Neatorama and mental_floss: Show off your smarts!

Posted by Miss Cellania in Mentalfloss on December 6, 2007 at 4:10 am


rhesusGet out your thinking cap and get ready to win free stuff because this week Neatorama and mental_floss are teaming up to challenge you to SHOW OFF YOUR SMARTS!

Each day we’ll throw out a topic and all you have to do is come up with the smartest, funniest, most interesting fact related to it.  Simply enter your fact in the comment below and if yours get chosen, you’ll win a brand new prize from the mental_floss store (along with endless bragging rights!). One fact per comment, but you can enter as many facts as you’d like.

Today’s topic: Holiday movie and music-related facts. Dazzle us with your knowledge of obscure trivia about holiday entertainment!

Here are two examples to get your mojo working:

When “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was first shown on TV in 1965, Coca-Cola sponsored the broadcast. A few animated sequences with the Coke logo were edited out of future airings of the special.

The 1984 charity all-star single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” by Band Aid continued to sell after the holiday ended. The record peaked at #13 on the Billboard chart the week of January 19, 1985.

Today’s prize: The awesome There’s no right way to eat a rhesus T-shirt.

And even if you don’t have a winning fact, mental_floss is giving Neatorama readers a special discount in the mental_floss store. This week only, visit mentalfloss.com/store and get 15% off anything in the store by entering "neatorama" into the coupon code.

Good luck, guys!

And congrats to yesterday’s winner, Mandie on her Debbie Downer fact. After working our way through a heap of terrific entries, her submission: “A ‘downer’ is a farm animal that is too sick or injured to stand and walk” left us positively, well, negative. We’ll be sending her a mental_floss tee, and using that comment to spur awkward pauses in plenty of conversations this holiday season.


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71 comments to "Neatorama and mental_floss: Show off your smarts!"

  1. picturelooker
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:31 am

    September 11, 1977 David Bowie teams up with Bing Crosby to perform a medley of "Peace on Earth / The Little Drummer Boy" on a television special entitled Bing Crosby’s Merrie Olde Christmas. The pairing of these two was unexpected, but unforgettable... Crosby died just a little over a month after the recording was made.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-OTQmVOqJU

  2. SarahS
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:56 am

    From the movie "A Christmas Story":

    For the scene in which Flick's tongue sticks to the flagpole, a hidden suction tube was used to safely create the illusion that his tongue had frozen to the metal.

  3. quinnn
    December 6th, 2007 at 5:00 am

    the scene that SarahS talked about actually happened. My grandfather-in-law went to Harding School in Hessville with Jean Sheppard (the writer of A Christmas Story and others) and claimed to have witnessed the deed.

  4. Fitz
    December 6th, 2007 at 5:22 am

    "Christmas in the Stars" was the title of a now out-of-print Star Wars themed Christmas album. C-3PO and R2D2 were the central characters, and were in fact voiced by original actors Anthony Daniels and Ben Burtt, respectively. The album featured horrid reworkings of classic Christmas songs ("R2D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas") along with even worse originals ("What Can You Get A Wookie for Christmas [When He Already Owns a Comb], which manages to be as bad as the title suggests. (Sample lyric: 'No, he'll never wear galoshes / or a hat upon his furry dome'). This is all interspersed with "dialogue" between 3PO and R2, about bells, Santa Claus, the improbability of Christmas existing, and the like. As if this couldn't get any better, the album also features a teenage Jon Bon Jovi (listed as 'John Bongiovi') singing lead on "RJD2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas". Reportedly, this is the earliest recording of Jon Bon Jovi.

    Here's a link I found on Megaupload (via Google) to a .ZIP file containing the entire album. http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XR0H92DW

  5. jcastle
    December 6th, 2007 at 5:38 am

    I used to work at a primate research center. In the huge football field-sized pens (free range monkeys), sometimes fights would break out. We'd have to go in after the fight and pick up the "Rhesus pieces" .. sad but thats nature.

