Today it’s very common, and like I said well known. But how many people know who Tommy John is? My guess is most think he’s the surgeon who invented the procedure. Wrong. He was a major league pitcher who was the very first to undergo this operation. At the time, it was very experimental and risky. It’s not something you can try first with hamsters. And even if you could, how would you even know if the surgery was a success since hamsters can’t grip a baseball? The real inventor of the surgery was Dr. Frank Jobe in 1974.
Still, Tommy John will forever be linked to the surgery, long after his playing career is forgotten (which, to many is already).
But it brings to mind the question (at least to me) of how many other public figures will be remembered for something other than what they did to originally achieve notoriety?
Quick aside: When Arnold Palmer ordered one of those drinks did he say, "I'll have a me?"
Shirley Temple was a major Hollywood child star in the ‘30s. She even won a little Oscar. But most folks only the know the name because of the Shirley Temple cocktail – a non-alcoholic drink of ginger ale and a little grenadine.
A variation is a Roy Rogers cocktail. It’s made with cola and grenadine. Roy Rogers was a cowboy movie and TV star. You didn't mess with Roy. How scared would horse thieves and bank robbers be if Roy sidled up the bar and ordered cola and grenadine? "And don't forget that maraschino cherry, podner."
George Foreman was a heavyweight boxing champ. You might only know him as the grill you bought off the TV.
Mae West was a bawdy movie actress in the ‘20s-‘40s (a Tallulah Morehead wannabe). Now her legacy is a personal flotation device. Sidenote: My favorite Mae West quote -- I'm the lady who works at Paramount all day... and Fox all night.
John Hancock was a great American patriot and statesman. But to most he owns an insurance company. And for that matter, Abe Lincoln is remembered as a U.S. President not a vampire killer.
I’m sure there are others. Can you think of them?
61 comments :
Would you say that Lou Gehrig is better known for a disease than for being the "Iron Horse"?
Scrubs had a bit about Arnold Palmer and the drink versus the golfer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRhwNkYku5I
Some of us will also remember Roy Rogers for the restaurants bearing his name: https://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/
Sadly "Lou Gehrig's Disease" is another example. Mae West after coming home and seeing 10 men lined up at her front door, "I'm a little tired tonight boys, one of you will have to leave."
I'm a little embarassed to say I don't understand the Mae West bit at all. I only know of her for Hollywood reasons.
I've never heard of Mae West as a flotation device but here in Quebec, that name (spelled differently) is synonymous with a little, ubiquitous snack cake.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_West
I would suggest Paul Newman. He might be best/better know to some as the face of popcorn, salad dressing and other products he created for the benefit of his Hole in the Wall CAMP and other charitable causes.
Is that Tallulah Bankhead by any chance?
How about this: beloved Emmy and DGA award-winning writer Ken Levine... now best known for writing and hosting one of the best blogs on the 'net.
Lincoln Logs.
288 wins, nearly 5000 innings pitched, led the league in shutouts (remember them?) three times. And he is already forgotten? It's a cruel world, isn't it?
I was going to say most people remember Roy Rogers now for the restaurant (the chain he ran was merged into Hardees decades ago; the one that exists now just uses his name).
Lincoln: The Man, The Car, and The Tunnel (from The Gong Show).
A Laurel and Hardy handshake
I suppose Joe DiMaggio qualifies because some remember him only for his ads promoting Mr. Coffee drip coffeemakers.
Say it out loud.
Buster Brown: Comic strip character first, shoe brand second.
Jimmy Dean sang songs before he sold pure-pork sausage.
And did you know that O.J. Simpson used to play football?
Those who have long forgotten Jimmy Dean's musical career are still buying the sausages whose brand bears his name.
summerlad said
Is that Tallulah Bankhead by any chance? That is correct. Her Uncle was a Senator from Alabama. To make a long story short he helped William Randolph Hearst and his partner with a problem. Hearst was into movies at the time and in return he got her into films. She was still pretty young at the time but had performed in theater.
