Make room for Danny
Q: I think my folks’ favorite TV program was ‘Make Room for Daddy,’ starring Danny Thomas. As I recall, it aired on Tuesday nights, and that evening’s activities often revolved around the show. In the early years, Thomas had a wife. He was later a widower, and then, toward the end of the show, he remarried. What happened to his first wife? ‘ Y.E.T., Providence, R.I.
A: The show premiered in the fall of 1953 and continued until 1964. Thomas played a nightclub entertainer named Danny Williams. His wife, Margaret (played by Jean Hagen), quit the show in 1956, and her character was killed off. The following season, Danny began dating; the 1956-1957 season ended with him proposing to a young nurse named Kathy O’Hara (Marjorie Lord). The fifth season opened with the happy couple returning from their honeymoon.
Q: I have a question about the Project Mercury spaceflight program. It is my understanding that each astronaut named his spacecraft, such as Freedom 7 (Alan Shepard) or Liberty Bell 7 (Virgil Grissom). Six manned Mercury flights all contained the number seven. What does that represent? – Y.R.L., Youngstown, Ohio
A: You are right: Each astronaut named his own spacecraft. They all added ‘7’ to acknowledge their fellow astronauts, known as the Mercury Seven. The astronauts were Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. Slayton was grounded in 1962 with an irregular heartbeat; his reinstatement occurred 10 years later, and he flew on the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.
Q: Near Kinderhook, N.Y., is Lindenwald, the home of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States. Where did he get the name Lindenwald? ‘ N.D., Waco, Texas
A: Although Van Buren bought the home while still president, he didn’t move in until 1841, after losing his bid for a second term. He named the estate Lindenwald, Dutch for ‘linden wood,’ after the trees lining the roadway in front of his estate.
Q: I know what a boll weevil is; yet I don’t. I know it devastates cotton crops, but where did it get that name? ‘ G.P., Brattleboro, Vt.
A: A weevil is a beetle, or a particular type of beetle, that is destructive to plants. The word comes from the Old English ‘wifel,’ or beetle. Boll is a part of several different plants; in this case, the cotton plant.
Q: Who wrote ‘What mighty contests rise from trivial things’? ‘ E.C., Troy, N.Y.
A: That is one of the lines from ‘The Rape of the Lock’ by Alexander Pope (1688-1744).
Q: What is the most popular participant sport in the world? ‘ J.T., Flint, Mich.
A: I can’t find an answer to this, but I would say fishing. Does anyone have another idea?
Q: Where is (or was) the Gosport Shipyard? ‘ S.L.P., Dover, Del.
A: The Gosport Shipyard was founded in November 1767 on the western shore of the Elizabeth River in the Virginia Colony. During the Civil War, when Union forces recaptured the naval yard, the name was changed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, even though it is located in Portsmouth, Va. The name Norfolk was probably chosen to avoid confusion with the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard that already existed in Kittery, Maine, near Portsmouth, N.H.
Q: What does the name Venezuela mean? ‘ G.R., Columbus, Ohio
A: First, a mini-history lesson. Christopher Columbus became the first European to visit Venezuela in 1498, during his third voyage to the New World. The following year, more explorers came. One of those, Alonso de Ojeda, admired the stilted houses that Indians constructed above Lake Maracaibo. Impressed, he named the country Venezuela, meaning ‘Little Venice’ in Spanish.
Q: Our church will soon be celebrating its 150th anniversary. Fifty years ago, we celebrated the centennial anniversary and in 50 years, we will celebrate our bicentenary anniversary. What do you call the 150th anniversary? ‘ M.T.T., Santa Rosa, Calif.
A: Your church will be celebrating its sesquicentennial.
(Send your questions to Mr. Know-It-All at [email protected] or c/o United Feature Syndicate, 200 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016)