DID YOU KNOW …? Did one of the lead actors in the 1980 comedy “Airplane!” initially refuse to be in the movie?

Now that the nonsense about my birthday is over, let’s get ready for something really special.

I won’t get into it here.

Just be sure you’re back with the column one week from today.  It’s big.  It’s huge.

It’s something I have been working to achieve for a very, very long time. So don’t miss it.

Be here.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great time with the silly stuff that follows.  Enjoy, as always!

Did you know …

… a European country existed for only 24 hours? On March 15, 1939, a tiny portion of eastern Europe declared itself the independent Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine. And they were ready. The people of the new nation had already elected a president, Rev. Augustin Voloshyn (1874-1945); designed a flag; and even wrote a national anthem. However, their time in the Sun was destined to be brief. The very next day, March 16, the Hungarian army invaded and annexed the country to Hungary. The Republic of Carpatho-Ukraine existed for one day. (But they made the best of it, it seems.)

… you can find a National Leprechaun Museum in Ireland? Located in Dublin, the museum is not just about the wee folk; it includes exhibits encompassing all kinds of Irish mythology and folklore. (Of course it’s located in Dublin. Where else would it be?)

… the first woman to own a professional baseball team did so in 1911? Helene Britton (1879-1950) assumed ownership of the St. Louis Cardinals that year. She sold the team in 1917. (I wouldn’t touch that with a baseball bat with cardinals sitting on it.)

… a dead jellyfish can still sting? (They just don’t realize they’re doing it.)

… an inventor built a huge mansion, spent one night in it, and nobody has lived in it since? In 1894, a man named William Wyckoff (1835-1895), who designed a new kind of typewriter for the Remington Arms Company, commissioned the construction of a house on Carleton Island on the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York. When the mansion was completed, Wyckoff moved in, spent one night, then died of a heart attack. The family lost its fortune in the Depression and had to sell the mansion, having never lived in it. Planned uses for the mansion and property never panned out, and it’s been vacant since 1895 – and for sale since 2012. (A bargain at any price.)

… one of the actors in the classic 1980 comedy film Airplane! initially rejected being in the movie? Peter Graves (1926-2010), a serious dramatic actor, was at first repulsed by the script for the spoof, calling it “the worst taste” and “the most disgusting piece of trash I ever read in my life.” He gave a hard pass to playing the role of Captain Clarence Oveur, but following a meeting with producers Jerry Zucker (born 1950), Jim Abrahams (1944-2024) and David Zucker (born 1947), Graves reconsidered and (somewhat reluctantly) accepted the role. Later, Graves said, “They say you’re supposed to stretch as an actor,” as a reason for playing the part. It must have worked; Graves reprised the ridiculous role two years later in Airplane II: The Sequel. Additional trivia note: Graves’ change of heart may have also been helped by the reaction of another classic dramatic actor in the film, Robert Stack (1919-2003). Stack, whose last comedy role had been in 1942, finally realized that “we are the joke,” meaning serious actors like himself being parodied in the film. (And don’t call me Shirley.)

… a supermarket chain’s name came about because its founder did not like credit? The Safeway™ chain of grocery stores was founded in 1915 by Marion Barton Skaggs (1888-1976), a businessman and preacher who thought credit purchases were evil. The name of the store came about because Skaggs felt a cash-only store was the “safe way” to shop. Shoppers only bought what they could pay for with cash on hand, and that kept the company from sinking during the Great Depression of 1929-1935. (Wonder what he’d think of a “cashless society”?)

… the people who make major league baseballs are very poorly paid? A worker in Costa Rica who makes baseballs earns about $2,750 a year. Looking at modern MLB player salaries, that means the pitcher who throws the ball probably earns more per pitch than the maker of the ball earns annually. (Which is troublesome on many levels, if you ask me.)

… on average, men marry women who are three years younger than themselves? That’s a world-wide average. In the United States, it goes a bit further. Men who remarry in the U.S. choose a wife about five years younger; those going for a third time down the aisle generally choose a wife eight years younger. (I have a line here, but it would close the show.)

… you should be careful about burying your pet in the back yard? You could have an experience like the one had by a family in Modesto, California. When the pet owner dug a hole to bury a beloved pet in 2018, the man discovered something had already been buried there – a person, in an advanced state of decomposition. (How would you like to read that police report?)

… a Japanese rail station had a stationmaster that was not human? From 2007 to 2015, the Kishi rail station in Japan’s Wakayama prefecture was run by Tama, a calico cat. Tama (1999-2015) was the actual stationmaster, too, wearing a special cap and greeting visitors at the gate. (And he worked for a low salary, too.)

Now … you know!