Thursday, October 1: Femme Fatale
JUST ONE THING
by Deborah Elliott-Upton
All good books have one thing in common — they are truer than if they had really happened.” – Ernest Hemingway
Recently I received an e-mail from a friend asking me to share just one thing about me others may or may not know and pass it on to other friends and also back to him. I have no idea where in cyberspace the list ended up and surely more than a few hit the delete button and did not send it on. But, I wonder if they read the list first. For me, it’s interesting to see our heroes, aka famous writers, are just like the rest of us. Outside their lines-around-the-block booksignings and gazillion dollar book advances, do they live normal lives? What trivial oddities about them would be worthy of a list passed from hand-to-hand or e-mail to e-mail? A few I found interesting enough to share with our Criminal Brief readers. If nothing else, they may prove to be great conversation starters or perhaps an answer on Jeopardy! — and you will already be privy to the question.
- Thomas Wolfe died 18 days before his 38th birthday.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term, the Jazz Age.
- Ernest Hemingway’s mentor was Gertrude Stein.
- Edgar Allan Poe not only is considered the inventor of the detective genre, he also contributed to the then emerging science fiction genre.
- When Truman Capote thought he was being charged with acting frivolous, he claimed he was merely doing research for a new book.
- “There Will Be Blood” was based on the 1927 novel,Oil! by Upton Sinclair.
- The Star Trek episode, “Wink of an Eye,” was inspired by H. G. Wells’ short story, “The New Accelerator.”
- Actress and author Fannie Flagg was born Patricia Neal, but had to change her stage name since an award-winning actress already had that name.
- Although born in St. Louis, Missouri, T. S. Eliot moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and became a British subject at the age of 39 in 1927.
- O. Henry played both the guitar and mandolin and was a member of the “Hill City Quartet,” a group of young men who sang at gatherings and serenaded young women of the town.
- During World War II, Roald Dahl worked as a spy for Great Britain.
- William Faulkner was turned down as a recruit for the United States Army due to his short stature (he was 5 ft. 5 ½ inches tall), but he joined the Canadian and then British Royal Air Force during World War I without seeing any wartime action.
- The Guinness Book of World Records lists Agatha Christie as the best-selling female writer of books of all time and the best-selling writer of any kind.
“The one thing I do not want to be called is First Lady.” – Jacqueline Kennedy
- Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare both died on April 23, 1616.
- From a posthumous diagnosis, Dr. Samuel Johnson’s odd gestures and tics suggest he suffered from Tourette syndrome, a condition unknown in the 18th century.
- During the Scopes trial, H. L. Mencken’s satirical reporting dubbed it as the “Monkey” trial.
- James Lincoln Warren once accompanied Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura from Star Trek) on the guitar in a version of Gershwin’s “Summertime”; afterwards, she kissed him on the lips.
- While in high school, John M. Floyd delivered a hearse from Mississippi to Boston (returned home via bus) and once rode in a Tijuana taxi with seven other people, not counting the driver.
- Rob Lopresti once sat in an Irish bar with Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, who heckled the band. Rob shares his birthday with International Talk Like A Pirate Day.
- Steven E. Steinbock owns copies of six different “Beach Party” movies and throughout his life, has enjoyed spending a few hours with Frankie and Annette on a cold winter day.
- Leigh Lundin uncovered a real live fraud perpetuated upon a bank, which at first the bank refused to believe. Later on, as part of the same case, Leigh matched wits with the ‘bad guy’ and successfully decrypted his carefully encrypted data.
- Deborah Elliott-Upton surprised a burglar in her home and barefoot chased him from her house and halfway down the block. He ran much faster than she and was never caught by law enforcement.
So, what is it about you that we would find interesting and out-of-the ordinary? C’mon, share just one thing.
Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare both died on April 23, 1616.
While this statement is technically true, it’s a little misleading. Shakespeare actually died ten days later than Cervantes, because Britain was still using the Julian calendar, i.e., without leap years, instead of applying the Gregorian reforms that keep the calendar accurate from year to year, and was consequently ten days off — in 1616, April 23 in Spain was only April 13 in England!
