Neatorama is proud to bring you a guest post from history buff and Neatoramanaut WTM, who wishes to remain otherwise anonymous.

In the United States, the decade of the 1920’s, aka the ‘Roaring Twenties’, was the time of the Jazz Age, Art Deco, flappers, the Charleston, the Scopes Monkey Trial, a runaway bull stock market, birth of the NFL, Babe Ruth, first widespread use of the automobile, the beginning of airline aviation, Prohibition, bootleg liquor, Al Capone, speakeasies, gangsters, Eliot Ness and the Untouchables, and what was perhaps the single most iconic object of that era – the Thompson Submachine Gun (TSMG).

The story of the TSMG is a complex blend of patriotism, dreams, intrigue, misguided enthusiasm, greed, disappointment, questionable business practices, and significant unintended consequences. It covers only a short span of American history, from 1920 to 1945, but has had a lasting impact on American culture. It would be hard for anyone today to imagine the Roaring Twenties without a ‘Tommy Gun’ blazing away from the passenger windows of a black sedan or police car on some city street, as seen in the 1960’s TV series, The Untouchables.

No other firearm has ever captured the public imagination so thoroughly, both at the height of its notoriety and for decades afterwards, as has the TSMG. Even today, nearly 100 years after its introduction, the TSMG is still the iconic submachine gun and ‘gangster gun’. Its role in Roaring Twenties and Threadbare Thirties gangland violence made it infamous despite the fact that it was originally intended for use “On The Side of Law and Order” and was actually more commonly found in the hands of lawmen than criminals during that time. In 1926, Colliers magazine described the TSMG as a “diabolical engine of death” and the attendant negative publicity kept the TSMG from being adopted as a military weapon until it was almost too late.

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

The first mention of a sound film version of victor Hugo's classic novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame can be traced back to a 1932 news item in the Hollywood reporter, stating that John Huston was writing a treatment of the story for the screen, to star Boris Karloff. MGM executive Irving Thalberg first presented the idea to Charles Laughton in 1934. In 1937, MGM considered making the film with Peter Lorre in the title role. RKO studios made the final decision to make the film in 1939.

Many actors were considered to play the role of Quasimodo, including Bela Lugosi, Robert Morely, and Lon Chaney Jr. Even Orson Welles's name was in the mix, and Welles came close, almost making his film debut as the hunchback instead of as Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane two years later.

It was thought that Charles Laughton, who was in trouble with the IRS at the time, may have been in too much hot water in America, and would be unavailable to play Quasimodo. RKO promised Lon Chaney Jr. that if Laughton was unable to handle the IRS and his financial fiasco, he would get the role. But Laughton finally settled his differences with the Internal Revenue Service and officially signed on to play the Paris bellringer. Laughton had recently signed a contract with RKO and chose this project to be his first film there.

Laughton, having performed with her in London, requested the beautiful Maureen O'Hara to play his unrequited love, the gypsy Esmeralda in the film, and the studio agreed. Sir Cedric Hardwicke signed on to play the oh-so-evil villain, Frollo, and Edmond O'Brien was inked to play Esmeralda's lover, Gringore. William Dieterle took over the helm as director.

Laughton also recommended Perc Westmore to be his make-up man. Ironically, although he was personally chosen by Laughton, he and Laughton were to butt heads many times in disagreement over how Quasimodo should be costumed and made up.

A few years ago, Buzzfeed senior editor Erin Chack pulled an idea out of thin air and wrote a post about Malta. It went viral, and she explains how that can make your life really weird for a while. But she eventually visited the country and had an adventure she never anticipated. This post contains NSFW language.

