Thursday, May 22, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 22, 1939
Hitler and Mussolini sign the "Pact of Steel"
Mussolini and Hitler
The Pact of Steel, formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, was a military and political alliance between Germany and Italy, signed on May 22, 1939.
The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted the focus of it to be aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to that disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and, as a result, it became an agreement which only existed between Italy and Germany.
Together with the Anti-Comintern Pact and the Tripartite Pact, the Pact of Steel was one of the three agreements forming the main basis of the Axis alliance, the military coalition which initiated World War 11.
BTW:
The term "axis" was first applied to the Italo-German relationship by the Italian prime minister Benito Mussolini in September 1923, when he wrote in the preface to Roberto Suster's La Germania Repubblicana that "there is no doubt that in this moment the axis of European history passes through Berlin".
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PHOTOGRAPHS
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Bridges (1954 - ) attended a segregated kindergarten in 1959. In early 1960, Bridges was one of six black children in New Orleans to pass the test that determined whether they could go to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School. Two of the six decided to stay at their old school, Bridges went to Frantz by herself, and three children (Gail Etienne, Leona Tate and Tessie Prevost) were transferred to the all-white McDonogh No. 19 Elementary School. All four 6-year-old girls were escorted to school by federal marshals during the first day they attended the two schools. In the following days of that year, federal marshals continued to escort them.
As soon as Bridges entered the school, white parents pulled their own children out; all the teachers except for one refused to teach while a black child was enrolled. Only one person agreed to teach Bridges, and that was Barbara Henry, from Boston, Massachusetts, and for over a year Henry taught her alone, "as if she were teaching a whole class."
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Back in 1962, Workers competed in "Asbestos Shoveling Competitions" in Australia. Today, it's common knowledge that asbestos is extremely dangerous. However, it used to be hailed as a miraculous material and was used in everything from cigarette filters to roofs. This vintage photo was taken at an asbestos shoveling competition in the town of Wittenoom in the Pilbara region of Australia. At the time (1962), there was an asbestos mine there, so it was common for workers and their families to be exposed to the material.
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Kane Tanaka (2 January 1903 – 19 April 2022) was a Japanese supercentenarian who, until her death at the age of 119 years, 107 days, was the world's oldest verified living person, following the death of Chiyo Miyako on 22 July 2018. She is the oldest verified Japanese person and the second-oldest verified person ever, after Jeanne Calment.
Calment With a documented lifespan of 122 years and 164 days, she was the oldest person in history whose age has been verified.
Jeanne Calment
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This is most likely Nakano Takeko, a famous onna-bugeisha (female warrior) in Japanese history. Nakano fought during the Boshin War (1868-1869) and died aged 21. She (and other women) fought "without permission, since the senior Aizu retainers at the time did not allow them to fight as an official part of the army. Her preferred weapon was the naginata. She was wounded by a rifle bullet to the chest in October of 1868, and Nakano asked her younger sister to behead her in order to prevent Nakano being taken captive. She asked that her sister give her an honorable burial. Her sister and another Aizu soldier carried out her wishes, and Nakano was buried at the temple her family attended, in the Fukushima prefecture.
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This happened in France during a syndicalist protest. They were best friends growing up. Man on the right is saying "Well, aren't you going to hit me?"
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The Great Famine of 1876–1878 was a famine in India under British Crown rule. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulted in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau. It affected south and Southwestern India—the British-administered presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad—for a period of two years. The famine ultimately affected an area of 670,000 square kilometres (257,000 sq mi) and caused distress to a population totalling 58,500,000. The excess mortality in the famine has been estimated in a range whose low end is 5.6 million human fatalities, high end 9.6 million fatalities, and a careful modern demographic estimate 8.2 million fatalities.
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Wednesday, May 21, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 21, 1927
First nonstop solo transatlantic flight made by Charles Lindbergh
In the early morning of Friday, May 20, 1927, Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field on Long Island, his destination, Le Bourget Aerodrome, about 7 miles (11 km) outside Paris and 3,610 miles (5,810 km) from his starting point.
