As a big Beatles fan, I sure wish I was there 46 years ago when the Fab Four appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. Since we haven’t quite worked out that whole time travel thing yet, I’ll have to content myself (and you!) with trivia.

1. Although appearing on Sullivan was a huge “We’ve finally made it” moment for most bands, the Beatles agreed to come on the show only if their travel expenses were covered. Ed and his producers said that was fine, but only if the Beatles would make multiple appearances.
2. In addition to travel expenses, the Beatles also received $10,000, which covered both the famous debut appearance and the other two “multiple appearances” Sullivan had requested in return for paying their airfare. Adjusting for inflation, that’s about a $70,000 paycheck.
3. It’s been reported that 73 million people turned on their television sets to check out these long-haired boys who had been causing a sensation overseas. If that’s true, that was 38% of the population of the United States at the time. Talk about a ratings bonanza!

4. Remember Charlie Brill and Mitzi McCall? No? That’s OK. Neither do the majority of the 73 million people who watched that night. Brill & McCall were the unfortunate act who had to follow the earth-shattering, industry-changing Beatles performance. The married sketch comedy duo pretty much bombed – their audience was rather distracted – and they later said they thought it ruined their careers. Here’s an extra bit of unrelated trivia for you: Brill and McCall are the godparents of Melissa Gilbert.

5. You’ve surely heard that old legend that the crime rate in the U.S. dropped dramatically during the Beatles’ appearance on the show. Apparently the whole nation was so transfixed by the lads from Liverpool that everyone preferred to tune in instead of running around committing felonies and such. It’s a nice story, but according to Snopes, it’s not true. The rumor started when a reporter from the Washington Post snarkily remarked that while the Beatles were on that evening, no hubcaps were stolen anywhere. It was meant to infer that the Beatles appealed to the type of degenerate who would do such a thing, but the meaning was twisted and reprinted by Newsweek. The Post ended up printing a tongue-in-cheek retraction on February 21, 1964:

“It is with heavy heart that I must inform Newsweek that this report is not true. Lawrence R. Fellenz of 307 E. Groveton St., Alexandria, had his car parked on church property during that hour – and all four of his hubcaps were stolen. The Washington Post regrets the error, and District Liner Fellenz regrets that somewhere in Alexandria there lives a hipster who is too poor to own a TV set.”

6. Wasn’t it nice that Elvis kicked off the Beatles’ American “debut” (see #5 for the explanation for the quotes) with a personal telegram? Just before John, Paul, George and Ringo took the stage, Ed Sullivan announced that he had received a “very nice” telegram from the King, wishing the Fab Four “tremendous success.” Notoriously known for being jealous of the Beatles, Elvis had actually done no such thing. His manager, Colonel Tom Parker, was responsible for the note, and only sent it because he thought it would make Elvis look good.

7. As our own David Israel pointed out in September, this was not really the Beatles’ American T.V. debut. They had appeared on NBC’s The Huntley Brinkley Report on November 18, 1963, in a whopping four-minute-long segment on the craze that was sweeping England.

8. Davy Jones was also on The Ed Sullivan Show that night, but not as part of the Monkees. Davy was performing with the cast of Broadway’s Oliver! Jones played the Artful Dodger (and ended up being nominated for a Tony for the role).

9. The Beatles had been gaining steam in the U.S. prior to the Sullivan show: the show was flooded with 50,000 ticket requests for the February 9 show – and it wasn’t because of the show’s other guest, Frank Gorshin (the Riddler from Batman the T.V. show). More than 49,000 people were disappointed because the studio only held 703 guests.

10. If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing the performance (and hearing the ear-splitting shrieks of a crowd packed full of teenage girls), you’re in for a treat:

Now that we know there’s a whole legion of _floss readers who grew up reading The Baby-sitters Club, we thought it was time to discuss the best part of the books: Claudia’s funky—and frequently frightening—fashions. But today’s non-fiction fashionistas could give Claud a run for her money. Can you distinguish between the Claudia Kishi creations and descriptions of outfits worn by celebrities?

Take the Quiz: Claudia Kishi Creation or Fashionista Flop?

On April 26, 1986 a massive accident occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in what is now the Ukraine. A nuclear reactor exploded, sending radioactive fallout into the atmosphere and killing more than 50 people, with another 800,000 exposed to radiation and increased risk of cancer. Around the Chernobyl plant is a 30-kilometer Zone of Alienation (I’m not making this name up), established to prevent people from entering the most heavily contaminated area (and hurriedly evacuated, as you can see by what has been left behind). But people go there anyway, and when they do, what they find is super creepy. It’s your typical post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland, where nature is slowing retaking the cities, and human activity is frozen where it stopped in 1986. Below is a recent video of the Zone of Alienation (also called the Zone of Exclusion). Warning: lonely and creepy, but also beautiful and wistful.

Tropisms > Chernobyl > Lost Souls from POLYMORF on Vimeo.

