MUSICIANS & ENTERTAINERS
- 1812 Overture composer Tchaikovsky suffered from nervous disorders and hallucinations. He had a morbid fear that his head would roll off his shoulders while conducting the orchestra.
- The Greek playwright Aeschylus, according to some sources, was killed by a tortoise. The animal, it is said, was dropped from the claws of an eagle flying overhead, which mistook Aeschylus' bald head for a rock.
- Alfred Hitchcock was put in jail when he was only five years old. As a result, the terrified boy never got over his phobia of policemen.
- Beethoven poured ice over his head when he sat down to create music, believing it stimulated his brain.
- After high school and before he began his career in Rock and Roll, Chuck Berry was a hairdresser.
- The elegant songwriter Cole Porter was noted for his lavish gift-giving. One Christmas he gave more lavishly than he himself realized. He bought 20 paintings from a little old lady who lived near his estate. Years later, after fame came to the elderly painter, 20 of Porter's friends discovered they owned original paintings by Grandma Moses.
- Cole Porter said that his own ambition was to become a circus performer, and a clown suit was one of his favorite possessions.
- For a while, Frederic Chopin, the composer and pianist, wore a beard on only one side of his face. "It does not matter," he explained. "My audience sees only my right side."
- Both Scarlatti and Chopin were inspired by cats. When Scarlatti's cat struck certain notes on the keys of his harpsichord, one by one, with its paws, Scarlatti proceeded to write "The Cat's Fugue," a fugue for harpsichord in D minor. While Chopin was composing Waltz No. 3 in F major, his cat ran across the keys of the piano, amusing Chopin so much that he tried for the same sounds in what is called "The Cat's Waltz."
- Fred Astaire was allergic to feathers.
Sources: A Book of Days for the Literary Year, ed. Neal T. Jones: The Emperor who Ate the Bible: and more Strange Facts and Useless Information, by Scot Morris: Isaac Asimov's Book of Facts, by Isaac Asimov; www.publishingcentral.com.
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