Today’s category is Business, Advertising and Inventions.
What do the initials SOS stand for in the steel wool soap pads?
What was IBM known as before its name changed in 1924?
Prior to 1953. What product was advertised with the slogan “Just what the doctor ordered?”
What did a horse named Nita beat in a famous race in 1830?
What is the blue crayon in Crayola’s Magic Scents Crayon box designed to smell like?
What fast food chain founded in 1964 was named for brothers Forrest and Leroy Raffel?
What was the only product ever promoted by Elvis Presley in a tv commercial?
What product was first introduced in 1906 as Blibber-Blubber?
How many exposures were there on a roll of film sold with Kodak’s first box camera in 1888?
What was the source of billionaire recluse Howard Hughes’ original fortune?
In 1851, how much money did newspaper publisher Horace Greeley recommend that the average workingman set aside weekly for rent to support a family of five?
What enduring advertising symbol was created by a Virginia schoolboy as part of a drawing competition in 1916?
What was the name of the first deodorant company in the United States?
What was sold in the Burpee mail order catalog when it was first introduced in 1876?
What is Barbie’s full name?
What is the name of the camel on the Camel cigarettes pack?
What colonial American devised the first wet suit for divers as well as a primitive version of today’s flippers?
Why did Proctor & Gamble drop it’s century-old moon and stars trademark from its packaging in 1985?
Who invented wax paper, an electric pen and a process that turned goldenrod into synthetic rubber?
What American used to shoplift from his own stores to check the alertness of his employees?
Ready for the answers?
ANSWERS
Save Our Saucepans
C-T-R. for Computer-Tabulating-Recording Company
L & M Cigarettes
Tom Thumb, the first locomotive built in America. Nita, a part Mustang gray mare, outran the iron horse after its engine broke down.
A new car. It was initially given a blueberry aroma, but Crayola changed all its scents after parents suggested that kids would be less likely to eat crayons that were not food scented.
Arby’s. The name stands for RB—Raffel Brothers.
Donuts—the commercial, for Southern Made Donuts, was aired in 1954.
Bubblegum.
100. The price of the camera and film together was $25.
His father’s invention of an oil drill bit capable of boring through subterranean rock
$3
Mr. Peanut. Antonio Gentile of Suffolk VA won $5.
Odorono—its magazine ad mentioning underarm odor in 1919 led to hundreds of offended women to cancel their subscriptions to Ladies Home Journal.
Chickens. Burpee soon added chicken feed and then vegetable and flower seeds.
Barbara Millicent Roberts.
Old Joe.
Benjamin Franklin
There was a rumor circulating nationwide that the logo-showing a man in the moon and 13 stars—was the mark of the devil.
I found this article from 2017 about Sean Connery on the JustFunFacts website and since his birthday is this month, I thought you’d enjoy knowing a little more about him.
Sean Connery is a retired Scottish actor and producer.
His full name is Thomas Sean Connery.
He was born on August 25, 1930, in Fountainbridge, Scotland.
His mother, Euphemia McBain “Effie” (née McLean), was a cleaning woman, and his father,Joseph Connery, was a factory worker and truck driver.
He has a younger brother Neil Connery, born in 1938.
Sean Connery is of Irish and Scottish descent.
Connery started working to help support the family at age nine, delivering milk and assisting a butcher.
He left school at age thirteen.
Connery joined the British Royal Navy in 1946. Though he signed up for a seven-year stint, he was released from service after three years due to stomach ulcers.
Connery began bodybuilding at the age of 18, and from 1951 trained heavily with Ellington, a former gym instructor in the British army.
In 1953 Connery won third place in the Mr. Universe competition.
At the age of 23, he had a choice between becoming a professional footballer or an actor, and even though he showed much promise in the sport, he chose acting and said it was one of his more intelligent moves.
No Road Back (1957) was Sean’s first major movie role, and it followed by several Tv-movies such as Anna Christie (1957), Macbeth (1961) and Anna Karenina (1961) and guest appearances on TV-series.
In 1962 Connery was cast in the role of James Bond, Agent 007 of the British Secret Intelligence Service, in the screen adaptation of Ian Fleming’s spy thriller Dr. No.
The immense success of the film and its immediate sequels, From Russia with Love(1963)and Goldfinger(1964),established the James Bond films as a worldwide phenomenon and Connery as an international celebrity.