  6. Jamie White
    December 6th, 2007 at 5:59 am

    Vacation by The Go-Go's (August 1982) was the first cassette-single ever to be released.

  7. k
    December 6th, 2007 at 6:25 am

    Paul McCartney stated that he is now embarrassed about "Wonderful Christmastime", yet it still gets heavy airplay every year.

  8. Dan
    December 6th, 2007 at 6:57 am

    There is a pornographic film called "Jingle Balls". I think the plot has something to do with naughty lists.

  9. Jim
    December 6th, 2007 at 7:01 am

    Many people know that Boris Karloff narrated the 1966 "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" - it says so right at the beginning. What many don't know is that Thurl Ravenscroft did the singing ("You're a mean one, Mister Grinch").

    Mr. Ravenscoft is best known as the voice of Tony the Tiger for Frosted Flake commercials.

  10. Rev J
    December 6th, 2007 at 7:39 am

    In 1977 Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey aired. It was the first animated television program that Brenda Vaccaro, who voiced Tilly, worked on; in later years she would become the voice for Bunny Bravo on the TV series Johnny Bravo.

  11. nick
    December 6th, 2007 at 8:08 am

    The late Jean Sheppard, who wrote the series of short stories upon which the movie "A Christmas Story" was based, narrates the movie and also has a cameo in the scene where Ralphie and Randy are going to see Santa. (Sheppard is the guy who tells them to go to the back of the line).

  12. nick
    December 6th, 2007 at 8:17 am

    “A Christmas Story” Inspired the creation of “The Wonder Years” television show.

  13. MoonCake
    December 6th, 2007 at 8:25 am

    In 1752, 11 days were dropped from the year when the switch was from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. The December 25 date was effectively moved 11 days backwards. Some Christian church sects, called Eastern Orthodox, still celebrate Christmas on January 7 (previously Dec. 25 of the Julian calendar.)

    http://www.geocities.com/carolmdieter/xmas.htm

  14. MoonCake
    December 6th, 2007 at 8:31 am

    also-- St. Nicklaus was the first "Santa" in Germany. He would visit on December 8 every year putting toys and nuts in the children's wooden clogs that were set at the foot of their beds. They would use longs socks sometimes instead of the shoes and hang them over the foot of their bed or over the fireplace, hence the creation of the stocking. My family used to celebrate December 8th every year when I was little, and I never understood why Santa came twice in December when he could just get us all in one trip (on Dec 25th). My parents did not know the orinin of St. Nicklaus, and were unable to explain how he was different from Santa.

  15. noelle
    December 6th, 2007 at 8:31 am

    CBS was initially opposed to A Charlie Brown Christmas because it addressed challenging themes not entirely suitable for television at the time: Besides the frank expressions of alienation that Peanuts had embraced from the beginning, the show raised questions not only about the commercialization of Christmas ("A racket run by a big eastern syndicate," Lucy confides to Charlie Brown) but about faith itself. And the network execs just didn't think jazz and Christmas were suited together.

  16. Clinton Labombard
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:19 am

    Bee's wax is an effective temporary tooth cavity filler.

  17. amanderpanderer
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:27 am

    The song/story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was written as a promotion for Montgomery Ward, by an employee, Robert May, who originally received no royalties. May's cousin wrote the music to the song.

    Orignally Rudolph was not one of Santa's Reindeer (as in the Rankin and Bass holiday special), he was just a plain old reindeer with a very shiny nose who got the chance to fly for one night.

  18. amanderpanderer
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Over 40 minutes of the holiday horror movie "Silent Night, Deadly Night II" is composed of flashbacks from the first film. The film is only 88 minutes long.

  19. mrharvey
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:50 am

    The Barnum's animal crackers that we all enjoy were originally created as ornaments for the Christmas tree. This is why they have that weird strap over the top of the box.

  20. Dan
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:50 am

    Bob Wells wrote the first stanza of the song that would become "The Christmas Song" on a hot July day in 1945. When his songwriting partner, Mel Torme, saw the lyrics, Wells answered that it was such a hot day he thought he ought to write about Christmas. They finished writing the song together in 45 minutes. It is one of the most recorded songs of all time.

