I wasn't prepared for how fascinating these random facts turned out to be.View Entire Post ›
It's hard to believe how fast the year is flying by, as June is now officially behind us. However, between everything that happened over the past month, I kept stumbling across random facts that sent me down internet rabbit holes, from surprising pop culture stories to behind-the-scenes details that I had no idea happened. If you're always looking for something surprising to learn, here are some of the most interesting facts I came across in June:
1.
When Schitt's Creek was first being developed by Dan Levy and Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara was their first choice to play Moira Rose. At the time, O'Hara was hesitant to join the show and initially turned them down. However, Dan was determined to cast her and pushed Eugene to convince her to shoot the pilot. After it was picked up, they told her that she only needed to make a one-season commitment and that if she hated the show, she could leave.
Moira was originally written as a more grounded character, but once O'Hara joined the show, she was given room to reshape her in her own way. She leaned into a more stylized, unpredictable approach, drawing inspiration in part from figures like Daphne Guinness. From there, she helped build Moira's signature traits, including the unusual accent, dramatic wigs, and heightened, theatrical vocabulary. Dan later recalled being struck by her early ideas for the role, saying, "She came to me with some references in terms of how the character would look, and she was thinking of having this sort of accent…. I remember finding it all quite dazzling."
2.
In the '80s, Freddie Mercury dressed Princess Diana up as a guy and snuck her into a gay bar. According to actor Cleo Rocos, who befriended Princess Diana in the '80s, she and Diana were hanging out at the home of comedian Kenny Everett, along with Mercury. At some point, Diana asked everyone what they were doing later that night, to which Rocos, Everett, and Mercury said they had plans to go down to the London gay bar Royal Vauxhall Tavern.
Diana asked them if she could join them. Rocos, Everett, and Mercury initially hesitated because they were concerned about what could happen if the press found out the then-future queen of England was partying at a gay bar. Mercury gave in and reportedly said, "Go on, let the girl have some fun," and dressed her up in an army jacket, aviator sunglasses, and a leather cap (the clothes Everett had planned to wear out that night). They were able to sneak her into the club, and nobody noticed it was her.
3.
When creator Loren Bouchard first developed Bob's Burgers, the Belcher family was originally conceived as cannibals who unknowingly served human meat in their restaurant. Early pitch materials and the show's original presentation included the idea that the family obtained meat from a crematorium next door, making the series much darker than the version that eventually reached television.
The premise was inspired in part by the dark humor of Bouchard's earlier animated work and the need for edgier ideas when working with Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, but executives felt the cannibalism angle was too extreme for a network sitcom and suggested they just be a regular family. Although the idea was dropped before the series premiered in 2011, traces of it remain in the pilot episode, including health inspectors accusing Bob of serving human flesh and placing a "Human Flesh" sign on the restaurant.
4.
Last year, on an episode of Kristin Davis's Are You a Charlotte? podcast, Sarah Jessica Parker revealed that after filming the Sex and the City pilot in 1997, she was unsure whether she wanted to continue with the show. Though Parker had agreed to do the pilot, she asked her agents to get out of her contract after HBO decided to pick up the series. At the time, she was already a well-known film actress and wasn't eager to commit to a long-term TV role, feeling it would limit her from taking theater and movie roles.
However, her agents convinced her to stay, telling her that HBO was an "unknown species," and that it wouldn't be like doing a regular TV series. They even told her to do it for a year, and that if she didn't want to do it anymore, they would get her out of it. Once pre-production began, Parker didn't feel as stifled and developed real affection for the character of Carrie Bradshaw. She even worked with the show's legendary costume designer, Patricia Field, to help create Carrie's look. She said that on the first day of filming, Parker added on the podcast that, after walking from her apartment to film her first scene at a Banana Republic store, "I never looked back. And I was never not happy to be there."
5.
The origin of the phrase "Friend of Dorothy" is surprisingly unclear, and there are several theories about which Dorothy inspired the famous piece of LGBTQ+ coded language. The expression became widely used by gay men in the mid-20th century as a discreet way to identify one another during a time when being openly gay could lead to discrimination, arrest, or social ostracism. The most commonly accepted explanation links the phrase to Dorothy Gale from The Wizard of Oz and to Judy Garland, whose status as a gay icon made the connection especially meaningful within LGBTQ+ community.
However, some historians believe the reference may have originated with Dorothy from L. Frank Baum's original Oz books, where her kindness, acceptance of outsiders, and creation of a chosen family resonated with many readers. Others have suggested that the phrase could have referred to writer Dorothy Parker, whose sharp wit and friendships with gay men made her a well-known figure in the era's social circles. Researchers have also noted that the expression may have developed through multiple influences rather than coming from a single source.