After completing the next two James Bond films, Thunderball (1965) and You Only Live Twice (1967), Connery renounced the role of Bond.
Four years later, however, he was persuaded to return to the role for Diamonds Are Forever (1971), which he declared was his last movie as Bond.
After Bond, Connery continued to work regularly—Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Robin and Marian (1976), with Audrey Hepburn, The Great Train Robbery (1979), Time Bandits (1981), Highlander (1986) and The Name of the Rose (1986), winning a British Film Academy award for the latter project, which was based on the book by Umberto Eco.
Connery finally won an Academy Award (best supporting actor), for his role as a Chicago cop on the trail of Al Capone in 1987’s The Untouchables, co-starring Kevin Costner, Andy Garcia and Robert De Niro.
In Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) Connery played the title figure’s father, and in The Hunt for Red October (1990) he played a defecting Soviet submarine captain.
Connery’s memorable films of the 1990s include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), First Knight (1995), The Rock (1996), Dragonheart (1996), The Avengers(1998), and Entrapment (1999).
In 2000, Connery had a starring role in the drama Finding Forrester, followed by 2003’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a comic book adaptation in which he depicted fictional explorer Allan Quatermain.
When Connery received the American Film Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award on 8 June 2006, he confirmed his retirement from acting. But he went on to perform various voice roles.
Sean Connery has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).
He was knighted by Elizabeth II in July 2000 after receiving Kennedy Center Honors in the US in 1999.
Sean Connery has an estimated net worth of $120 million.
Sean married actress Diane Cilento in 1962 and they had a son, Jason Connery, born on January 11, 1963, he followed in his father’s footsteps and also became an actor. The marriage ended in divorce in 1973. In 1975 he married Micheline Roquebrune and they have stayed married, they have no children together. He is also a grandfather. His son, Jason and his ex-wife, actress Mia Sara had a son, Dashiell Quinn Connery, in 1997.
Connery is a member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), a centre-left political party campaigning for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom, and has supported the party financially and through personal appearances.
Connery stated in interviews that he was offered a role in The Lord of the Rings series, declining it due to “not understanding the script.” CNN reported that the actor was offered up to 15% of the worldwide box office receipts to play Gandalf, which had he accepted, could have earned him as much as $400 million for the trilogy.
Connery has been called “the rogue with the brogue,” and in 1989, at almost 60 years of age, he was named People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive.”
He has two small tattoos on his right arm. One says “Scotland forever”, the other “Mum and Dad.” He got them when he enlisted in the Royal Navy at the age of 16.
Connery used to live in Marbella, Spain, near a golf course where he played daily when not filming. He left following disagreements with the local press, and now resides in the Bahamas where he plays golf much less frequently.
His film production company, Fountainbridge Films, is named after the area of Edinburgh where he was born and grew up.
His favorite Bond film is From Russia with Love, as confirmed to ABC News in 2002.
He wore a toupee in all the James Bond movies. He started losing his hair at the age of 17, and began wearing a hairpiece in films in 1958. Privately and in most of his post-Bond movies he did not wear a toupee.
He was almost killed filming the helicopter chase scene in From Russia with Love (1963) when the inexperienced helicopter pilot flew in too close and almost decapitated him.
Connery said in an interview that during the filming of Never Say Never Again (1983), he was taking martial arts lessons and in the process angered the instructor who in turn broke his wrist. Connery stayed with the wrist broken for a number of years thinking it was only a minor pain… the instructor was Steven Seagal.
He donated his salary from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) to charity.
According to a poll, conducted by British film magazine Empire, he created the worst accent in the history of cinema in the movie The Untouchables (1987).
Connery attended dancing lessons for 11 years under the tutelage of Swedish dance Yat Malmgren.
He was once stopped for speeding by an officer named Sergeant James Bond.
He attained his full height of 188 centimeters (6 ft 2 in) at the age of 18. He was called as “Big Tam” in his teens.
He was a very good football player and played for Bunnyrigg Rose in his younger days. Manchester United’s manger, Matt Busby was impressed by Connery’s play that he offered him a contract for 25 pounds a week.
Smart, sophisticated, and kind, Virgo gets the job done without complaining. Virgos are amazing friends, always there to lend a hand and also lend advice. Practical Virgos are incredibly adept at big picture thinking, and planning out their life, their vacations, and what they’re going to do today isn’t a drag it makes them feel in control and secure.
