Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

The comic strip Peanuts was originally called Li'l Folks. The great Charles M Schulz created it in 1950, and it soon became the most popular comic strip in history. Like so many of the great cartoon characters we all love, the main characters went through a metamorphosis before they became the characters we are all so familiar with.

Two characters in the comic became the "stars" of the strip, the runaway favorites. The two were, as we all know, Charlie Brown and his dog, Snoopy. The original Charlie Brown character was not the wishy-washy loser we all now know. Amazingly, the original Charlie Brown was quite popular with the Peanuts gang. He was addressed, frequently, as "Good ol' Charlie Brown." Several of the Peanuts girls actually had crushes on him.

And Lucy, who was to become his main nemesis, actually fantasized about getting married to him!!! It even took a few months before he adopted that famous zig-zag shirt. Slowly but surely, Charlie Brown got more and more insecure. And eventually he evolved into the lovable loser we can all associate with.

Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog, soon became the comic's runaway most popular character. But the early Snoopy was pretty much just an ordinary, slightly mischievous dog. Introduced almost immediately in 1950, Snoopy walked on all four legs, much like any other dog.

It wasn't until 1956, six years later, that Snoopy got up and started walking in his famous walk on two legs, like a human would. Snoopy, again, very ordinarily, would sleep "inside" his dog house. It wasn't until two years later, in 1958, that he started lying on top of the dog house, as we remember him. And the first time Snoopy tried that, he had a nasty fall.

Eventually, Snoopy, who originally was a mute dog, developed the trademark "thought balloons" over his head. These enabled readers to follow his thoughts and responses, verbally as well as physically. Over the years, almost in an inverse ratio to his owner Charlie Brown, Snoopy became cooler and more confident.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy became a kind of yin-yang of the two sides of all of us. One side, Charlie Brown, symbolized the lack of confidence, shyness, and insecurity we all harbor, to a greater or lesser degree. And the other half, Snoopy, is the confident, totally-in-control, cool character we all, in our hearts (and fantasies) want to be.

This chart from Jorge Cham of PhD Comics is more relevant than ever. However, I've heard that it only applies to Americans. Link -via Chart Porn

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

 It all happened over 50 years ago: January 6, 1957. The most famous act of "censorship" in television history. Elvis Presley was actually photographed, deliberately, from the waist up only. Why all the fuss over a then 22-year-old?

Well, It is almost impossible to overexaggerate the effect Elvis Presley had on America (and the whole world) 50 years ago. It is a bit hard for our generation to comprehend all the stir the young Elvis created. We live in the "I've seen it all" generation -nothing shocks us anymore. Female mud wrestling, the O.J. trial, the countless sex scandals, snuff films, serial murders, etc. etc. etc. We are all at the almost "impossible to shock" level on this crazy planet.

But in the very staid, conservative 1950s, where the world's top singers were Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and Perry Como, Elvis came on the scene like a tornado. The hip-shaking, gyrating kid from Mississippi shook up the show biz world in a way no one else ever has, before or since. The Ed Sullivan Show was America's #1 favorite family variety show in 1956. A strange marriage of two colossal forces were soon to meet and become show business legend. Ed had previously declared he would never have Elvis on the show, but Elvis just got too big and Sullivan had no choice but to recant.

Elvis appeared on the September 9, 1956 Ed Sullivan Show, hosted by Charles Laughton, who referred to Elvis as "Elvin" Presley. A record audience of 60 million (an 82.5% rating) watched the show, the biggest TV audience of all time at that point.

Elvis also appeared a a second time on October 28, 1956. This time his sandy-blondish natural hair was dyed to his "bad boy jet black" shade, the Elvis look we're all so familiar with. Both appearances were huge, but the "historic" one was yet to come. Elvis' swiveling hips and gyrating body movements had caused a massive stir from these first two appearances, not to mention his concerts and other TV guest shots. TV critics, public school teachers, priests, ministers, and terrified parents all railed against this menace to the world's youth.

And so, for Elvis' third and final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, it was agreed: he would only be photographed from the waist up! Incredibly, the people in charge of the Sullivan Show must have thought this would make the legions of worried adults feel safer and more secure with "Elvis the Pelvis," while the kids of America could still enjoy watching even "half" of their sworn idol.

