The Last Czar

On July 17, 1918, the last Czar of Russia Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children were brutally murdered by revolutionaries known as the Bolsheviks. Though the Bolsheviks claimed to have murdered the entire family, their bodies were mutilated and subsequently buried in unmarked graves which led to speculation that the youngest daughter of the five Romanov children, Anastasia, had escaped.

The rumors seemed all but confirmed when just a few years later a mysterious woman appeared in Berlin and was admitted to a psychiatric facility. The legend of the escaped Grand Duchess and the notion that the mysterious woman could be none other than Anastasia swirled across Europe and continued well into the 1980s. But were the rumors true?

The Bolsheviks, whose revolution would eventually create the ruling communist party in Russia, sent the Romanov family to live in exile in a small house in the city of Yekaterinburg. For 78 days the family was held in five small rooms under constant surveillance as their captors grew increasingly paranoid about a possible rescue attempt.

On the morning of July 17th, the family was ushered into the basement where a bloodbath ensued. Overall, the executions had taken 20 minutes. The bodies were then stripped, burned by fire or in acid, and buried in an abandoned mineshaft. The family’s burial site remained hidden for 61 years following their execution. During this time, the anonymity of their burials and the knowledge that the children had jewels hidden in their clothing, led some to believe that a child could have escaped. Rumors spread and several impostors attempted to claim the royal fortune.

Perhaps the most famous impostor of Anastasia Romanov was an unstable young woman named Anna Anderson. In 1920, Anna attempted suicide by jumping off a bridge in Berlin. She survived and was brought to an asylum without any paperwork or identification.

For six months she refused to identify herself and didn’t speak a word to the hospital staff. When she eventually did speak, it was determined that she had a Russian accent. Combined with the distinct scars on her body and her withdrawn demeanor, this inspired theories among the hospital staff and the patients.

At least four other women would come forward all claiming to be the missing Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov. These women appeared in different corners of the world at varying times: one appeared in Russia in 1920, another in Chicago in 1963. But none were more famous or had a more believable case, than Anna Anderson.

When Anderson eventually left the hospital in Berlin, she was accosted by the press in an attempt to confirm whether or not she was the Grand Duchess. Since the fall of the Romanov dynasty, Russian aristocrats who were able to escape the Bolshevik takeover had spread all across Europe along with the rumors of Anastasia’s resurrection. Anderson was able to find housing with various aristocrats who had been friends to the Romanov family despite the fact that Anastasia’s former nursemaid, tutor, and many other former servants denied that she was the Grand Duchess.

In 1970, a judge ruled in court that there was not sufficient evidence to prove that Anderson was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. Anderson was eventually identified as Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker who had gone missing shortly before Anderson turned up in Berlin. She died in 1984.

The burial site of the Romanovs was discovered in 1979, but this information wasn’t made public until 1991 because two bodies were still missing. One of the missing bodies was Alexei and the other was Maria, one of the Czar’s four daughters. But because the corpses were so damaged, the notion that the missing daughter could be Anastasia persisted.

That was until 2007 with the discovery of two more remains near the site. Their DNA showed that they were the bodies of Alexei and Maria with Anastasia having been identified among the bodies from the previous burial.

I came across a news article…actually, it was a few years ago…about the Russian government's desire to reunite the remains of their last imperial family in one place—the czar, czarina, and their five children. However, the mission was not without roadblocks, namely the need to satisfy skeptics about the validity of all the remains.

On September 23, 2015, Russian investigators exhumed the body of Czar Nicholas Romanov II and his wife, Alexandra, as part of an investigation into the family's death a hundred years ago—in 1918. It's part of the ongoing attempt to confirm that the remains really belong to Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children. Some of the family's remains were tested in the early 1990s (the early days of DNA testing) with the results being that the scientists were pretty confident that it's really them. The remains exhumed at that time included the czar, his wife, three of their children, and several servants. Two of the children, Alexei and Maria, were unaccounted for at that time. But the officials weren't able to convince the Russian Orthodox Church about the authenticity of the remains.

The church officials have not come out with their exact reasons for doubt. There had been some discussion about the Romanov family having been canonized in 2000 which made the remains holy relics which required a different way of treating them. In general, church leaders say they just aren't convinced. The church's approval is important for bringing the family's remains together.

The church did, somewhat reluctantly, allow the family's remains to be interred in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg where most of Russia's other czars are buried. But the church still had not accepted the family's identities in spite of the fact that several rounds of DNA testing had occurred.

When the remains of Alexei and Maria were subsequently located (their identities confirmed by DNA testing), those remains were left sitting on a shelf because the Russian Orthodox Church balked at the idea of adding them to the family tomb. The church says it believes the family's remains were destroyed and won't change their position until they are 100 percent sure in spite of the DNA confirmation.

In February 2016 the church once again blocked the reuniting of the remains. Currently, the most prevalent explanation is that the church hierarchy wants to avoid the decision because either choice would alienate key factions. Rejecting the bones will anger some Orthodox adherents, particularly those outside Russia, while accepting them will incense a conservative domestic faction that believes the Soviet government somehow faked the original burial at the time and those aren't the real remains of Czar Nicholas II and his family.

And the entire effort remains in limbo.

12 Unscripted Movie Lines That Became Classics part 3 of 3

This is the final offering of my 3-part blog about movies. It's a given that actors speak the dialogue written in the script, or at least are supposed to say the words the writers gave them. But that's not always the case. Some of our most memorable movie lines were not in the script. They were adlibbed by the actor and were so great they were kept in the movie. And many of them became classics. Here are some of those now classic lines of unscripted movie dialogue.

Casablanca (1942)

"Here's looking at you, kid."

