Who was the first choice for the leading role in the 1957 movie “The Music Man”?

Well, it’s time once again for me to share some trivia with you!  I doubt that anyone actually sits around waiting for the newspaper each week, just to see what that silly man wrote.  But if you do, indeed, do that … get help.  Soon.

Just kidding.  If you do that, you’re my kind of person!  See, I do sit around all week waiting for the day I write the column.

In the meantime, it’s all drudge and dreck, designed to make a person depressed.  It doesn’t work with me, though, and I hope it doesn’t work with you either.  Be happy!

After all, it’s trivia day!

Did you know …

… the word “Caribbean” is derived from the same root word as “cannibal”?  The “Carib” part refers to a native people living on islands in the Caribbean Sea, who were believed by Europeans to practice cannibalism.  Now, whether they actually did so or not is conjecture, but it’s an interesting thing to know nonetheless.  (Gonna have to change my vacation plans, it seems.)

… at one time, slander was a capital crime?  According to Mental Floss, during the time of ancient Rome, the Law of the Twelve Tables decreed that anyone who composed or sang a song which slandered another person could be executed for doing so.  (Boy, talk about strict!)

… the actor best known for his role in the 1957 hit movie The Music Man wasn’t the first choice for the part?  It’s hard to imagine the film now without Robert Preston (1918-1987) as Professor Harold Hill, considering he had played the role to great success on the Broadway stage.  But officials at Warner Brothers did not want him for the part in the movie, because he was not considered a major box-office star.  Studio heads initially wanted Bing Crosby (1903-1977), and after he turned the part down it was offered to Frank Sinatra (1915-1998) and even Cary Grant (1904-1986).  Both men refused it, insisting that Preston was the only man who could do the part real justice.  Grant, in fact, said he wouldn’t even see the movie unless Preston was in the title role.  The author of the work, Meredith Willson (1902-1984), also insisted that Preston and only Preston play the Hill role.  Additional trivia note:  Amazingly, prior to taking on the Broadway role, Preston had never sung a note professionally.  To get the film’s “bankable star,” the producers went with Shirley Jones (born 1934) as the librarian Marian Paroo.  (Trouble in River City indeed!)

… Scotch Tape™ initially wasn’t very sticky?  When it was first introduced by the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M) in 1930, the tape only had its sticky substance along the outer edges, with the center area unstickable.  (Stickless?  Stick free?)  While it was being initially marketed, one customer became frustrated with the lack of adhesive on the tape and snarled to the salesman, “Take this tape back to those Scotch bosses of yours and tell them to put more adhesive on it!”  That comment led to the tape being marketed as Scotch Tape.  Additional trivia note:  Scotch Tape was invented by Richard Drew (1899-1980).

… why police officers are sometimes called cops?  The answer depends on who you ask.  One theory is that “cop” comes from “constable on patrol,” but the word constable isn’t often used in the U.S.  Another comes from the copper buttons and badges that early police officers wore … but not likely to be accurate, since there’s little evidence copper was actually used.  No, the prevailing theory is that the truth behind “cop” comes from a little-known definition of the word as a verb, meaning to “take or seize.”  That definition came into use in the mid-19th Century, and being “copped” meant being arrested.  So the one who does the arresting, or copping, is a “copper.”  Thus, verbal shorthand makes it “cop,” the term used today.  (As good an explanation as any, I suppose.)

… the largest treasure hunt game ever held took place in 2017?  In the town of Rethymno, Greece, 1,384 people got together on February 12, 2017, to participate in a treasure hunt.  Rethymno holds an annual game of treasure hunt and that year was the largest.  The hunt’s winner gets a special prize – they’re allowed to organize the following year’s game.    (Yeah, but how do you top the biggest one?)

… the number 23 figures in almost all of a Japanese auto manufacturer’s advertising? Nissan Motors often uses 23 on race cars and in advertisements, and there’s a reason.  In Japanese, the number two is pronounced “ni,” and the number three is pronounced “san.”  Thus, if you say 2 and 3 in Japanese, you say “nisan,” the name of the motor company.  (Clever, very clever!)

… a physical reason exists for most cases of back injury?  Researchers tell us that the human spine was not designed to properly work in the vertical position of walking on two legs.  Modern humans pay for that with sore backs, slipped discs, arthritis, pinched nerves, and so much more.  (So how were we designed to properly work, huh?)

… people today don’t hold a candle to those in the past?  Let me tell you what I mean.  In 1943, the U.S. government advertised that it needed a specific type of human hair – blonde, at least 22 inches long, and not treated with chemicals or heat.  A resident of Pueblo, Colorado, Mary Babnick Brown (1907-1991), offered to donate her hair.  Brown’s locks were 34 inches long and had never been cut, treated with heating irons, or chemically touched.  The government accepted Brown’s hair in 1944, and it was used in the production of meteorological instruments.  Brown was offered compensation by the government for her hair, but she turned it down, saying it was her patriotic duty to help.  (Patriotism, pure and simple.)

Now … you know!