Advertiser-supported entertainment is nothing new. Since medieval times, people could see free entertainment right in their hometown as long as they listened to a sales pitch for dubious remedies along with the singing, dancing, and side show acts. Sales of snake oil and other patent medicines paid for the show and then some. Like other forms of traveling entertainment, the medicine show lost its luster when people gained the opportunity to go see movies instead. The medicine show had one last hurrah during the 20th century in the form of Hadacol.

The story of Hadacol is the story of Dudley LeBlanc. A born entrepreneur, LeBlanc put himself through college in Lafayette, Louisiana by running a clothes pressing business. Then he put four brothers and two cousins through college as well. LeBlanc sold shoes, tobacco, patent medicine, and funeral insurance. He also ran a funeral home, which benefitted greatly from insurance sales. LeBlanc served as state senator and in the Louisiana Public Service Commission. In 1932, he ran for governor of Louisiana against Oscar Allen, who had the support of Huey Long. It was a particularly nasty campaign that LeBlanc lost. He also ran unsuccessfully for governor in 1944 and 1952. LeBlanc served as state senator for four non-consecutive terms between 1940 and his death in 1971. In the midst of his political career, he also made millions selling Hadacol.

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Their jobs are somewhat similar—and as it happens, so are their names. Can you tell your Supreme Court Justices from your Major League Umpires?

Take the Quiz: Supreme Court Justice or Major League Ump?

There was a fascinating article in the New York Times the other day about violence in the Philippines and its thriving karaoke culture — and the deadly problems that can crop up when it comes to Frank Sinatra. In fact, it’s one Sinatra song in particular that seems to be the cause of so much trouble — and which has played a role in dozens of karaoke-related killings over the years — “My Way.”

The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling “My Way” in karaoke bars in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the “My Way Killings.”

The killings have produced urban legends about the song and left Filipinos groping for answers. Are the killings the natural byproduct of the country’s culture of violence, drinking and machismo? Or is there something inherently sinister in the song? Whatever the reason, many karaoke bars have removed the song from their playbooks. And the country’s many Sinatra lovers, like Mr. Gregorio here in this city in the southernmost Philippines, are practicing self-censorship out of perceived self-preservation.

Theories abound: some say it’s because of the song’s arrogant tone (”I did it my way!”), others claim it’s the ubiquity of the song — everyone knows it, has an opinion on it, and people clearly aren’t afraid to criticize one another’s karaoke skills in the Philippines — while defenders of the song cite the frequency with which it is sung; it’s simply more likely to be killed while singing “My Way” because it is sung so often. Still, rightly or not, “My Way” is increasingly finding itself banned from karaoke bars by fearful owners.

Incidents of karaoke-related violence in the U.S. are pretty low — but can anyone think of another pastime that might have a similar analogue? Britain has its deadly soccer hooligan brawls — what have we got? Bowling-related violence?

In case you’re not familiar with the Turnip, it’s a whimsical Google search, wherein I type a random phrase and we see what kind of interesting pages “turn-up.” As always with this feature, the _floss is not responsible for accuracy. If you know one of the below statements/links to be untrue, by all means, let the world know in the comments below.

Today I typed “more women prefer” into Google, unearthing the following:

Turnip #1

More Women Prefer Dogs Over Husbands – An online poll released shows more women would rather have a pet than a husband.

Turnip #2

The behavior of men in choosing urinals is different from that of women choosing restroom stalls, according to some reports. Whereas more women prefer stalls in the middle section, men prefer urinals to either end of the line, obviously hoping to draw as little attention as possible. Those men who actually choose urinals in the middle (4, 5, or 6) seem to be less self-conscious and less likely to succumb to external influence or pressure.

Turnip #3

Study: More women prefer pretty-boy features on men than rough-hewn look

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The image above is undoubtedly impressive, but the really amazing thing about the picture is the fact that this place doesn’t really exist. Photographer Matthew Albanese takes painstaking efforts to create amazing model worlds out of common household ingredients and then uses tilt shift photography and lighting tricks to make the model become a photo realistic creation.

In fact, the setting above is constructed with faux fur, sifted tile grout and cotton. His website also has a strikingly real tornado created with steel wool and cotton and a stunning volcano created with phosphorus ink, cotton, tile grout, and cotton. It’s most certainly worth your while to explore his entire collection.

Today’s Brain Game is open-ended; there are several dozen correct answers, and your job is to find just one of them (preferably one that someone else hasn’t already offered in the comments). To win the game, come up with ONE word that contains five consecutive consonants. Examples?  BIRTHSTONE, POSTSCRIPT. And to make it a bit more challenging, please follow the “sometimes Y” rule (which states that if “Y” makes a vowel sound, it should be considered a vowel).

Can you come up with a word containing five consecutive consonants?

Please post ONE such word in the comments
(and save any additional ones so that others may answer).