Odd names of real people

I have family back in my home state of Arkansas, and I get reports from home. This week I was told that a man named "Anos Arkangel" was listed in the local court dockets! His body part homonym made me think of the old joke about Elvis Presley and his nickname: "You know how they call Elvis 'the Pelvis'? Well, he's got a brother named Enos."

Wonder if Anos Arkangel's appellation is his birth name, or a self-applied one? Bet it's the latter.

Also in my home town there's a guy named "Sunshine Mudhole." (I bet that ain't HIS birth name, either!)

But ya never know. I remember going to school with a girl with the first name of Bambi, and another with the last name of Crapser. (I'd hate for her to be stopped by a male State Trooper: "What's your name, ma'am? Crap, sir.") And when I was a kid I knew a fella named Hugh Monger--of course, sometimes he got called "Humongous." There also was a man with the last name of Batman listed in the phone book.

My parents and grandparents have all sworn to me that they knew a girl named America Mae Riddicky Biddicky Joshuaway Arlena. Oddly, no one remembers her last name.

And I grew up with family members with the names "Othar" and "Monk"--names I like very much for their distinctiveness. (People with unusual names often seem to hate them when they are children, but appreciate them as adults.) When I was a child, I knew no one outside my family with the name Max. I hated it--then.

However, maybe none of this should be surprising, since my home state has towns named Old Joe, Toad Suck, Bull Shoals, Yellville, Gassville, and Flippin! But I'm not being insulting. I love the fact that Arkansas has some colorful town names--I wish it had more!

In Memphis, TN, when I lived there, were doctors Oliver Hardy and Vincent Price (the latter actually a dentist!).

And news came out this week that jazz singer/songwriter Blossom Dearie has died. (And yes, that was her real name.)

But for sheer weirdness, little beats the cruelty of Frank Zappa: he named two of his kids "Moon Unit" and "Diva Muffin."

Well, except for naming your kid "Adolph Hitler."

Sheesh.


Relevant link: Baby Name Games

Mars shines for Christmas

An excerpt from an Associated Press news item:

Mars glows; no need for Rudolph's nose

By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Thu Dec 20, 11:17 AM ET

Mars will be unusually bright this Christmas Eve and the moon will be shining full — a development that might make Santa Claus rethink his need for Rudolph's red nose.

That idea, from Miami Space Transit Planetarium director Jack Horkheimer, made us wonder if retooling a certain reindeer song is the best way to explain it to the kids:

Mars is a red-tinged planet

With a very shiny glow

And if you look to see it

You will find the moon in tow.

The red planet will shine brighter because it will be directly opposite the sun, reflecting the most light, and fairly close to Earth, only 55.5 million miles away. The full moon will appear nearby, rising about an hour later, said Horkheimer, host of the public television show "Star Gazer."

*********************************************
I love to post news items with the name "Horkheimer" in them. Because I'm a wisenheimer. Or items with "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt" -- that's my name too!


News excerpt copyright 2007 Associated Press.

Gas has passed

The DSH is blown away by the recent passing of Gas. Sir Frederick Gas, that is. He was actually Earl Bennett (no, not the football player!), and a man of many talents. He was best known for his years as a performer with Spike Jones And His City Slickers. Later Bennett worked as an editor for various Hanna-Barbera TV series, including Frankenstein, Jr. And The Impossibles (1966) and Scooby-Do (1969).

He was also a gifted painter who had studied under Thomas Hart Benton. Clips of Bennett talking about Benton can be seen in the 1989 Ken Burns documentary THOMAS HART BENTON, and a portion of Bennett's comments can be seen here.

In the video clip with this post, Gas/Bennett is seen in the middle, his mop of hair teased out, and singing the opening vocal portion. He does a very good parody of the lead singer of The Ink Spots.

Frederick Gas/Earl Bennett was a talented and funny man, and am truly sorry to hear of his death on Oct. 4th. (Even if it provides for a funny subject line.) But there is good news to share: the Spike Jones TV series, which the video clip comes from, is being released on dvd on Oct 30th!!

A more detailed obit can be seen here:
Sir Frederick Gas (Earl Bennett)

Right: Bennett is seen dressed in black, menacing Peter Lorre.

Special thanks to George Chastain.

Was out partying with friends tonight. Here's me with the great Zacherley:


We were out on a pub crawl, and dropped in to see Lori Nelson (REVENGE OF THE CREATURE), where she was surprised to see me: (YES, I really did meet Lori Nelson!)

Wonderfest 2007

Jane and yours fool-y just got back from the Wonderfest convention, and was it a festive wonder! We could not have had a better time! Here's a photo of me and the missus with several other members of The Universal Monster Army, wondering and festering. We're in the room that held the UMA Vintage Monster Toy exhibit.

The drunken severed head was lucky enough to participate in the Rondo Awards ceremony held at Wonderfest. I was honored to be allowed to present the one-and-only Zacherley with his Rondo Award for Best CD of 2007. That made me very happy! (Of course, I went in formal wear: I wore my prosthetic body.)

Sorry to delay the Mark Redfield and David Patrick Kelly interviews a bit more, but I just HADDA post this. The Drunken Severed Head is a floating, delirious, ecstatic head, even several days later!

The Toy To Make A Man From A Boy!

Here's a vintage ad that made me titter (and I love to titter):

EasTER-ROR!

Just back from a long trip, the Drunken Severed Head awoke this morning to find he'd been visited once again by the Easter Blowfish!

I'm not sure why this happens at my house every year (My Transylvanian blood? Result of flipping off an old gypsy woman in traffic?), but I enjoy seeing the ghostly holiday puffer come around. He always brings chocolate fugu and gaily-colored eggs, and it's always so suspenseful as to which goodies have deadly toxins and which are safe to eat. I always do the kindness of sharing with my neighbors first, of course.

Holiday trivia: a species of large blowfish found along the Atlantic seaboard is also known as the rabbitfish.

More trivia, from Wikipedia: "
"Some sources claim that about 100 people die each year from fugu poisoning...There are some reports of completely paralyzed but fully conscious victims that were believed to be dead, and woke up a few days later or just before being cremated. In some parts of Japan a fugu victim is put next to his coffin for three days to verify the death. If the body does not decompose, it is not yet dead.

"The pufferfish is also reported to be one of the main ingredients used in voodoo to turn people into zombies. [Some of my best friends are zombies. Max] According to ethnobotanist Wade Davis, the pufferfish is the key ingredient in the first step of creating a zombie, where the tetrodotoxin creates a 'death-like' state. In the second step, hallucinogens are used to hold the person in a will-less zombie state."

Happy Easter, everyone!

Alas, no more Fux

Sadly, the drunken severed head has learned that an unsung but talented character actor, Austrian Herbert Fux, has died. He appeared in films like LADY DRACULA, LADY FRANKENSTEIN, THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM, MARK OF THE DEVIL, Jess Franco's JACK THE RIPPER, and Bergman's THE SERPENT'S EGG.

I think he looked like Boris Karloff and Al Pacino rolled into one person.

A nice tribute to Fux can be found at the Movie Morlocks website:

http://tinyurl.com/yuskbu

Thankfully, we still have baseball player Russell "Rusty" Kuntz and real estate attorney Lawrence Suchs with us. But the star of THE GHOST SHIP, actor Richard Dix, is long gone.