6.
In 1962, 20th Century Fox was facing a financial crisis as the budget for the epic film Cleopatra spiraled wildly out of control, eventually becoming one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time. With the studio hemorrhaging money, executives became increasingly concerned about delays on another production, Something's Got to Give, starring Marilyn Monroe in what would be her final film project. Monroe's health problems and frequent absences from the set caused production to fall behind schedule, putting even more pressure on a studio already struggling under Cleopatra's mounting costs.
Fox fired Monroe in June 1962 and publicly blamed her for the delays, though many historians believe the studio only really did it 'cause it was looking for ways to cut costs wherever it could because of Cleopatra. The troubled romantic comedy is perhaps best remembered today for Monroe's famous skinny-dipping pool scene, in which she appeared nude in footage and a color photo shoot that generated enormous publicity. Eventually, co-star Dean Martin said he would work with Monroe on the film only, leading 20th Century Fox to agree to hire her back. The studio scheduled for production to resume in October 1962; however, Monroe would die in August of that year. Instead of canceling the movie, the studio recast it with Doris Day and James Garner, and changed the name to Move Over, Darling.
7.
And speaking of Marilyn Monroe, her iconic, breathy performance of "Happy Birthday, Mr. President" at JFK's 45th birthday, which was a Democratic fundraiser held at Madison Square Garden, might seem like a spontaneous, flirtatious stunt. However, it was far from a last-minute PR gimmick. In reality, Monore had been asked to perform at the star-studded event months in advance (as it was put together by her friend and the president's brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford). Monroe took it seriously and spent hours rehearsing in the days leading up to the event.
In fact, Monroe even attended the after-party (still wearing the iconic dress) at the home of Arthur and Mathilde Krim. It was there that the only known existing photo of the Monroe with JFK was taken. The photo was taken by White House photographer Cecil Stoughton, who actually took several photos of them together. But later, the Secret Service asked for all the photos and negatives. Stoughton handed them over; however, one photo was still drying, and he kept that secret for years. The event would also be Monroe's last public appearance, as she would die two months later.
8.
Call Me by Your Name wasn't originally imagined as a one-off story, but as the start of a longer series following its characters over time. Director Luca Guadagnino has said in interviews that he wanted to revisit Elio and Oliver at different stages of their lives, with the next film set several years after the events of the first movie. Early plans described the project as part of a trilogy, where each installment would pick up the characters again as they aged, similar in structure to Richard Linklater's Before films.
Guadagnino also suggested the follow-up would move beyond Italy and show the characters navigating new places and historical moments, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic, as well as the changing cultural and political landscape of the late 20th century. André Aciman, the author of the book on which the film is based, even wrote a sequel that followed that same storyline. However, for various reasons, including Armie Hammer's controversies, the sequels to the movie are likely never to happen.
9.
Today, pizza is one of America's most popular foods, but before World War II, it was largely unknown outside Italian American communities and cities with large Italian populations. In fact, Italian food in general was considered niche cuisine. Many Americans had never tasted pizza, and in much of the country, there wasn't even a restaurant that served it. That began to change during the war, when thousands of American soldiers were stationed in Italy and encountered local foods they had never tried before.
Pizza quickly became a favorite among many GIs. When those soldiers returned home after the war, they brought their newfound appreciation for Italian food with them. The growing demand helped fuel the spread of pizzerias across the US and introduced pizza to millions of Americans who had never seen it before.
10.
Mild spoilers ahead: If you've seen Disclosure Day, then you probably remember the scene showing security footage of President Richard Nixon taking an unnamed "old TV star" to view recovered alien bodies. What you might not know is that the scene is based on a decades-old UFO legend involving comedian Jackie Gleason, who was famously fascinated by UFOs and the paranormal, and amassed a large collection of books and research on the subject. According to a story later told by Gleason's ex-wife Beverly, Nixon, who was a good friend of the entertainer, drove him to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida on Feb. 19, 1973, and showed him what were supposedly the preserved bodies of extraterrestrials recovered from a crashed UFO.
As the story goes, Gleason returned home visibly shaken and, after swearing her to secrecy, told his wife about seeing "six or eight" small, managled non-human bodies stored in cases that "looked like glass-topped Coke freezers." Supposedly, he couldn't eat or sleep for weeks after that. The story then goes that Beverly would "tell" the story the following year in an interview with Esquire, following their divorce. For his part, Gleason, who would die in 1986, never mentioned it publicly, but allegedly told the story in 1985 to Larry Warren, a former Air Force security officer who witnessed a UFO landing in Rendlesham Forest in the UK.
