Tidbits of the River Region, News, Funnies, Puzzles, Quizzes by Ray Dutton

Tommy Contest Page 5

of the River Region

October 23, 2018 Published by PTK Corp.

The Neatest Little Paper Ever Read® To place an Ad, call: (334) 202-7285 TIDBITS® MARVELS AT

P.T. BARNUM by Janet Spencer Phineas Taylor Barnum is remembered best today for the circus that carried his name: Barnum & Bailey. A showman extraordinaire, Barnum got rich because, as he stated, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” AN INAUSPICIOUS START • Phineas Taylor Barnum was born in Connecticut in 1810. As a young man, following a series of business failures, Barnum joined up with Aaron Turner, the owner of a traveling circus. One night Turner told the townfolk that Barnum was a preacher who had just been acquitted of murder. The people were getting ready to ride him out of town on a rail when Turner finally stepped up and revealed that he had been joking. When Barnum asked him why he had pulled this hoax, Turner replied, “Remember, all we need to insure success is notoriety. Our pavilion will be crammed tomorrow night.” And it was. Barnum learned a lesson of showmanship. • Next Barnum bought an old run-down museum in New York City and transformed it into a flashy attention-getting show. To gather crowds outside his museum, Barnum hired a band of musicians to play lively music. To make sure the masses then came into the museum instead of hanging around outside, Barnum hired only the worst musicians and made sure they played off-key. FAKES, FREAKS & FRAUDS • Barnum discovered that the world loves to ogle human freaks. He made a tradition out of exhibiting the bearded lady, the fat boy, giants, midgets, Siamese twins, albinos, and the Wild Men of Borneo (who were really Hiram and Barney Davis from Long Island, New York). The tattooed man was advertised as having been punished in China for rebellion against the king by being tattooed over his entire body. The man had actually been tattooed in New York tattoo parlors. Barnum was not above humbug and used it often. • Once a customer sued Barnum claiming fraud, insisting the bearded lady was really a man. The trial was a public spectacle as the bearded lady, her husband, and a doctor testified as to her femininity. Thousands flocked to the museum to judge for themselves. Afterwards it came out (Continued next page)

Vol 7 Issue 43 paul@riverregiontidbits.com

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Tidbits® of the River Region (Front page continued)

1. Is the book of 3 Kings in the Old or New Testament or neither? 2. Who said, “I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”? Matthew, Mark, John the Baptist, Luke 3. Jesus says that you have to do this to see the kingdom of God? Love one another, Be born again, Do what’s right, Tithe 4. From Leviticus 14, how long was a “clean” person required to remain outside their tent? 1 night, 2 nights, 4 days, 7 days 5. What town or city was Saul of Tarsus near when he converted to Christianity? Damascus, Assos, Corinth, Gaza 6. Which apostle’s mother-in-law is referred to as being healed of fever? Peter, Judas, James, Andrew Comments? More Trivia? Visit www.TriviaGuy.com (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.

By Chris Richcreek 1. In 2017, the Angels’ Mike Trout became the fourth player in American League history to hit 20-plus home runs six times before turning 26 years old. Name two of the three others. 2. The New York Yankees’ C.C. Sabathia, in 2017, became the fourth left-hander to strike out at least 2,800 batters. Who are the other three? 3. In 2017, Atlanta QB Matt Ryan became the first NFL quarterback to toss three touchdown passes in four consecutive playoff games. Name three of the five others tied at three games. 4. When was the last time before 2018 that the University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team beat the Blue Devils at Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium? 5. Chris Kunitz won three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins (2009, ‘16, ‘17). With which team did he win his first Stanley Cup? 6. Who was the first American male to win gold medals at three separate Winter Olympics? 7. Name the only female golfer to make the cut at a PGA Tour event. (c) 2018 King Features Syndicate, Inc.