As for people who are not remembered for what the did. I would add Arthur Treacher who became famous for the Fish and Chips restaurant. Orson Wells for selling no wine before its time. John Houseman for EF Hutton, and I think I would add Popeye for the restaurants I doubt many kids know him as Popeye the Sailor.
Tom Selleck should be ashamed of himself for becoming known at the Reverse Mortgage Guy. Do you really need the money, Tom?
That guy who played football, then did those rental car commercials, then played Leslie Nielsen's partner in the Naked Gun movies, but is better known for his involvement in the legal system...
I believe it was Tim McCarver who paid a wry and punny tribute to the doctor who did the surgery when he said, "Another of the patients of Jobe."
Or Agnes Morehead.
The best Arnold Palmer commercial. https://youtu.be/0rONXxy9kk0
Also, Ken since it's the team you grew up with and team I grew up with. Thanks, for the Tommy John deal. Dick Allen turned out to be one of the greatest White Sox, even in the short time he spent on the South Side.
He was fictional, but how many coffee drinkers know Starbuck from "Moby Dick"?
Thanks for the Mae West quote, which I didn't know. There's an even better one from Tallulah Bankhead: "My daddy warned me about men and liquor. He didn't say anything about women and cocaine." Gwyneth Paltrow and her vagina can't hold a candle (sorry) to the old-time movie stars.
Being a Canadian now, I was back in Connecticut a few years ago, walked into a Tim Horton's and asked one of the staff who was Tim Horton. She looked at me as if I'd asked "Who is Harvey Fendlehoffer?" Alas, poor Tim, a Toronto Maple Leaf legend, is better known for his donuts than for his slapshot.
Couple oldies .. Tom Selleck the Salem cigarette man. Ed Mcmahon and Publishers Clearing House. And 'Hey Big Spender!' how about you spend a little dime with Edie Adams smoking a Muriel cigar!
And how about poor legal eagle Jeffrey Toobin, since "a toobin" is now slang for bringing things to a lower court.
Some oldies:
A Rube Goldberg contraption
Hobson's choice
Fibber McGee's closet
And this is sorta vaguely related: I've always wondered if, when the WWII vets get to heaven, they see KILROY WAS HERE chalked on the gate posts?
Keith in Kalama
John Madden is now a video game.
There are too many to name here, but when I was a kid growing up in the 60's there were many big stars from the 40's and 50's that I only knew from game shows.
M.B.
For the record:
Ed McMahon never worked for Publishers Clearing House.
Ed was with a competing sweepstakes, American Family; he was at pains in the commercials to always identify American Family as "the only sweepstakes with MY FACE on the envelope!"
Later on, he talked old friend Dick Clark into joining him on the American Family package, ultimately to no avail; last time I looked, Publishers Clearing House was still in business.
Everyone knows what sideburns are, but why are they called "sideburns"? We can thank the largely forgotten Civil War General Ambrose Burnside for the moniker.
Thank you, darling. Poor, undersexed Mae did indeed use me as a role model, despite her being MONTHS older than Me. Now pass me a "Polluted Shirley Temple." (1 part Ginger Ale, 1 part Grenadine, 90 parts vodka)
"sumerlad said...
Is that Tallulah Bankhead by any chance?"
sanford said...
summerlad said
Is that Tallulah Bankhead by any chance? That is correct."
NO, that is NOT correct! Ken is referring to ME, not to that would-be wanna-be me!
Being old, I know them all.
I think there are still a lot of us who remember the people that Ken mentioned for their accomplishments.
On the topic of kiddie cocktails, we should mention the "Freddie Bartholomew", named for a major child star of the 1930s, which consists of ginger ale and Rose's sweetened lime juice. It hasn't had the lasting fame of either the "Shirley Temple" or the "Roy Rogers", but is worthy of rediscovery...just like its namesake.
I’ll bet almost no one knows where Skippy Peanut Butter got its name:
https://www.trademarkandcopyrightlawblog.com/2014/03/skippy-v-skippy-the-great-peanut-butter-trademark-wars/
I think among baby boomers at least, Sebastian Cabot was more well-known as the butler on Family Affair than as a Venetian explorer.