Virgo has a rich inner life, and can sometimes seem shy at first meeting. A Virgo won’t spill secrets right away, and it’s important to earn a Virgo’s trust. But once you do, that Virgin will be a friend for life. And if you think that you’re dating a shy Virgo, trust that those walls will fall down in the bedroom. One of the most passionate signs, Virgos specialize at connecting to their physicality, and this earth sign loves and celebrates physical connection with their partner.
Virgos expect perfection from themselves, and they may project those high standards on the other people in their life. A Virgo hates when someone lets him or her down, even if it’s minor and unavoidable, like a last-minute cancellation. Virgo signs never want to disappoint the people in their lives, so they may spread themselves too thin put themselves last.
Virgo signs love and are inspired by beauty. They consider what they wear and how they decorate their house to be an extension of their personality. They thrive when everything in their life looks Pinterest-perfect, and although their friends make fun of their penchant for organizing, it truly is the anchor that makes Virgo’s life run smoothly.
Intelligent and a lifelong learner, Virgo loves trying new things, reading books, and learning about the world. They’ll happily sign up for an adult-education course, and they consider an afternoon in bed with a book pretty much ideal. A Virgo prefers an evening with good friends to a huge party, and values downtime just as much as socializing. This sign doesn’t need to fill their calendar to be content.
Virgo’s Love Style
Virgo loves hard, and is always in pursuit of star love the kind where souls, minds, and bodies seamlessly merge. That’s why this sign sometimes gets the (unfair) reputation of being too picky.
Virgo Friendship Style
Don’t be offended if Virgo turns down the first invite you extend although Virgos are kind and friendly to everyone, they may have some walls around them, built to protect themselves and the circle of friends they already have.
Virgo Career, Money & Success Traits
Virgo’s greatest career strength: Intelligence. Fiercely intelligent, Virgos are a manager’s dream because they can both see the big picture and focus in on the tiny details to make a project work.
Virgo Motto
“My best can always be better.”
Virgo’s Greatest Gifts
Graceful, harmonious, and obsessed with making things the very best they can be, Virgo is notorious for being type A but that’s only because this sign knows that everything good can be made great, and that everything great can be perfect. Smart and intensely curious, Virgos are passionate about uncovering the why which is why a Virgo’s friends consider him or her their own personal encyclopedia. Known for their grace, Virgos can always talk their way out of sticky situations, and everyone is charmed by their wit and ability to put others at ease.
Virgo’s Greatest Challenges
Virgo’s desire to have everything be perfect can manifest in frustration when things don’t live up to those (sometimes unrealistic) expectations. Besides occasionally leading to fights with friends and partners, Virgo’s focus on perfection can cause everything even uploading an Instagram photo to take forever. Learning to go with the flow and accept good enough is a constant struggle.
Virgo’s Secret Weapon
Virgo is incredibly hard working. When this sign wants something, they’ll work for it. They’re also good at making the most of things friends look to them to help them with a DIY project or redecorate their home. Virgins push the people around them to be their best if you want a training buddy for a marathon, you know who to call. Bottom line: Virgos work hard, and that work ethic inspires everyone in their life.
I found an interesting article about redheads the other day and decided to bring some of their “facts” here to share. You can find the article and all their “facts” at the link below. (Several of their facts discuss how redheads are equated with witchcraft throughout the years.)
Approximately 1-2% of humans, or about two in 100 people in the world, have red hair.
The ancient Greeks believed that redheads would turn into vampires after they died.
Several myths about red hair have become culturally common, such as “the red-headed step child,” “the insatiable red hair girl-next door,” and “the wimpy redhead.”
In some cultures, such as certain parts of Africa, redheads are still believed to be witches.
Otherwise dark hair may turn red or blond in cases of severe protein deficiency due to starvation.
Red hair doesn’t gray as much as other hair colors. Red hair initially tends to turn blond and then white.
According to George Chapman’s 1613 play Bussy D’Ambois, the perfect poison must include the fat of a red-haired man.
Because natural red hair holds its pigment more than other colors, it is harder to dye.
Redheaded women report bruising more easily than other women of different hair colors.
People with red hair have twice the risk of developing Parkinson’s Disease.
Because redheads have thicker hair than people with other hair colors, they have fewer strands of hair. For example, while blondes have on average 140,000 hairs, redheads have approximately 90,000.
According to Hamburg sex researcher Dr. Werner Habermehl, women with red hair have more sex than women with other hair colors. He also postulates that women in a relationship who dye their hair red may be signaling that they are unhappy and looking for something better.
