Minority Mindset

Millard dedicates a significant portion of her book to Alexander Graham Bell, detailing his frustrating inability to use his invention to help President Garfield. She spends even more time exploring the outdated beliefs and excessive pride of Dr. Willard Bliss, arguing that his disregard for basic antiseptic practices played a larger role in Garfield’s death than the assassin’s bullets. A key element of the tragedy, as presented in Destiny of the Republic, is that the assassination occurred right before improvements in medicine, technology, and security could have potentially saved the president’s life. The book’s length allowed Millard to include all these crucial details and context.

Jimmy Fallon asked Bailey if it was difficult keeping his new title a secret until the announcement on The Tonight Show. Bailey surprisingly said it wasn’t, explaining that he didn’t think anyone expected him to get the role. He then shared a funny story about how he accidentally revealed the news to his friends while drinking, telling them he’d been named Sexiest Man Alive.

This wasn’t Nixon’s first acting job. As a teenager, she’d been in the movie Little Darlings and performed on Broadway in plays like The Philadelphia Story (she’d be returning to Broadway later that year in Marjorie Prime). However, Amadeus – based on a successful play and directed by Miloš Forman – was a much bigger deal. Nixon realized it would be a significant project and knew she’d have to audition multiple times. Despite this, she confidently asked the producers that, if cast, they cover her travel expenses between Prague, where Amadeus was filmed, and New York City, so she could continue her studies at the rigorous Hunter College High School.

Released in 1990, Gremlins 2: The New Batch didn’t achieve the same blockbuster success as the original 1984 film. While the first Gremlins earned a huge profit—$212 million from an $11 million budget—the sequel, which cost around $50 million to make, only brought in a little over $40 million, according to Consequence of Sound. Because of this, the Gremlins franchise has remained largely inactive until recently.