Humphrey Bogart first said this line while teaching Ingrid Bergman how to play poker between takes. The phrase came out spontaneously during one of the Paris flashback scenes and became a recurring line in the movie, most memorably near the end.

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

"I'm walkin' here!"

Dustin Hoffman was genuinely angry when a taxi (not part of the movie) ran a red light and almost hit him and Jon Voight while they were filming a scene on the city streets. Hoffman stayed in character and the line stayed in the movie.

Taxi Driver (1976)

"Are you talkin' to me?"

Robert De Niro did a brilliant job of improvising the entire scene, inspired by a single sentence in the script—Travis looks in the mirror.

Young Frankenstein (1974)

"What hump?"

For his character of Igor, Marty Feldman kept shifting the hump on his back as a joke for the other cast members. After someone noticed, the improvisation was worked into the script.

Goodfellas (1990)

"What do you mean funny? Funny how? … Funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?"

Joe Pesci based this dialogue on an encounter he had years earlier with an actual mobster at a restaurant where Pesci worked.

Jaws (1975)

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

Roy Scheider didn't have a line right after his close encounter with a Great White, so he made up this one.

Apocalypse Now (1979)

"You're an errand boy, sent by a grocery clerk."

On location, Marlon Brando folded up pages of the script and turned them into a paper hat, which he put on his head. He later ad-libbed some 18 minutes of dialogue for his character, Colonel Kurtz.

The Third Man (1949)

"In Italy for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace. And what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Only Orson Welles would have the confidence to add his own lines to a screenplay by Graham Greene.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

"Hsssssss."

Anthony Hopkins made an unexpected hissing sound right after delivering the memorable line about eating the census taker's liver with fava beans and a nice chianti. He intended it as a joke. The director kept it in the movie, along with Jodie Foster's stunned reaction.

Deliverance (1972)

"Squeal like a pig!"

The most disturbing line in the movie was improvised on set in an effort to clean up the dialogue, with the hope that Deliverance could eventually be shown on television.

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

"Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!"

Peter Sellers, who played three characters in Stanley Kubrick's Cold War satire, ad-libbed much of his dialogue. The lines were later added to the screenplay after they had been spoken.

The Shining (1980)

"Heeeeere's Johnny!"

Director Stanley Kubrick, who lived in England, didn't know the reference to Johnny Carson's Tonight Show. Jack Nicholson's dark joke nearly ended up on the cutting room floor.

There are, of course, many more occasions where this has happened, producing memorable movie lines. This is merely a sampling. 

Who Almost Played The Role? Part 2 of 3

The second of my three part blog series about movies takes a look at some of Hollywood's starring role casting decisions over the years.

As we all know, casting for the lead role in a movie can be a lengthy process with many qualified candidates to sift through before making that final decision.  Sometimes there's a big difference of opinion between various factions of the decision making process.  And also obvious, the choice of actor/actress in a role can sometimes end up making the difference between a box office success and a mediocre film even though the first choice that was eventually rejected was very famous and popular.

Through the decades, there have been many starring roles that were almost cast with a different lead, possibly changing the audience response to the character and the movie.  In retrospect, trying to visualize someone else in the role sometimes leaves us scratching our heads and wondering what in the world they were thinking of with their first choice. And, of course, in the days when the major studios ruled the industry, there was seldom any objection to what the studio head wanted.

Here's a sample list of films and the stars that almost didn't get the role—some of these second choices earning an Oscar for their performances.

Pirates Of The Caribbean:  the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow in that first movie was originally intended for Jim Carrey. When a scheduling conflict forced him to bow out, the role went to Johnny Depp who put his own indelible stamp on the character in a series of Pirates Of The Caribbean films.

Drive:  Hugh Jackman was originally signed for the role that ended up being Ryan Gosling's.

Lord Of The Rings:  When Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf in the movie, it went to Sir Ian McKellen.

American Psycho:  It was originally Leonardo DiCaprio. He was eventually replaced by Christian Bale.

Men In Black:  Chris O'Donnell was originally cast. However, due to the director's insistence, Will Smith replaced him.

Basic Instinct:  Kelly McGillis was considered before the role went to Sharon Stone.

Dirty Dancing:  Val Kilmer was considered but the role eventually went to Patrick Swayze.

The Shining:  The iconic Jack Nicholson role ("Here's Johnny!") almost went to Robin Williams.

Pretty Woman:  Molly Ringwald turned down the role that was a career maker for Julia Roberts.

Silence Of The Lambs:  Michelle Pfeiffer almost had the role that won Jodie Foster one of her Oscars.

Indiana Jones:  George Lucas was pushing for Tom Selleck but Steven Spielberg held out for Harrison Ford.

The Matrix:  Ewan McGregor was cast first. He turned down the role so he could accept the role in Star Wars Episode 1.

Gladiator:  Mel Gibson turned down the role that won an Oscar for Russell Crowe.

Titanic:  Matthew McConaughey was first choice, but the role ultimately went to Leonardo DiCaprio.

Forrest Gump:  John Travolta turned down the role that earned Tom Hanks one of his Oscars.

Chicago:  John Travolta also turned down the role of Billy Flynn with the role going to Richard Gere.

Iron Man:  Tom Cruise turned down the role due to script issues. It was then offered to Robert Downey, Jr., along with Iron Man 2 and Iron Man 3.

And now let's go back several decades (more than 80 years ago—yikes, that's almost a century) to some classic movies from the 1940ish time frame, a time when most stars were under contract to a specific studio rather than being independent contractors and, as such, for the most part had no say so in the roles they would play.