According to legend, the first redhead was Prince Idon of Mu who, upon discovering Atlantis, was imprinted with the island’s stunning red sunset and leaves in the form of red hair and freckles so future generations would be reminded of Atlantis’ first sunset.
Red hair is a recessive trait, which means that a child must inherit one red hair gene from each parent. Recessive traits often come in pairs, and redheads are more likely than other people to be left-handed.
Some scholars speculate that because Adam was from “red earth” and the Hebrew word for “red” is adom, that Adam was a redhead.
Scholars note that redheads have influenced history out of proportion to their numbers. Famous redheads include Roman emperor Nero, Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, the ancient god of love Aphrodite, Queen Elizabeth I, Napoleon Bonaparte, Oliver Cromwell, Emily Dickinson, Antonio Vivaldi, Thomas Jefferson, Vincent Van Gogh, Mark Twain, James Joyce, Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Galileo, and King David.
The rarest hair color in humans is red.
In ancient Rome, redheaded slaves were often more expensive than those with other hair color.
Satan is often portrayed as a redhead most likely because red was viewed as the color of sexual desire and moral degradation.
In 1995, Professor Jonathan Reese discovered that mutations of the gene MC1R on chromosome 16 were responsible for red hair (known as the “ginger gene”). The gene mutation responsible for red hair in humans probably arose 20,000-40,000 years ago.
Some scholars postulate that the same gene mutation that causes red hair also affects the way redheads respond to pain and anesthetics.
Mark Twain once quipped that “while the rest of the human race are descended from monkeys, redheads derive from cats.”
In Egypt, redheads were buried alive as sacrifices to the god Osiris.
Scientists now report that Neanderthals had a version of the gene that causes red hair but not the same variant as in modern humans, suggesting they did not interbreed with each other.
There is a common perception that redheads could become extinct in 100 years. However, a National Geographic article states that while redheads may decline, barring a catastrophe, the gene for red hair will not likely become extinct.
While Scotland has the highest proportion (13%) of redheads (followed by Ireland with 10%), the United States has the largest population of redheads in the world, with between 6-18 million redheads, or 2-6% of the population.
The gene that causes red hair initially had the benefit of increasing the body’s ability to make vitamin D, which was important for people living farther away from the equator. However, today’s redheads are more likely to develop skin cancer and premature wrinkles.
“Gingerphobia” is a fear of redheads. “Gingerism” is the bullying or prejudice of redheads.
In Michelangelo’s Temptation and in St. Paul’s Cathedral, Eve is initially depicted as having brown and blond hair, respectively. But in both artistic renditions, after she eats the apple and she and Adam are driven from the Garden of Eden, Eve is depicted as a redhead.
Ruadh gu brath is Gaelic for “Red heads forever!”
Some common surnames in the British Isles reflect the frequency of red hair there, including Flanary (“red eyebrow”), Reid (“red-haired, ruddy complexion”), and Flynn (“bright red”).
In honor of Maureen McCormick’s birthday this month, I went digging for info on the Brady Bunch series. I found this article on Biography’s website.
The Brady Bunch: 8 Secrets and Scandals About TV’s Squeaky-Clean Family
Here’s the story about the on-set hookups, arguments and drug use that plagued the cast.
By Colin BertramUpdated: Sep 8, 2020
On television, they were the epitome of the wholesome family. Even when the blended clan of six children that made up the majority of The Brady Bunch did something wrong, it resulted in teachable lessons often delivered by squeaky-clean, caring parents Carol and Mike.
Like many of Hollywood’s classic small-screen series of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the behind-the-scenes goings-on and cast relationships made for far juicier stories than ever appeared on air. For all the sweet-natured shenanigans of the Bradys, off-screen there was drug use, intimate relationships between the cast, hidden sexuality and disputes over storylines.
The Brady Bunch aired from September 1969 through March 1974 on ABC and was created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The series went into syndication in 1975 and has become a rerun staple of cable television. The show followed the day-to-day lives of the Bradys, a blended family of six children thanks to the marriage of Mike Brady (Robert Reed) to Carol Martin (Florence Henderson). Mike’s children were three boys: Greg (Barry Williams), Peter (Christopher Knight) and Bobby (Mike Lookinland), and Carol’s three daughters were Marcia (Maureen McCormick), Jan (Eve Plumb) and Cindy (Susan Olsen).
