1. While Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York" is probably one of the crooner's best-known songs, it was originally very different. Turns out, we have Robert De Niro to thank for it! Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb were tapped to write music for Martin Scorsese's 1977 film, New York, New York, which stars Liza Minnelli and De Niro. When the duo previewed the songs they had written, De Niro thought the title track, which was connected to his character, was too lighthearted. Although Kander and Ebb said they thought De Niro seemed "pompous" in telling them to rewrite the song, they took the criticism to heart and ended up penning their new version of the song in just 45 minutes.
2. Ferris Bueller's Day Off is my favorite movie of all time, so it's honestly criminal that I've never done a deep dive into some behind-the-scenes moments from the film! John Hughes, known for his teen movies, ended up writing the script in just a few days in order to get a draft finished before the Writers Guild of America went on strike. The script was reportedly so strong that it was barely edited before filming started. The movie is widely considered to be a love letter to Hughes's Chicago hometown and is filled with references to his own upbringing and shots of the city's skyline. In fact, Hughes even gave Ferris the same address as his childhood home, and his bedroom reportedly resembled Hughes's.
Ben Stein, who delivered one of the film's most memorable lines with, "Bueller...Bueller...anyone?" actually improvised his scene. Stein, who was previously an economist and political speechwriter, said that Hughes told him to ad-lib an economics lesson. As for the parade scene, which has since become another legendary movie moment, Hughes and the crew decided to put their own float in the lineup of a real German parade that just so happened to be scheduled for the middle of filming. Nobody involved with the parade knew who they were, but they ended up pulling it off.
The movie notably brought two real-life couples together. Matthew Broderick, who plays Ferris, and Jennifer Grey, who portrays his sister, Jeanie, ended up falling for each other on set. In 1987, they were involved in a car accident in Northern Ireland that killed two women. Both Broderick and Grey were injured in the wreck, and Broderick was charged with careless driving. The couple split in 1988. Meanwhile, Lyman Ward and Cindy Pickett, who played Ferris's parents, got married shortly after filming wrapped. They had two children before divorcing in 1992.
3. If I had to learn about this giraffe mating ritual, then it's only fair that you do too, okay? Unlike other animals, giraffes don't have a set mating season. Instead, they have an estrous cycle, which resembles a human menstrual cycle, except this cycle swaps blood for urine. When a male giraffe approaches a female giraffe, he begins to rub against her, which she takes as a signal to begin peeing. The male giraffe then tastes her pee to see if she's fertile, and thus, the mating ritual begins. A typical giraffe pregnancy lasts for 400–460 days. Male giraffes typically have no role in raising their offspring.
4. In 2007, Lisa Nowak became the first NASA astronaut to be arrested when she drove across the United States to confront a woman who was dating a fellow astronaut with whom Nowak had also had a relationship. About a decade after graduating from the US Naval Academy, Nowak was selected to be an astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she specialized in robotics. Nowak said she was deeply affected by the 2003 Columbia space shuttle explosion because her best friend, astronaut Laurel Clark, died. Nowak told NASA that her children convinced her to continue on with her space career despite her unease.
Nowak went on her first space mission in 2006 and spent two weeks in space aboard the Discovery. But in February 2007, Nowak made headlines not for her space career but for a shocking crime. She drove 900 miles from Houston to Orlando to confront Colleen Shipman, who was reportedly dating Bill Oefelein, an astronaut with whom Nowak had previously been involved. She told police that they had "more than a working relationship, but less than a romantic relationship." Reports claimed that Nowak had a trench coat, a black wig, pepper spray, a BB gun, rope, trash bags, and an 8-inch knife in her car when she approached Shipman in the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport. Shipman told police that Nowak sprayed her with pepper spray, then attempted to climb into her car. Shipman was able to escape unharmed.
One of the most sensational elements of the story was the rumor that Nowak had been wearing a diaper during her journey. Time reported that Nowak was quoted in a police report telling an officer that she had purchased diapers so she wouldn't have to stop during her journey. Soon media outlets began to report that Nowak had worn a maximum absorbency garment, an adult diaper astronauts often used during takeoff and reentry. Nowak's attorney called the story "an absolute fabrication." Although Nowak was initially charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, her charges were downgraded to burglary and misdemeanors. In court, Shipman said she believed Nowak had been planning to kill her. "It was in her eyes: a blood-chilling expression of limitless rage and glee," she said. Nowak pleaded guilty and served a year of probation. In 2019, Natalie Portman and Jon Hamm starred in Lucy in the Sky, a film loosely based on Nowak's life.
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5. Despite what you might believe after watching The Greatest Showman, P.T. Barnum was not a good guy. He had a long history of animal cruelty and was known for mistreating enslaved people and people with disabilities. He even reportedly hated the people who paid money to come see his exhibits. Barnum was allegedly frustrated that people were taking their time during visits to his museum, so he decided to post signs reading "This Way to the Egress" all over the place. He (correctly) believed that most of the visitors wouldn't know that "egress" meant "exit," so when they followed the signs, they ended up unknowingly leaving the entire museum. As a result, many people paid to reenter, bringing home even more money for Barnum.
6. Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is essentially History 101 in song form. The track name-drops 118 historical events from 1949 to 1989, including everything from pivotal moments in the civil rights movement to details from sports and pop culture history. Joel was inspired to write the song after having a conversation with Sean Lennon, who was then in his 20s, while in the recording studio. One of Lennon's friends allegedly said that it was a terrible time to be a young person. Joel, who was about to turn 40, reportedly said that his own younger years hadn't been that easy either.