11.
In the 1920s and early 1930s, William "Billy" Haines was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, appearing in a string of successful silent films and early talkies for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. At a time when studios tightly controlled their actors' personal lives, Haines was openly involved in a same-sex relationship with his longtime partner, Jimmie Shields. MGM executives reportedly pressured him to end the relationship and enter into a marriage that would protect his public image.
12.
Haines refused, choosing Shields over his movie career despite the risk to his fame and livelihood. As a result, his acting career effectively came to an end while many of his contemporaries remained in the spotlight. Rather than disappear from public life, he reinvented himself as an interior designer and built a highly successful second career. Haines went on to decorate homes for some of Hollywood's most powerful stars, including Joan Crawford, whose living room he decorated, which you can see below. His designs are still available to purchase today.
13.
Disneyland had only been open for five years when what was believed to be the park's first and only armed robbery took place on Aug. 21, 1960. Restaurant cashier Richard Lowry was carrying about $10,000 in cash (about $113,217 in today's money when adjusted for inflation) from the Red Wagon Inn to Disneyland's on-site Bank of America branch. At the time, cast members regularly walked large sums of money through crowded guest areas. Lowry claimed that a gunman stopped him on Main Street, forced him into a restroom, and stole the money before escaping.
However, the police quickly became suspicious because his story kept changing, with details about the number of robbers and the weapons involved shifting from one account to another. After failing a lie-detector test, Lowry admitted he knew where the money was hidden and led police to a linen closet inside the restaurant where the cash had been stashed. The supposed holdup turned out to be an inside job rather than a real robbery.
14.
If you're under 38, you might never have heard the very popular urban legend that a ghost appears in the background of Three Men and a Baby because the movie was supposedly filmed in a haunted New York apartment. Yes...this was widely discussed and something people really believed! However, the "ghost" people often point to is actually a cardboard cutout of Ted Danson's character, which was part of a deleted storyline. In fact, the movie was filmed on a soundstage in Toronto, not in a real apartment.
This urban legend started after the film was released on home video. The story went that a 9-year-old boy had killed himself in the apartment where the movie was later filmed, and that he could be seen hiding behind the curtains as the camera quickly pans across the room. There are a few theories about how this rumor started, like the studio trying to drive up VHS rentals. But this is most likely due to the low resolution of VHS tapes and the fact that TVs were smaller in the '80s and '90s (with low resolution as well), making it hard to determine what the figure was.
15.
There was an episode of The Twilight Zone that only aired once. "The Encounter" is one of the most controversial episodes of the series, and originally aired in 1964 during the show's fifth season. The story stars George Takei as a Japanese American man who visits the attic of a World War II veteran, where the two men become trapped and are forced to confront painful memories and prejudice connected to the war. The episode deals directly with racism, anti-Japanese sentiment, and the lingering trauma of World War II, topics that were super sensitive less than two decades after the conflict ended.
After its initial broadcast, CBS removed the episode from reruns and syndication, and it was largely unavailable on television for more than 50 years because of concerns about its racial themes and its historical inaccuracies, as Takei's character confesses that his father had been a traitor that helped the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. During that time, many fans of the series didn't even realize the episode existed, since all other pulled installments had eventually been released on home video or returned to syndication, while "The Encounter" remained largely unavailable for decades. The episode finally aired again in 2016, as part of Syfy's New Year's Day Twilight Zone marathon, and eventually became available through streaming.
16.
One of the most common celebratory gestures in the world, the high five, is widely credited with being invented by former Major League Baseball player Glenn Burke, who was also one of the first openly gay professional athletes. According to the most widely accepted account, the high five was born on Oct. 2, 1977, when Burke, playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, raised his hand in celebration after teammate Dusty Baker hit his 30th home run of the season. Baker slapped Burke's raised hand, creating a spontaneous gesture that quickly caught on throughout baseball and eventually spread around the world.
At a time when LGBTQ+ athletes were largely forced to hide their identities, Burke stood out for being open about who he was among friends and teammates. His baseball career was cut short amid widespread homophobia in the MLB. After retiring in 1982, Burke would come out publicly as gay. Sadly, he died from AIDS-related complications in 1995. This year, the Dodgers unveiled a permanent display dedicated to him and Billy Bean (who played for the team in 1989) for being LGBTQ+ trailblazers, as the first two MLB players to come out publicly as gay.
17.
"Scream" was not meant to be a duet between Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson. It was supposed to be what would eventually become her own single, "Runaway." According to her longtime collaborators Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, they were asked to work on Michael's HIStory album. The duo created five tracks for potential duets — including "Scream" and "Runaway" — for it, and they first presented the songs to Janet for her feedback before presenting them to Michael.