Mike was a widowed architect and the story of Carol’s first marriage was never fully explained, but the blended group took up residence in a sprawling two-story house – designed by Mike – in a suburb of Los Angeles. Also ensconced in the shag-carpeted abode was Alice Nelson (Ann B. Davis), Mike’s live-in housekeeper, and the boy’s dog, Tiger.
Henderson had a risqué sense of humor
The role of Carol would be something Henderson, who passed away in 2016, would be associated with for the remainder of her life. The archetypal mother figure, Carol was ingrained in the imaginations of millions of viewers. In real life, Henderson was described as fun-loving and having a bawdy sense of humor. “She knew the respect that people had for that character,” Lloyd Schwartz, son of Sherwood, said to Variety following Henderson’s death. “Whenever anybody came up to her to say anything about the show, she was as warm as could be – I saw it a million times.”
Williams took Henderson on a date
One particular rumor from her time on set would haunt Henderson throughout later life: That she and Williams dated and had an affair. Williams, as eldest son Greg, was 16 at the time and Henderson was 36. In his 1992 memoir, Growing Up Brady, Williams recalled having a crush on his onscreen mom. “When those little things called hormones start kicking in, you get excited by even inanimate objects. It wasn’t that I sought to bed her,” he writes. “I just wanted to spend time with her.”
Henderson, a happily-married mother of four at the time, humored her young co-star but ensured things never progressed beyond being work colleagues. They did once go out for dinner but were driven by Williams’ older brother as Williams was still without a driver’s license. “That whole thing with Barry got blown way out of proportion,” Henderson wrote on her website of the rumor/date. “I guess in a sense it was a date, because Barry thought it was. But of course, I had no idea that his intentions were to ‘date’ me. It has made for a good story though!”
Williams and McCormick dated while playing brother and sister
Williams had more luck with onscreen sister Marcia. In her 2008 memoir, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, McCormick wrote of dating Williams during filming, noting that at the time she said to herself, “Oh my God! I’m kissing my brother. What am I doing?”
McCormick turned to drugs when the series ended
Only 14 when the series began airing, McCormick said she battled anxiety and personal insecurities due to playing sweet and wholesome Marcia. “As a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world,” McCormick writes. “Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marcia Brady. … No one suspected the fear that gnawed at me.”
Following the end of the series, McCormick’s fear was still there, resulting in cocaine and Quaalude abuse and depression. McCormick recalls drug binges at the Playboy Mansion, and even being so out of it she blew an audition with Steven Spielberg for a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark. After getting clean in the mid-eighties, she says she has come to terms with and even feels acceptance of her Brady character.
Williams filmed an episode high
Williams, like many teens in the 1970s, admits to experimenting with drugs. Except unlike most teens, the results didn’t end up on television. Enjoying a day off from the set with friends, Williams says they smoked some marijuana. “Then [the show producers] called in the middle of this high to go into work,” Williams recounted during a Brady Bunch convention talk in 2014. Though he regrets it, Williams said the results can be seen in the 1973 episode “Law and Disorder”: “I’m a much better actor when I am completely sober than when I’m high!”
Olsen and Lookinland would ‘make out in the doghouse’
Cindy, the youngest member of the Bradys, was often chided for being a tattletale on the show. In real life, Olsen spilled the beans to News.com.au in 2015 about life on the Brady set. When asked whether any of the kids “hooked up” during filming, Olsen replied that she believed “all of us did … We led a sheltered life for part of the year so if there was anybody to crush on or try to date, it would be our counterparts.”
According to Olsen, each young actor paired up with their opposite cast member on the show. “So, I had Mike and we used to make out in the doghouse when we were nine. Eve always had a crush on Chris, they did kind of hook up later on. And, of course, there was Maureen and Barry.”
Reed was a homosexual in real life and kept his sexuality a secret
As Mike, Reed was the level-headed patriarch of the Brady family, doling out words of wisdom with a kindly tone and fatherly hugs at the ready. In real life, Reed, a classically-trained actor, was a homosexual who kept his private life under wraps, a not uncommon occurrence at the time due to fears the revelation would impact ongoing career success.