The Wizard Of Oz:  MGM wanted to borrow Shirley Temple from 20^th Century Fox to play the role of Dorothy.  When that negotiation didn't work out, the role went to Judy Garland.

Robin Hood:  Jack L. Warner (head of Warner Bros. Studio) wanted James Cagney (a big Warner Bros. star) cast in the title role that went to Errol Flynn who seemed born to play the part.  Even though Cagney was certainly an excellent actor, I simply cannot visualize him as Robin Hood.

Gone With The Wind:  Literally, every leading actress in Hollywood was tested for the coveted role of Scarlet O'Hara, and all were rejected.  The movie had already started filming before a British actress named Vivien Leigh (married to Laurence Olivier at the time) was finally cast as Scarlet.

The Maltese Falcon:  George Raft turned down the role of Sam Spade because he felt it was 'not an important film.'  To the delight of director John Huston, the role went to Humphrey Bogart who was Huston's first choice.

Casablanca:  Ronald Reagan was first considered for the Humphrey Bogart role in one of the all time classic films. It ended up being a great film for Bogart and another win situation for movie-goers.

SOME OF HOLLYWOOD'S BEST WHO NEVER RECEIVED AN OSCAR® part 1 of 3

As a follow-up to last week's blog about celebrities who changed their names and worked using a screen name, this week is part 1 of a 3-part blog series about movies and the Academy Awards. The 97th Annual Academy Awards Ceremony was last week, Sunday, March 2, 2025.

There are many people in the movie industry who are considered legends, those who received multiple nominations over the decades and deserved the Academy Award but never received that elusive prize.  Some of the names will even strike you as What? That can't be true. He/She must have won at least once.

So, in no particular order, here is a cross-section of very deserving movie legends who were often nominated but missed out on the grand prize of the movie industry's top award.

1)  Alfred Hitchcock

With a string of directorial masterpieces to his credit, he never won one of the prized statuettes for directing.  However, in 1968 he was presented an honorary Oscar® for his lifetime body of work.

2)  Cary Grant

He made it look easy which sometimes prevented people from realizing just how good he was—adept at drama and light comedy (and even slapstick, after all he started his career as a vaudeville acrobat in England which certainly equipped him with the dexterity and coordination to do physical comedy).  Considered by many to be the epitome of the romantic leading man.  However, in 1970 he was presented an honorary Oscar® for his lifetime body of work.

3)  Peter O'Toole

He holds the record for the most Best Actor nominations (8) without a win with his most famous role probably Lawrence of Arabia.  My personal favorite of Peter O'Toole's films is My Favorite Year, one of his few comedy films.  However, in 2003 he was presented an honorary Oscar® for his lifetime body of work.

4)  Deborah Kerr

With many outstanding roles, certainly From Here To Eternity and also The King And I, she was nominated six times but no wins.  However, in 1994 she was presented an honorary Oscar® for her lifetime body of work.

5)  Richard Burton

Many outstanding performances including an exceptional one in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe where he co-starred with Elizabeth Taylor. Six nominations, five of them for Best Actor, but no wins.

6)  Albert Finney

The British actor is probably best known for Tom Jones, one of his earlier films.  He's garnered five nominations but no wins.  One of my favorite Albert Finney roles is the original film production of Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express with his marvelous portrayal of Hercule Poirot (supported by an incredible cast including several Oscar® winners and nominees, among them multiple Oscar® winner Ingrid Bergman who won an Oscar® for Best Supporting Actress in Murder On The Orient Express). My other favorite Albert Finney movie role is as Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1970 film Scrooge, the musical version of A Christmas Carol.

7)  Angela Lansbury

Today she's best known for her Emmy award winning role of Jessica Fletcher, the retired school teacher turned mystery novelist and amateur sleuth in the long running television series Murder, She Wrote.  In addition to television, she has an impressive string of Tony award winning Broadway performances.  But oddly enough, even though she started her career in films and received three Oscar® nominations, it's the acting award that has remained elusive.  My favorite of her Oscar® nominations was for a riveting performance in the original film version of The Manchurian Candidate with Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey (she played Laurence Harvey's mother even though they were only a few months apart in age).

8)  Fred Astaire

Although best known for a stellar career in a long string of very successful musicals (many with his long time partner, Ginger Rogers), his one and only nomination came for a dramatic role in Towering Inferno.  I remember being pleasantly surprised when I saw his excellent performance in his first dramatic role, 1959's On The Beach—a story of nuclear war aftermath starring Gregory Peck.

9)  Charlie Chaplin

He is one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood.  Even though he never won for either acting or directing, I wasn't sure whether to add him to this list of never won an Oscar® because he did win one for Best Original Musical Score in 1952 for Limelight.  However, in 1972 he was presented with an honorary Oscar® for his lifetime body of work and received the longest standing ovation in Academy Awards history (over twelve minutes).

There are, of course, many more nominated actors/actresses/directors who deserve but haven't yet had their name engraved on an Oscar®. 

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Good question. Just ask some of the Hollywood celebrities whose careers would probably never have gotten off the ground using the name they were born with.

Back in the days when the major Hollywood movie studios literally ruled the performer's lives with iron-fisted contract control—told the stars which movies they were allowed to make, who they could date, hushed up affairs, covered up pregnancies of unwed actresses, made drunk driving arrests go away, paid off victims, and in some instances it's even rumored that they covered up murder—they also controlled the star's name.

Nowadays it's a matter of individual choice whether or not a celebrity wants to select a name more suited to his/her career with some nearly unpronounceable names appearing on the marquee belonging to celebrities who chose to stay with their real name…something that never would have been allowed in the golden days of the studios.