  21. jennyrobinson2
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:58 am

    "A Christmas Story" is partially based on Jean Shepherd's book "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash", which is a collection of short stories that Jean Shepherd wrote for "Playboy" magazine during the 1960s.

  22. jennyrobinson2
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:05 am

    In the movie "Bad Santa," Sarah Silverman appears in a deleted scene portraying a Santa Trainer.

  23. el Gordo
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:06 am

    "Donner" and "Blitzen" were originally named "Dunder" and "Blixem".

  24. Kate Hansen
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:08 am

    So, I've been reading your site for a long time now. It really helps alleviate the boredom at work!! I really like the shirt and hope that I can win it!!! Well, on with the facts:

    When the movie "A Christmas Story" was being cast, Jack Nicholson was given the script and was very much interested in the role of Mr. Parker, "The Old Man", according to director, Bob Clark. However, Clark didn't learn of this until later and the studio didn't want to pay Nicholson's fee anyway, which would have doubled the budget. Regardless, Clark says that Darren McGavin was still the better choice and was born to play the role.

    Can you just imagine what the Christmas Story would be like if Jack Nicholson had been cast instead?? I wonder if it would be as popular!!!

  25. Michael
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:12 am

    Copyright on the film "It's a Wonderful Life" lapsed in 1974 due to clerical errors, effectivly allowing the film's images to enter the Public Domain. Unfortunately the film as a complete work cannot be distributed freely, since it is a derivitive work of a published story ("The Greatest Gift") which did have it's copyright propperly renewed.

  26. Pudifoot
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:15 am

    If you play "It's a Wonderful Life" backwards, you hear demonic messages.

  27. Meghan
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:22 am

    "Jingle Bells" was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs.

  28. dpep
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:25 am

    If you received all of the gifts in the song "The Twelve Days of Christmas", you would receive 364 presents.

  29. dpep
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:31 am

    In "It's A Wonderful Life" where Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell) is leaving George's house drunk, he walks off camera and sounds as if he stumbles over a pile of garbage cans. In reality a young crew member had dropped some equipment at the moment Mitchell walked off camera. Both Mitchell and Stewart continued the scene with Mitchell improvising the line "I'm alright! I'm all right." If you look closely at Stewart's reaction you will see him laugh but he stays in character. The crewman believed he was about to be fired but Capra liked the moment so much he kept it in the film and gave the crewman a $10 bonus.

  30. dpep
    December 6th, 2007 at 10:35 am

    According to the Guinness Book of World Records, "White Christmas" has sold more than 100 million copies around the world. The song was written by Irving Berlin and recorded by Bing Crosby for the 1942 musical Holiday Inn.

    The song appeared again in the 1954 film White Christmas, which starred Crosby. According to the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP), there are more than 500 versions of "White Christmas" in dozens of languages, making it the most recorded holiday song.

    Released annually since 1942, the song's last chart appearance was in 1998, when it reached number 29 in the United Kingdom.

  31. Wilford
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:02 am

    In the 1988 movie, Scrooged, starring Bill Murray, the ghost of Christmas Past is played by none other than David Johansen, ex-singer of the New York Dolls, who had only a year before put out his first album under the pseudonym Buster Poindexter.

  32. Wilford
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:11 am

    The very first Christmas movie was "The Night Before Christmas" released in 1906. It was a silent adaptation of the poem of the same name by Clement C. Moore .

  33. Thomas
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:33 am

    If you play that Alvin and the Chipmunks record (the 78) at 33 1/3 rpm, all the chipmunks sound like regular people, and the guy with them that yells at Alvin sounds like their infernal master.