His plane, dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis, was a fabric-covered, single-seat, single-engine high-wing monoplane designed jointly by Lindbergh. For its transatlantic flight, the Spirit was loaded with 450 U.S. gallons (1,700 litres) of fuel that was filtered repeatedly to avoid fuel line blockage. The fuel load was a thousand pounds heavier than any the Spirit had lifted during a test flight, and the fully loaded airplane weighed 5,200 pounds (2,400 kg).
Over the 33.5 hours of the flight, the aircraft fought icing, flew blind through fog for several hours, and Lindbergh navigated only by dead reckoning (he was not proficient at navigating by the sun and stars and he rejected radio navigation gear as heavy and unreliable). He was fortunate that the winds over the Atlantic cancelled each other out, giving him zero wind drift—and thus accurate navigation during the long flight over featureless ocean.
On arriving at Paris, Lindbergh initially mistook it for some large industrial complex because of the bright lights spreading out in all directions—in fact the headlights of tens of thousands of spectators' cars caught in "the largest traffic jam in Paris history" in their attempt to be present for Lindbergh's landing.
A crowd estimated at 150,000 stormed the field after his landing, dragged Lindbergh out of the cockpit, and carried him around above their heads for "nearly half an hour." Before the police could intervene the souvenir mad spectators stripped the plane of everything which could be taken, and were cutting off pieces of linen when a squad of soldiers with fixed bayonets quickly surrounded the plane, providing guard as it was wheeled into a shed.
Lindbergh later presented the plane to the Smithsonian Institution where for more than eight decades it has been on display, hanging for 48 years (1928–76) in the Arts and Industries Building, and since 1976 hanging in the atrium of the National Air and Space Museum.
Lindbergh with the Spirit of St. Louis prior to his flight
Spirit of St-Louis photographed at National Air and Space Museum.
(Not something I would want to fly solo across the Atlantic non-stop and without navigation equipment or radio).
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WEIRD WEDNESDAY
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DANCE MARATHONS:
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Synopsis:
Dance marathons are events in which people dance or walk to music for an extended period of time. They started as dance contests in the 1920s and developed into human endurance contests, or exploitative entertainment events during the Great Depression in the 1930s. In the present day, dance marathons are commonly used as fundraisers. These modern marathons are usually 12–24 hours, a far cry from the 1,000-hour marathons of the 1930s.
The revival of the Olympic Games created a widespread interest in feats of strength, endurance contests, and world records that led to dance marathons.
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About:
As the prosperous 1920s faded into the struggling 1930s, dance marathons boomed and offered cash prizes equivalent to a year's salary. They provided contestants and spectators food, shelter and the opportunity to earn cash prizes at a time when many people needed a free meal. By the late 1930s, dance marathons had faded from the cultural landscape.
Participants had to remain upright and moving for 45 minutes out of every hour, around the clock.
A live band played at night, while a radio or record player often sufficed during the day. Contestants were expected to dance full-out during the heavily attended evening hours. Every few hours, a klaxon would sound and couples were allowed 15 minutes of rest in beds that were sometimes set up on the dance floor. These rest areas were segregated by sex.
Contestants trained themselves to drop instantly into deep sleep as soon as their bodies touched the cots. Women who did not get up were given smelling salts and sometimes slapped. Male contestants who were slow to wake were often dunked in a tub of ice water. In some cases, couples were linked together by dog chains, like prisoners. "Cot Nights," in which the beds from the rest areas were pulled out into public view so the audience could watch the contestants even during their brief private moments, were popular.
Contestants were required to continue the shuffling dance motion while they ate. Although the meals were simple foods like eggs, oatmeal or toast, in a time of great hunger food was a powerful inducement to contestants.
Dancers could often be seen dozing off while their partners held them up to keep their knees from hitting the ground (which would result in disqualification). To encourage lagging couples to continue moving, the floor judge sometimes used a ruler to flick the legs of contestants who were not shuffling with sufficient alacrity. Tasks such as eating, bathing, shaving, and reading the paper could be done while dancing.
Marathons took on an almost theatrical role for spectators, who gained a sadistic sense of pleasure from watching the participants physically suffer. Tickets were relatively affordable and the events provided cheap entertainment, although the public wasn't aware they were staged and dramatized. Marathons were usually somewhat rigged, or at least stacked, toward certain couples. Promoters' profits came from the spectators, returning night after night, cash in hand, to follow the action. Most promoters were known to have bad business practices, such as not paying for the event bills and ditching the contestants.