Jam and Lewis thought "Runaway" would be the song the two would duet on. However, upon hearing them, Janet said that Michael would like "Scream" and hoped he didn't pick "Runaway." Well, he did like "Scream," and she got to keep "Runaway" for herself. The breezy track would become the lead single from her greatest hits album, Design of a Decade: 1986–1996.
18.
Years before he became a household name on ER and one of Hollywood's biggest stars, George Clooney spent much of the 1980s struggling to find steady acting work. During that period, keeping enough union jobs to maintain his health insurance was a constant concern. According to accounts from The Golden Girls creative team, Clooney's agent reportedly contacted the show's producers to see if there was a role available, leading to his guest appearance as undercover detective Bobby Hopkins in a 1987 episode.
At the time, it was just another television credit to help stay afloat, but it would later become a memorable footnote in his career. Looking back on the experience nearly four decades later, Clooney said he loved working on the sitcom and remembered the cast as "all funny." He reserved special praise for Bea Arthur, saying she "made me laugh harder than anybody" and that the whole experience "was just a really fun time."
19.
And speaking of The Golden Girls, today, gathering at gay bars to watch shows like RuPaul's Drag Race, Survivor, The Traitors, or Heated Rivalry has become a familiar part of fan culture, but gay bar viewing parties have a much longer history than many people realize. One of the earliest and most beloved examples was The Golden Girls, which became a staple of gay bars during its original run in the '80s. According to accounts from fans and writers on the show, the bars would turn off the music and put on the new episodes on Saturday nights.
Another was the campy primetime soap Dynasty. With its extravagant fashion, over-the-top drama, sharp one-liners, and larger-than-life characters, the series developed a particularly passionate LGBTQ+ fanbase. Like The Golden Girls, Dynasty screenings at gay bars became major social events, with some venues packed to standing-room-only capacity each week. The viewing parties also became a spectacle of their own, with drag queens dressing as Alexis Carrington and other iconic characters, while the atmosphere was more like a live sporting event, with audiences cheering, shouting, and reacting to every dramatic twist. As one person who attended those viewing parties later recalled, "We watched Dynasty in bars, and cheered the show on as if it were a football game."
20.
When MTV launched in 1981, it unexpectedly helped spark what became known as the "Second British Invasion" of the US. At the time, many American artists had not yet embraced music videos as a major promotional tool, leaving MTV with a limited supply of content. British acts, however, were far better prepared. For years, artists in the UK had regularly produced promotional videos so their songs could be featured on television programs like Top of the Pops without requiring a live appearance.
As a result, MTV had a large library of ready-made videos from British artists to air around the clock. The constant exposure helped bands such as Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Eurythmics break into the American mainstream. By the mid-'80s, UK artists dominated MTV and the US charts, creating a cultural phenomenon that echoed the original British Invasion led by the Beatles two decades earlier.
21.
It's easy to think of Sony as one of the biggest names in gaming, but the company never originally planned to enter the console/video game business. In the late '80s, Sony partnered with Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM add-on for the upcoming Super Nintendo Entertainment System, a project known as the "Play Station." At the time, CD technology was seen as the future of gaming because it could store far more data than traditional game cartridges.
Sony invested heavily in the partnership, only to be blindsided when Nintendo publicly announced a deal with another company, effectively abandoning the collaboration. The move embarrassed Sony executives and sparked a fierce determination within the company to continue the project on its own rather than walk away from the gaming industry altogether. That decision eventually evolved into the original PlayStation, which launched in 1994 in Japan and quickly became a massive success. In fact, as of 2025, Sony has sold 84.2 million of just its PlayStation 5 consoles alone.
22.
Worcestershire sauce was invented by accident. In the early 1800s, chemists John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins in Worcester, England, were asked to recreate a fermented sauce that a British official had tasted while serving in India. Their first attempt was considered a failure because the mixture smelled and tasted overwhelmingly strong, so the barrels were reportedly set aside and forgotten in a cellar.
Months or even years later, the sauce had aged and fermented, transforming into a much richer and more balanced flavor. Realizing they had accidentally created something unique, the pair began selling it commercially as Worcestershire sauce in 1837. The sauce was an immediate hit as they were able to market it through British ocean liners for passengers to try with their meal, as well as in ads, where they created a fake origin story that the creation was the favorite recipe of a nobleman.
23.
