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Send us Fan Mail Trivia: What is the term for large bird strikes on airplane windshields or shredded inside turbine engines? Both historical guests offered a larger number of products at set prices through their publications which all of us have also used—a groundbreaking approach in the late 1800s. Effectively making goods accessible to people across the country.

Send us Fan Mail Trivia: Did you know the phrase "dead as a doornail," dates back to the 14th century? Mystery Guest: the company that bears his name today was founded by someone else in 1898. Business grew rapidly, and in 1912 became the world's largest company making something essential to modern life. Our mystery guest was so obsessed with making this puncture proof material his...

Send us Fan Mail Driving hundreds of miles as a Road Warrior in the early 1900s meant eating nearly all meals in a roadside diner.  Minimum state and federal food safety regulations weren’t really enforced at the time. As a result, travelers took a gamble when stopping to get something to eat at a flashing neon sign. So, around 1935, our mystery guest started keeping a daily log. Whenever he stopp...

Send us Fan Mail After the television was invented  in 1927, it took at least a decade to perfect the TV set. Then it took several more years to make the television a household staple.  As television sets became more common, advertisers grew eager to get involved. Automobile manufacturers, cleaning products, over-the-counter medicine, and tobacco products were all vying for attention.  Over time v...

Send us Fan Mail By 1973 this now internationally recognized actor had auditioned for nearly every casting agent in NYC. After being rejected on thousands of acting calls for various parts he eventually slept frigid winter nights inside a bus station.  Despite these challenges, and more to come, his deep-seated passion of becoming an actor meant relocating to Los Angeles, CA.  After every movie st...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. John Pemberton invented this syrup in 1886 as a remedy for headaches.  He sold it a few years later to Atlanta pharmacist Asa Candler. Tasters at the time said the new drink was delicious when combined with carbonated water.  Although denied by its namesake company, historical evidence suggests the recipe for what was sold as a medicinal tonic combined coca leaf extract with t...

Send us Fan Mail Who invented the incandescent light bulb in 1879?  Well, it's not whom you think it is!  This prolific American inventor was successfully sued for patent infringement.   However, after researching 8,000 possible combinations using electrical power to produce light his famous quote “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration" still holds true today.

Send us Fan Mail Her revolutionary cookbook remains popular and continuously reprinted since 1901. Prior to its publication did you know that for hundreds of years meals were prepared following pinches of this or handfuls of that? This method made it extremely difficult to consistently cook a tasty meal.  Even more challenging using someone’s recipe for a dish you’ve never seen made!  The person y...

Send us Fan Mail The 1890s bicycle craze in America was especially popular with women enjoying a new freedom they didn’t have before such as unchaperoned travel. The popularity of cycling caused a moral panic.   According to late 19th century medical journals, doctors quickly diagnosed a new malady called ‘Bicycle Face’. This illness was discribed as 'leaving women with flushed faces, bulging...

Send us Fan Mail  "Sparky" was an American cartoonist whose autobiography was initially shared in his weekly newspaper comic strips.  He was an unpopular, unremarkable, and generally poor student in high school.  The H.S yearbook dismissed his creative drawings which were eventually also rejected by Walt Disney Studios. Undaunted, an autobiography of sorts unfolded in his now internation...