At the time of the dance marathon boom, many churches still considered dancing sinful. Social dancing was still scandalous enough for some promoters to call dance marathons by the more palatable name of "walkathons".
Movie theatre owners also objected to dance marathons, as dance marathons were a strong business competitor during the Great Depression.
As the dance marathon wore on and contestants became exhausted, contestants engaged in full-body contact rather than more distant social dance positions. This increased the feeling among some that dance marathons were licentious.
Some objected for humanitarian reasons. They believed it was wrong to charge money for the dubious privilege of watching people suffer. Extreme fatigue could compromise contestants' mental state and cause them to act out in disturbing ways.
Police also believed that marathons attracted an undesirable element to their towns.
On April 14, 1923, Homer Morehouse, aged 27, collapsed and died on the dance floor after dancing with his partner for 87 consecutive hours. Soon after, the City of Boston banned dance marathons. In 1928, Gladys Lenz danced for 19 straight hours at a Seattle marathon despite being punched in the face by a partner who appeared to be suffering from fatigue-induced psychosis. The couple received $50 for coming fifth while the winning couple won $1,000. Lenz attempted suicide soon after. Within the year, Seattle banned dance marathons.
Over time, the novelty of dance marathons wore off and by the late 1930s, many local authorities banned dance marathons.
They Shoot Horses, Don't They? is a novel written by Horace McCoy and first published in 1935. The story mainly concerns a dance marathon during the Great Depression. It was adapted into Sydney Pollack's 1969 film of the same name.
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Gallery:
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Tuesday, May 20, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 20, 1873
Levi Strauss patent
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were granted a patent pn this day in 1873 for using copper rivets to strengthen certain areas of trousers, notably pocket corners; the patent was credited with giving rise to blue jeans.
Strauss was a German-born American businessman who founded Levi Strauss & Co., a company best known for inventing blue jeans. He partnered with tailor Jacob Davis in 1873 to develop the reinforced work pants now known as blue jeans.
Levi Strauss immigrated to the United States and opened a dry goods store in San Francisco in 1853 during the California Gold Rush. He initially focused on supplying miners with durable materials, including tent canvas. Recognising the need for stronger work pants, he collaborated with Jacob Davis to create the first commercially available waist overalls with copper rivets.
These overalls, later known as blue jeans, became a staple of the American workforce and a global fashion icon. Strauss & Co. continued to innovate and expand its product line over the years, becoming a major player in the apparel industry.
Levi Strauss
By the Way:
From the Levi Strauss & Co website:
Levi Strauss & Co. knew the patent would expire in 1890, so we needed to quickly make sure consumers understood how good – and strong – the company’s jeans were. But how do you tell that story in a way that consumers could quickly grasp?Well, one of the answers was the image of two horses – each pulling in the opposite direction on the same pair of jeans, trying in vain to tear them apart.But that wasn’t the only reason we first used the Two Horse® logo, We understood that not all of our consumers spoke English as their first language. We also knew that not everyone in the remote West was literate. With a memorable image to guide them, our early consumers could walk into their local general store and ask for “those pants with the two horses,” and they would get a pair of Levi’s® jeans.In fact, the product was called “The Two Horse® Brand” until 1928, when the company adopted its Levi’s® trademark.
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POETRY SPOT
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KNOCKING AROUND
By Henry Lawson
‘Knocking Around’ by Pro Hart
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Analysis:
From:
"Knocking Around" by Henry Lawson depicts the plight of parents searching for their absent son, Jack. The poem's simplicity and poignant portrayal of grief evoke a sense of melancholy and longing. Its sparse language and matter-of-fact tone contrast with the emotional weight of the situation.Lawson's use of repetition and vernacular language grounds the poem in the daily lives of working-class Australians at the time. The parents' unwavering love and concern for their son are evident in their understated responses, despite their lack of specific information. The vagueness surrounding Jack's whereabouts reflects the uncertainty and isolation faced by many during the period.Compared to Lawson's other works, "Knocking Around" shares a similar focus on the harsh realities and resilience of the Australian bush. However, its brevity and restraint make it unique, allowing the reader to fully absorb the emotional impact without overwhelming them with poetic devices. The poem captures the essence of a time when communication was difficult and the search for lost loved ones could be a heartbreaking and endless journey.
