Victor Mature, born this day in 1913.
Victor Mature, a rising young actor in the early 1940s, answered his Uncle Sam’s call during World War II, and then went back to work, becoming a perennial star in numerous “sword and sandal” epics well into the 1950s. One of these was Demetrius and the Gladiators
Though set in Rome in the mid-First Century, the film was made in California. One day, Mature practicing his gladiatorial routine for long hours in the arena, under a hot sun. Finally, the director called it a day.
Mature immediately did what any right-thinking gladiator would himself have done under similar circumstances. Without bothering to doff his gladiatorial togs, he jumped into his car and drove over to the nearest bar in search of a cold one. Needless to say, walking into the establishment while still wearing his cape, cuirass, and greaves, to plop down onto a barstool caused a bit of stir. After several minutes of being gawked at by the stunned bartender, Mature finally piped up, "Whasamatter? Don't you serve servicemen here?"
"These things must be done delicately-- or you hurt the spell." - The Wicked Witch of the West.
"We've got the torpedo damage temporarily shored up, the fires out and soon will have the ship back on an even keel. But I would suggest, sir, that if you have to take any more torpedoes, you take 'em on the starboard side." Pops Healy, DCA USS Lexington.