Maximum Cool: 250 Anecdotes

Some Sample Anecdotes:

Activism

• On March 26, 1904, during a strike by miners in Colorado, union organizer Mother Jones was arrested on the orders of governor James P. Peabody, put on a train, taken to the border of Colorado, dropped off, and told never to return again. She took the first train possible back to Denver, then wrote Governor Peabody, "Mr. Governor, You notified your dogs of war to put me out of the state. … I wish to notify you, governor, that you don't own the state. … I am right here in the capital … four or five blocks from your office. I want to ask you, governor, what in Hell are you going to do about it?"

• Maury Maverick, Jr., a lawyer and columnist, was a politician for a while and served in the Texas House of Representatives in the 1950s — the time of Joseph McCarthy, who used fear of Communism to censor people and keep them quiet. When a bill was introduced to invite Senator McCarthy to speak to the Texas legislature, Mr. Maverick introduced another bill that invited Mickey Mouse to speak — on the grounds that "if we are going to invite a rat, why not a good rat?"

Actors

• Some actors are modest about their success. When he was asked about the secret of his success, Alfred Lunt once replied, "I speak in a clear voice and try not to bump into the furniture." Claude Rains, one of the wonderful supporting actors in Casablanca, once said, "I learn the lines and pray to God." According to Boris Karloff, whose most famous role was Frankenstein's monster, "You could heave a brick out of a window and hit ten actors who could play my parts. I just happened to be on the corner at the right time."