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The poem:
WEARY old wife, with the bucket and cow,
‘How’s your son Jack? and where is he now?’
Haggard old eyes that turn to the west—
‘Boys will be boys, and he’s gone with the rest!’
Grief without tears and grief without sound;
‘Somewhere up-country he’s knocking around.’
Knocking around with a vagabond crew,
Does for himself what a mother would do;
Maybe in trouble and maybe hard-up,
Maybe in want of a bite or a sup;
Dead of the fever, or lost in the drought,
Lonely old mother! he’s knocking about.
Wiry old man at the tail of the plough,
‘Heard of Jack lately? and where is he now?’
Pauses a moment his forehead to wipe,
Drops the rope reins while he feels for his pipe,
Scratches his grey head in sorrow or doubt:
‘Somewheers or others he’s knocking about.’
Knocking about on the runs of the West,
Holding his own with the worst and the best
Breaking in horses and risking his neck,
Droving or shearing and making a cheque;
Straight as a sapling—six-foot and sound,
Jack is all right when he’s knocking around.
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Musical version:
John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew:
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Monday, May 19, 2025
"If that's art, I'm a Hottentot."
- Presdent Harry S. Truman, 1947.
The objects of Truman's displeasure were a group of paintings about which Look magazine ran a spread under the watchdog headline "Your Money Bought These Pictures." The State Department had purchased the paintings for an exhibition that would travel overseas to proclaim by example that artistic creativity flourished best in America, under American capitalism. The paintings on trial--such as Yasuo Kuniyoshi's Expressionist Circus Girl--were hardly radical, even for the time. Cubism was four decades old and weirder-by-far Abstract Expressionism had already reared its head in New York. But back then, as now, it didn't take much to rouse yahoo ire, even in the White House.
The show was canceled.
Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Expressionist Circus Girl
BTW:
Hottentot is a term that was historically used by Europeans to refer to indigenous nomadic pastoralists in South Africa.
In seventeenth-century Dutch, Hottentot was at times used to
denote all black people (synonymously with Kaffir, which was at times likewise
used for Cape Coloureds), but at least some speakers used the term
Hottentot specifically for what they thought of as a race distinct from the
supposedly darker-skinned people referred to as Kaffirs.
Use of the terms Hottentot and Kaffir are now considered offensive.
ON THIS DAY
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May 19, 2018
Harry weds Megan
The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The ceremony, unlike any previous British royal wedding, mixed pomp and circumstance with African American culture, the latter a celebration of the bride's biracial background.
On the morning of the wedding, Prince Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, conferred upon him the titles of Duke of Sussex, Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel. Upon her marriage, Markle became a princess of the United Kingdom and gained the style Her Royal Highness and titles Duchess of Sussex, Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel.
Markle is the second American after Wallis Simpson, and the first person of mixed race heritage, to marry into the British royal family.
The royal family paid for the wedding. The costs for the cake, the florist, and the catering have been estimated to be £50,000, £110,000, and £286,000 respectively, and the overall cost estimated at around £32 million. Security costs were "between £2 million and £4 million".
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MUSIC MONDAY
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Some Music Facts and Trivia
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Beatles:
The Beatles, one of the greatest bands of all time and containing some of the greatest songwriters, could not read or write music. In a 2018 60 Minutes interview, Paul McCartney admitted that the four of them never really understood music theory.
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Chris Hadfield:
Chris Hadfield’s cover of Bowie’s “Space Oddity”, recorded in space while on the International Space Station, went viral. Hear and see it by clicking on:
It started as a little "family project", something fun to do with his son, back on Earth, while he was aboard the International Space Station.
Bowie posted on Facebook that the cover of his 1969 song was “possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created”.
The record company, having the publishing rights, made Hadfield take it down from online posting. Commander Hadfield started working to get the cover back online but the legal questions were complex — since the recording was made and posted from space, it wasn’t even clear which country’s laws and licences the song was made under. Bowie intervened and made it remain online.
The Canadian astronaut also recorded an album while he was orbiting space. He released Space Sessions: Songs From a Tin Can in 2015, which became the first album ever to be recorded in space.
