Letters from Mr. J B Fact Finder: A Letter for Each Week of the Year

By Joe W Boyd

Mr. J B Fact Finder tackles topics both popular and obscure in this treasure trove of facts and trivia thats perfect for traveling, classroom instruction, the bathroom, or simply satisfying your curiosity.

Written as a series weekly letters, this isnt the typical trivia book: J Bs short stories make history come alive. Youll find the answers to questions such as:

What famous person loved to ride his bicycle but had so little faith in the brakes that whenever he wanted to stop, hed always drag his feet?
What famous person died in 1849 but had so little money that he couldnt be buried until 1858?
When Mozart said, Watch this lad. One day he will force the world to talk about him
whom was he talking about?
What do Google, Hewlett-Packard, and Apple all have in common?

Whether you want to learn about industry, important moments in history, how certain holidays were started or out-of-the-ordinary topics, youll discover truths that will impress even the smartest of your friends in Letters from Mr. J B Fact Finder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 8, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504910323

Joe W Boyd

Joe W. Boyd, a native of Texas, lives in Arkansas. He is a passionate history and trivia enthusiast. Visit his website at www.mrjbfactfinder.com.

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© 2015 Joe W Boyd. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   07/20/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1033-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-1032-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

1. WAIST OVERALLS

2. THE SOUND OF MUSIC

3. THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME

4. COMPUTERS

5. WE DELIVER WE DELIVER

6. VALENTINE’S DAY

7. LAW MAKERS, YOU GOT TO LOVE’M

8. NEVER QUIT

9. BALL POINT PENS

10. FOOD HISTORY

11. ST PATRICK’S DAY

12. THANK YOU HARLAND

13. WAFFLE HOUSE

14. WRIGLEY SPEARMENT GUM

15. THE PEANUT SPECIALIST

16. MONEY

17. EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

18. RAILROADS

19. TUPPERWARE

20. KODAK

21. MT. VERNON

22. MONTICELLO

23. THE MEN OF BREAKFAST

24. CAMPBELL SOUP

25. TO MY BEST FRIEND

26. AMERICA

27. SECRETARIAT

28. TOYS

29. FUNNY LAWS

30. CAR MAKERS

31. ROCK AND ROLL

32. GONE WITH THE WIND

33. LABOR DAY

34. FORD MOTORS

35. THE WIZARD OF OZ

36. PROHIBITION

37. MISTAKES

38. CRAZY LAWS

39. BURIED

40. HALLOWEEN

41. MOZART

42. BACH

43. BEETHOVEN

44. THANKSGIVING

45. PEANUTS

46. SANTA, ELVES, AND REINDEER

47. CHRISTMAS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

48. CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

49. NEW YEAR’S DAY

WAIST OVERALLS

Good Morning to you,

Well it is Saturday, a day of doing those chores and repairs around the house that you put off all week. So get out your work clothes and get with it. Thanks to Loab, I have just the pair of waist overalls for you to work in. I would say that Loab has made the biggest fashion impact in the history of the fashion world. Born 1829, at a young age Loeb’s father died. Two yrs. later, he and 2 sisters came to America to work with their brother in his dry goods business. Loeb was born in Buttenheim, Germany where his home is now a Levi Strauss Museum. Though named Loeb at birth, we know him as Levi Strauss. Levi began making heavy duty work pants in the1870s. Who could ever imagine what a single pair of pants would become.

• At the age of 43 and with the help of a business partner named Jacob Davis, the blue jean was invented in 1873.

• Levi immigrated to San Francisco in 1853 during the time of the California Gold Rush. He knew that he would never make it as a miner panning for gold so he pursued a business in dry goods.

• Jacob Davis was a tailor from Nevada who was one of Levi’s regular customers buying bolts of cloth. He came to Levi and asked for his help in getting a patent for making a more durable pair of pants with rivets on the pockets, and a front fly seam.

• Strauss believed that there would be a great demand for what he called waist overalls.

• First they were made with heavy canvas, but later switched to a denim fabric that was dyed blue to hide stains.

• 501’s were first created in 1890. 501 was the lot number for the order of paints.

• Levi was a very humble and generous man. He contributed to the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home, and other charities. He created scholarships for the students of the University of California, at Berkeley. He always insisted that everyone, including his employees called him by Levi, not Mr. Strauss.

• Levi never married.

• The oldest existing pair of jeans, dubbed the XX is believed to have been made in 1879. It is kept in a safe at the Levi Strauss & Co, and the estimated worth is over $150,000.00.

When Levi Strauss died, the San Francisco Board of Trade gave the following testimonial on the life of Levi Strauss.

…the great causes of education and charity have likewise suffered a loss in the death of Mr. Strauss, whose splendid endowments to the University of California will be an enduring testimonial of his worth as a liberal, public-minded citizen and whose numberless unostentatious acts of charity in which neither race nor creed were recognized, exemplified his broad and generous love for and sympathy with humanity.

So here we have another example of a great man who contributed not only to his profession, but also to society. His name stands above many, just from his business accomplishments with the blue jeans, but I think that what makes him stand head and shoulders above so many is his humbleness, and concern for others. In Levi’s mind, he was never Mr. Strauss, he was always just Levi. Just one of the guys, trying to make a living.

Till next time,

Mr. J B Fact Finder

THE SOUND OF MUSIC

Hello to you all,

Do you hear that sound? It sounds as if the hills are alive with the sound of music. The birds are chirping, and is that a full piece orchestra I hear in the background? How do they do that? Let’s talk about the hit movie The Sound of Music. Opened on Broadway on November 16, 1959, was made a motion picture in 1965. The Sound of Music was the last show written by Rodgers and Hammerstein. That’s what you call going out with a bang. Let’s look at some interesting facts on this subject, shall we?

• The real Maria Von Trapp had a cameo appearance during the Confidence number. As Julie Andrews goes through the brick arch, Maria played the older of the two peasant women in the background.

• Many think that the song Edelweiss is an Austrian folk song, but actually it was the last song written by Oscar Hammerstein before his death in 1960. Christopher Plummer hated the song, and would call it schmaltzy.

• Christopher Plummer did not like the movie much at all. He would refer to it as The Sound of Mucus. He learned to play the guitar for the movie but his guitar playing was later dubbed.

• Kym Karath, who played the part of Gretl, was not able to swim. In the scene where the boat overturned and everyone fell into the water, Julie Andrews was supposed to catch Kym, but Julie and Kym both fell off on opposite sides of the boat. Kym ended up being caught by Heather Menzies, who played Louisa. After swallowing too much water, Kym threw up all over Heather.

• By the end of shooting the movie, Kym had gained some weight. At the end of the movie, when the family is escaping over the mountains, and the Baron had to carry Gretl on his back, Christopher Plummer requested a stunt double to take the place of Kym, that weight less, and got one.

• In Spain, the movie title was Smiles and Tears. In France, Melody of Happiness. Argentina and Brazil, The Rebellious Novice, and in Austria and Germany, My Song, My Dream.

• Doris Day was offered the role of Maria Von Trapp, but turned it down.

• Julie Andrews nearly turned down the role of Maria because she felt it was too similar to the role of Mary Poppins.

Well you may be asking yourself, just how accurate was the movie to real life? I am glad you asked. In real life, the Von Trapp family says that the Baron was not as strict as in the movie. Maria was hired as a governess for only one Von Trapp child, Louisa who had been ill with scarlet fever and needed to study at home. When the family left Austria, they weren’t actually being pursued by the Nazis at the time of their departure. They took a bus to Italy, and from there traveled to England, and then to the