that Barnum had hired the man to sue him solely to drum up free publicity. • Europe’s greatest singer was Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Barnum offered her $150,000 for 150 American concerts. This is equal to about $300,000 for each performance in today’s dollars. She insisted on being paid in advance, and Barnum had to sell or mortgage everything he had and secure loans from friends. Barnum decided to auction the tickets to Jenny’s first American concert. He advised a friend of his to buy the first ticket, no matter what the price was. His friend was a hat maker, and Barnum assured him that the publicity he would get in the papers would be the beginning of his fortune. Thousands paid a quarter apiece just to get into the auction. The hat maker bought the first ticket for an astonishing $225 ($6500 today) and Barnum was correct in predicting that the publicity would bring people flocking to his hat shop. Jenny Lind’s first concert raised nearly $18,000 ($500,000). By the time the tour was over, Barnum had made a net profit equivalent to $15 million in today’s dollars. HOAXES & HUMBUG • In 1842 Barnum purchased a so-called mermaid. It was actually a taxidermied monkey and a large fish skillfully sewn together and preserved. Barnum deliberately set out to stage a hoax. First he sent press releases to newspapers all over the country stating that British naturalist Dr. Griffin had discovered a new species of animal in the Fiji Islands. Next he hired a friend of his to pose as the British Dr. Griffin and give lectures about the mermaid. Barnum invited members of the press to examine the mermaid, and more articles and free publicity appeared in the papers. Pamphlets about the strange new animal (written by Barnum) were circulated. • Then Barnum announced that Dr. Griffin had refused to let the public see the animal. With the public aroused, Barnum announced one week later that Dr. Griffin had decided he would exhibit the mermaid at Barnum’s Museum. In the first month of the exhibit, attendance tripled. The result of this elaborate fraud was that people all over the country believed that a species of mermaid existed in the Fiji Islands. When the hoax was found out, many people critisized Barnum saying that exaggeration could go too far. Barnum seemed to have realized that he had gone over the line. He refused to discuss the mermaid episode ever again. • When the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals complained about making horses jump through flaming hoops, Barnum responded by jumping through a flaming hoop himself, followed by half of the circus crew. When the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children complained about the use of six acrobatic children in the bicycle-riding act, Barnum walked up to the superintendent of the organization and offered him $200 a week to exhibit himself as the man who wanted to take the bread out of children’s mouths. THE GREATEST SHOW • Barnum discovered that elephants were a big draw so he bought several, including the famous Jumbo. When Barnum paid a fortune sight-unseen for an elephant billed as a rare white elephant, he found upon receiving it that it was light grey instead of white. Barnum had it painted white before shows. One elephant was sent to a farm. Barnum hired a farmer to dress in Oriental clothes and keep the elephant busy plowing fields. The keeper was given a railroad schedule so the elephant was hard at work in the fields whenever a passenger train went by, resulting in much publicity. • It was an elephant that led to Barnum teaming up with Bailey. James Bailey owned a circus, and one of the elephants became the mother of the first baby elephant ever born in captivity. Barnum couldn’t stand to see someone else get more publicity than himself, so he offered to buy the two elephants for an exorbitant sum. Bailey simply used Barnum’s offer to get more publicity for himself. Barnum recognized a person who, like himself, was a master of publicity. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, thought Barnum, and a deal was struck whereby the two teamed up to put the Greatest Show on Earth on the road: the Barnum & Bailey Circus. When their first show was scheduled to open in Madison Square Gardens, Barnum paid for 100 top newspaper reporters from all over the country to come review the circus. The publicity he got ensured the success of the new circus. • By the mid 1880s, the Barnum and Bailey Circus was earning a million dollars a year. Barnum invented the concept of the three-ring circus, and coined the phrase, “The Greatest Show On Earth.” Barnum died in 1891 at the age of 82. Several years later, the Ringling Brothers bought the Barnum & Bailey circus. The combined circus became the largest travelling show on the planet, truly the “greatest show on earth.”