My understanding is that life vests were nicknamed "Mae Wests" during WWII, because the floaty parts could be seen outsized falsies.
Popeye's Chicken was originally named for the character in "The French Connection". That was their claim, anyway, although they eventually licensed the comic strip characters as mascots.
I'd venture that a fair percentage of the current population has heard of the Keystone Cops (or Cops) and associate them with comic mayhem, but darned few have seen even a clip of them in action.
Betty Boop was prospering in merchandise for the long years her cartoons were mostly out of circulation. Many of the owners of gewgaws portraying her in "Fabulous Fifties" clothes and settings would be surprised that she ever was an animated character, or that her cartoon career began and ended in the 1930s. By the real 50s her old toons were local TV fodder, mostly dumpstered in the 60s for being B&W.
Until the advent of home video, there were a multitude of Disney animated characters known solely as comic book inhabitants. Unlike nearly every other studio, Disney never dumped his vault for a television sale, re-releasing animated features on a seven-year cycle and stingily parceling out his theatrical shorts on the Sunday night hour and the Mickey Mouse Club. So kids who bought Disney comics -- and we're talking millions in their heyday -- might be totally familiar with Madame Mim, Bongo the Circus Bear and Brer Rabbit without knowing they came from movies.
I think it's safe to say nobody refers to comped tickets as "Annie Oakleys" any more. That bit of slang emerged during Annie's lifetime, and as hard-working performer she was annoyed to be synonymous with a freebie.
I remember trying to buy a Honda at Penske Honda and got a bit of attitude when I divulged not knowing who Roger Penske, race car driver, was. Penske Truck Rental belongs to him as well.
Errol Flynn was an actor and he was also known as what was politely called a "Ladies Man"(or perhaps "girl's man", according to two women that brought statutory rape charges against him), but his name lives on in the slang phrase, "In like Flynn".
The Frisbie Pie Company according to https://www.frisbiepie.com/our_story/ of Bridgeport, CT, founded by William Russell Frisbie, certainly didn't know that his name would become better known for plastic flying discs than pies, when local college students would eat pies delivered on campus and then throw the empty pie plates upside down. The Wham-O! Corporation changed the name to "Frisbee" to avoid legal entanglements. Now the revived company lends its name to local Disc Golf competitions.
@Kevin from VA
Sideburns are only the second most famous term that was associated with a Civil War General.
The term may have predated General Joseph Hooker but his libertine ways certainly popularized a common word for something or other.
Before playing Giles on Buffy Anthony Head starred in a long running series of UK TV commercials for a brand of instant coffee, and I'm sure that many British people know him best for that. If you want see some of those ads, do a search for anthony head coffee ads.
Dionne Warwick, who is better known to the younger generation as the psychic network lady rather than the singer.
At some point in the future, Michael Jordan will not be known by his full name, or even that he played basketball. Or maybe not known at all, when they origins of Air Jordans and the logo are lost to history.
Don't believe it? How many people know who Chuck Taylor is?
Some of the examples that first pop into my mind are from the world of fashion:
Cardigan sweaters, named after the British Earl of Cardigan, who fought at Balaclava during the Crimean War.
Raglan sleeves, named for Lord Raglan, who lost his arm at Waterloo and also fought in the Crimean War.
Nehru jackets, named after Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
I imagine that folks today who think of these fashion terms do so with little recognition of the historical/military/political source of their eponyms.
Here & There:
- I'm pretty sure that Sebastian Cabot the actor was born with that name, perhaps in honor of the Venetian explorer.
- On the other hand, the singer Arnold Dorsey had to be persuaded to adopt the name of the German composer Engelbert Humperdinck.
- But the practice continues today:
The other evening, Rachel Maddow was talking about medical workers who had to improvise protective devices for themselves in emergencies, when they ran low on the real thing.
Rachel called this practice "McGyvering".
Here's hoping that she (or MSNBC) had the presence of mind to trademark this ...
Tesla is just the name for an automobile to many.
And hardly anybody knows why they used to call a telephone "The Ameche".
