› added 9 years ago

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TIL Firestone funded and aided a violent, vicious, and rapacious warlord to overthrow the Liberian government to keep their rubber plantation secure and the export taxes low.

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woVZ6 TIL Jack Benny's last staring role in a film was in The Horn Blows at Midnight, which was a box office bomb. The film would go on to gain a new life as a punchline on The Jack Benny Program where it was the butt of jokes for over 20 years.
ZpD0v TIL that Warner Bros. (as a whole) is actually older than Disney (as a whole, too), even if they share the same "birth year" (1923, tbe). [Warner Bros. is born on Apr. 4, while Disney is born on Oct. 3.]
VMbZp TIL in 1975 actor Oliver Reed had a pie thrown in his face at a premiere. Then a man came up to him with a card saying "Pie in the Face International. You have been selected by Mr. Keith Moon to become a member." and a certificate with the words "You are a member, sponsored by Keith Moon.".
D1mGe TIL a "fat-in" was staged in New York's Central Park in 1967 as a fat acceptance movement. It consisted of a group of 500 people eating, carrying signs and photographs of Sophia Loren (an actress famous for her figure), and burning diet books.
5b7B TIL a female minor league pitcher struck out Babe Ruth and Lou Gerhig back-to-back in 1928. Her contract was voided; in 1952 MLB officially banned women, which was not rescinded until 1992.