TV and Movies
More Odd Facts


Sandy Drescher played Virginia in "The Miracle of 34th Street". Edmund Gwenn played Kris Kringle. Here they are playing together in the 1954 Sci Fi thriller, "THEM!".

Spot a 25 year old Leonard Nimoy at 54:14. When casting his planned Davy Crockett episode of the Disneyland television show, Walt Disney viewed the film to see James Arness who had been recommended for the role. However, Disney was impressed by a brief scene of Fess Parker (at 55:17), detained in a mental institution and insisting that giant flying ants had caused him to crash his plane. A thinly veiled allusion to Kenneth Arnold. Disney realized he had found his Crockett. Arness, however, did well for himself. John Wayne had seen this movie and, impressed with his performance, recommended Arness for the role of Marshall Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, a role which lasted from 1955 to 1975.

Catch in the inside production gag when they post giant ant sightings on the big map with Black Flags.


Did Lucas McCain and Rooster Cogburn serve together in the Civil War? In the TV show "The Rifleman", Connors portrayed Lucas McCain, a veteran of Berdan's Sharpshooters, a special unit of marksmen in the Civil War, who used a Winchester carbine with an enlarged trigger guard (like that of Rooster Cogburn, in the 1970 film True Grit) to serve up justice to lawbreakers in every episode,

Billy Bob Thorton's grandfather was the first person to own a television.


Oscar the Grouch is performed by the same guy who does Big Bird, Carroll Spinney. Spinney said he based Oscar's cranky voice on a particular NYC cab driver he once had the pleasure of riding with. He was originally an alarming shade of orange. In Pakistan, his name is Akhtar and he lives in an oil barrel. In Turkey, he is Kirpik and lives in a basket. And in Israel, it is not Oscar at all, but his cousin, Moishe Oofnik, who lives in an old car.
Click Here to learn about the rest of the Muppets.

James Bond Bond's home address is:
61, Horseferry Road
Westminster,
London
S.K.I.

Dubbed the "Wet Bike" in the movie, the Jet Ski debuted in the Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me". It's inventor, Ken Adam went on to create the industry.

In the movie "Silence of the Lambs", Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) never blinks.

Top Gun-The Movie

Val Kilmer did not want to be in this film, but was forced to by contractual obligations.
Anthony Edwards, Michael Ironside, and Rick Rossovich all went on to roles in the ER tv series. Edwards: Dr. Mark Green, Ironside: Dr. William "Wild Willy" Swift, Rossovich: Dr. John "Tag" Taglieri.
During the final fur ball, Stinger orders, "Ready Willard and Simkin on cats 3 and 4" - a reference to dogfight choreographer "Rat" Willard and casting director Marge Simkin.
In several locker scenes, one of the lockers is labeled as belonging to "TEX". This is the call sign for one of the top gun instructors and Mig pilots that worked on the film, Lt. William 'Tex' Spence.
Charlie's "older man" date at the oak club was actually a teacher at Top Gun at the time. He was the consultant on the film.
The piano scene and the final bar/jukebox scene were shot in a San Diego restaurant called Kansas City BBQ, at the corner of Kettner Blvd and W. Harbor Drive. The restaurant now houses many props and memorabilia from the film, including the jukebox and Maverick's flight helmet sits behind the bar in a locked display case
Stunt pilot Art Scholl died when his plane crashed on 16 September 1985 while he was performing the "flat spin" shown in the movie.

Robert Blake: ("Mickey," but inexplicably listed as "Spanky"): Appeared in 40 installments of the "Our Gang" film series. He had a very long and successful post-Rascals career in show business. Arrested in April 2002 for the murder of his wife; acquitted at trial in March 2005. Still alive at age 71.
Click Here to see proof

Roy Rogers' real name was Leonard Franklin Slye.Click Here to see proof

The television series Bonanza was created specifically to provide a product for RCA's new color TV sets.

In the 1850's, early miners in Nevada were looking for gold and kept encountering "The Blue Mud". It got into everything and was washed away and discarded as fast as possible. On a hunch, one miner had the mud assayed in San Francisco and it revealed that "The Blue Mud" contained $3000 of silver per ton of mud. Sworn to secrecy, miners returned to Nevada to stake claims. However, rumors spread through California of a Bonanza in Nevada. This Bonanza evolved into the Comstock Lode. The richest silver deposit in the history the United States. The television western, Bonanza, was named for this famous but little known rumor.