And so, on that fabled night, the King sang his songs and was indeed only shot from the waist up. Interestingly, and ironically, Elvis' last chosen song that night was a Gospel number. Yes, Elvis, the king of rock 'n' roll, was a deeply, devoutly religious man, and Gospel was always his favorite musical form. He read the Bible on a regular basis. He did not drink, Pepsi being his drink of choice. And he always addressed his elders as "Sir" and "Ma'am." Hmmm ...some menace.

After the legendary show, Sullivan came out and told the TV audience, "This is a real fine boy," as if trying to reassure the nation's adults. As we watch the black and white film clips of the early 1950s Elvis, we are almost amused. Is this what the fuss was all about?

Elvis' performance was definitely great, but "shocking?" Amusing, interesting, electric- yes, but shocking  ---ho hum. I guess it makes us wonder about something else, though. What the heck will future generations, fifty years from now, think when they watch films of us and the world we've become so accustomed to? And the way things are going, what will the world be like at that time?

(YouTube link)

Every once in a while, a summer comes along in which you are desperate and will try anything to get rid of these flies. Luckily, that's not this summer for me. But you can imagine the situations that caused people to try out these methods. Maybe you could use a homemade fly trap:

- Sugar trap. I was optimistic about this one: Dumping a quarter cup of sugar into an open mason jar, then filling the jar halfway with water. The hypothesis is that the flies are attracted to the sugar, then fall into the jar and drown. But I guess the flies here laugh in the face of such low-tech devices, instead preferring to walk down the sides of the jar, sip the nectar and fly out. Two fell in, though. Bottom line: Doesn't really work.

- Dish soap trap. Instead of sugar, pour an inch of liquid dish soap directly into the jar, then add another inch of water. This worked nicely to trap flies. However, not all liquid dish soap fared well. A floral scent didn't attract flies to the trap, but a green apple scent beckoned the flies to their doom. Definitely go for a fruit scent. Bottom line: This works. Be sure to use a fruit-scented dish soap.

Other methods were tried and rated for their effective as well. Link -via Breakfast Links

(Image credit: Flickr user Refracted Moments™)

From how to score a cocktail to where to scatter grandma's ashes, this is your ticket to the real Magic Kingdom.  

1. There Are Dead Bodies in the Haunted Mansion

(Image credit: Flickr user Joe Penniston)

The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland is on e of the scariest places in the park, but not for the reasons you'd expect. In his 1994 book Mouse Tales, former Disney employee David Koenig tells the story of a tourist group that requested a little extra time on the ride so they could hold a quick memorial for a 7-year-old boy. Disney gave the family permission, but it turns out, the memorial was only half their plan. When the mourners were spotted sprinkling a powdery substance off their "doom buggies," the Haunted Mansion was quickly shut down until all the remains could be cleaned up. Amazingly, this wasn't an isolated incident. Stealthy ash scatterings have occurred all over Disneyland. Not everyone tries to skirt the rules, however. Every year, several families ask for permission. According to one Disney spokesperson, the answer is always no.

2. The Cats Own the Night

(Image credit: Flickr user Meredith P.)

Each night at Disneyland, after the sunburned families and exhausted cast members have made their way home, the park fills up again -this time, with hundreds of feral cats. Park officials love the felines because they help control the mouses population. (After all, a park full of cartoon mice is more enticing than a park full of real ones.) But these cats aren't a new addition to the Disney family. They first showed up at Disneyland soon after it opened in 1955, and rather than spending time chasing them away, park officials decided to put the cats to work. Today, there are plenty of benefits to being a Disney-employed mouser. When they're not prowling the ground, these corporate fat cats spend their days lounging at one of the park's five permanent feeding stations. Of course, Disney also goes to great lengths to manage its feline population. Wranglers at the park work to spay and neuter adult cats, and any time kittens are found, they're put up for adoption.

3. It's a Good Place to be a Flasher, Again

The following is an article from The Best of the Best of Uncle John's Bathroom Reader.

The true story of the slave who became the most feared man in the Roman Empire! A noble hero meets a black-hearted villain in battle! A rebel uprising! Romance, adventure, and a cast of thousands!

THRACE IS THE PLACE

As the movie Spartacus opens, the hero is sweaty and bedraggled, breaking up rocks. The voice-over tells us that he is the son of a slave, sold into slavery when he was 13.