I'd say that Dionne Warwick is best known by the youngest generation for her recent presence on Twitter. (I think the psychic friends ads have been reduced to a footnote in her career...) Still, her music is her true legacy, and I still enjoy listening to her recordings.
For the geeks out there, google was a number first:
A googol is 10 to the 100th power (which is 1 followed by 100 zeros).
and even more than that, googolplex is equivalent to ten raised to the power of a googol.
While googol is indeed a number, Google is a character in the Snuffy Smith comics and the hit song he inspired.
The kiddie cocktail reference reminds me of the time not that long ago when parent would take their kids with them to the corner cocktail lounge.
In theatre, "doing a Judy" means coming downstage, sitting on the edge with legs dangling over, and singing or speaking directly to the audience--in the way Ms. Garland practically patented.
Madden, not as a Super Bowl winning coach or TV analyst, but as a video game
Arthur Treacher's Fish & Chips. Heavily advertised fast-food seafood restaurant chain years ago. According to Wikipedia, "at the peak of its popularity in the late 1970s, it had about 800 stores. As of 2020, there are believed to be only ten locations remaining." While he was an actor in Shirley Temple movies, most people knew him as the announcer and sidekick on The Merv Griffin Show. Treacher died in 1975.
Oh, and Wikipedia, as it will, has a list of companies named for people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_named_after_people
Yamaha, Wrigley, Chevrolet, Kellog, Macy, Sears...
I’m sitting on my Ethan Allen furniture right now. He must have been a hell of a carpenter!
Antoinette Perry
Broadway's Tony Award is named after her.
Another one from baseball:The Mendoza Line
Given what it means, maybe Mario is happy few people remember where it came from?
Nice Arnie trivia: When Vin Scully joined CBS, he was to do The Masters, and Clifford Roberts, who ran Augusta National, wanted to meet him. The problem was that first Vin had some ballgames to do. He wound up going to Augusta on Palmer's private plane, met Roberts, and flew back. Exactly how Vin wound up on his plane, I'm not sure!
How many reading this when hearing the name "Long John Silver" would first think of the seafood restaurant chain before remember him as a character in the novel, Treasure Island? Furthermore, how many seeing that title would think more of the various movies made from that novel, from the 1934 Jackie Cooper-Wallace Beery version to the 1950 Disney live-action one to Orson Welles 1972 one?
DiMaggio, of course. It was a revelation to see old-timey photos/movies of him with jet-black hair.
BTW I saw a video this weekend of Tony Kubek interviewing Tommy John during the 1974 World Series. John, still recovering from the procedure, sported a full plaster cast covering his entire left arm, as if every broken bone was being healed.
Viva la Medicine these days for leaving a mere scar on the elbow...
Tommy John may have the most wins (288) of all players NOT in the hall of fame. He pitched 26 years until he finally retired at age 46. This is Hoyt Wilhelm and Jamie Moyer territory. Career ERA = 3.34 - that might be close to a record (say with 200 wins minimum) for a non-HOF player, too.
Arnie is said to have liked the ladies, too - of course this was mostly pre-People magazine - 'nuff said about that.
Another vote for DiMaggio being known as Mr. Coffee. That's what my mother would call him.
@Jahn Ghalt
> Tommy John may have the most wins (288) of all players NOT in the hall of fame.
You may not want to count him, but Roger Clemens has 354 wins. Bobby Mathews has 297, but he played 1871-1887, so you may not want to count him, either. But otherwise TJ has the record, with Jim Kaat behind him at 283.
---
As a Yankee fan, of course I remember Tommy John well, as Bob Lemon famously pulled him from Game 6 of the 1981 World Series, pinch-hitting in the bottom of the 4th with the score 1-1.
He was also famous for committing three errors on one play, with future NL president Bill White on the pxp and Phil Rizzuto on color.
Other side of the coin, maybe, but here in the UK we get Owen Wilson doing ads for a cheap furniture chain, and Kevin Bacon has been doing ads for a mobile phone provider (whose name escapes me - money well spent, eh?) for far too long.
Now when you catch Wilson or Bacon in a movie/TV you think, 'Oh yeah, the cheap furniture/mobile phone guy'.
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