(YouTube link)

I know what it's like to be desperate for a post idea. Now I think about all those times I wrote about chicken breeds or historical murders, when I should have been writing about a lovely nation that's underrepresented in US media. Lesson learned. -via Metafilter

Rules, laws, and logic help us set up a science fiction universe so that we can understand the story we're about to hear. But following the rules isn't very exciting, and you need excitement for people to want to see your show. And logic can be the enemy of creative storytelling. You can see how this works in the Star Trek image. We take the breaking of the Prime Directive for granted, even though we joke about it, because Star Trek would be boring if the Enterprise crew just wandered the universe observing alien civilizations like they are supposed to. Other examples just show a lack of thought. 

There are 15 examples of how the science fiction we watch doesn't stop to consider logic at Cracked.

The annual Quebec City Comic Con brought out thousands of French Canadian geeks this weekend. Some were there to show off their fandoms and amazing cosplay creations. Our friends from Geeks Are Sexy were there each day, too, to document most interesting costumes. Many of them, like the Gundam at the top, obviously took a lot of work and dedication to bring to life. Others, like the guy below, cleverly took advantage of a natural resemblance.

There were plenty of characters from movies, TV, manga, and comic books, plus some Halloween characters, too. You'll find part one of a three-part gallery of pictures here. Part two and part three will be coming soon!

WhiteWalkerWaterboy noticed his retired neighbor found a novel way to say, "Get off my lawn!" Think this will cause dog walkers to avoid it? Redditors discussed the use of dihydrogen oxide. Alternate names include dihydrogen monoxide, hydrogen hydroxide, hydrogen oxide, and oxidane. It turns out that all are correct, depending on what chemical nomenclature rules you follow. It's all water, even if it's not under the bridge. None of this would be necessary if people picked up after their dogs.

In a collaboration between Les Chevaliers du Ciel (The Knights Of Heaven), the European Space Agency (ESA), and noveSpace (a company that operates a vomit comet), a group of disabled kids got to experience weightlessness, accompanied by ESA astronauts. Ten people with mobility issues were freed from the limits of gravity. It was an experience to remember.

(YouTube link)

From the YouTube Page:

The kids came from five ESA member states – UK, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy – and boarded the converted Airbus A310 Zero G in Bordeaux, France on 24 August as part of this “Kid’s Weightless Dreams” flight. True weightlessness is produced in the large cabin area of this aircraft during repetitive parabolic maneuvers, as in the Air Zero G flights operated by Novespace.

The children also took part in education experiments including lighting a candle, mixing liquids of different densities, playing ping-pong with bubbles of water and working a fidget spinner to demonstrate the effects of weightlessness.

Joining the children were ESA astronauts from their corresponding member states: Tim Peake (UK), Frank De Winne (Belgium), Maurizio Cheli (Italy), Thomas Reiter (Germany), Claudie Haigneré and Jean-Francois Clervoy (France) mentored the children on board and answered their questions.

Two disabled adults, former athlete and German television personality Samuel Koch, a strong advocate for disabled causes, and Philippe Carette, a very active Rêve de Gosse volunteer and pilot, also took part in the flight.

Did you catch the girl who used the few minutes of zero-G to walk? That's at 2:35. The event was organized by Rêves de Gosse (Kids’ Dreams), which provides children with educational opportunities and adventures involving space flight.  -via Geekologie

Last week you got to read 50 ghost stories, one from each of the US states. Now we have another round of stories, all different as far as I can tell. These are urban legends (even though some are rural). They are stories passed down to scare folks, sometimes based on a true story that's been twisted in the telling, sometimes embellished tales about real people, and sometimes just pure fiction. The trouble is, we often don't know what category a story fits into. The details are either fuzzy or else happened so long ago that records are gone. But mostly, they survive because people like to tell a good story, and those who hear it won't bother to look up the truth. In Minnesota, you might hear the story of The Hairy Man of Vergas Trail.