Not exactly. The real Spartacus was a tribal warrior from the ancient region of Thrace, which is now part of Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. His tribe was probably conquered by the Roman army -history's a little unclear on this- because he became a Roman soldier. Then he deserted the army, was captured, was brought to Rome, and then was sold into slavery. The year: 73 B.C.

GOING, GOING, GONE

Unlike the movie, where Spartacus was a bachelor so he can fall in love with a beautiful slave girl, the real Spartacus was married by the time he became a slave. His wife, a priestess, was captured along with him. Legend has it that when they were together in the slave market, a snake coiled itself around Spartacus's face as he slept. His wife interpreted the snake as a lucky sign, an omen that her husband would become powerful. But soon afterward, both of them became the property of a man named Lentulus Batiates. Their new owner ran a gladiator school in Capua, near Mount Vesuvius.

GLADIATOR-IN-TRAINING

Some of Spartacus's fellow students at the imperial gladiator school were prisoners of war from northern Europe, while others were convicted criminals whose lives were spared because they were tough enough to qualify for gladiator training. The "school" was actually a prison, with plenty of opportunity to fight with other "students." The men were taught how to handle the gladiatorial weapons: fishing spears, chains, swords, nets, and lassos.

All across Rome, gladiators were big-name celebrities. Wealthy citizens decorated the walls of their villas with portraits of the greatest gladiators. Teenagers swooned over their favorites the way they do over pop stars today. In the ruins of Pompeii, archaeologists found love notes to gladiators that young girls had scribbled on public walls.

But Spartacus wasn't interested in fame. He reportedly told the others, "If we must fight, we might as well fight for freedom." One day they got their chance.

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.


John, George, Pete Best, Paul, and Stu Sutcliffe in 1960

As we all know, there is a time in every performer's career where they are "complete unknowns." Yes, there was a time, really not so long ago, when no one knew or had ever even heard of Frank Sinatra or Woody Allen or Meryl Streep. And so it was with the greatest, most famous, most deified show biz act of the 20th century: The Beatles.

In the summer of 1960, none of the usually-employed Beatles even had a day job. And like us all, the boys wanted to make some money. The then-foursome consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Stuart Sutcliffe played the oddest gig in the Beatles' long and storied history.

In those days, the Beatles were such a small-time act, they didn't even have a drummer: Tommy Moore left the group in May after a traffic accident, and Pete Best joined in August. John, Paul, and George would play guitar and Stu Sutcliffe was the band's pretty mediocre bass player.

Allan Williams

The Beatles, in those days, had a semi-manager named Allan Williams. Williams was one of those "on the fringe" show business figures we're all so familiar with- the guy who was always trying to hustle up a "deal," the guy with the "big dreams," the poor chap who never really got a break.

Anyway, in that summer (July is usually considered the exact time) of 1960, Williams had just opened up a new club called "The New Cabaret Artistes Club." This was what we now refer to as "a gentleman's club," i.e. a high class strip joint. Williams had hired an entertainer for the man, a stripper, to perform that July week. Her name was Janice. She was a stripper from Manchester (in some accounts, her name is given as Shirley).

Allan Williams approached the four "layabouts" and asked if they'd play backing music all week for Janice the stripper. After some initial resistance, the four Beatles had haggled out an equitable financial deal. Supposedly, Sutcliffe was the tough negotiator and got them a fairly decent fee. "Why so much?" Williams had asked them during the negotiations.

Paul had replied, "For the indignity. The bloody indignity of it all!"

A fee of 50p (about two dollars) per night was agreed upon for each musician. That came to 250p for the week per man, i.e. around ten dollars.

Janice the stripper wanted the Beatles to play her usual selected repertoire and handed them the sheet music. That was pointless, as none of the Beatles could read music. It was reputed that during the engagement they played such songs as "Moonglow" and "The Harry Lime Theme" from the movie The Third Man.

Janice was a bit of a tease (being a stripper, of course). After each number, she would bow to the crowd, then she would turn around and bow facing the four teenage boys -stark naked. According to Paul: "She would turn around -completely starkers. We were just lads. We didn't know where to put ourselves."

