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There's no business like show business

Guitarist Adrian Belew has worked with a lot of musicians — Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Paul Simon, Talking Heads, King Crimson — and he has a lot of great anecdotes on his blog, including one about meeting Zippy the Chimp ... in David Bowie's dressing room in 1978.

Adrian Belew anecdote blog show business Zippy the Chimp

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Off by a trillion

Click on the picture for a closer look In this General Electric promotional photo from 1953 Mrs. Connie Hodgson, of Syracuse, N.Y., displays her figure and figures after taking on GE's Office of Air Research Automatic Computer in a mathematical challenge. She was one of a half dozen intelligent adults multiplying 8,645,392,175 by 8,645,392,175. Mrs. Hodgson is pointing to the line where she forgot to carry a one and ended up one trillion off in her product. She shouldn't feel too bad, none of the humans — who took from 4 ½ to over 8 minutes — got the answer right. The correct answer, by the way, is 74,742,805,859,551,230,625 and was solved by OARAC in a fraction of a second.

Sallie Blair: Barefoot Bombshell

In the October 1963 Negro Digest a reader asked "Once Sallie Blair seemed en route to the Bigtime. Her photo made Esquire's center spread, and she was booked into the de luxe supper clubs. What happened?" The reply was "That's show business, really. However, Miss Blair now has a new act and a new look and is on the way up again." Walter Winchell called the beautiful nightclub singer who often performed barefoot "Sex with a capital X" and "sort of like Lena Horne with baby fat." She received mentions in Dorothy Kilgallen's column as well as in often gossipy-toned items in Jet magazine. Born Sarah Bolling Mason Hutchins in Baltimore, Md. to Sarah Mason and Carlos Hutchins (a golf pro, who in 1942 was secretary of the Citizens' Civil Rights Committee, which formed in response to the segregation of Baltimore's all-white — and better-maintained — golf courses), Sallie Blair had all the ingredients to be a much bigger star than sh...

Time Warp Wives: Sammi Sadler (Channel 4/ 2008)

Sometime in early October, we finally were able to view an episode from Channel 4's First Cut series entitled Time Warp Wives . This mini-documentary is about British women (and the men who love them) who live and breathe vintage lifestyles. I found out about this program from a posting on Vintage Style Network (defunct as of Winter, 2008). It has caused quite a stir 'round the world as a matter of fact. I suggest you get a hold of it, watch it, and come to your own conclusion as to whether their stories were distorted or not. If you were to ask us, we think the ladies were roasted badly. One of the stories was of 20-year-old Sammi Sadler . Miss Sadler may be familiar to some readers of this blog from the entry we posted earlier this year about the resurgence of 1940s style in the 21st century. In our opinion, she faired far better in Time Warp Wives than the other women did. Plus, the kid is a stunning pony! Look at her! Above: Sammi Sadler No offense to you, Miss Sadler...

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