Why it's creepy: What’s not to be creeped out about? An 8-foot, musty-smelling, barefoot man with a reputation for being unnaturally aggressive is a hell of a thing to consider encountering in the woods. Some reported sightings were just that: sightings. However, reports like Ken Zitzow’s made the Hairy Man more than an apparition, but something to fear. Zitzow returned from driving in the woods with dents all over his car hood and said the Hairy Man jumped onto the road and began pounding the hood.
Where it came from: Nobody really knows. Sightings trace back to the '60s, had a significant increase in the '70s, and still happen from time to time. Some say it’s a legend. Some say there was an old hermit living in the woods who wasn’t too keen on your rascally kids wandering his land. Others say the Hairy Man is real and point to a mysterious skull discovered in the Vergas Trail area that is human-like, but not hominid. It was discovered by a private citizen who didn’t turn it over, so no one knows if it’s human, Bigfoot, animal, or hoax. -- Dustin Nelson  

Read the creepiest urban legend from your state and all the others at Thrillist.

(Image credit: Daniel Fishel/Thrillist)

The linked article begins a month of posts about urban legends at Thrillist.

Charlie Chaplin had been in show business for decades when he was swept up in Senator Joe McCarthy's campaign to rid the U.S. of communists and communist sympathizers. Chaplin was one of many Hollywood luminaries  targeted by the McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee. The matter came to a head when Chaplin visited Englan in 1952. The actor received a telegram saying he would not be re-admitted to the U.S. unless he appeared before the committee to answer questions about his politics and morals. Chaplin was so angry he vowed never to return to America.

Chaplin was returning by ship to his native England for the first time in more than 20 years, bringing with him his wife and four children for the worldwide premiere of his latest film. Like many in Hollywood, he had been growing increasingly frustrated with being the target of communist allegations hurled by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and others in Washington. And so Chaplin made a bold decision after receiving the telegram: He would not go back to the U.S. The hitch? Chaplin’s vast Hollywood empire, a fortune amassed over decades of successful motion pictures, lay in his adopted homeland. More than a million dollars also lay buried in his Beverly Hills backyard. How was he to extricate his fortune without returning? To solve his problem, Chaplin turned to the person he trusted more than any other — his fourth wife, and an American citizen — Oona O’Neill Chaplin.

Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, was 36 years younger than Chaplin, and married him right after she turned 18. Less than ten years later, with four young children (they eventually had eight), she was charged with arranging all of Chaplin's affairs in America, including digging up the million dollars in the their backyard. Read how she accomplished all that at Ozy. 

First, David Sluder saw an enormous cat just off the road in Hernando, Mississippi. It appears to be a wild cat, maybe a cougar. He didn't get too close to it.

(Facebook link)

The local news team from Fox13 sent Scott Madaus out to the location to do a live report. He teased it beforehand with this live shot.

(Facebook link)

Well, that is a large cat, but not any larger than Garfield or your everyday big tom cat. The video and the resulting screen shot, seen at the top, went viral yesterday, and everyone got a bit of a laugh. Yes, Madaus did his tease when the house cat appeared on purpose.

"You have a very serious job being journalist, but at the same time when things like this happen you can't take yourself too seriously," he said.

-via Buzzfeed

Neatorama presents a guest post from actor, comedian, and voiceover artist Eddie Deezen. Visit Eddie at his website or at Facebook.

In 1930, Universal Studios lost $2.2 million in revenue. The studio, reeling and on the verge of potential bankruptcy, had thrown the dice and produced Dracula, starring a Hungarian actor named Bela Lugosi, in 1931. Dracula proved to be the studio's salvation, earning a $700,000 profit (Universal's biggest money-maker in '31). Buoyed by the studio's Dracula success, Carl Laemmle Jr., the head of of production, immediately ordered more horror films. This was to be a turning point in Hollywood history.

During Hollywood's Golden Age, MGM was to be "the" studio for musicals, Paramount "the" studio for comedies, Warner Brothers "the" studio for dramas, and now, Universal would take its rightful place as "the" studio for horror films. Although no one at Universal knew it at the time, they were about to produce what would reputedly go down in history as the most iconic and beloved horror film in the history of motion pictures.

