Culture & entertainment
Discover facts about culture & entertainment. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Culture & entertainment
Sylvia Plath hid poems under the floorboards
Nothing screams 'my marriage is going great' like burying your art. Toward the end of her life, while dealing with extreme depression and a collapsing…
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Dickens hid a door behind fake books
Because simply closing a wooden door doesn't offer enough theatrical flair. Dickens had a secret door installed in his study that was disguised as a…
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Black Panther appeared before the Black Panther Party
Marvel introduced King T'Challa as the Black Panther in Fantastic Four #52, published in July 1966. This was actually a few months before the founding of the…
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A misfired cannon burned Shakespeare's Globe
In an incredible display of lack of foresight, a 1613 performance of Henry VIII featured a theatrical cannon being fired right next to a highly flammable…
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Peter Pan royalties still support a hospital
In a rare instance of a wildly successful author not hoarding every penny, Barrie gifted the absolute copyright of Peter Pan to the Great Ormond Street…
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Elizabethan theaters used real pig blood onstage
Long before the invention of sterile corn syrup fake blood, theaters went for horrific authenticity. When characters were brutally stabbed in plays like Titus…
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The world's first travel vlog was filmed in 1930
Annoying people with vacation footage predates the internet by decades. A wealthy industrialist dragged a heavy, crank-operated camera around the globe to…
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How a $50 bet produced Green Eggs and Ham
Sometimes literary immortality is born strictly out of petty gambling. Dr. Seuss’s publisher, Bennett Cerf, bet him $50 that he couldn't write an entire,…
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Steinbeck's dog ate half his manuscript
The oldest, most pathetic excuse in human history actually happened to an American literary titan. Steinbeck's Irish Setter puppy, Toby, was left alone for a…
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The United Nations gave Hellboy honorary human status
Proving that bureaucracy transcends comic realities, the big red demon isn't just a monster puncher; he's officially recognized paperwork. In comic lore, the…
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How James Patterson publishes so many novels
If you ever wondered how one man releases 20 books a year, spoiler alert: he doesn't write them all. Patterson operates more like a literary CEO, providing…
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Drive-in theaters once handed out smoking coils
Ah, the romantic nostalgia of the classic drive-in, where couples huddled together in cars while actively fending off massive swarms of bloodthirsty insects.…
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Why movie blood is sometimes brown
Because national rating boards operate on a logic that baffles the human mind, violence is suddenly acceptable if the fluid is the wrong shade. Bright,…
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Prom was invented to teach teenagers manners
Teenage romance had absolutely nothing to do with it. The formal dance was explicitly implemented by strict educators as a high-pressure, monitored…
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Movie dirt is sometimes cleaner than your kitchen floor
You cannot simply back a dump truck of random wilderness dirt into a pristine studio without bringing in a massive colony of bugs, molds, and horrifying…
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Why period costumes sometimes hide modern zippers
Nothing shatters the majestic illusion of an elaborate eighteenth-century ballgown quite like knowing there's a heavy-duty YKK zipper secretly holding the…
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Modern pajamas evolved from lightweight lounging pants
Before this, people literally just slept in terrifyingly long, drafty nightgowns. The concept of highly comfortable, divided legwear for sleeping was entirely…
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Why stadium crowds are sometimes made of cardboard
Paying thousands of extras to sit in a freezing arena for twelve hours is a budgetary nightmare that producers violently avoid. Before crowds could be…
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Soap operas really were created to sell soap
The peak of dramatic television was entirely bankrolled by domestic drudgery. Detergent manufacturers sponsored endless daytime radio and television…
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Prop diaries are filled with completely random gibberish
When the protagonist aggressively rips open a dusty journal to find the crucial clue, only the exact page the camera sees actually makes any sense. The rest…
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Why movie glasses often have no lenses
Those deeply intellectual characters spouting exposition are completely unprotected from dust and wind. Real eyeglass lenses catch the harsh glare of massive…
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Prop firearms are heavily plugged to prevent actual firing
Despite looking incredibly deadly on camera, a properly secured prop weapon is little more than a complicated metal paperweight. To appease safety…
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Why Movie Windows Need Blinding Lights
That soft, beautiful morning sunlight gently waking up the protagonist is actually a terrifying wall of synthetic radiation. Since real windows completely…
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Why a hit movie is called a blockbuster
The ultimate symbol of cinematic success was just a massive urban traffic hazard. The term wasn't coined for the budget or the explosions, but because highly…
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