  34. anon
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:34 am

    For the last two years, the city of Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has been trying to find a suitable location for "SantaClaus is coming to town", a statue commissioned from the American artist Paul McCarthy, at a cost of 280,000 euros, of a Santa Claus holding a small Christmas tree in one hand. Problem: the statue resembles a gnome holding a sex toy.

    http://kabouterbuttplug.nl/
    http://www.ad.nl/rotterdam/article24378.ece
    http://rotterdamdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2006/06/boymans-van-beuningen- santa-claus-last.html

    Artist McCarthy, no stranger to controversy, has not been resting on his laurels--his followup statue, "Santa Claus with a Buttplug," was openly displayed in Antwerp in 2007, and this year he is marketing a line of chocolates molded after the statue.

    http://www.theworldsbestever.com/2007/11/paul_mccarthy_chocolates.php

  35. Reuben
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:54 am

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the only James Bond movie set during Christmas.

  36. Jeffry
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:55 am

    Jimmy Stewart appeared in more than one Christmas movie. In 1980 he starred as Willy Krueger in "Mr. Krueger's Christmas." The movie is a 20 minute made-for-TV special sponsored by the Mormon church.

  37. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    Patrick Stewart, (famous for his Captain Picard character on ST: TNG, and portraying Ebeneezer Scrooge as well) voiced the introduction to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas-- it can be heard on the DVD.

    Make it so, number one.

  38. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pm

    The lyrics to the song "Fahoo Forays" apparently imitate classical Latin.

    (I only knew this because my roomate is a classics major, and she started trying to translate the lyrics in the middle of the movie. While drunk.)

  39. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

    Two actors from the 60's movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Billie Mae Richards ("Rudolph") and Paul Soles ("Hermey"), are now neighbors in an Ontario retirement community.

    Canada is offically the home of the North pole AND Rudolph.

  40. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:32 pm

    Christmas Carols were banned by Oliver Cromwell, in England between 1649 and 1660. Cromwell thought that Christmas should be a very solemn day so he banned carols and parties. The only celebration was by a sermon and a prayer service.

    Funny how England also came up with Dickens' A Christmas Carol, huh? Coincidence? I think not.

  41. LuAllen
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    Charles Dickens' initial choice for Scrooge's statement "Bah Humbug" was "Bah Christmas."

  42. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Here's a double whammy-- movies and music:

    At midnight on Christmas Eve 1914 (in the middle of WWI,) firing from the German trenches suddenly stopped. A German brass band began playing Christmas carols, most notably, "Stille Nacht" (Silent Night). They then began to sing English carols, in an attempt to create a truce with the allies.

    Early, Christmas morning, the German soldiers came out of their trenches, approaching the allied lines, calling "Merry Christmas". At first the allied soldiers thought it was a trick, but they soon climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the German soldiers.

    The truce lasted a few days, and the men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings, sang carols and songs. They even played a game of Soccer. (Apparently, the Germans won, 3-2.)

    This has been turned into a movie recently, "Joyeux Noël"-- which was nominated for Best Foreign Language film-- and it's beautiful. A lovely testement to the power of love and humanity over war. Especially at Christmas!

  43. Evan
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    Though it's commonly believed that Thomas Edison's "A Christmas Carol" was the first adaptation of Dickens classic in 1908, the British Film institute had produced their version seven years earlier in 1901 entitled "Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost".

  44. Sass
    December 6th, 2007 at 12:46 pm

    "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is a holiday standard, which graces practically every Christmas concert or album. I hear it in the grocery store or the mall at least a dozen times leading up to the big day.

    A very interesting fact about this song - the original lyrics are incredibly depressing. It's from the musical film classic Meet Me in St. Louis, and the song comes at a point when Judy Garland's character is sad that her family is moving, leaving everything she knows and loves behind. The song originally reflected this fact, and was not a happy, nostalgic song, but more a lament. Her life is changing and she's incredibly depressed about it. The classic lyrics ORIGINALLY went, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas/It may be your last...Faithful friends who were dear to us/Will be near to us no more."

    They changed this line, and a few others, at the request of Judy Garland herself, who felt it was too dark for a holiday song (which the character is singing to her very small younger sister, played by Margaret O'Brian).

