Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Chuck E. Cheese has a surprisingly formal full name
The chain gave its animatronic rat the full name Charles Entertainment Cheese.
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Wendy's collar appears to spell a word its designers didn't intend
The ruffles in Wendy’s collar can look like the word “mom,” though company executives have said the resemblance wasn’t intentional.
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The Quaker Oats man isn't William Penn
The Quaker Oats company says the man on its packaging is an unnamed figure, not William Penn. He wears clothing associated with the Quakers, the religious…
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Colonel Sanders called KFC gravy wallpaper paste
After stepping down, Sanders visited KFC franchises and criticized the food, saying the gravy tasted like wallpaper paste and the fried coating had become…
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Operation's patient has a name: Cavity Sam
The patient is Cavity Sam, whose ailments include a broken heart and butterflies in his stomach—and he gets no anesthesia.
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How Kool-Aid Man got his wall-smashing origin
The smiling pitcher began with an ad executive watching his son draw faces in condensation on a window. He pitched the idea of a smiling glass pitcher, which…
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Why carousel horses on the outside are bigger
The larger outer horses make a carousel look grander to onlookers, while smaller inner figures save wood and space near the center.
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Craps has a much older dice game in its ancestry
Its ancestor, hazard, was played long before modern casinos existed. Success depends on the relationship between an opening roll and the rolls that follow,…
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When Cabbage Patch Kids came with adoption papers
Buyers signed adoption oaths and received certificates and birth names, making a mass-produced doll feel like a new family member.
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Matterhorn bobsleds hide a secret basketball hoop
Employees installed a small basketball backboard in the hollow upper third of Disneyland’s Matterhorn as a break spot for climbers who scale the mountain.
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Ronald McDonald's original costume was pure nightmare fuel
His first costume used a cardboard tray as a hat, complete with a fake burger and fries, plus a paper cup strapped to his nose.
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Why roller-coaster loops aren't perfect circles
A teardrop-shaped clothoid changes curvature more gradually than a circle, reducing the g-forces riders experience.
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How Cinderella Castle tricks you into seeing it as taller
The castle’s upper-level bricks and windows are smaller than those below, making it appear taller than it really is.
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Mr. Potato Head once needed a real potato
The original 1952 kit supplied features children could attach to a real potato or another vegetable. The vegetable body was the family's contribution, which…
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Cap’n Crunch has a surprisingly grand real name
He’s Horatio Magellan Crunch, and his sleeve stripes technically identify him as a commander, not a captain.
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Mr. Clean began as a magic-cleaning character
Illustrator Richard Black was asked to develop a genie-like figure for the product. The bald head, muscular build, and earring produced a character who could…
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Why lions lounge on fake rocks
Hidden heaters inside fake rocks make them cozy spots for lions, keeping the cats near viewing areas where tourists can see them.
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Oprah was born with a different name
She was named Orpah, after a biblical figure, but people repeatedly swapped the R and P when saying or writing it. She eventually went by Oprah.
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Star Wars was almost called The Adventures of Luke Starkiller
Early drafts used “The Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars”; Lucas later changed Starkiller to…
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Bill Murray hired an assistant he couldn’t communicate with
Murray hired a deaf assistant who used Native American Sign Language, which neither Murray nor anyone on set understood, while he was refusing studio calls…
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Gene Roddenberry's ashes traveled into space
A portion of the Star Trek creator's cremated remains flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia in 1992, the year after his death. A man whose stories helped…
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Lex Luthor was originally a redhead
He first appeared with a full head of red hair, but an artist later drew him bald by mistake. DC kept the look and explained it as an accident in Superman’s…
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Sarah Bernhardt carved her grief into marble
The celebrated actress was also a sculptor. After her husband Jacques Damala died, she made a funerary portrait that presents him as if asleep beneath a…
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The time Stan Lee called Hulk Bob Banner
Stan Lee used alliterative names like Peter Parker to help remember characters, but still called the Hulk “Bob Banner” in early issues. He later said the…
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