®

                      Be a Mullings Subscriber! Click here.

Large Events and Little

Rich Galen

Monday, August 16, 2004

---

Subscription Drive

: Here's the link to see if it is time for you to subscribe.

---

FREE Sign Up

: Here's the link to sign up for FREE editions of MULLINGS..

---





• "... Freedonia ...": Zeppo and Gummo Marx were also members of the Marx Brothers troupe. Gummo was the first straight man, followed by Zeppo after Gummo (who never appeared in any of the pictures) left the act. Duck Soup was Zeppo's last Marx Brothers film.

  Freedonia is the fictional country of which Rufus T. Firefly becomes dictator in the 1933 Marx Brothers movie, Duck Soup.

  The movie contains the some of the best puns ever put on screen. A couple of examples:

  MRS.TEASDALE (Margaret Dumont): Notables from every country are gathered here in your honor. This is a gala day for you.
  RUFUS T. FIREFLY (Groucho Marx): Well, a gal a day is enough for me. I don't think I could handle any more.

  And my favorite Chico-ism of all time:

  PROSECUTOR: You haven't been paying your taxes.
  CHICOLINI (Chico Marx): Taxes. I have an uncle who lives in Taxes.
  PROSECUTOR: No, Money. Dollars.
  CHICOLINI: Dollars, Taxes. That's where my uncle is a-from.

• "... Syncronized Swimming ...": Here's a link to the official Athens2004 web site dealing with Synchronized Swimming.

• "... Whiffle Ball ...": A Whiffle Ball is, unlike the transparent bathing suit, a trademarked piece of sporting equipment, as seen here on the official Wiffle Ball web site.

• Mullfoto of the Day
  
  All right. I know you think I make this stuff up, but I don't. This is the sign outside the Belasco Theater on W44th Street in Manhattan for "Dracula; the Musical." (Here's the Playbill listing for this play.)

  I immediately (as you would have done) began about other stories which could easily be turned into musicals: The Elephant Man came to mind. And, of course, Schindler's List. And anything by Tennessee Williams.

  Then I focused in on the name of the theater: The Belasco. Is it possible that this is some sort of DaVinci Code deal?

  Who starred in the most famous Dracula movie?

  Bela Lugosi

  What, then, if you read the name of the theater not as the Belasco but as Bela's Co.; an abbreviation for "Bela's Company?"

  
  Dan Brown. Hah!

• Catchy Caption of the Day

  
  On the other hand, my vote for "cult favorite" is Women's Beach Volleyball.

  Here, Brazil's Ana Paula Connelly and Sandra Pires celebrate after winning against Norway on Sunday.

  I am for this sport. Women's Beach Volleyball represents the best of athleticism, the height of grace, the epitome of strength, the ...
  what was I talking about, again?

  (REUTERS/Desmond Boylan )