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Jingle Bells:
“Jingle Bells” is a Christmas classic and one of the most popular Christmas tunes.
Written in 1850, it was originally published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. Although it had no connection with Christmas, it also had no connection with Thanksgiving as has been previously claimed.
According to more recent research, the song was originally written as a minstrel song satirising Black participation in northern winter activities.
See:
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Rod Stewart:
Rod Stewart (1955 - ) has the record for playing the biggest concert of all time. Stewart played to over 3.5 million people (and some say as many as 4.2 million) at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil on December 31, 1994 (into January 1, 1995). The hazy number comes from the fact that it was a free concert, so no-one tallied ticket stubs or clicks through the turnstiles. Stewart set a Guinness World Record for Largest Free Rock Concert Attendance.
Sir Rod's set was the centrepiece of the New Year's Eve celebrations in Rio, which included fireworks displays.
BTW:
Stewart’s four Great American Songbook albums, which has him singing 30’s and 40’s classics, are well worth listening to and purchasing.
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Stradivarius:
In 2011, the “Lady Blunt” Stradivarius violin broke the record by being sold in an online auction for USD$15.9 million, a price 5 times higher than the value the last owner paid.
Made in 1721 by the renowned Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari, it is named after one of its first known owners, Lady Anne Blunt.
In the wake of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the Lady Blunt was put up for charitable sale by owner Nippon Music Foundation, with proceeds going to the Nippon Foundation's relief fund. The anonymous buyer won a 90-minute bidding battle with one other bidder.
The 1721 Lady Blunt
BTW:
A man goes into an antiques dealership carrying a violin and a painting. "Hi. I found these in the loft of the house I've just bought. I'm interested in having them valued with a view to selling them." The owner, duly fascinated takes them into the back to give them the once over.
"Very interesting." he tells the man on his return. "You realise, you've got a genuine Rembrandt and a bona fide Stradivarius here."
"That's wonderful- I'm rich!" exclaims the man.
"Not so fast, son." replies the dealer- "Rembrandt violins are notorious poor quality and Stradivarius couldn't paint to save his life."
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Sunday, May 18, 2025
ON THIS DAY
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May 18, 1896
Plessy v Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ruling that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in quality, a doctrine that came to be known as "separate but equal".
The decision legitimised the many state "Jim Crow laws" re-establishing racial segregation that had been passed in the American South after the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877. Such legally enforced segregation in the South lasted into the 1960s.
The underlying case began in 1892 when Homer Plessy, a mixed-race man, deliberately boarded a whites-only train car in New Orleans. By boarding the whites-only car, Plessy violated Louisiana's Separate Car Act of 1890, which required "equal, but separate" railroad accommodations for white and black passengers. Plessy was charged under the Act, and at his trial his lawyers argued that judge John Howard Ferguson should dismiss the charges on the grounds that the Act was unconstitutional. Ferguson denied the request, and the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld Ferguson's ruling on appeal. Plessy then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
On May 18, 1896, the Supreme Court issued a 7–1 decision against Plessy, ruling that the Louisiana law did not violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and stating that although the Fourteenth Amendment established the legal equality of whites and blacks, it did not and could not require the elimination of all "distinctions based upon color". The Court rejected Plessy's lawyers' arguments that the Louisiana law inherently implied that black people were inferior, and gave great deference to American state legislatures' inherent power to make laws regulating health, safety, and morals—the "police power"—and to determine the reasonableness of the laws they passed. Justice John Marshall Harlan was the lone dissenter from the Court's decision, writing that the U.S. Constitution "is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens", and so the laws distinguishing races should have been found unconstitutional.
Plessy is widely regarded as one of the worst decisions in U.S. Supreme Court history. Despite its infamy, the decision has never been overruled explicitly. Beginning in 1954 with Brown v. Board of Education, however, a series of the Court's later decisions have severely weakened Plessy to the point that it is usually considered de facto overruled.
Justice Henry Billings Brown, author of the majority opinion in Plessy
Justice John Marshall Harlan became known as the "Great Dissenter" for his fiery dissent in Plessy and other early civil rights cases.
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THE NEXT FILM IN FOURTH TOP 10 + 2
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Here is the next instalment of the next Top 10 + 2, the fourth of such lists.