    (Wiki article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Have_Yourself_a_Merry_Little_Christmas)

  45. Mano3
    December 6th, 2007 at 2:27 pm

    In "It's A Wonderful Life", Jimmy Stewart is really crying when he's at Martini's Bar. Frank Capra did not really like the actual pan of the shot, but he knew he couldn't get Stewart to recapture the moment, so the shot stayed in the film. You'll notice that the scene is a bit grainy when compared to the rest of the movie.

  46. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:29 pm

    http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2006/11/let_it_snow_ind.html

    Just in case you didn't get enough Billy Idol the other 364 days of the year.

    Billy Idol, the Christmas album: Happy Holidays.

  47. KickItKitsune
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:36 pm

    Just in case you hadn't heard it...

    Regis Philbin and Donald Trump made a recording of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

    Oh yes. The Donald. The Philbin.

    And here it is.

    http://www.hostropolis.com/april/mp3/xmas/Rudolph_Trump.mp3

  48. Jeff
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    When "It's a Wonderful Life" debuted in 1946, it was a box office flop. The entire midwest of the United States was slammed with a snowstorm the weekend it opened. This caused the studio, Liberty Films to go bankrupt.

    Now it is the most aired Christmas show ever.

  49. Tanya
    December 6th, 2007 at 3:57 pm

    The snowflakes in "It's a Wonderful Life" were really corn flakes that had been painted white.

  50. Tanya
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:01 pm

    Another interesting fact linked to "It's a Wonderful Life": It was such a failure at the box office that the producers of "Miracle on 34th Street" pushed the release date of the movie, which was originally slated for the 1947 holiday season back to May of 1948...so there was a Christmas movie in the middle of the year in 1948.

  51. Carla
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    Paul Soles, who provided the voice of Hermie the Elf in the 1964 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' Christmas special, also provided the voice for Spider-man in the 60s animated series.

  52. JaneM
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:17 pm

    Alastair Sim was 1 of only 2 people (Sir Seymour Hicks) who played Ebenezer Scrooge in more than one separate production of Scrooge/A Christmas Carol

  53. Steve
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:26 pm

    If you lived in banpo 1-dong, Seocho-ku, Seoul, South Korean in 2000, you could have found a copy of Bing Crosby's White Christmas within 4 hrs by taking 3 taxis and 2 separate trips on the subway (not including return trips). You would also have been able to take a slight detour to the black market in I'taewon (marked by a red door, I swear) and found boxed mashed potatoes and stuffing to fully complete your holiday festivities.

  54. Carla
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:31 pm

    In the original broadcast of 'Rudolph', Santa didn't return to the Island of Misfit Toys, to fulfil his promise to King Moonracer. Viewers complained so vehemently, that a new scene was produced with Santa and Rudolph returning to the Island for future broadcasts.

  55. Kevin
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Matt Dillon cites playing a police officer in the music video for the Pogues "fairy tale of New York" as his favorite moment in his long career. Link provided, last paragraph.

    http://living.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=2228162005

    thanks wiki, Fairy Tale of New York is my favorite christmas song and i knew there had to be some interesting facts surrounding it!

  56. PancakeMan
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:46 pm

    The screenplay for the 2003 movie Elf, with Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf, was originally written in the early 90s, and the role of Buddy was intended for Jim Carrey.

  57. Julie
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:48 pm

    In National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
    The Griswold's neighbor's house is the same house Murtaugh and his family lived in all the Lethal Weapon movies. The houses on this street are on the Warner Brothers Studios back lot

  58. Terry T.
    December 6th, 2007 at 4:58 pm

    "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacaction" was the final screen appearance of Mae Questel (Aunt Bethany), who's film career began in 1930 as the voice of Betty Boop.

  59. nick
    December 6th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

    i think either #42 0r #58 should win. just my vote.

  60. Erica
    December 6th, 2007 at 9:21 pm

    Everyone knows that the best-known Christmas carol is "Jingle Bells." But, did you know that the author, James Lord Pierpont, originally wrote it for a Thanksgiving play? People liked it so much, he put it in a Christmas play, too, and it's since been a Christmas carol.