The original (and logical) choice to play the title role was, of course, the now red hot Bela Lugosi. But while Bela did want to be in Frankenstein, he had his eye set not on the monster role, but instead on the role of his creator, the doctor, Henry Frankenstein. Colin Clive, however, was already a given to be cast as the doctor, which left the monster for Bela to portray.

The popular Hollywood legend is that Bela was, indeed, offered the Frankenstein monster role, but he turned it down because the role carried with it no dialogue. And this did play a part in Bela's decision, but there is more to the story.

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year!

Research About Fear
compiled by Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Improbable Research staff

Here are three studies about particular causes of fear, and one study about a mechanical method of treating fear.

Dilemmas in Treating Fear in Self-Identifying Vampires
“Do We Always Practice What We Preach? Real Vampires’ Fears of Coming out of the Coffin to Social Workers and Helping Professionals,” D.J. Williams and Emily E. Prior, Critical Social Work,
vol. 16, no. 1, 2015, pp. 79-92. (Thanks to Ivan Oransky for bringing this to our attention.) The authors, at Idaho State University, the College of the Canyons, and the Center for Positive Sexuality,
explain:

Nobody knows an exact number, but there are many people worldwide who self-identify as vampires. Despite the use of the word “vampire,” people with such alternative identities do not seem to be psychologically and socially unstable. Even still, it is not surprising that vampires prefer to keep these alternative identities private (i.e., stay “in the coffin”) due to fears of being misunderstood and discriminated against....

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year!

Research About Fear of Spiders
compiled by Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Improbable Research staff

While some scientists study spiders, other scientists study the fear of spiders. Other scientists study still other scientists’ fear of spiders.

Do Many Scientists Who Study Bugs Have a Fear of Spiders?
Richard S. Vetter is a leader in studying scientists’ fear of spiders. He published studies in 2012 and 2013.

“Calling All Arachnophobic Entomologists: A Request for Information,” Richard S. Vetter, American Entomologist, vol. 58, no. 4, Winter 2012, pp. 199-201. Vetter, at the University of California, Riverside, writes:

[Over] the decades of research involving spiders, I have encountered a number of entomological colleagues who are arachnophobic, ranging from mild dislike to extreme repellent reactions. Considering the great variety of morphologies that insects display, it seems paradoxical that an entomologist would have a different reaction to spiders than to other arthropods....

[F]ear of spiders is not an isolated occurrence in our profession... [I present here] a questionnaire regarding arachnophobia. I am asking for your participation if

1) you consider yourself to be an entomologist,
2) you work with whole-bodied insects that are alive at some point..., and
3) [you] have negative reactions (from mild disgust to severe arachnophobia) to
spiders....

You may have never heard about the 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden. It's not mentioned in textbooks or classrooms because it's a "scary and embarrassing" part of U.S. history. Filmmaker Marshall Curry hadn't heard about it either, either, until last year. He hunted down footage of the event from various archives and assembled a documentary. Warning: this film is disturbing.

(vimeo link)

Curry explains more about the film here.

The first thing that struck me was that an event like this could happen in the heart of New York City, a city that was diverse, modern, and progressive even in 1939. The second thing that struck me was the way these American Nazis used the symbols of America to sell an ideology that a few years later hundreds of thousands of Americans would die fighting against.

It really illustrated that the tactics of demagogues have been the same throughout the ages. They attack the press, using sarcasm and humor. They tell their followers that they are the true Americans (or Germans or Spartans or...). And they encourage their followers to “take their country back” from whatever minority group has ruined it.

-via Laughing Squid

It had to happen sooner or later. It is now easier to find a Link costume than it is to find a Peter Pan costume. So redditor jay_roo modified a Link costume, because that's what you do when your daughter wants you to play Peter Pan to her Tinkerbell. The picture was taken last night at the Goblin Gathering in Bradenton, Florida. They make an adorable family. And when jay_roo admitted he is a single father, commenters piled on to volunteer to be his Wendy.