As I have previously posted, my Top 10 + 2 films is based on “watchability”, those type of films which you (meaning me) like to watch more than once and enjoy thoroughly for whatever reasons. Hence Groundhog Day is on the list, Citizen Kane is not, at least in my case never having had the urge to watch Citizen Kane more than once. My friend Steve cringes at my choices .
The reason my first list was called Top 10 + 2 was that I had difficulty whittling the list down to 10.
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The past lists and current list:
List #1:
Zulu
Groundhog Day
12 Angry Men
Godfather
Rat Race
Sin City
Chicago
Pleasantville
Runaway Train
Blues Brothers
Blade Runner
Full Metal Jacket
List #2:
42nd Street
Soldier
The Castle
Captains Courageous
Goodbye Mr Chips
Love Actually
Rollerball
Life of Brian
Judgment at Nuremberg
Down Periscope
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Jeremiah Johnson
List #3:
Breakfast Club
The Enemy Below
The Searchers
The Quiet Man
Forrest Gump
Midnight Sting
Once Upon a Time in the West
Shawshank Redemption
Kill Bill
A Night at the Opera
Casablanca
Titanic
List #4:
So far –
How Green Was My Valley
It Happened One Night
The Maltese Falcon
Take the Money and Run
Das Boot
Falling Down
Rambo: First Blood
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
Stagecoach
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Today:
Stardust
Not all of the films in my Top 10 + 2 lists are dramas, action, westerns etc.
Stardust is a delightful and charming film in the fairy tale/fantasy genre that deserves a viewing, yes, even by you Steve though you will probably hate it.
With a cast that includes Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer, Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Ricky Gervaise, Peter O’Toole and Robert de Niro in a totally unlikely role, supported by a good script, it returns us to the child in all of us.
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Synopsis:
The film follows Tristan, a young man from the fictional town of Wall in England. Wall is a town on the border of the magical fantasy kingdom of Stormhold. Tristan enters the magical world to collect a fallen star to give to his beloved Victoria, in return for her hand in marriage. He finds the star, who to his surprise, is a woman named Yvaine. A trio of witches and the Princes of Stormhold are also hunting for Yvaine for their own reasons. Meanwhile, Tristan tries to get her back to Wall with him before Victoria's birthday, the deadline for her offer.
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Trivia:
Captain Shakespeare's flying boat is called Caspartine, named after Matthew Vaughn's two children Caspar and Clementine.
Robert De Niro accepted the role due to his regret at turning down the role of Barbossa in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003).
They talk about traveling by candlelight, and they talk about a Babylon candle, it's actually from a children's rhyme from the 19th century. "How many miles to Babylon? Three score miles and ten. Can I get there by candle-light? Yes, and back again."
The Princes' names all refer back to their place in the family: Primus, the first born (Primary), Secundus, the second born, Tertius, the third (Tertiary), and so on in that fashion. Likewise, Una the Princess, is the first-born daughter. This tradition come from Latin, as some Romans called their children after the order of their birth, though usually as a nickname, only sometimes being a given name, especially with daughters.
Anne Hathaway, Scarlett Johansson, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Jessica Alba all turned down the role of Yvaine.
(at around 1h 40 mins) Ditchwater Sal asks "are you talking to me?". This is one of Robert De Niro, who also stars in the film's, most famous lines.
The Princes, when killed, are all shown to bleed blue blood. This is a joke hinting at their nobility, as those of royal heritage were said to have blue blood in their veins, rather than red. As the Princes are of royal heritage, they are literally "blue bloods". This may also have allowed the filmmakers to depict greater violence on-screen, while maintaining a lower age appropriate rating.
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By the way:
The phrase "blue blood," used to denote aristocratic or noble descent, likely originated in medieval Spain with the term "sangre azul," referring to the pale skin of the Castilian nobility, which made their veins appear blue.
Pale white skin came to be associated with wealthy royal families, who could afford to spend their times inside their mansions and palaces. Meanwhile, people of poorer backgrounds tended not to be as pale - they were out working in the fields or the cities. This was coupled with the fact that aristocrats could bather more frequently and thoroughly, also showing the blue veins more.
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Gallery:
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