Electric Christmas tree lights were first used in 1895. The idea for using electric Christmas lights came from an American, Ralph E. Morris. The new lights proved safer than the traditional candles.

The Super Ball® was born in 1965, and it became America's most popular plaything that year. By Christmas time, only six months after it was introduced by Wham-O, 7 million balls had been sold at 98 cents apiece. Norman ...Read More

Director and screenwriter Cecil B. DeMille was one of the first film pioneers who quickly realized that how a movie looked could be a powerful magnet to draw larger audiences into theatres. He capitalized on audiences' ...Read More

Dimitri Tiomkin wrote High Noon's prize-winning musical score. Asked in an interview how a Russian-born concert pianist could write Western music, Tiomkin had a quick reply. "Did Strauss," he inquired hotly, "have to be an...Read More

British parents like the female name Jane a lot more than do American parents. Although it has been a very poplar name in both countries for the last 100 years, it consistently ranked Number 1 in England in the 1980s.

Until the 1970s, Jessica was a very unusual name. William Shakespeare, who may even have made up the name, called Shylock’s lovely daughter Jessica in The Merchant of Venice, but it was not until recently that large ...Read More