Know it all

The famous scene of Marilyn Monroe’s (1926-1962) white dress blowing up is from the movie “The Seven Year Itch” (1955). In the movie, Monroe’s character is hot so she cools off by standing over a subway vent.

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NBA basketball players Tim Duncan (born 1976) and Patrick Ewing (born 1962) are both 7 feet tall. Shaquille O’Neal (born 1972) is 7 feet 1 inch tall. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (born 1947) is 7 feet 2 inches tall.

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A heptagon is a seven-sided polygon.

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“Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937) was re-released in theaters in 1944 to raise revenue for the Disney studio during World War II. Since then the movie has been re-released every seven years to reach new generations of children.

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Only one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World still exists. Do you know which one? Can you name all of the Seven Wonders? See answer at end.

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The House of Seven Gables in Salem, Massachusetts, built in 1668, is the oldest surviving wooden mansion in New England. The mansion inspired American author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s (1804-1864) 1851 novel of the same name.

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The New York Yankees retired jersey number 7 in honor of baseball great Mickey Mantle (1931-1995) in 1969.

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The seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, lust, anger, gluttony, envy and sloth. In the Middle Ages it was believed that the seven deadly sins led to damnation.

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The Roman Catholic Church established the seven virtues, which protect a person against temptation toward the seven deadly sins. The virtues are humility, meekness, charity, chastity, moderation, zeal and generosity.

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Donald Roan Dunagan (born 1934) was hired at age 7 to be the facial model and the voice of Bambi in the 1942 movie “Bambi.” Dunagan concealed his childhood movie involvement because he feared he would be nicknamed Bambi during his long career with the U.S. Marines.

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Movie star Brad Pitt (born 1963) got his break in Hollywood after his role as bad boy J.D. in “Thelma and Louise” (1991). He went on to star in movies including “Seven” (1995) and “Seven Years in Tibet” (1997).

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The seven castaways were not rescued from the uncharted island in the last episode of the television series “Gilligan’s Island” (1964-1967). In the TV movie “Rescue from Gilligan’s Island” (1978) the castaways were rescued, then marooned again on the same island. In “The Castaways on Gilligan’s Island” (1979) the Howells turned the island into a vacation resort.

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“Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” was a short lived television drama in 1982 loosely based on the 1954 musical film of the same name. Richard Dean Anderson (born 1950) and River Phoenix (1970-1993) starred in the show, which was cancelled after one season.

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Answer: The Pyramids of Giza in Egypt is the ancient wonder that still exists. Completed in 2580 B.C., it is believed that the pyramids were built as a tomb for a Pharaoh, although no pharaoh has ever been found buried there. The other ancient wonders are: Mausoleum of Halicarnassus in Turkey, the Temple of Artemis in Turkey, Pharos of Alexandria in Egypt, Hanging Gardens of Babylon in Iraq, Statue of Zeus in Greece and Colossus of Rhodes in Greece.

Know It All is by Kerry McArdle. It runs in the weekend and Wednesday editions of the Daily Journal. Questions? Comments? Email knowitall(at)smdailyjournal.com or call 344-5200 ext. 114.