms in Fishamble St., Dublin. Because of the demand for space, the men were asked not to wear their swords and the ladies not to wear hooped skirts.

The 1st presidential news conference filmed for TV was in 1955. Eisenhower was the president.

The 1st televised presidential debate was September 26, 1960, between Nixon and Kennedy.

The 1st time the "f-word" was spoken in a movie was by Marianne Faithfull in the 1968 film, "I'll Never Forget Whatshisname." In Brian De Palma's 1984 movie, "Scarface," the word is spoken 206 times - an average of once every 29 seconds.

The 1st winner of the Academy Award for best picture, and the only silent film to achieve that honor, was the 1927 film, "Wings."

The 7 Dwarfs are Happy, Grumpy, Dopey (the beardless one), Doc, Bashful, Sneezy, Sleepy. They were miners.

The bagpipe was originally made from the whole skin of a dead sheep.

The Beatles' 1st song to hit the UK charts was "From Me to You" in June, 1963.

The Beatles were depicted in wax at Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in London, in 1964, the first pop album stars to be honored.

The Beatles were George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. But there were also two lesser known, previous members of the band: Pete Best and Stu Sutcliffe.

The Black Hole, 1979, was Disney's first PG-rated movie.

The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "Its A Wonderful Life."

The characters of Homer, Marge, Lisa, and Maggie were given the same first names as Simpsons creator Matt Groening's real-life father, mother, and two sisters.

The first CD pressed in the US - for commercial release - was Bruce Springsteen's 'Born in the USA'.

The first film granted permission by the Chinese government to be filmed in the Forbidden City was The Last Emperor, 1987.

The first issue of People Magazine, in 1974, cost 35 cents and featured actress Mia Farrow on the cover.

The four principal characters from the cartoon series "The Chipmunks" are Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and Dave.

The Jazz Singer, 1927, was the first movie with audible dialogue.

The Lone Ranger's "real" name is John Reid.

The longest Oscar acceptance speech was made by Greer Garson for 1924's "Mrs. Miniver." It took an hour.

The Looney Tunes song is actually called "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down."

The Mills Brothers have recorded the most songs of any artist: about 2,250.

The Monty Python movie "The Life of Brian" was banned in Scotland.

The official state song of Georgia since 1922 has been "Georgia on My Mind".

The Oscar statuette was designed by MGM's art director, Cedric Gibbons, in 1928. The design has remained unchanged, except for getting a higher pedestal in the 1940's.

The Professor on "Gilligan's Island" was named Roy Hinkley. The Skipper was named Jonas Grumby. Both names were used only once in the entire series, on the first episode.

The rock music video channel MTV made its debut in 1981.

The Russian Imperial Necklace has been loaned out by Joseff jewelers of Hollywood for 1,215 different feature films.

The science-fiction series "Lost in Space" (set in the year 1997) premiered on CBS in 1965.

The song "Happy Birthday to You" was originally written by sisters Mildred and Patty Hill as "Good Morning to You." The words were changed and it was published in 1935.

The song "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" was written by George Graff, who was German, and was never in Ireland in his life.

The term karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese, and the karaoke machine was designed originally to provide backing tracks for solo cabaret performers.

The title role of Dirty Harry, 1971, was originally intended for Frank Sinatra. After he refused, it was offered to John Wayne, and then Paul Newman, finally being accepted by Clint Eastwood.

The Wizard of Oz was a Broadway musical 37 years before the MGM movie version was made. It had 293 performances and then went on a tour that lasted 9 years.

There are 11 points on the collar around Kermit the Frog's neck.

There have been about 30 films made at or about Alcatraz, the now-closed federal prison island in San Francisco Bay, including The Rock (1996), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), and Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

Time magazine's "Man of the Year" for 1938 was Adolf Hitler.

Walt Disney's first cartoon character was called Oswald the Rabbit.

Walter Huston and his son John become the first father-and-son team to win Oscars as director of and an actor in"Treasure of Sierra Madre" in 1949.

When Bugs Bunny first appeared in 1935, he was called Happy Rabbit.