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Paramount's Conditions for Brando
1. Paramount Studios set three conditions for casting Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" (1972). First, Brando had to accept a fee lower than his usual rate. Second, he needed to agree to take financial responsibility for any production delays caused by his behavior. Finally, Brando had to submit to a screen test.
2. Launched by the Soviet Union in 1975, Venera 9 was the first spacecraft to transmit photographs from Venus's surface, surviving 53 minutes to capture black-and-white images of the rocky terrain and dense cloud-covered atmosphere. For the Soviets, the biggest challenge wasn't landing, but the lens caps: Venera 9-12 struggled with caps that wouldn't detach, and Venera 14's cap ended up under a sensor, causing it to test the cap's properties instead of the soil's compressibility.
3. Venus' atmosphere is 90 times more massive than Earth's, creating surface pressure equivalent to being 900 meters underwater, strong enough to crush most spacecraft. Its pressure crushed two of the three early Soviet landers at 60,000 feet. Four other probes landed softly without needing parachutes or rockets. The atmosphere is so dense that it's nearly a supercritical fluid, with properties of both liquid and gas, making movement feel resistant, almost like being underwater.
4. During the Turkish siege of Vienna in 1683, the largest cavalry charge in history took place. Spearheaded by 3,000 winged knights, 20,000 Polish and German cavalrymen charged and routed the Ottoman line. This decisive action ended the Ottoman threat to Christian Europe, marking a turning point in the conflict.
5. Before signing the Constitution, George Washington ran up a significant tab of $17,253. The attendees, totaling only 55 people, consumed 60 bottles of claret, 54 bottles of Madeira, 22 bottles of porter ale, 8 bottles of hard cider, 12 jugs of beer, and 7 large bowls of punch.
6. Marlon Brando, known for his unconventional choices, refused to swear to God in court. Instead, he swore an oath to his grandchildren. He had more than 10 children and over 30 grandchildren.
7. One night in the Dakota Territory, Theodore Roosevelt faced down a drunk bully who burst into a bar waving two pistols and threatening to shoot anyone who moved. When the man ordered Roosevelt to buy him a drink, Roosevelt calmly stood and replied, "Well, if I've got to, I've got to." Instead of pouring whiskey, he threw a powerful right hook that sent the gunman crashing to the floor. The bully later left the town on a train out of town.
8. Galileo Galilei sent two coded messages to Johannes Kepler, revealing that Saturn has rings and Venus has phases, indicating it orbits the Sun, not Earth. However, Kepler misinterpreted these messages as stating that Mars has two moons and Jupiter has a large red spot. Interestingly, both of Kepler's incorrect interpretations were later proven true by subsequent astronomical discoveries.
9. President John Adams had a dog named Satan during his time in the White House.
10. Outlaw Elmer McCurdy was killed in Oklahoma in 1911. In 1976, a film crew member discovered his body in an amusement park, mistaking it for a wax mannequin. This bizarre discovery highlighted how McCurdy's remains had been unknowingly displayed for decades.