  61. Orion
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:21 pm

    In the satirical comedy Hebrew Hammer, most scenes depicting reindeer were animatronic, however, in a few cases, live animals were used. As in most films that depict animals, the producers attempted to follow the film with an assurance that "No animals were harmed in the making of this film." The film was sued, however, during post-production to have the disclaimer removed, because one reindeer was injured in between shots, when it wandered into a ladder holding a cameraman, who fell and dropped the camera on the reindeer, breaking its clavicle, and destroying the 5,600 dollar camera. The cameraman was not injured.

  62. Cass
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:22 pm

    The song "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" is a fictional story with a very factual background. In 1914, "The Christmas Truce" did infact take place between the Germans and the British, initiated by the soldiers themselves. In the song, Snoopy has to go fight the Red Baron on Christmas eve. However, the Red Baron initiated a truce and shared a holiday toast. The song even has the initiator correct as it was generally the German soldiers who called over to the British and initiated the truce. In the song, it is the Red Baron (a German WWI hero) who extends the hand of Christmas friendship to Snoopy.

  63. Cass
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    The great Christmas song "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" was recorded in 1953. It was recorded as a fund-raiser to bring the Oklahoma City zoo a hippo. Once the song was released nationally, it shot to the top of the charts, and the zoo got a baby hippo named Matilda.

  64. Cass
    December 6th, 2007 at 11:39 pm

    "O Christmas Tree (O tannenbaum)" shares the same melody as the state Song for Maryland ("Maryland, my Maryland"). The State song was written in 1861 during the Civil war as a poem. "Florida, my Florida" and "Michigan, my Michigan" soon followed.

  65. Vako
    December 7th, 2007 at 12:54 am

    The famous "Sea Monkeys" toy was invented by Harold von Braunhut, a fervent Neo-Nazi.

  66. Leslie
    December 7th, 2007 at 1:28 am

    There's actually a lovely holliday film I'm sure many are unaware of called "War Monkeys" it's about millitary-trained Rhesus monkeys who start attacking and killing people durring Christmas. ;)

  67. Aaron
    December 7th, 2007 at 1:37 am

    In 1966, decades after his career-defining role as Frankenstein, Boris Karloff voiced the Grinch in the animated version of "How the Grinch stole Christmas".

  68. Megan
    December 7th, 2007 at 2:33 am

    The reason that Santa Claus comes down a chimney is because of a story wherein a destitute and desparate father somewhere in Greek-speaking Turkey (circa 300 CE) was going to sell his three young daughters into prostitution. A local priest named Nicholas found out about this, and for three nights in a row, secretly tossed bags of gold into the man's chimney (chimneys weren't so high up in those days; they opened directly above the woodstove). Thus, Saint Nicholas has not only evolved into our gift-giving Santa Claus, but is additionally the patron saint of prostitutes. Or so goes the story.

  69. tomtheman5
    December 7th, 2007 at 10:09 am

    If Santa's toy factory was located at the North Magnetic Pole, he'd probably spend more time packing up and moving than making toys. The North Pole is currently moving 41 kilometers a year - over a football field a day!

  70. majiclyDlishus
    December 7th, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    Santa Claus's origins are from neolithic hunter-gatherer societies in Scandinavia. His red and white outfit is actually what was worn by shaman from this part of the world for thousands of years- but that's not all. Ever wonder what those flying reindeer are about? Well, reindeer actually eat a form of lichen, which after passing through their systems turns their urine into a psychedelic liquid that, when imbibed, gives the partaker a weightless sensation- like flying. This liquid was used by the shaman for divination, and throughout the history of Scandinavian artifacts, we find a Santa look-alike with flying reindeer! Merry Christmas!

  71. Elizabeth H
    December 7th, 2007 at 7:00 pm

    When Frank Capra wrote the screenplay for "It's a Wonderful Life", his office faced Gower Street, which inspired the name of the pharmacist, Mr. Gower.


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