Velcro: 50 Years of That Annoying Sound

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the registration of the Velcro trademark. Yes, fifty years of joy for the shoe-laced challenged. mental_floss has a look at the humble beginings of the material. Here are some pop-culture tidbits about Velcro that might make you the nerdiest person you know.

Inventor George de Mestral first created Velcro using cotton. This, of course, did not have much re-usability, since the hooks would rip completely and the threads became embedded in the hooks. In 1953, de Mestral mistakenly received a shipment of yarn made from the new material nylon - which proved durable and also plyable when heated.

It took decades for the material to be made commercially available, but NASA made great use of the material during its missions in the 1960's, leading many Americans to believe it was invented by the space program.

Before Velcro was commercially available, a carpet of it was used in 2001: A Space Oddessey to make the stewardesses appear to be working in a zero-gravity environment. The stewardesses wore Velcro “Grip Shoes”.

Skateboard trick pioneer Alan Gefland was falsely accused of using Velcro to hold the board to his feet during his aerial tricks in 1977. Gelfand invented the no-hand aerial, better known as the ollie, it was so revolutionary that no one beleived he could naturally keep the board under control.

In 1984, just a year after Velcro products are available in commercia stores, David Letterman wore a suit of loops, leapt from a trampoline and hurled himself at a wall of Velcro hooks on his late night television program. Much to the amazement of viewers, he stuck to the wall. Velcro sales apparently soared after the segment aired.

Astute Back to the Future fans noted that Doc Brown from the year 1955 wore Velcro shoes in the climactic clock tower scene; even though Velcro was not even available in the United States. Of course, Doc was an inventor with a dog.

In the 2004 movie Garden State, the character Jesse became a millionaire by inventing silent Velcro. Unfortunately, this brilliant idea has not been implemented. All new US Army uniforms feature Velcro on them, so I can imagine the practicality of this being put to good use.

Weekend Update and the Careers it Ruined...

It's official, Jimmy Fallon is set to officially replace Conan O’Brien as host of Late Night in 2009. As I understand it, there are a few people out there who actually like Jimmy Fallon, I don't happen to be one of them. After SNL, Fallon has stunk up the big screen with the films Fever Pitch and Taxi, and oh yeah, those stupid Pepsi commercials. Like a select few notable SNL alumni, Fallon spent a good portion of his tenure behind the desk of The Weekend Update segment. If the career trajectories of other Weekend Update anchors are any indication, Fallon might want to rethink his decision to walk down the talk show path.

Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase was the original anchor of the segment, along with co-anchor and staff writer Herb Sargeant. Chase had a few hit movies, but is mostly regarded as an SNL wash-up these days. Regrettably, Chase had his own laughably short-lived talk show on Fox, The Chevy Chase Show. As The Simpsons loves to point out every ten episodes, it lasted only five weeks.

Charles Rocket
Charles Rocket was groomed to be the new star of the completely over-hauled show. Rocket had experience as a real anchorman, but came off as arrogant and cocky. He served as the anchor for the single season produced by Jean Doumanian, on the doomed SNL ’80 era. Rocket dropped the first on-air f-bomb in SNL history and was immediately fired. Rocket committed suicide in 2005.

Dennis Miller
The former Weekend Update host had several stints as a talk show host. Over the years he has had The Dennis Miller Show, Dennis Miller Live, and Dennis Miller on CNBC. He had a disastrous run as a Monday Night Football correspondent, he was even voted the worst correspondent in the event’s history. He currently hosts a segment on The O'Reilly Factor cleverly entitled Miller Time.

Joe Piscopo
While Piscopo was never officially an anchor for Weekend Update or SNL Newsbreak, he did take a turn during the revolving desk of 1984. Piscopo's sports segment during the sketch impressed NBC network officials enough to allow him to continue his persona on NBC's Sports World program in the early 80's. That show, along with Piscopo's career, were last seen floating downstream in a New Jersey river.

Christopher Guest
Yes, that Christopher Guest, the mockumentary film maker. Guest was a cast member for the infamous 1984-85 season, and along with the rest of the cast from that year, was fired when Lorne Michaels returned to the show. Clearly, Guest has found a knack as a director.

Kevin Nealon
Nealon is the only SNL cast member to return to the show after giving up the coveted Weekend Update desk. His career hasn't been spectacular, but it hasn't exactly been as successful as some of his former castmates, either.

Norm MacDonald
Like Fallon, MacDonald had a pension for stumbling over his own lines, laughing at his own jokes and breaking character during his tenure on SNL. MacDonald sereved as Weekend Update anchor for three years and was notably fired for his gaffes and "not being funny" according to studio executives. Chevy Chase stated that MacDonald was the only anchor after him to "do it right". MacDonald's post SNL career has been hit and miss; he had a sitcom called Norm and appeared in several films, none of which were terribly successful.

Colin Quinn
After Norm MacDonald was fired as Weekend Update anchor, veteran Colin Quinn took a shift behind the desk. Quinn created the comedian talk show Tough Crowd with Collin Quinn, which featured many of his friends in a heated roundtable discussion about topical issues. During the show, Quinn quipped about the show's low ratings and made self-deprecating comments about his career. The show lasted for a two seasons but was ultimately cancelled to make room in the line up for The Colbert Report.

Expensive Moments in movie history: Captain EO

Even though you can't find it at your local Blockbuster, the 1984 3-D short film Captain EO, created for Disney theme parks, is the among the most expensive films ever created. Clocking in at 17 minutes long and costing between $17 and $30 million, averaging over a million dollars per minute of film. This was, minute for minute, the most expensive motion picture of all time.

The film was designed as an interactive ride for Disney theme parks, complete with cheesy 3-D glasses, smoke machine, and laser effects. Disney certainly used their investment as long as they could - the film was used in their parks from 1986 to 1994. George Lucas served as executive producer and Francis Ford Coppola directed the sci-fi 3-D experience.

In the film, the titular character, played by Michael Jackson, and his motley crew of puppets, created by George Lucas, go to deliver a gift to the evil queen known as the Supreme Leader (Angelica Houston). The crew was entirely the work of Lucas, and included Fuzzball the sidekick, the two-headed pilot Indee and Odee, and some sort of mutant elephant named Hooter that always managed to mess everything up (see picture). The film was praised for its state-of-the-art (circa 1984) special effects and for Copola's directing.

In the film, Jackson performs two songs, "We are Here to Change the World" and "You're Just Another Part of Me" both of which were original recordings at the time of the film's release. The latter appeared on 1990's Bad, while the other has never been officially released by Jackson.

For all of that money and praise, the ride lasted about twelve years. It was pulled at the onset of Jackson's first round of well-publicized legal woes in 1994. The ride has since been replaced by the equally popular Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Currently, the film has not been released on DVD or any other home media, much to the dismay of fans.

Expensive Moments in Movie History is a recurring column on Parlor Facts. Check the Archive for additional pricey movies.

Getting to know your new blog

We've all heard that "You learn something new everyday" but I find that the thing I learn is usually pretty lame, depressing, or generally not useful in my day to day life. I write for a trivia game and occasionally for the blog for mental_floss magazine, so my brain is overflowing with factoids that I love to share. My goal here is to create a list of facts that you want to share with other people; your friends, co-workers, or the cashier at the grocery store. You will be known as either incredibly smart, or incredibly annoying. Or maybe the hero of a trivia game. Pop culture, science, word play - you name it, we will cover it.