Here are a few celebrities, some of them old school and others current, whose name change definitely helped their careers.

Fred Astaire, certainly one of the greatest dancers of the 20^th century, but would he have been as successful as Frederick Austerlitz? And what about his partner from many of his films, Ginger Rogers? Would she have been as popular as Virginia Katherine McMath? Somehow, Frederick Austerlitz and Virginia Katherine McMath just wouldn't have lit up the marquee.

And then there's Mariska Hargitay's mother, Vera Jayne Palmer. She might not have been as successful without the name change to Jayne Mansfield. And Mariska's co-star on Law & Order—SVU, would Tracy Morrow be as interesting as Ice-T is, especially for someone who started his career as a rapper?

How many women would actually have swooned over the man who is considered one of "Hollywood's all-time definitive romantic leading men" if Archibald Alexander Leach hadn't changed his name to Cary Grant?

Would that famous Jack Benny stare have been as funny coming from Benjamin Kubelsky?

What about a movie marquee announcing Roy Harold Scherer, Jr. and Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff rather than Rock Hudson and Doris Day?

Would "Missed it by that much!" or "would you believe…" have been such great catch phrases if they had been uttered by Donald James Yarmy rather than Don Adams?

Would Boris Karloff have been anywhere near as frightening if he had kept his birth name of William Henry Pratt?

Would Wolfgang Puck have been as successful as a chef and restaurateur under the name of Wolfgang Johannes Topfschnig?

Would we be as mesmerized by the magical illusions of David Copperfield if they were being performed by David Seth Kotkin?

Would Whoopi Goldberg be as funny if she was working under her real name of Caryn Elaine Johnson?

We have that teenage song and dance team from those old MGM musicals, Joseph Yule, Jr., and Frances Ethel Gumm. Would they have been as successful if they hadn't changed their names to Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland?

And what about one of the most famous comedy teams in show business history, Crocetti and Levitch? You probably know them better as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

What about Bernard Schwartz? Would he ever have been as popular a leading man if he hadn't changed his name to Tony Curtis?

And Sir Elton John, does he look like a Reginald Kenneth Dwight?

Can you picture Tina Fey as Elizabeth Stamatina Fey?

Or Jamie Foxx as Eric Marlon Bishop?

Would Oscar winner Ben Kingsley's statuette be the same with the name Krishna Pandit Bhanji engraved on it?

Can you picture Elvis Costello as Declan Patrick MacManus?

And then there's that most famous mouse of all time. Did you know that Walt Disney had originally given his mouse creation the name of Mortimer? Walt's wife, Lillian, felt that Mortimer didn't fit the character Walt had created. She suggested the name Mickey.

There are so many more that I could have listed here, the famous who changed their name in pursuit of a career. Some from days of yore and others current. Do you have any particular favorite celebrities who have chosen to do the name change?

The History of Mardi Gras and the Tradition Of Flashing

This year Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. In the Catholic Church, it's Shrove Tuesday, also known as Fat Tuesday. The date for Mardi Gras depends on the date of Easter—always occurring forty-six days before Easter.

In the most literal sense, the Mardi Gras celebration is the three days prior to the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. It's the last opportunity for partying and indulgence in food and drink. In practice, Mardi Gras—or Carnival, as it is called in many countries—is usually celebrated for a full week before the start of Lent.

Celebrations take place all over the world with the most famous modern day festivities being in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Nice, France; and Cologne, Germany.

Even though Mardi Gras is a Christian festival, it dates back to the pre-Christian spring fertility rites and embodies many of the traditions of the ancient Greeks and Romans. In the early Middle Ages, after converting pagan tribes to Christianity, the Catholic Church was still unable to abolish all the ancient traditions. To combat this, the Church ended up taking many ancient feasts and festivals originally celebrated in honor of pagan gods and adapted them to Christian beliefs. An example of the pagan roots—today revelers on parade floats still dress as Bacchus, the Greek god of wine.

The first Mardi Gras celebration in the United States was near modern day New Orleans on March 3, 1699, but it was the mid 1800s before parade organizations, known as krewes, came into being. The first Mardi Gras parade was held in New Orleans on February 24, 1854, by the Krewe of Comus. They began the tradition of a parade with floats followed by a ball for the krewe and their guests. The official colors of Mardi Gras were chosen by Rex, King of Carnival, in 1892 and given their meaning—purple for justice, green for faith, and gold for power.

But what about that popular activity that has become a seemingly integral part of the New Orleans Mardi Gras, much to the chagrin of the festival purists? Women pulling up their shirts and flashing their bare breasts to procure some worthless plastic beads?

Exactly where did this tradition come from?

Well, first of all, it's not really a tradition. It's more along the lines of what has become a traditional activity in the same vein as getting stupid drunk and passing out now seems to fall into that same 'traditional' Mardi Gras category. Over the years, more and more media attention has been directed toward the drunken revelry that occurs on Bourbon Street which has helped in defining flashing as a traditional part of the Mardi Gras celebration.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point-of-view, flashing in exchange for beads is mostly limited to the New Orleans' French Quarter. And even in the French Quarter, it's an illegal activity. Women flashing their bare breasts run the risk of being arrested.

Maybe flashing is not a true tradition, but you can't deny that it has become a custom. After all, the history of wild Mardi Gras behavior comes from celebrating the last day before Lent—Lent being a time of atonement. And this naturally lends itself to activities of excess and craziness.

Which apparently has come to include flashing.

