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Ask Mr. Know-It-All By Gary Lee Clothier
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Q: I came across a handbill for a London stage production of "Charley's Aunt." It seems to me there was a movie from the 1940s with the same name. Are they the same stories? -- P.Y.M., Bellingham, Wash.
A: They are. "Charley's Aunt" was written by Brandon Thomas and was first performed in February 1892 in London, where it enjoyed a long run. The show was brought to Broadway and had yet another successful run.
The story line is simple: Two Oxford undergraduate students coerce a fellow student into posing as their aunt, who is supposedly from Brazil, so that "she" can chaperone while the two carry out amorous visits with their female companions. All goes well until the uncle of the girls becomes romantically interested in the aunt.
Can you see Jack Benny playing the role of the aunt? He did in the 1941 film, which also starred Kay Francis, Anne Baxter, Edmund Gwenn and Reginald Owen. The film is available on DVD.
Q: Our family has been keeping a diary since before the Civil War. When one book is filled, a new one is started. The diary is written not by one person but by the entire family, all making entries as they wish. It is fascinating reading.
Someone made an entry about a fellow possibly named Crazy Dalan (I can't read the writing) who went to Boston to play professional baseball in the late 1800s. Do you know of such a player? -- L.S.M., Blacksburg, Va.
A: A player named Patrick Henry "Cozy" Dolan was born Dec. 3, 1872, in Cambridge, Mass. He played for five teams, starting with the Boston Beaneaters in 1895 and finishing with the same team in 1906. He played in 830 games and had 3,174 at-bats with 855 hits and 315 RBIs; his career batting average was .269. He fell ill during spring training in 1907 and died of typhoid shortly afterward in Louisville, Ky.
Q: There is a Diet Pepsi TV commercial with footballer (soccer player) David Beckham and a beautiful swimsuit-clad female in a lounge chair. She notices a girl sipping a can of Diet Pepsi and decides she wants one, but notices the long line at the refreshment stand. She dupes the crowd by tweeting, "At the pier ... just saw David Beckham!" As the crowd wildly disperses, she casually walks over to the stand and orders a soda. She returns to her lounge, and David Beckham kicks a ball toward her and asks, "What's going on over there?" She distorts her face with eyes wide open. Who is this gorgeous actress? -- B.V., Santa Rosa, Calif.
A: Her name is Sofia Vergara, an actress, television host, model and entrepreneur. She currently stars in the ABC television series "Modern Family" as Gloria Delgado-Pritchett, a role in which she has been nominated for several awards.
Vergara was born in Colombia in 1972 and was "discovered" by a photographer while walking along a beach. Her first acting job was at 17, when she was featured in a Pepsi commercial. She was married briefly in the early 1990s and has one son. She's appeared in a dozen movies and has made even more TV appearances.
Q: While in Lancaster County, Pa., we took a Pennsylvania Dutch tour of the countryside. The guide, although knowledgeable, was a bit difficult to understand because of his heavy accent. He pointed out several hex signs on barns, explaining they were to ward off evil. He called this symbol a name that I could not understand -- it sounded like the word "alpo." Can you tell me what the word is? -- K.Z., Lima, Ohio
A: I live in the Pennsylvania Dutch region, and I understand the difficulty of the accent. I think the word is "apotropaic." The first syllable doesn't sound like "alpo," but when said with a strong accent, it just might. The word has Greek origin and means "turning away or averting."
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© 2011, Gary Clothier DISTRIBUTED BY UNIVERSAL UCLICK
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Arnold Ahlert | ||||||||||||