“Here he was, the perfect father of this wonderful little family, a perfect husband,” Henderson told ABC News in 2000. “He was an unhappy person. … I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration.” While many on set knew of Reed’s life away from the set, it was never discussed openly. “I had a lot of compassion for him because I knew how he was suffering,” Henderson said of Reed, adding that she believed coming out was not a possibility due to the era they were in. “I don’t think The Brady Bunch could have existed at that time with the public knowing that Robert Reed was gay. I just don’t think they would have bought it.”
Reed disagreed with many of the storylines and didn’t appear in the final episode
Reed, who passed away in 1992, also clashed with producer Schwartz over storylines, and especially the visual gags written into each episode. Shakespearean-trained Reed preferred a more serious approach to the storylines, Schwartz told ABC News. Though Schwartz believed Reed to be “a good actor,” he also felt he “wound up on a show that he didn’t want to do in the first place, and it became more and more difficult for him.”
Reed’s displeasure with the scripts would continue throughout the entire series, culminating in his character being written out of what ultimately became the last episode of the original five-season run. The storyline dealt with Greg’s impending graduation from high school and a prank that left his hair orange ahead of the big day. Reed believed the story to be under par and reportedly demanded the episode be rewritten or he would not appear. The powers-that-be called his bluff and Mike’s lines were divided between Carol and Alice, resulting in Reed’s complete absence from the finale.
Today is National Middle Child Day and because I’m a middle child (older sibling was the favorite, younger sibling is the anointed one and I am the spare) I thought I’d explore what webmd says about Middle-Child Syndrome. (I’ve added comments where appropriate because, after all, I have experience in this area…lol)
Let’s begin, shall we?
What to Know About Middle-Child Syndrome
If a couple has two children and a third on the way, will the birth of their third child affect the personality of the second-born? Some psychologists think so. Here’s what to know about “middle-child syndrome.”
What Is Middle-Child Syndrome?
Many experts who study personality believe that your family’s birth order plays a role in your development. They see “middle-child syndrome” as the idea that if you’re neither the oldest child nor the youngest, you get less attention from your parents and feel “caught in the middle”.
As a result, you may take on certain personality traits that are different from those of your older and younger siblings.
Can Birth Order Affect Personality?
Middle-child syndrome is part of the psychology behind birth order. Birth order ranges from firstborn, or oldest; to second-born, third-born, and so forth; to youngest, sometimes called the last born. Though many experts think birth order is important to personality and family structure, not everyone is on board. [Okay, do they pay these people to write about this? REALLY? I can figure out birth order…1,2,3]
A psychology pioneer named Alfred Adler introduced the idea that birth order affects the development of a child. He believed that how many siblings a child has can affect the child’s potential.
Adler thought that even though children grew up in the same household, their personalities wouldn’t be the same. He said that each child should be looked at as an individual and that each child would differ based on their order of succession. [Succession? Is this a family or a royal family?]
Still, middle-child syndrome isn’t recognized as an official condition. Many researchers have disagreed with Adler’s theories.
Even researchers who believe in that middle-child syndrome have trouble applying it to all middle children. For example, they find that there may be a relationship between birth order and being outgoing. But it is more likely to be true for males than for females.
Characteristics of a Middle Child
Do you, or does someone you know, have middle-child syndrome? Think about whether you know any middle children with these personality traits:
Rebellious. They’re also less religious than their siblings and parents. Still, they’re less likely to act out against their parents. [Middle child here—I am the most religious of all the siblings.]
Sociable. They’re good at being mediators and want fairness in situations. They’re also trustworthy friends and work well as team members. [Okay, they got one right.]
Not as family-oriented as their siblings. They may have a stronger sense of not belonging than their siblings do. So, even though many can be great when working in groups, some middle children can struggle when working with others. [Covering all the bases I see…LOL]
Feeling overshadowed. They come to believe that their parents don’t care about them. Looking back as adults, they express a negative view of childhood. [When you’re not the favorite or the anointed one, you do the math.]
Mobile. They’re often the first sibling to move out of the house. They’re also more likely to move the farthest away. This stems from their feeling misunderstood by their families. [I did move the farthest away– to get away from the drama.]
Not perfectionists. Still, they tend to take up something that an older sibling isn’t so great at. For example, if the older sibling is a scholar, the second-born may focus on athletics. [None of us was athletic, but I am the only one to graduate summa cum laude –or at all—from college.]
Outstanding Qualities of Middle Children
Despite how you may see yourself as the middle child, you will learn how to act, make friends, and come into your own by watching your siblings or peers. But it seems that your status also can drive you to excel. This may come from feeling second-best compared with your older or younger siblings.