But there is one crazy excess even more daring than the momentary baring of the female breasts known as flashing. And what, you may ask, could possibly be crazier than flashing and still be done in public? And the answer is having clothes painted on your bare skin. There are artists who specialize in this. It probably started as something simple and basic like face painting but has grown to include full body artistic renderings. At a casual glance, it appears that the person is clothed (albeit skin tight clothing). But on closer inspection, you discover that's far from the truth. Some of these examples shown below are basic and others are quite elaborate. 

7 Bizarre Predictions That Actually Came True

Prophecy…making predictions…seeing into the future—the province of charlatan fortune tellers or a reality to be taken seriously? And those predictions that do turn out to be true—lucky guesses or someone who has the gift?

Michel de Nostredame, better known today as Nostradamus, is probably the most famous prognosticator of all time. He lived in 16th century France and in 1555 published a book of his predictions written as a poem or stanza using 4 lines—a quatrain. He seemed to write in some sort of code, not saying exactly what he meant. This has allowed people down through the ages to attach interpretations of his predictions to all kinds of happenings and always after-the-fact rather than prior to the event. Prediction is supposed to relate to something that has not yet happened. Is it valid to take an event that has already happened then back track it to a prediction that did not mention that specific event?

Here are 4 of his predictions that, many centuries later, were applied to specific historical events. And after these, I have 3 more bizarre predictions that actually came true.

PROPHECY:  "The blood of the just will be demanded of London, Burnt by the fire in the year 66."

EVENT:  1666 is the year of the Great Fire of London. It is estimated to have burned the homes of 70,000 of the city's 80,000 inhabitants. Yet there were few deaths reported.

PROPHECY:  "From the enslaved people, songs, chants and demands. The princes and lords are held captive in prisons: In the future by such headless idiots. These will be taken as divine utterances…before the war comes the great wall will fall. The king will be executed; his death, coming too soon, will be lamented. [The guards] will swim in blood. Near the River Seine the soil will be bloodied."

EVENT:  The French Revolution, a bloody rebellion in 1789, resulted in aristocrats and royalty being arrested and beheaded. The Bastille (a great walled fortress) was demolished and LouisXVI was executed in 1793.

PROPHECY:  "From the depths of the West of Europe a young child will be born of poor people. He who by his tongue will seduce a great troop; his fame will increase towards the realm of the East."

EVENT:  The person referred to in this prophecy is invariably taken to be Adolph Hitler, chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945 and the person responsible for World War II and the Holocaust.

PROPHECY:  "Volcanic fire from the centre of the earth will cause trembling around the new city: Two great rocks will make war for a long time. Then Arethusa will redden a new river…"

EVENT:  Dedicated Nostradamus followers interpret this prophecy as being a prediction of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center. These avid believers in Nostradamus' predictive powers claim 'centre of the earth' as the trade center and 'new city' as New York and the 'two great rocks' as either the WTC towers or the religions of Christianity and Islam.

PROPHECY:  Spanish conquistadors in Mexico.

EVENT:  The power of prophecy definitely worked in favor of the Spanish. In 1519 Hernan Cortes was sent to conquer and claim Mexico for the Spanish crown. Luckily for Cortes, his arrival coincided with the Mayan calendar that said a man-god named Quetzalcoatl was due to return in order to reclaim the city of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs believed Cortes was that god—a mistake that aided Cortes in capturing Mexico with relative ease. [I have read information that refutes the fact of the Aztecs mistaking Cortes for Quetzalcoatl)

PROPHECY:  Lincoln's assassination.

EVENT:  Three days before his death, Lincoln had an eerily prophetic nightmare. To quote his words about this experience, "There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me. Then I heard subdued sobs, as if a number of people were weeping. I thought I left my bed and wandered downstairs. There the silence was broken by the same pitiful sobbing, but things so mysterious and so shocking, I kept on until I arrived at the East Room, which I entered. There I met with a sickening surprise. Before me was a catafalque, on which rested a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments. Around it were stationed soldiers who were acting as guards; and there was a throng of people, gazing mournfully upon the corpse, whose face was covered, others weeping pitifully. 'Who is dead in the White House?' I demanded of one of the soldiers. 'The President,' was his answer; 'He was killed by an assassin.' Then came a loud burst of grief from the crowd, which woke me from my dream."

PROPHECY:  Kennedy's assassination.

EVENT:  The morning of November 22, 1963, Jackie Kennedy saw a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News. It unnerved her…more for its appearance than its content. The ad accused Kennedy of being a communist sympathizer. The part that concerned her was the black border around the ad which she thought resembled a death notice. JFK tried to calm her by saying if someone wanted to shoot him from a window with a rifle that no one could stop it so there wasn't any reason to worry about it. The fact that Kennedy made such a comment on the day he was assassinated is coincidence enough but his mention of the precise method of his death is truly bizarre.

Valentine's Day—The Good And The Bad

The Good:

Valentine's Day is that time of the year when cards, flowers, candy, jewelry, and other tokens of affection are given to loved ones in the name of St. Valentine.  But who is St. Valentine and why do we celebrate his holiday every year?

One legend says Valentine was a priest in the third century in Rome.  Emperor Claudius II decided single men made better soldiers so he outlawed marriage for young men.  Valentine defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret.  Claudius ordered him put to death.

Another story has Valentine killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons where they were beaten and tortured.

And yet another story says Valentine was the one who sent the first Valentine greeting while he was in prison.  He fell in love with a young girl, possibly the jailor's daughter, who visited him while he was imprisoned.  Before his death, he wrote her a letter and signed it From your Valentine, an expression that has transcended time to continue as a common expression for the holiday.

St. Valentine's Day, as we know it today, is a combination of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition.  One theory says we celebrate Valentine's Day in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine's death or burial which probably occurred around 270A.D., while others believe that the Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize celebrations of the pagan Lupercalia festival.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card sending holiday, surpassed only by the exchange of Christmas cards.  Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia in addition to the United States.