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by Samantha Weaver * It was 17th-century French author Francois de La Rochefoucauld who made the following sage observation: “Some people with great virtues are disagreeable, while others with great vices are delightful.” * If you wanted to dig to the center of the earth, you’d have to go down about 4,000 miles. * If you’re a fan of fishing, here’s a cautionary tale regarding the weather: A 48-year-old Colombian man named Felipe Ortiz (for reasons unknown) decided to go out fishing in a raging storm. He cast his line into a strong wind, but the line blew back and caused the baited hook to lodge in his throat, killing him.Ê * Are you a dipsomaniac? The root of the word is from the Greek “dipso,” meaning “thirst” -- and we’re all familiar with the “mania” part. “Dipsomaniac” is just a fancy name for a drunk. * Feeling pressed by ever-increasing postage rates? Well, consider this: To send mail by Pony Express originally cost $5 per ounce -- the equivalent of more than $150 in today’s dollars. * At one time the game of checkers was known as “chess for ladies.” * Unless you’re a professional dairy farmer who milks cows on a daily basis, it’s unlikely that you’re aware of the fact that it takes, on average, 350 squirts to get a gallon of milk. * Jewelry lovers, pay attention: Oysters aren’t the only creatures with the capability to make pearls. Pearls can come from any mollusk that makes a shell, including mussels, clams, conchs and even land snails. *** Thought for the Day: “I like an escalator because an escalator can never break, it can only become stairs. There would never be an escalator temporarily out of order sign, only an escalator temporarily stairs. Sorry for the convenience.” -- Mitch Hedberg (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.

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Tidbits® of the River Region

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* On Oct. 28, 1775, the commander in chief of the British army, Major Gen. Sir William Howe, forbids Boston residents to leave the city. He ordered citizens to organize into military companies for the preservation of order. * On Oct. 27, 1904, New York City Mayor George McClellan takes the controls on the inaugural run of the city’s new subway, which traveled 9.1 miles through 28 stations. More than 100,000 people paid a nickel each to take their first ride. * On Oct. 26, 1944, after four days of fighting, the World War II Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines, the largest air-naval battle in history, ends with a decisive American victory over the Japanese. * On Oct. 22, 1962, in a televised address, President John F. Kennedy announces that the Soviet Union has placed nuclear weapons in Cuba and, in response, the United States will establish a blockade around the island. * On Oct. 23, 1983, a suicide bomber drives a truck packed with explosives into the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. The Marines were part of a multinational force sent to oversee the Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. * On Oct. 25, 1994, Susan Smith reports that she was carjacked in South Carolina by a man who took her two small children in the backseat of her car. After nine days, Smith confessed that the carjacking tale was false and that she had driven her Mazda into a lake in order to drown her children. Smith, though married, was involved with another man who did not want children. * On Oct. 24, 2003, the British Airways supersonic Concorde jet makes its last commercial passenger flight, traveling from New York to London. The Concorde, developed jointly by the British and French governments, began commercial service in 1976. (c) 2018 Hearst Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved

McGriff, James Carlton White/Male 6’0” 200 lbs 36 yrs old Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown

Outstanding Warrants: Charge: Reckless Endangerment

Outstanding Warrants:

Dial, Jared DOB: 08/05/1989 Black/Male 6’1” 150 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown

Wanted for: Possession of Marijuana 1st/ Failure to Appear Assault 3rd

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“Be known before you’re needed” Advertise with Tidbits (334) 202-7285 JUMBO THE ELEPHANT

1. Who had a hit with the Curtis Mayfield song “Girls Are Out to Get You”? 2. Name the artist who released “On the Radio.” 3. Which group released the Rick James song “In My House”? 4. “Axel F” was used in which 1980s film? 5. Name the song that contains this lyric: “It’s not the way you smile that touched my heart. It’s not the way you kissed that tears me apart.” Answers 1. The Fascinations, in 1967. Martha Reeves was in the group but soon left to create Martha and the Vandellas. 2. Donna Summer, in 1979. Two versions were created: a 7-inch single and a larger 12-inch version that was released to DJs and ran seven minutes. 3. The Mary Jane Girls, in 1985. The song made it to the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the ‘80s list and was occasionally called inappropriate because of the lyrics. 4. The electronic instrumental was the theme in 1984’s “Beverly Hills Cop.” 5. “Baby It’s You.” The Shirelles original was a Top10 smash in 1961. The Beatles covered it on their first album two years later, and the band Smith took the song to No. 5 in 1969. (c) 2018 King Features Synd., Inc.