There is a recent TikTok trend that has people reacting to the discovery that Howard Ashman (left), the lyricist behind "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid, was a gay man, with many saying the song's themes of longing, belonging, and wanting a different life hit differently once they know more about his story. But Ashman's importance to Disney goes far beyond a single song. Before joining Disney, he and composer Alan Menken (right) had already created the hit stage musical Little Shop of Horrors, and their partnership would become one of the most influential in animation history, serving as the key creative force behind the Disney Renaissance.
Disney first brought Ashman in to help with the lyrics for Oliver & Company, but he made such an impact that they hired him to write six songs for The Little Mermaid, and he immediately brought Menken on as his collaborator. The two quickly became deeply involved in shaping the film itself, working alongside directors John Musker and Ron Clements and helping bring musical-theater storytelling techniques into Disney animation. Together, they transformed The Little Mermaid into a true movie musical, with Ashman helping define characters, story beats, and even major creative choices beyond the lyrics. The film's success helped launch the Disney Renaissance.
24.
There was a sequel series to The Brady Bunch that is all but forgotten today. In 1990, The Bradys premiered, and instead of the lighthearted family comedy that made the original famous, the new series adopted an hour-long dramedy format and focused on more adult storylines involving the grown Brady children.
The show tackled surprisingly serious subjects, including Marcia being an alcoholic stay-at-home mom whose husband couldn't keep a job, Bobby, a race car driver, becoming paralyzed from the waist down after an accident, and Peter being in an abusive relationship. Reportedly, there was even a script for an episode where Mike would have died in a fiery helicopter crash (Robert Reed wanted off the show after disagreements with the producers). With the exception of Maureen McCormick, who didn't reprise her role as Marcia, all of the original cast returned. This made the tonal shift especially jarring for viewers who expected the cheerful, family-friendly atmosphere of the earlier series, and the show was canceled after six episodes.
25.
In 1985, Warren Beatty bought the film and TV rights to Dick Tracy from Tribune Media Services, hoping to turn it into a film since he loved the comic strip as a kid. Eventually, in 1990, he starred and directed the movie. While the movie was a success, it didn't reach the same level as Batman's the year before, and it only received so-so reviews, so Disney decided not to green-light a sequel.
Beatty did make repeated attempts to produce a sequel. However, he then became entangled in a bitter, years-long series of lawsuits with Tribune Media over profits and creative control. Because of a "use-it-or-lose-it" loophole in the contract with Tribune, Beatty has periodically appeared as Dick Tracy on television to help demonstrate that the property remains active. In 2008, he appeared in a TCM TV special that aired only once, in which he remained in character as the detective while being interviewed by film critic Leonard Maltin. He repeated the unusual strategy in 2023 with another special, Tracy Zooms In, once again appearing as Dick Tracy and interviewed by Maltin and Ben Mankiewicz.
26.
Today, it's difficult to imagine Titanic as anything other than a prestige movie released during the holiday season, but that wasn't the original plan. Originally, the film was scheduled to open in the summer of 1997, and as you can see from this teaser poster, it was even marketed more like a traditional blockbuster. However, director James Cameron's ambitious production ran way behind schedule, and he needed more time to work on the special effects, forcing the studio to delay the release until December.
The postponement fueled widespread speculation that the movie was in trouble, with many industry observers predicting it would become one of Hollywood's most expensive box office disasters. Reportedly, the opening date of December 19 was picked to avoid direct competition with Scream 2, which opened the weekend before and was expected to be a major hit. However, as we all know, instead of becoming the cautionary tale many predicted, Titanic went on to become the highest-grossing film in history at the time and one of the biggest movie successes ever.
27.
And lastly, the Beatles wanted to star in a film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings, with the iconic Stanley Kubrick as the director. Now, for context, by the mid-'60s, the Beatles had already starred in two hit films, A Hard Day's Night and Help!, both of which essentially featured exaggerated versions of themselves. Looking for a bigger creative challenge, the band became interested in adapting The Lord of the Rings for the screen after Denis O'Dell, their film company's head, suggested it. According to various accounts, John Lennon was especially enthusiastic about the project, and the band even began imagining who would play which characters, with Paul McCartney as Frodo, Ringo Starr as Sam, Lennon as Gollum, and George Harrison hoping to take on the role of Gandalf.
Kubrick reportedly declined because he believed Tolkien's sprawling fantasy epic was impossible to adapt successfully as a movie. Even without Kubrick, the Beatles remained interested in moving forward and explored ways to secure the rights. Ultimately, though, the project ran into a much bigger obstacle: author J. R. R. Tolkien himself. Tolkien was reportedly unimpressed by the idea of a hugely popular "pop group" turning his beloved fantasy novel into a film and refused to grant the Beatles the rights, bringing one of or possibly the strangest "what if?" projects in movie history to an end before it ever got off the ground.
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