Bonanza Lyrics

Bonanza

We chased lady luck, 'til we finally struck

Bonanza

With a gun and a rope and a hat full of hope, we planted our family tree.

We got hold of a pot full of gold,

Bonanza

With a horse and a saddle, and a range full of cattle,

How rich can a fellow be?

On this land we put our brand, Cartwright is the name,

Fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim.

Here in the west, we're livin' in the best

Bonanza

If anyone fights any one of us,

he's got a fight with me

Bonanza

Hoss and Joe and Adam know every rock and pine

No one works fights, or eats, like those boys of mine

Here we stand in the middle of a grand

Bonanza

With a gun and a rope and a hat full of hope,

we planted our family tree,

We got a hold of a potful of gold

Bonanza

With a houseful of friends where the rainbow ends,

How rich can a fellow be?

On this land we put our brand Cartwright is the name,

Fortune smiled, the day we filed the Ponderosa claim

Here in the west we're living in the best

Bonanza

With the friendliest, fightingist, lovingist band,

That ever set foot in the promised land

And we're happier than them all.

That's why we call it

Bonanza...bonanza.. bonanza..

Scooby Doos and Dont's

Shaggy's last name is Rogers, so that makes him "Mister Rogers". Huh?

Aside from solving mysteries, the gang's favorite pass time is clam digging.

Whenever Thelma loses her glasses, the probability of her encountering the villain is 100%.

Casey Kasem is the voice of Shaggy and many others. >See the Proof


Casey Kasem

Shaggy is a vegetarian by force. He never gets to eat meat in the show. That is because Casey Kasem is a vegetarian and requested that Hanna Barberra make Shag one also.

Shags real name is Norville Rogers

Fred is the only one on Scooby that hasn't had a relative appear on the show.

Daphne's family owned the mystery machine and even though she is old enough to drive it,(she's sixteen) she never has.

Velma is 15. Her last name is Dinkley.

The show first aired in 1968, Fred was going to be two boys Mike and Geoff and that was switched to one boy named Robbie. Daphne was going to be named Kelly. Velma was going to be named Linda. The show was first named "Mystery's 5" and then was going to be called "Who'S-s-scared?".

Scooby is a great Dane. In the Who's Scared version, Scooby was originally a secondary character, a bongo-playing hippie dog called Too Much. His Doo incarnation was inspired by the Frank Sinatra song "Strangers in the Night," in which Ol' Blue Eyes croons "Scooby dooby doo..." >Click Here to see proof

In John Carpenter's horror classic "Halloween", the mask that Micheal Meyers wears as he kills everyone was bought off the shelf and was a William Shatner "Captain Kirk" mask.

For the movie they removed the eyebrows, painted it white and mussed up the hair.

Click Here to see proof

The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.

Yeah, OK, but what about the humans? The question of which TV sitcom was the first to feature a husband and wife sleeping in the same bed (rather than twin beds) has been asked many times. For years Florence Henderson claimed that Mike (Robert Reed) & Carol (Florence Henderson) Brady were the first. Then she announced that she was incorrect; it was Herman & Lily Munster. The correct answer? The first time a sitcom husband and wife got in the same bed was on January 17, 1955 when Fred (William Frawley) & Ethel (Vivian Vance) Mertz demonstrated their unique way to cope with a sagging mattress in the "I Love Lucy" episode entitled "First Stop." Many people reject this account as Fred was pretty much a prisoner of the bed and it was a one-time occurrence. The first time a couple shared a bed on a regular basis came nearly a decade later on September 17 1964 when Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Darrin Stephens (Dick York) went on their honeymoon (beating Herman & Lily to the sheets). Samantha & Darrin (both Darrins) continued to share a common bed throughout the eight years "Bewitched" ran on ABC.

Wilma Flintstone's maiden name was Wilma Slaghoopal, and Betty Rubble's Maiden name was Betty Jean Mcbricker.Click Here to see proof

In every episode of Seinfeld there is a Superman somewhere.

Who's that playing the piano on the "Mad About You" theme? Paul Reiser himself.

The name for Oz in the Wizard of Oz was thought up when the creator, Frank Baum, looked at his filing cabinet and saw A-N and O-Z, hence "Oz." The coat worn by the wizard at the beginning of the film was found in a thrift shop. After filming began, a label was found sewn into the coat identifying the original owner as Frank Baum, the author of The Wizard of OZ.

All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.

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."




Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.Click Here to see proof