Not that I know anything about strip clubs (ahem!) but it must have been an incredibly surreal sight in that incredibly surreal week, seeing a smoke-filled club filled with lonely, sex-starved men, in front to them on stage a sexy stripper and standing a few feet behind her, four teenagers who were, in a few short years, to become the most famous and influential human beings on the planet.

Stu Sutcliffe

The week's series of gigs backing Janice went on without a hitch, and the Beatles wrapped up what was -undoubtedly- the strangest gig of their career. The very unusual week was hardly ever mentioned in the countless later interviews given by John, Paul, or George. (As a sad sidebar, Stu Sutcliffe died tragically young in 1962, at the age of 21.)

One wonders whatever became of Janice (or possibly Shirley). Maybe she is still alive. But we can safely assume one thing: Wherever she went, wherever she performed, as long as she lived and breathed, every friend, relative, and acquaintance of Janice heard her stories regaling and boasting about the week she was backed up as a stripper by The Beatles.

Stu, John, Paul, guest drummer Johnny Hutchinson, and George in May 1960

A 65-meter high minaret stands in Afghanistan, built around 1190 CE. It is covered with religious carvings and calligraphy in more than one language. But this ancient and remote edifice is surrounded by the Hindu Kush mountains in a country at war, so these pictures will be the closest you get to it -for now.

Amazingly, this imposing structure was standing forgotten for centuries... until rediscovered in 1886 by Sir Thomas Holdich; then forgotten again and rediscovered in 1957. Then the Soviet invasion in 1979 again prohibited access to the area, and since then only a handful of people from outside of Afghanistan have seen the minaret, because of its middle-of-nowhere location

Read more about the Minaret of Jam and the ancient multicultural city that once surrounded it. You'll also see lots more pictures at Dark Roasted Blend. Link

Kid Casting is a blog that looks at adult movie and TV characters and the children who play those same characters as youngsters, whether in flashbacks or in earlier parts of the narrative. Oddee has collected the best examples of well-done kid casting in their latest list. Shown here are the characters of George Bailey and Mary Hatch from the movie It's A Wonderful Life as both kids and adults. Link

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

Here's your question for the day: In what activity were men once 100% in control, but now women are in almost totally in control?

Did you say, "cheerleading?" Well, you'd be correct if you did. One hundred years ago, cheerleading was an entirely male activity, but by the 1920s (1927 is usually given as the first year), the girls moved in. By the 1940s, girls (and the newly-invented pompon) had almost totally overtaken the males as the nation's cheerleader.

Why did girls so quickly overtake the guys in people's hearts? No one knows the exact reason. Quite possibly, it was the lack of any sports for girls at the time, and they just wanted to get involved. Interestingly, as it usually does, the sex angle played a part. Male cheerleaders still dress almost exactly the same as they did 100 years ago, i.e. full pants, full shirts, and a sweater with the team emblem. The female cheerleaders' outfits, over the years, became skimpier and skimpier.

The well-known cheerleader short shorts or short skirts became the custom. This of course, please the guys in the crowd immensely. Also, by the 1940s, tumbling and gymnastics had become a popular part of cheerleading. The guys would stand and catch the girls, hold them aloft, or throw them up in the air. Obviously, the reverse was not possible, so the ladies became the stars of the act. In any cheering squad with both sexes, the girls inevitably are the center of attention.

Famous Girl Cheerleaders? The list goes on and on and includes Meryl Streep, Ann-Margret, Sally Field, Alicia Silverstone, Halle Berry, Katie Couric, Vanna White, Raquel Welch, Sandra Bullock, and Cybill Shepherd. Madonna was a cheerleader (and a straight A student, too!). Even Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader-Ginsberg (!!!) was once a cheerleader.

Famous Guy Cheerleaders include Jack Lemmon, Jimmy Stewart, Michael Douglas, Steve Martin, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jerry Lewis. But did you know four U.S. presidents were once cheerleaders? It's true, can you guess who they were?

Former president George W. Bush was the head cheerleader for Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts.

Ronald Reagan, "The Gipper" himself, was a cheerleader at Eureka College.

Dwight D. Eisenhower was actually a cheerleader at West Point Academy.

And Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a sad twist of irony, was actually a cheerleader at Harvard in the early part of the 20th century, long before polio befell him.

(YouTube link)

To celebrate the summer solstice, over 8,000 paper lanterns were released over the city of Poznan, Poland. Link -via reddit

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a metal alloy composed of nickel, cobalt, manganese and tin. This "multiferroic composite" can convert heat into electricity!