After the conversation, Joel decided to write a song featuring some of the world's biggest moments, ranging from the year of his birth to his 40th birthday. The song begins with a reference to Harry Truman, who was president when Joel was born, then mentions several Cold War events before chronicling moments like the rise of Elvis Presley, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, NASA reaching the moon, Woodstock, Watergate, and the AIDS crisis. The song's title and chorus of "We didn't start the fire, it was always burning since the world's been turning," refers to how Joel believed that the chaos of the world is constant. Although the song was successful, Joel later criticized the track, calling it "terrible musically."
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7. Coney Island's skyline looked a lot different back in the 1800s. The Brooklyn boardwalk was once home to a 200-foot-tall elephant-shaped hotel! The hotel, known as the Elephantine Colossus, was built in 1885 and contained 31 rooms, a concert hall, and a museum. The elephant's head housed an observatory, and its eyes served as telescopes. The real kicker was that the hotel was built several years before the Statue of Liberty was completed, so the giant elephant was often the first thing immigrants saw when they reached New York. At some point, the hotel was seen as gimmicky and lost most of its clientele. Soon, sex workers began moving in. In 1896, Elephantine Colossus burned down and was never rebuilt.
8. During Ronald Reagan's 1966 California gubernatorial campaign, he began eating jelly beans in an attempt to curb his pipe-smoking habit. His jelly beans of choice were the Goelitz Mini Jelly Beans from the Herman Goelitz Candy Co. Once the company caught wind of Reagan's love for the treat, they began to send the politician a monthly shipment of candy and even gifted the governor with a custom jelly bean jar. After Reagan's two terms as governor ended, the company continued to send him jelly beans. In 1976, Goelitz debuted their latest creation: the Jelly Belly. Within two years, Reagan's entire jelly bean shipment shifted to include only Jelly Belly jelly beans.
Reagan's love for jelly beans persisted through his presidential election in 1980, as did his monthly deliveries. For his inauguration, the brand sent three and a half tons of red, white, and blue jelly beans to Washington. In 1981, the company was given permission to create a jelly bean jar featuring the presidential seal. Reagan would often give these jars to White House visitors as gifts. "You can tell a lot about a fella’s character by whether he picks out all of one color or just grabs a handful," Reagan told interviewers. During Reagan's two terms as president, there was a standing order for 720 bags of jelly beans to be sent to the White House each month. Toward the end of his presidency, Reagan began eating M&M's instead, but the company (now known as the Jelly Belly Candy Co.) bore no ill will toward Reagan — there's even a shrine to him at the factory.
9. There are two main groups of whales: baleen whales, which include species like the blue whale and the humpback whale; and toothed whales, consisting of orcas, belugas, and sperm whales. While you probably guessed that toothed whales are named as such because they have teeth, baleen whales have baleen plates in their mouths, which help them filter out krill and other food. Toothed whales also have a "melon" in their foreheads. The melon is a mass of tissue that helps with communication and is crucial for echolocation, which they use to find food and to navigate underwater.
10. In 1997, construction on Disneyland's California Adventure Park was halted after Princess Diana was killed in a limo accident in a Paris tunnel on Aug. 31. California Adventure was supposed to include a ride called Superstar Limo, which involved guests boarding a limo and embarking on a high-speed chase through some of Los Angeles's biggest landmarks in order to get to the Disney offices in time to sign a huge movie contract. Riders also had to evade the paparazzi. Once the ride ended, passengers were encouraged to buy mock tabloids featuring the pictures the "paparazzi" had taken of them. Following Diana's death, Disney knew they could no longer debut the ride. Soon, they began to brainstorm alternative ideas to replace the limo theme.
The issue? Disney was quickly running out of the money that had been earmarked for the attraction. In an attempt to stay on budget, park executives decided that they would merely alter the existing ride so it wouldn't be seen as offensive. They decided to remove the chase element from the ride. Instead, it became a slow limo ride that encouraged passengers to take in the elaborate set. This plan caused another problem to arise: The set looked great at high speeds but wasn't very impressive once the ride slowed down. As a quick fix, the set was filled with inside jokes and cameos from celebrities Disney already had under contract, including Joan Rivers, Cindy Crawford, and Jackie Chan. The ride even included a dig at rival production company DreamWorks, with a sign reading "DreamJerks."
When California Adventure opened in 2001, Disney CEO Michael Eisner told the media that while all of the other park rides were "high-tech," Superstar Limo was decidedly "low-tech." Many agreed, and the ride was widely panned. The New York Times called it "probably the schlockiest attraction" at the park, and many of the park's guests vocalized their distaste for the ride. Executives knew they had to change up Superstar Limo. They considered swapping elements to make it Goofy-themed, and later discussed changing the ride's name to "Miss Piggy's Superstar Limo" after Disney acquired the Muppets in 2002. In 2005, the ride finally reopened as "Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!" Disney was even able to reuse the celebrity figurines by dressing them in hazmat suits to fit the Monsters, Inc. theme.
11. Donald Gorske, who is known as the ultimate Big Mac fan, has reportedly eaten at least one McDonald's Big Mac every day for the past 50 years. As of May 2022, Gorske believes he has consumed about 32,340 Big Macs. He told Guinness World Records that he typically eats two Big Macs a day, although he revealed that at one point, his daily diet included nine burgers! "May 17, 1972, was the day I got my first car," Gorske said. "I drove to McDonald’s, ordered my first three Big Macs, went in the car, and ate them. And I said right there that I’m gonna probably eat these the rest of my life, and I threw the cartons in the backseat and started counting them from day one." Despite his Big Mac diet, Gorske and his wife say that doctors have given him a clean bill of health.
Today's the day for Don Gorske! 🚨 He has eaten a Big Mac from @McDonalds EVERY DAY for the last 50 YEARS! 🍔 Here's his story 👇