The Bad:

The St. Valentine's Day massacre—the most spectacular gangland slaying in mob history.

Al Capone (known to be the mastermind, but never charged for the crime) had arranged for his chief rival, Chicago mobster George 'Bugs' Moran and most of his North Side Gang, to be eliminated on February 14, 1929.  The plan was simple and deviously clever, yet Capone's primary target escaped any injury.  Capone distanced himself from the execution of the plan (and the execution of his rivals) by spending the time at his home in Florida thus providing himself with a solid alibi.

A bootlegger loyal to Capone was to draw Moran and his gang to a warehouse to receive a shipment of smuggled whiskey, the delivery set for 10:30AM on Valentine's Day.

The morning of February 14 was cold and snowy.  A group of Moran's men waited for Bugs at the red brick warehouse at 2122 North Clark Street.  Moran was running late.  When his car turned the corner onto Clark Street, he spotted a police wagon pulling up to the warehouse.  Assuming it was a raid, he watched as five men, three of them dressed in police uniforms, entered the building.  Moran and the two men with him, immediately left the area.

Inside the warehouse, the hit men, disguised as police, confronted Moran's men.  Assuming it was a routine bust, they followed instructions when ordered to line up against the wall.  The hit men opened fire with Thompson submachine guns, killing six of the seven men immediately.  The seventh man, with twenty-two bullet wounds, survived the attack but died after arriving at the hospital.

The newspapers instantly picked up on the crime, dubbing it the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.  The story appeared on front pages around the country, making Capone a national celebrity.  But to his dismay, this new found notoriety also brought a new level of attention from federal law enforcement culminating in his conviction for tax evasion and his incarceration at Alcatraz.  With all the law enforcement agencies trying to bring down Capone, it was a tax accountant working for the Internal Revenue Service who finally did it. 

Chocolate—The Food Of Love

Valentine's Day is when the chocolate industry happily counts its profits.  Certainly other items also come to mind such as flowers, cards, and jewelry.  But chocolate reigns supreme for the holiday.

The history of chocolate goes back more than two thousand years.  Cocoa has long been associated with passion, romance, and love.  It's a concept that traces to the ancient Aztecs.  Archaeological records indicate that before the Aztecs, the Mayans were consuming cocoa as long ago as 600 B.C. and possibly even earlier than that.

The Aztecs believed it was a source of spiritual wisdom, energy, and sexual power.  It was widely served at wedding ceremonies.  The ancient civilizations of Central and South America did not know chocolate as we do today.  They consumed cocoa as a drink, its naturally bitter taste possibly altered by adding chili peppers to the water and cocoa.

When the Spanish explorers first brought cocoa home with them in 1585, they experimented by mixing it with sugar and vanilla to make a sweeter tasting drink.  The result was a type of hot chocolate popular among the upper classes who were the only ones who could afford it.  Cocoa was also added to baked goods to give them added flavor.  By the first half of the eighteenth century cocoa production had increased and the price had fallen so that it became affordable to the general population of Europe and also the European colonies in the New World.

By the nineteenth century things were moving along nicely for those involved in the manufacture of chocolate.  In 1828, Conrad van Houton of Holland invented a process to make a refined cocoa powder which increased the output of the usable powder from a given crop of cocoa beans which further lowered the price.

The first chocolate candies as we know them today were invented in the 1860s by Cadbury, a British candy maker, who was also the first to sell them in a heart-shaped box for Valentine's Day.

Another big advance came in 1878 when a Swiss chocolate seller, Daniel Peter, invented a process for making candy out of milk chocolate—a process picked up by Nestle.  In 1913 Jules Sechaud, a Swiss chocolate maker, created the first chocolate candy with cream and other fillings and the modern soft centered chocolate candies were born.

And thus chocolate candies joined the ranks of flowers and jewelry in the courtship ritual.

Chocolate, including chocolate candy, is liked by most people, but women tend to have a somewhat greater affinity for it than men.  Chocolate is more than food.  It not only fills your stomach, it also makes you feel good.  Many people believe that chocolate is an aphrodisiac.  While it is true that chocolate does contain organic substances which have a physical feel good affect on the body, the amounts are not that great.

Critics claim the benefits of eating chocolate are small compared to the sugar and fat contained in a chocolate bar.  However, the best chocolate—dark chocolate with high cocoa butter content rather than milk chocolate—has no added fat with a high percentage of cocoa solids and correspondingly less sugar.  Dark chocolate will never be considered a health food based on its nutritional value, but it is still good for you.  It's good for your heart, relieves stress, and makes you feel good.  What more could you want?  But, like everything, in moderation.

Chocolate has long been associated with passion, romance, and love.  This association goes all the way back to the Aztecs.  Valentine's Day is a celebration of romance.  Chocolate is both an everyday pleasure and a token of love.  Valentine's Day and chocolate make a perfect match.  Chocolate is given as a token of love.

Chocolate—the all purpose taste treat that's good any time of the year. 

First Recorded Romantic Kiss

In honor of the upcoming February 14 Valentine's Day, I'm starting on series of 3 Valentine's Day blogs. And what better place to start than the history of the romantic kiss.

New research into Ancient Mesopotamia suggests people kissed romantically 4500 years ago, 1000 years earlier than previously believed. The article, published in Science, reveals kissing did not originate in one region. Researchers from the University of Copenhagen and the University of Oxford revealed their findings on the ancient history of kissing after discovering  drawings on clay tablets (see picture above) and other materials from early Mesopotamian societies. Ancient Mesopotamia is considered to be roughly the land that is now modern-day Iraq and Syria.