In this case, the new alloy — Ni45Co5Mn40Sn10 — undergoes a reversible phase transformation, in which one type of solid turns into another type of solid when the temperature changes, according to a news release from the University of Minnesota. Specifically, the alloy goes from being non-magnetic to highly magnetized. The temperature only needs to be raised a small amount for this to happen.

When the warmed alloy is placed near a permanent magnet, like a rare-earth magnet, the alloy’s magnetic force increases suddenly and dramatically. This produces a current in a surrounding coil, according to the researchers, led by aerospace engineering professor Richard James.

One possible application for this alloy is in automobile exhaust pipes, which vent a lot of heat that could be recycled into electric power for the battery. Read more at Popsci. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-06/new-alloy-can-convert-heat-directly-electricity -via reddit

By the hand of Old Red Jalopy, we get to see what some classic movie characters -who happen to be cars- would look like if they were in the new Pixar film Cars 2. This one is, of course, the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. See the other six at NextMovie. Link

The following is an article from the book Uncle John's Ahh-Inspiring Bathroom Reader. For the beginning of the history of professional wrestling, see the previous post, The Man in the Mask.

If you like professional wrestling you've probably heard of The Rock, The Iron Sheik, and Hulk Hogan. But have you heard of Gorgeous George? He was TV's first big wrestling villain. TV made him a star, and in many ways, he made television. Here's his story.

IN THIS RING, I THEE WED

In 1939, a 24-year-old professional wrestler named George Wagner fell in love with a movie theater cashier named Betty Hanson and married her in a wrestling ring in Eugene, Oregon. The wedding was so popular with wrestling fans that George and Betty reenacted it in similar venues all over the country.

With the sole exception of the wedding stunt, Wagner's wrestling career didn't seen to be going anywhere. After ten years in the ring, he was still an unknown, and that was a big problem: Nobodies had a hard time getting booked for fights.

THE ROBE OF A LIFETIME

Wagner might well have had to find something else to do for a living had his wife not happened to make him a robe to wear from the locker room to the ring before a fight, just like a prizefighter. Wagner was proud of the robe, and that night when he took it off at the start of his fight, he took such care to fold it properly that the audience booed him for taking so long. That made Betty mad, so she jumped into the crowd and slapped one of the hecklers in the face. That made George mad, so he jumped out of the ring and hit the guy himself. Then the whole place went nuts.

"The booing was tremendous," wrestling promoter Don Owen remembered.

And the next week there was a real big crowd and everyone booed George. So he just took more time to fold his robe. He did everything to antagonize the fans. And from that point he became the best drawing card we ever had. In wrestling they either come to like you or hate you. And they hated George.

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website.

On February 9, 1964, The Beatles made their American television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. (For those of you unfamiliar, The Ed Sullivan Show was a hugely popular, legendary variety show which ran in America from 1948 to 1973. If you can imagine American Idol or Dancing with the Stars, and multiply it times 20, that was how popular The Ed Sullivan Show was in the 1960s. Pretty much everyone watched the show.

The Beatles had been seen in clips and recorded interviews before this, but this was their actual performance debut on U.S. television. The show was watched by an all-time record (at the time) of 73,000,000 people. The show remains a landmark in television history and is an indelible memory to any of us who watched the historic performance.

The show is, quite possibly, the single most important moment in the history of rock and roll. Like September 11, 2001 or the day President Kennedy was assassinated, no one who witnessed this show will ever forget where he or she was at the time.

(YouTube link)

A Series of Three

Although this appearance is thought of by almost everyone as "The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show," the truth is, The Beatles appeared on the show nine times. On February 9, 1964, on the afternoon of the historic appearance, the boys actually taped an appearance as well, to be broadcast two Sundays later. They sang three songs before a frenzied studio audience, and this taped set was broadcast on February 23rd, making it their third Ed Sullivan Show appearance, even though it was taped first. (For these three-Sundays-in-a-row appearances, the Feb Four was paid the not-quite-munificent salary of $10,000, plus expenses.)

The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, had made sure in his negotiations that The Beatles would "get top billing" on the show. One can only imagine the bizarre irony of The Beatles being billed below the immortal comedy team of "Brill and McCall" (read on).