Quiz: Who dubbed Laurel & Hardy’s voices into Spanish for their film’s foreign release?

Answer to yesterdays question below: Speaking of confessed Wall St crook Bernie Madoff, who and what is a Ponzi Scheme?
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History for 12/20/2007
Birthdays: Bonnie Prince Charlie, Branch Rickey, , George Roy Hill, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Jenny Aguitter, Uri Geller, Irene Dunne, Cecil Cooper, Albert Dekker, Harvey Firestone, John Spencer, Jonah Hill is 25, Elsie De Wolfe*,

*Manahattan socialite and activist Elsie De Wolfe (Born 1860) described herself as the first interior decorator. When she was in Greece and saw the Acropolis she exclaimed; "It's Beige! My Color!"

69AD- Roman General Vespasian occupied Rome with his legions, declared himself emperor and dispatched his predecessor. Aulus Vitellius General of the Rhine was executed, leaving behind little but a recipe for 'chicken vitello'. New emperor Vespasian is the final winner in a long year of civil war that started with Nero committing suicide, then Sevius Galba, Otho,and Vitellius all in one year took the throne and were knocked off. The Romans called A.D. 69, the "Long Year". Vespasian was not an aristocrat like Casear but a humble man who rose up through the ranks. He was once caught sleeping during one of Nero’s harp recitals.

1192- Richard the Lionhearted was returning from the Crusades when he was imprisoned by Duke Leopold of Austria. Leopold blamed Richard for the death of his relative Conrad of Monferrat in Palestine. The King of France Phillip II and Richard’s own brother John send large bribes to the German Emperor Henry to keep Richard locked up. Richard spent the time in prison writing a beautiful ballad” I am master of Gascony, Brittany, Poitoux: So how come no one can get me outta here?” I’m paraphrasing a bit.

1780- Britain declared war on Holland over the Dutch covertly aiding the Americans in their revolution.

1790- The first successful U.S. cotton mill opens in Pawtucket RI, it’s inventor Samuel Slater had memorized British technology for use in America. He also thought child labor would be most useful in his factories.

1811- Napoleon made another attempt to go hunting in the Forest of Boulogne. Even though they were both great generals, Napoleon and Wellington were terrible hunters and bad shots. While hunting, Napoleon shot out the eye of one of his generals by mistake.Wellington constantly shot barn doors and stable boys by accident.

1860- to the sound of cannon and church bells the first Southern State, South Carolina, votes to secede from the Union. Until the Confederacy formed South Carolina calls itself "the Palmetto Republic". Judge Pettigru, who was against this drastic move, said:" South Carolina is too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum."
In Washington D.C. Northerners at first reacted with apathy. One Washington department store advertised: THE UNION IS DISSOLVING BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN’T STILL FIND SAVINGS WHEN YOU SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS AT LEHMANS!

1891-BASKETBALL INVENTED. Minister and former Canadian rugby player James Naismith worried how his students could do team sports in the harsh New England winters. So he nailed up two peach baskets on opposite ends of a gymnasium at a YMCA in Springfield Mass. and invented the game of basketball. He originally asked for square boxes but the man he sent out mistook his instructions and brought round peach baskets instead. The NBA regulation height of the baskets of ten feet was determined by the gym in Springfield having a second floor running track and two nails were conveniently waiting at this height. Naismith played himself frequently and married one of the first female players, named Aemelia.

1892- Alexander Brown and George Stillman of Syracuse New York invented inflatable pneumatic automobile tires, replacing wooden wagon wheels.

1892- According to Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days, this was the day Phineas Fogg completed his trip.

1920- English song & dance man Leslie Downes became an American citizen and changed his name to Bob Hope.

1937- Nazis Josef Goebbels noted in his diary that this day he sent his boss Adolph Hitler a Christmas present of a dozen Mickey Mouse Cartoons from America. Officially der Fuehrer called Mickey ‘vermin’ but privately, he enjoyed his animated antics.

1942- Japanese planes bombed Calcutta, India.

1943- Stalin changed the national anthem of Russia from the revolutionary Internationale to the Hymn of the Soviet Union. (The song Sean Connery and his crew sang in the film “The Hunt for Red October.”)

1945- After the defeat of Japan in World War Two Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an independent nation. This day France said what it thought of this, by heavily cracking down on protesters in Hanoi and Saigon. This began an eight year war against the French, to be followed by a civil war and another 8 year war against the Americans.

1950- Harvey premiered starring James Stewart and a 6 foot invisible rabbit.

1952- Bridgette Bardot married director Roger Vadim.

1955- Sir Lawrence Olivier’s film version of Richard III premiered.

1962- The Osmonds premiered on the Andy Williams Show.

1957- Elvis Presley received his draft notice. G.I. Blues!

1970- ELVIS MEETS NIXON or "The President Meets the King." Citizen Presley volunteers his services in the war on drugs and gave Nixon a gold plated 44 cal. pistol. The President thanked him with a White House security officer's badge for his collection of police badges....... you see why fiction pales next to this stuff.... A recent biography of Presley described the dozen or so patent medicines he was on while he met Nixon.



1971- Twentieth Century Fox chief Darryl F. Zanuck blames his own son CEO Richard Zanuck for Fox's monetary problems and fires him. This sets off a power struggle among the board of directors. When Zanuck's estranged wife Libby throws her support against the mogul Zanuck is overthrown and fired from his own company. He was the last of the original Hollywood moguls.

1977- Mayor Richard Daley Sr, the Boss of Chicago for twenty years, died of a heart attack.

1989- Operation Just Cause, the U.S. invades Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega, for being a dictator, drug pusher and not returning the C.I.A.'s washroom keys. When the general, known to Panamanian citizens as “Pineapple-face” took sanctuary in the Vatican Embassy, the U.S. army surrounded the building and drove him out by playing Jimi Hendrix and Motown through loudspeakers 24 hours a day. Hmm, Tony Orlando & Dawn would drive me out.
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Yesterday’s question: who and what is a Ponzi Scheme?

ANSWER: There were investment frauds before, but Charles Ponzi ‘s fraud was so spectacular it acquired his name. Italian Ponzi came to America after defrauding a bank in Montreal Canada. In 1920 he convinced Wall St investors that his investment corp Securities Exchange, could give them 50% profit on their investments in 6 months. But he never invested any of the money he accumulated, but merely used it to sucker other investors by releasing little dividends back, in dribs and drabs. He was taking in $250,000 a day. But it soon all collapsed and he went to jail.

He was deported to Italy where he became a finance minister for Mussolini. Embezzling money from him, he escaped to Brazil and died in Rio de Janiero in 1949.