Trivia

Haven't done one of these for a while. Again, I thank mental_floss.

--Alfred Hitchcock gave six-year-old Melanie Griffith an unusual present when her mother (Tippi Hedren) was working in his film The Birds: a Barbie-sized wax replica of her mom presented in a tiny coffin. Griffith believes that Hitchcock thought he was making a nice gesture, but admitted that the incident definitely freaked her out. She says she threw the gift away long ago.

--Queen Elizabeth II is one of the world’s wealthiest women, but that doesn’t mean she squanders her money on lavish gifts. In fact, she leans towards the practical side. Some of the Christmas presents she has given to her staff include a bag of clothespins for her personal laundress and a large horseshoe-shaped magnet for her seamstress (to make it easier to retrieve dropped pins, of course). How thoughtful!

--Elizabeth Taylor has been the recipient of some very lavish gifts in her lifetime, including a 69.4-carat Cartier diamond from her former husband Richard Burton. But surely nothing can compare to the highly personal present she once received from her pal Michael Jackson – a life-size doll of himself. Hmmm…

--What do you give the woman who has everything for her 40th birthday? If the woman in question is Sophia Loren and you’re her husband, film producer Carlo Ponti, the answer is a custom-made 14-karat gold toilet seat.

--When Stephen Douglas accused Abraham Lincoln of being two-faced during an 1858 debate, Lincoln's famously wry response was: "I leave it to my audience - if I had another face to wear, do you think I would wear this one?"


--The governor of the Wyoming Territory signed a women's suffrage bill into law in 1869, and on September 6 of the following year, a 70-year-old housewife named Louisa Ann Swain became the first female to legally cast a ballot in a United States public election. An article that appeared later in the Ladies Home Journal assured the nation that Mrs. Swain had not "lost" her femininity by voting.


--When Betty White first appeared on the game show Password in 1961, host Allen Ludden, a widower with three children, was immediately smitten. The pair became friendly, but White was leery of becoming romantically involved, having been divorced twice already. Nevertheless, Allen bought an engagement ring and wore it on a chain around his neck until Betty finally accepted his proposal in 1963.


--Joanne Woodward often attributes the success of her 50-year marriage to having a good sense of humor. She regularly fretted over husband Paul Newman's safety once he took up racecar driving. But when Joanne fell out of bed and managed to break her collarbone, Paul couldn't resist the opportunity to needle her a little. While they waited for the paramedics, he told her "I'm not going to listen to any more complaining about my racing!"


--Comedian Jack Benny and Mary Livingstone had been married for 48 years when Jack passed away in 1974. The day after Benny's death, his wife, Mary, received one long-stemmed red rose from a florist. The next day, another came. When Mary called to ask about the deliveries, she learned that Benny had stipulated in his will, "one perfect red rose daily for the rest of Mary's life."