• Today the word “jumbo” is applied to anything that is extra large. Most people don’t realize that the word originated with an extra large elephant. • In 1861 an elephant calf was captured in Sudan, Africa after his mother was killed. The baby elephant was sold to a Paris zoo. He was given the Swahili name Jumbo which came from either “jambo” meaning “hello” or “jumbe” meaning “chief.” In 1865 he was sent to the London zoo in exchange for a rhino. • The elephant grew extraordinarily large, reaching six tons in weight and over ten feet in height. Most people had never seen an elephant, and Jumbo was a very large one. • Meanwhile, circus owners Phineas Barnum and James Bailey needed a star attraction for their new Barnum & Bailey Circus. Barnum offered to buy the elephant for $10,000 ($284,000 today). • The sale was made despite enormous protest across Britain. Over 100,000 schoolchildren wrote to Queen Victoria asking her not to sell Jumbo because he was considered a national treasure. Despite lawsuits and protests, Jumbo was sold. • Next, Barnum spent $20,000 ($567,000 today) transporting the elephant by ship to New York City. The elephant arrived on Easter Sunday in 1882, heralded by bands and crowds. His arrival marked the start of “Jumbomania” in the United States. People turned out to Barnum’s circus in droves and bought Jumbo postcards, Jumbo hats, and other souvenirs. • It took only three weeks of exhibiting Jumbo at Madison Square Garden in New York City for Barnum to earn back every penny he had spent on Jumbo. • During Jumbo’s first year, he earned $1.5 million for Barnum, and toured for the circus for four years. • Soon after the Brooklyn Bridge was opened in 1883, rumors began to spread that it was structurally unsound and might collapse. Barnum offered to pay the owners of the bridge $5,000 if they would let him parade all of his circus animals, including Jumbo, across the bridge in order to prove its structural integrity. He was turned down cold. • Just a few days later, on May 30, 1883, a woman tripped and fell while the bridge was crowded with sightseers. Her fall caused a nearby woman to scream, which caused some people to race towards the fallen woman while other rushed away. In the commotion, the rumor that the bridge was collapsing caused a chain reaction of panic. In the crush, 12 people died by trampling and suffocation, including the woman who had first fallen. Another 35 people were injured. • The bridge’s owners changed their minds about having Barnum’s menagerie cross the bridge. On May 17, 1884, Barnum marched Jumbo and 20 other elephants along with 17 camels across the bridge. The publicity was priceless for Barnum and there was no further concern about the stability of the bridge. • In 1885 while Jumbo was being boarded on a circus train, an unscheduled express train came roaring through the station, struck the elephant, and killed him. • Barnum parlayed this tragedy into enormous publicity. A taxidermist stuffed the remains and the elephant was soon back on the road. Barnum even bought a female elephant from the same London Zoo where he had gotten Jumbo from, and put her on tour as the grieving widow. • Eventually the stuffed elephant was donated to Tufts University and displayed until 1975, when the building burned down. Some of his ashes were saved and now reside in an empty peanut butter jar.

Cameron Adams Please call 334-202-7285 within 7 days of this issue to claim your prize!

Tommy Count ______ This week’s winner receives a

$25 Dollar Gift Certificate from

Plantation House Restaurant Register to win by sending an email to entertommycontest@gmail.com or USPS to PTK Corp., PO Box 264, Wetumpka, AL 36092 with the following information: 1) Your name (first and last), and, 2) the number of times you find Tommy in the ads in the paper. From the correct entries a winner will be selected. You must be 18 years of age to qualify. The gift certificates will range in value from $25 to $100 each week. Entries must be received by midnight each Friday evening.

Last Week’s Ads where

Tommy was hiding:

1. Capital City Body Works, p.1 2. Farmers Feed Service Inc., p.4 3. Malone, p.6

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TidbitsÂŽ of the River Region