(There is also a theory that Cervantes actually died on April 22, since the April 23 date comes from the date on his tombstone, which in Spain at the time customarily commemorated the date of burial rather than the date of death. According to that theory, he was buried the day after he died. But I personally prefer April 23, whether it’s true or not.)
Spain adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1582, along with most of the Catholic world, in accordance with a Papal bull. England (and her American colonies) didn’t get around to it until 1752, when the difference had expanded to eleven days. The last country to adopt the Gregorian calendar was the USSR (now as obsolete as the Julian calendar) in 1918, but the Orthodox Church never did switch — that’s why Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on January 6, because according to the Julian Calendar, that’s still December 25. Margaret is Russian Orthodox, and so we get to celebrate Christmas twice every year.
I was going to respond, filled out the anti-spam text and everything, then realizd nothing of interest has ever happened to me.
… nothing of interest has ever happened to me.
Except World War II.
Oh Dick! I absolutely know this isn’t true. Plus, how interesting your life is now that you know us all at Criminal Brief! LOL, just kidding as us knowing you has brought interest to our lives. AND, I’ve visited your blogs and know you are one very interesting guy.
I own a one-eyed dog… And, on a different topic, I once walked halfway through a men’s room before realizing that everybody lined up against that one wall was there for a reason..sigh…it was in a movie theater and all those guys were still laughing at me as we all walked out….I guess most of my interesting stuff is of my own making!
Fun column.
James beat me to the punch with the Shakespeare/Cervantes thing, but I have an addendum. When people complain that we should celebrate Washington’s birthday on Feb 22, not on whatever Monday is closest, you can point out that he was actually born on Feb 11 but changed it when the calendar did.
Hey, Dick. I’m sure you have had a boring, humdrum life, if we skip WWII and Korea, working for the Pinkertons, etc. but this is a chance to say I really enjoyed your story “Deathtown” in the latest AHMM. Very Paul Cain.
I have been threatened by a short woman. Several times in fact. Usually on Fridays, but that is just a coincidence.
Most of my interesting stories are illegal. I feel a little left out.
I have nearly been kidnapped twice in my life and have been stalked by my ex-boyfriend. As a result, I’m currently learning unarmed hand-to-hand combat as well as armed.
In College in the early ’80’s, Jeff Baker crashed a banquet attended by, among others, the real-life model for one of the priests in the movie “Rudy.”
Jeff Baker swears he was once hugged by a ghost.
And Baker is so full of useless knowlege (like: Charles M. Schultz named many of the Peanuts characters after his friends) that his own friends nicknamed him “Mr. Trivia”…
Okay, enough about me…
Well … in college, my (black) girlfriend led me backstage to meet with the poet Maya Angelou. My girlfriend imediately introduced herself to Ms. Angelou and launched into a 20 minute gushfest, at the end of which time she apologized for taking up so much of her time, and turned to leave.
Ms. Angelou looked at me curiously, since my girlfriend had pointedly failed to acknowledge my existence during the past 20 minutes. I just smiled and waved. “Oh, I’m just the token White Sidekick.”
Ms. Angelou burst out laughing.
My ladyfriend hit me.
…to which Ms. Angelou laughed even harder.
I am a 7th generation direct descendant of Charles X of France, and I can’t speak a word of French.
Great column!
A group of my not so nice and orderly friends mooned a sitting president while he was touring our university (his alma mater).
Youth makes you do stupid things, yes?
No wonder the burglar ran fast! He was too embarrassed to admit he’d been chased away by a barefoot Deborah!
Nichelle Nichols! Damn, I really am envious.
Woa! “The Burglar Ran Fast” is a perfect title!
What you didn’t realize is that said burglar was actually Johnny Depp sneaking over for a piratey rendezvous.
IF the burglar had been Johnny Depp, I know I wouldn’t have given up until I caught him…