Some well-known middle children have been or continue to be great negotiators, trailblazers, and fighters for justice. Among them are Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Susan B. Anthony, Charles Darwin, Madonna, Bill Gates, and Nabisco CEO Michael Gerstner. These middle children used their personality traits to help them gain success. [CRAP…Bill Gates?]
As a middle child, you may not be a perfectionist, but you may be more open to taking risks and to new ideas. In studies, 85% of middle children showed such openness, compared with 50% of firstborns.
You may be more skilled at persuasiveness and debate. You probably can see more than one side of an argument, which makes you empathetic. Some middle children claim that their success is due in part to their ability to compromise.
If middle-child syndrome is real, it might be the middle child’s sense of their own uniqueness that has led to many discoveries, important theories, and social movements.
SOURCE: webmd
[Pat’s Note: Too many ifs, maybes, and mights in there for me to take seriously. And the whole “succession” thing takes sibling rivalry to a whole other level. We are who we are in my opinion, but then I’m not profiting from my opinions either…lol]
In honor of Lucille Ball’s birthday, I present an article containing fascinating facts about the lovely comedienne.
From the sheknows website, by author Allison Koerner October 14, 2017:
Ball was revolutionary in more ways than one, especially when it came to transforming the entertainment industry for women. As she once said, “I am not funny… What I am is brave.” We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
She showed that women can be funny. She showed that women can be the lead of their own show and their own lives. She showed that goofiness is attractive. She showed that one woman can do wonders for other women. Ball absolutely deserves all of the recognition.
Obviously, fans of the show know the Lucy Ricardo they’ve seen and continue to watch on the small screen, but do they know the real Lucille Ball? If not, it’s time to get to know her even better.
She was the first woman to run a major production company
According to the New York Daily News, after Ball and Desi Arnaz divorced in 1960, she bought out Arnaz’s shares of Desilu for $2.5 million, making her the first female CEO of a major production company. Per the outlet, she later sold her Desilu shares to Paramount Studios for $17 million. Then, in 1967, Ball founded Lucille Ball Productions, according to Turner Classic Movie network.
She didn’t win that many awards
Even though she scored 13 Emmy nominations between I Love Lucy and The Lucy Show, she only took home a total of four Emmys. As for the Golden Globes, she was nominated six times, but never for I Love Lucy. Rather, she was recognized for The Facts of Life, The Lucy Show, Yours, Mine and Ours, Here’s Lucy and Mame. In 1979, she was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
She did win this award
In 1977, with Nancy Malone, Eleanor Perry and Norma Zarky, Ball was one of the first recipients of the Women in Film Crystal Award. According to the official website, Women in Film is all about “promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global media.”
Her father died from typhoid fever
According to an excerpt from Stefan Kanfer’s 2003 book titled Ball of Fire (via The New York Times), Ball’s father died from typhoid fever in 1915 at only 28 — and it rightfully stayed with her the rest of her life. “Lucille retained only fleeting memories of that day, all of them traumatic,” Kanfer writes. “A picture fell from the wall; a bird flew in the window and became trapped inside the house. From that time forward she suffered from a bird phobia. Even as an adult, she refused to stay in any hotel room that displayed framed pictures of birds or had wallpaper with an avian theme.”
Her life completely changed at 16
As revealed in her memoir, Love Lucy (via Huffington Post), in 1927, her grandfather bought her brother, Freddy, a gun for his birthday. While her grandfather was teaching Freddy and his “little girlfriend” Johanna how to use the gun, Ball said, it went off and hit their 8-year-old next door neighbor, Warner Erickson. The bullet severed his spinal cord. The Erickson family filed a lawsuit, and as Ball wrote, “They took our house, the furnishings that [Ball’s mother] DeDe had bought so laboriously on time, week after week, the insurance — everything. My grandfather never worked again. The heart went out of him. It ruined Celoron for us; it destroyed our life together there.”
She wasn’t always “Lucille Ball”
Remember how Lucy Ricardo sometimes went by Lucille McGillicuddy (her maiden name)? Well, Ball once used the name Diane Belmont, according to The Los Angeles Times. “I always loved the name Diane and I was driving past the Belmont race track, and the names seemed to fit together,” she said.
She’s connected to the Salem Witchcraft Trials
According to NPR, Ball was a descendant of those accused as witches during the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. “A lot of celebrated Americans, it has been determined, were descended from the accused witches, including Walt Disney, Clara Barton and Lucille Ball,” the outlet reports.