Credit Cards Now Accepted

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Fabulous Food

WONDER BREAD

• In 1921 a bakery in Indianapolis was getting ready to release their newest product and they needed a name. The product was a 1.5 pound loaf of bread, in an era where virtually all loaves weighed one pound. • Elmer Cline was vice-president of the company and he attended the International Balloon Race at the Indianapolis Speedway. He was awe-struck by the sight of hundreds of balloons filling the sky. That experience inspired both the name of the bread and the logo: Wonder Bread. • The company advertised widely that “a new wonder” was coming on the market prior to the release of the new product. When it was released, delivery drivers handed out helium-filled balloons to children on their route. Each balloon came with a letter to their mother touting the benefits of Wonder Bread. Wonder Bread quickly became the best-selling bread on the market. • In the 1930s the popular loaf underwent an amazing transformation when it became the world’s first pre-sliced bread. Because the bread was so soft, it was difficult to slice at home without squashing the whole loaf. Sales of pre-sliced bread were slow at first because customers worried that sliced bread would dry out. Convenience overcame apprehension and soon the bread was on tables from coast to coast, inspiring the phrase “the best thing since sliced bread.” The bakery saw a 2,000 percent increase in sales following the introduction of uniformly sliced bread. • In 1890, about 90% of bread was baked at home, but by 1930, 90% of bread was purchased in a store. The widespread popularity of Wonder Bread was made possible due to recent innovations including the use of delivery trucks, as well as the automated bread-wrapping machine. • During World War II metals became so scarce that the blades for slicing bread were no longer available, and bread slicing was suspended for a while. • Because the bread was made from refined wheat flour, it was stripped of all natural B vitamins. Synthetic B vitamins were first manufactured in 1936, and in 1941 Wonder Bread became the first to participate in a government-sponsored movement to enrich white bread with eight essential vitamins and minerals to improve nutrition even among the poorest people. This simple measure nearly eliminated diseases such as beriberi and pellagra caused by a vitamin B deficiency. • Later the company invented a new way of baking bread that eliminated holes, making every loaf perfect and identical, which was especially popular among children. Wonder was also the first national bread brand to feature “best by” dating as well as printing nutrition information on its packaging. • The company sponsored the Howdy Doody TV show, with host Buffalo Bob Smith telling the audience, “Wonder Bread builds strong bodies 8 ways.” By the 1960s, Wonder Bread was advertising with the slogan “Helps build strong bodies 12 ways” referring to the number of added nutrients in each loaf. • During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Americans ate a lot of white bread, consuming an average of a pound and a half of white bread per person, per week. Until the late 1960s, Americans got up to 30% of their daily calories from white bread, more than from any other single item in their diet. • The company that owns Hostess bought Wonder Bread in 1995. Sales and consumption of white bread increased every year up until 1963, when it began a slow decline. In 2012, whole wheat bread outsold white bread for the first time in history.

BIBLE TRIVIA ANSWERS:

1) Neither; 2) John the Baptist; 3) Be born again; 4) 7 days; 5) Damascus; 6) Peter

1. Mickey Mantle, Alex Rodriguez and Tony Conigliaro. 2. Randy Johnson (4,875 strikeouts), Steve Carlton (4,136) and Mickey Lolich (2,832). 3. Tom Brady, Joe Flacco, Bernie Kosar, Aaron Rodgers and Kurt Warner. 4. It was 1995. 5. Anaheim, in 2007. 6. Shaun White. 7. Babe Didrikson Zaharias, in 1945.

Tidbits® of the River Region

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Last Week Total

13-2 90-30

13-2 88-32

13-2 86-34

14-1 85-35

12-3 84-36

13-2 81-39

9-6 78-42

13-2 78-42

National Champ

Alabama

Georgia

Alabama

Auburn

Alabama

Clemson

Troy S Alabama

Troy

Miami Boston Coll

Boston Coll

Miami

Boston Coll

Florida Georgia

Georgia

Florida

Georgia

Florida

Texas A&M Miss St

Miss St

Texas A&M

Miss St

Texas A&M

Kentucky Missouri

Kentucky

Missouri

Kentucky

Missouri

Vandy Arkansas

Arkansas

Vandy

Arkansas

Vanderbilt

Vandy

Tennessee S Carolina

S Carolina

Tennessee

S Carolina

Tennessee

S Carolina

Tennessee

UAB UTEP

UAB

USF Houston

Houston

USF

Houston

USF

Houston

USF

Arizona St USC

USC

Arizona St

USC

Arizona St

Washington Cal

Washington

Clemson FSU

Clemson

NC St Syracuse

NC St

Syracuse

NC St

Syracuse

NC St

Iowa Penn St

Penn St

Texas Oklahoma St

Texas

Oklahoma St

Texas