It was previously believed the earliest evidence of romantic lip kissing in humans originated in southern Asia 3500 years ago then spread to other regions. The new research challenges these theories and suggests kissing was common across many different regions and cultures, starting much earlier.

In examining the clay tablets written in cuneiform script, the scientists noted the Akkadian language divided kissing into two groups: "friendly and familial affection" and "erotic action." Thousands of these clay tablets have survived to this day. They contain clear examples that kissing was considered a part of romantic intimacy in ancient times, just as kissing could be part of friendships and family members' relations.

Kissing should not be regarded as a custom that originated exclusively in any single region and spread from there. It appears to have been practiced in multiple ancient cultures over several millennia. While the exact origins of romantic kissing remain uncertain, the study said there is some evidence that it may have occurred even before the advent of writing.

Research into bonobos and chimpanzees, the closest living relatives to humans, has shown both species engage in kissing, which may suggest the practice of kissing is a fundamental behavior in humans, explaining why it can be found across cultures. The researchers also examined sexually-transmitted diseases in early kissing and its unintentional role in the transmission of herpes simplex virus 1, also known as cold sores. This cannot be taken entirely at face value due to the influence of certain religious and cultural beliefs. 

Those We Lost In 2024 part 2of2

This is part 2 of my 2-part blog listing a cross-section of the man we lost in 2024.

David Soul:  He died on January 4 at the age of 80. He was best known for playing detective Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson on the TV series Starsky & Hutch.

John Bruton:  The former Irish Prime Minister died on February 6 at the age of 76 and is remembered for playing a key role in bringing peace to Northern Ireland.

Alexei Navalny:  The fiercest foe of Russian President Vladimir Putin died on February 16. He was 47. Crusading against official corruption, he staged massive anti-Kremlin protests.

Brian Mulroney:  The former Canadian prime died February 29 at the age of 84.  The Prime Minister forged close ties with two Republican U.S. presidents through a sweeping free trade agreement that was once vilified but is now celebrated.

Louis Gossett Jr.:  He died on March 28 at the age of 87. He was the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and was an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries Roots.

Peter Higgs:  He died on April 8 at the age of 94. The Nobel prize-winning physicist proposed the existence of the so-called “God particle” that helped explain how matter formed after the Big Bang.

Roger Corman:  He died on May 9 at the age of 98. The “King of the B-movies” helped turn out such low-budget classics as Little Shop of Horrors and Attack of the Crab Monsters and gave many of Hollywood’s most famous actors and directors early breaks.

Alice Munro:  She died on May 13 at the age of 92. The Nobel laureate was a Canadian literary giant who became one of the world’s most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history’s most honored short story writers.

Willie Mays:  He died on June 18 at the age of 93. The electrifying “Say Hey Kid,” his singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players.

Bob Newhart:  He died on July 18 at the age of 94. The deadpan accountant-turned-comedian became one of the most popular TV stars of his time after striking gold with a classic comedy album.

Peter Marshall:  He died on Aug. 15 at the age of 98. The actor and singer turned game show host played straight man to the stars for 16 years on The Hollywood Squares.

Phil Donahue:  He died on Aug. 18 at the age of 88. His pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success to Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others.

James Earl Jones:  He died on Sept. 9 at the age of 93. He overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen, eventually lending his deep, commanding voice to CNN, The Lion King and the character of Darth Vader in the Star Wars movie series.

Kris Kristofferson:  He died on Sept. 28 at the age of 88.  He was a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and an A-list Hollywood actor.

Manmohan Singh:  The former prime minister of India died on Dec. 26 at the age of 92. He was widely regarded as the architect of India’s economic reform program and a landmark nuclear deal with the United States.

Those We Lost in 2024 part 1of2

2024 seemed to be a year of loss for many newsworthy people, a list longer than normal—celebrities, those in the arts, and those internationally known.

In fact, the list was so long I had to go through it and pick a cross-section representing the entirety and even at that, I still needed to break it down into a 2-part blog.

So…presented chronologically from most recent on December 29 back through January 4, 2024, is a partial list. Next week in part 2, I'll present another list of a cross-section of those lost from January 4 through December 26, 2024.

Jimmy Carter:  Former president James Earl "Jimmy" Carter Jr. died on Dec. 29. He was 100. The 39th president of the United States served from 1977-1981. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Following his term as president, he dedicated himself to charity work, mostly in hands-on labor of building houses for Habitat For Humanity. He had been in hospice care since 2023, following the death of his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn, and a series of short hospital stays.

Linda Lavin:  Broadway star and Tony award-winning actress Linda Lavin died on Dec. 29. She was 87. The actress passed unexpectedly due to complications from recently discovered lung cancer. She rose to prominence in the '70s starring in the TV series Alice, following a stint as a guest star in multi-episodes of Barney Miller.

Nikki Giovanni:  Renowned poet, activist and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement, died Dec. 9 in Virginia after her third cancer diagnosis. She published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968, and published more than 20 more over the course of her career; she also helmed a publishing cooperative to amplify Black female writers in 1970.

Earl Holliman:  Award-winning screen star died on Nov. 25 at 96. Holliman  won a Golden Globe Award for his supporting performance as Jim Curry in the 1956 Burt Lancaster and Katharine Hepburn film The Rainmaker. He is also remembered for co-starring in the 1970s with Angie Dickenson in the television series Police Woman.

Barbara Taylor Bradford:  The best-selling novelist died peacefully at her home on Nov. 24 following a short illness. She was 91. Born and raised in Leeds, England, Bradford OBE sold over 91 million copies of her books over the course of her career.

