The 120-year-old beverage has become an iconic part of global pop culture and shows no signs of stopping. PEPSI-COLA WAS ONCE CALLED “BRAD’S DRINK The inventor of Pepsi-Cola was a druggist in North Carolina named Caleb Davis Bradham. In 1893, Bradham began selling “Brad’s Drink” at the soda fountain in his store. The beverage was…
The War for Catch-22 The tragicomic 1961 novel that sprang from Joseph Heller’s experience as a W.W. II bombardier mystified and offended many of the publishing professionals who saw it first. But thanks to a fledgling agent, Candida Donadio, and a young editor, Robert Gottlieb, it would eventually be recognized as one of the greatest anti-war…
The first oranges weren’t orange: What came first, the orange or…orange? Did someone just make the un-creative decision to name the citrus fruit after its color? Or did the color get its name because of the fruit? In terms of perplexing origin stories, this one is right up there with the chicken vs. the egg….
The “Windy City” name has nothing to do with Chicago weather: Chicago city’s nickname was coined by 19th-century journalists who were referring to the fact that its residents were “windbags” and “full of hot air.” Well, when the nickname came to be, the “Windy City” wasn’t describing the weather but the people. Nineteenth-century journalists first…
The Psycho movie is regarded as the first American movie to show a toilet flushing. Reportedly, screenwriter Joseph Stefano was adamant in showing this to add realism to the movie but Hitchcock stated it must be needed in the script. Stefano then wrote the scene in which Marion Crane flushes evidence down the toilet. Throughout…