She defied ageism
When I Love Lucy first began in 1951, Ball was 40. As it unfortunately still is, that was a big deal back in the day, especially since it’s known that a woman over 40 in Hollywood has a harder time finding work compared to younger women and also men.
She fought for TV’s first interracial couple
Did you know that Ball and Arnaz made TV history as the first interracial couple? Ball also had to fight to keep Arnaz as her TV husband.
Kathleen Brady, author of Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball, told NPR in February 2014 that CBS didn’t want Arnaz, especially since the network was unsure about his accent and Cuban heritage. “CBS and its sponsor, Philip Morris cigarettes, were adamantly opposed to this,” Brady said. “They said that the American public would not accept Desi as the husband of a red-blooded American girl.” However, Ball defended Arnaz, and according to Brady, she told CBS that they’d have to either cast them both or neither of them.
She wasn’t a natural redhead
Believe it or not, but Ball wasn’t always a redhead. According to Good Housekeeping, her natural hair color was brown and she dyed her hair for her role in Du Barry Was a Lady.
As revealed by I Love Lucy‘s hairstylist, Irma Kusely, it wasn’t easy finding the right tint of red, either. “A lot of people think of it as red — it’s not red at all,” she said in an interview for EmmyTVLegends.org. “She met a very wealthy sheikh and he had heard about her problem [getting the right coloring]. He said he would send her a lifetime supply of henna, which he did! [We kept it] in my garage, locked away in a safe.”
She almost drowned stomping grapes
The I Love Lucy episode, titled “Lucy’s Italian Movie,” is one of the most popular and favorite episodes ever. Well, according to a 2004 letter to the editor at The New York Times, the grape-stomping scene didn’t go as planned. “That was a real-life Italian grape stomper who was Lucy’s vat partner and who almost drowned the real-life Lucille Ball by pushing her down into the grapes and grape juice and fighting with her during the filming of that episode,” reads the letter, signed by Dennis Sprick.
Her pregnancy made history
It’s known that I Love Lucy wasn’t allowed to use the word “pregnant” after both Ball and her character got pregnant. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, she also made headlines by becoming the first pregnant woman to play a pregnant woman on TV.
She’s basically responsible for Star Trek
It’s hard to imagine television without Star Trek, but that almost became a reality before Ball stepped in, according to Entertainment Weekly. “If it were not for Lucy, there would be no Star Trek today,” former studio executive Ed Holly told Desilu historian Coyne Steven Sanders (via EW).
CBS passed on Star Trek, but Ball apparently overruled the board of directors to make sure the pilot was produced, even after it was taken to NBC. The network ended up rejecting the first pilot. However, the Peacock network ordered a second pilot, with William Shatner as Captain Kirk, and this particular pilot was funded by Lucy, as she once again ignored her board. Star Trek ended up making the 1966 fall TV schedule.
She was registered with the Communist Party
As reported by The Los Angeles Times in 1953, Ball was once connected to the Communist Party. Apparently, it was a “short association” in 1936, but her family was investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Ball explained her connection by saying the only reason she registered as a Communist was to please her grandfather, Fred Hunt, a Socialist.
She never needed a TV husband
Starring in The Lucy Show made Ball one of the first women to play a woman without a husband. She could easily lead a show without any men by her side.
She lied about her age after marrying Desi
For those unaware, Ball was six years older than Arnaz, which was reportedly frowned upon back in the day. According to Us Weekly, they decided to handle the situation by lying about their ages. “When Desi Arnaz and Ball (who was almost six years his senior) tied the knot in 1940, it was socially unacceptable for an older woman to marry a younger man,” the outlet reported in August 2011. “To avoid controversy, they both listed 1914 as their birthdate.”
She wasn’t afraid to take risks
In a 1980 interview with People, Ball showed just how fearless she was when it came to her career. “I guess after about six months out here in the ’30s I realized there was a place for me,” she said of Hollywood. “Eddie Cantor and Sam Goldwyn found that a lot of the really beautiful girls didn’t want to do some of the things I did — put on mud packs and scream and run around and fall into pools. I said I’d love to do the scene with the crocodile. He didn’t have teeth, but he could sure gum you to death. I didn’t mind getting messed up. That’s how I got into physical comedy.”
Sew Colorful 