Chuck Woolery:  Original host of Wheel of Fortune, Chuck Woolery died at his home in Texas on Nov. 24 at the age of 83. He was not only the original host of Wheel of Fortune, he also hosted the popular dating show Love Connection for over a decade, as well as Scrabble, Greed and Lingo.

Bobby Allison:  The 1983 NASCAR Cup Series champion, died peacefully at his home on Nov. 9 at the age of 86. A Hall of Fame driver, Allison won 85 career races, with career highlights that included the 1983 Winston Cup Series Champion victory, three Daytona 500 wins and becoming a member of NASCAR’s second Hall of Fame class in 2011.

Quincy Jones:  The legendary music producer died at his home in Los Angeles on Nov. 3. The musician is survived by his seven children. The family held a private funeral for their beloved patriarch a week after his death.

Maggie Smith:  Dame Maggie Smith passed away peacefully on Sept. 27 at the age of 89. Adept at both comedy and drama, she had a long and distinguished career on the stage and in movies, appearing most recently in the British television series Downton Abbey.

John Amos:  The Good Times and Roots actor died on Aug. 21 of congestive heart failure. He was 84.

Shannen Doherty:  Best remembered for her role in Beverly Hills 90210, she died at age 53 on July 13 after years of living with cancer. She was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015.

Richard Simmons:  The professional fitness coach died at his Los Angeles home on July 13. He was 76.

Dr. Ruth Westheimer:  The sex therapist who became a pop culture phenomenon in the 1980s died on July 12 at the age of 96.

Shelley Duvall:  The actress died at her home in Blanco, Texas, on July 11 from complications of diabetes.  She was 75.  She is probably best known for her role in The Shining.

Donald Sutherland:  The Canadian actor died on June 20 at the age of 88. His wry, arresting screen presence spanned more than half a century of films from M.A.S.H. to Ordinary People and The Hunger Games.

Dabney Coleman:  The actor died at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on May 16. He was 92. Remembered for his many acting roles, the movie 9 To 5 is one of his most popular.

Barbara Rush:  The actress died peacefully in her sleep on March 31 at the age of 97. She was a regular in several television series including Peyton Place and Flamingo Road as well as numerous movie roles.

Richard Lewis:  The comedian and actor died on February 27 after suffering a heart attack. He was 76 and is best known for his role on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Toby Keith:  The country singer died on February 5 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer in fall 2021. He was 62.

Carl Weathers:  He died peacefully in his sleep on February 1 at the age of 76. The actor is best known for roles in Rocky, Predator and The Mandalorian.

Chita Rivera:  The Broadway actress, singer, and dancer died on Jan. 30 in New York after a brief illness. She was 91. The two-time Tony Award winning actress had been in 20 musicals over her long career.

Glynis Johns:  She died on January 4 in Los Angeles of natural causes at the age of 100. The Academy Award nominated actress costarred with Julie Andrews in the classic 1964 film Mary Poppins.

Stop back next week for part 2 of this 2-part list of Those We Lost In 2024. 

Six Clues You're Out Of Town

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that burglars prefer to break into homes and steal things when the occupants of that house are not home—and preferably when they're out of town rather than merely out to dinner.

And that leads us to the question of how burglars know when you're out of town.

According to companies that deal in home security, there are six primary clues that tell potential burglars that you're out of town even if it's only for a long weekend. And there's nothing hidden or tricky about those clues. They're just plain common sense.

1)  The house is always dark:

When you're home rather than out of town, you turn various lights on and off as you go through your normal routine—kitchen, living room, bedrooms, etc.  To simply leave a light on when you're out of town does not handle the situation. Lights go one and off in different rooms. The best way to handle this is to have lights that you can control remotely when you're out of town. Next best would be to have lights on timers that come on and go off at different times.

2)  No cars in the driveway or a car has been there too long without moving:

Professional burglars will often case a potential location to determine the routines of the people who live there. I, personally, never park in my driveway. My car is always in the garage unless I'm physically in my car going somewhere. But people without garages, or those who have detached garages without direct access to their house, usually park in their driveway or at the curb in front of their house. If the car that belongs to that house is gone for days or is there for days without being moved, it's a sign that the owner of the car is most likely out of town. To avoid this, have a neighbor occasionally park their car in your driveway or have a friend or family member move your car from time to time.

3)  Newspapers, mail, and packages pile up:

If your mailbox is overflowing, newspapers are on the driveway or in the yard, or there's several Amazon deliveries on your porch, it's a sure sign that the occupants are out of town. Simple solution is to put a vacation hold on your mail at the post office, have the newspaper delivery stopped, and don't place any Amazon orders that are scheduled to be delivered while you're gone.

4)  Your lawn needs mowing:

If someone is watching your house, a normally well-manicured yard that is suddenly in need of mowing and edging is a big clue that the occupants are out of town. Of course, if you have a lawn service that mows regularly, it solves that problem.

5)  Snow hasn't been shoveled from driveway and sidewalk:

Just like lawn care in spring and summer, winter presents yard situation indicating the occupants are out of town. If the snow hasn't been shoveled off the driveway and sidewalk, or there aren't any tire tracks in the snow on the driveway, it's a good sign that the occupants are out of town. If there's the possibility of snow accumulation while you're gone, perhaps your neighbor can be in charge of snow removal for you. And occasionally drive his car in and out of your driveway

6)  And finally...

Do NOT announce on any social media that you will be gone even if it's only for a weekend. Tell everyone about your trip after you're back home. 

And these are the six biggest clues that you're out of town and a prime target for burglars. As I said, these are common sense measures and precautions to take before you leave on vacation.