Before he was a solo artist, Alice Cooper was the name of a five-piece band consisting of Vince Furnier (vocals), Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith. After moving to Detroit, they found success with the 1971 hit “I’m Eighteen” and the 1972 anthem “School’s Out.” Their 1973 album Billion Dollar Babies hit #1 in both the US and UK, featuring a tour that broke box-office records previously held by the Rolling Stones. Their live shows became legendary for featuring guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood, and live boa constrictors.

The original band split in 1975, and lead singer Vince Furnier legally changed his name to Alice Cooper to launch a solo career. Landmark concept album Welcome to My Nightmare (1975) and its massive stage production solidified his status as a theatrical icon. Later in the decade, Cooper experimented with softer, more mainstream ballads like “Only Women Bleed” and “You and Me.” By the late 1970s, Cooper’s heavy alcoholism led to his hospitalization, an experience he chronicled in the 1978 album From the Inside.

Cooper became a household name, making surreal guest appearances on TV shows like The Muppet Show and The Snoop Sisters. The original band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011 for their 1970s contributions.

Lupino portrays Esther, the leader of the shipwrecked “beauty chorus.” At this stage in her career, Paramount marketed Lupino as “The English Jean Harlow.” In this film, she sports a platinum blonde coiffure and elegant attire that stays surprisingly pristine despite the jungle setting. She plays the primary romantic interest for Richard Arlen’s character, Sergeant “Lucky” Davis, who is tasked with her rescue.

While the Marines are depicted in muddy, wet clothes, Lupino and the other women remain “elegantly dressed and beautifully coiffured” throughout their jungle ordeal. The film features other notable “beauties,” including a very young Ann Sheridan (credited as Clara Lou Sheridan) and Toby Wing. The jungle scenes were shot on the Paramount lot in a studio tank replicated to look like a swamp, as well as at Sherwood Lake.

Come On, Marines! isn’t remembered as a classic, but it’s important in Lupino’s arc: a young British-born actress learning how Hollywood works, long before she’d rebel against it by becoming one of the first major female directors in American film history.

The “Tot-Guard” was one of the earliest examples of a child restraint system developed by an American car manufacturer with crash protection in mind. The design was unique at the time, utilizing a large, hollow-molded polyethylene shield that fit over the child’s body and was secured by the vehicle’s existing lap belt. This “impact shield” design was intended to distribute impact forces over a larger surface area of the child’s body in a collision.

The system consisted of three main parts: a molded seat base, the large body shield, and a removable foam pad for the inside of the shield. It was a forward-facing only car seat. Ford engineers have tested the device extensively on their own children and claim that the kids ride contentedly for as long as four hours at a time.

While an innovative step, it was not widely used initially. Public education and later government mandates for child restraints were necessary for widespread adoption of car seats. The “Tot-Guard” was designed and tested according to the much less stringent safety standards of the late 1960s and early 1970s, before modern regulations (like the 1971 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and later updates) were fully in place.

By today’s standards, its design (bulky, minimal padding, reliance solely on a lap belt for the shield) is considered highly unsafe. Modern car seats use advanced materials, five-point harness systems, and rigorous crash testing to offer superior protection. The “Tot-Guard” is now a historical artifact, found in museums like The Henry Ford, and is not legal or safe to use for transporting children today. Modern car seats expire after a certain number of years (usually 6-10 years from the date of manufacture) and should never be used if they are old or have been in a crash.

After their parents’ execution, Michael and Robert were left orphaned and rejected by most of their relatives, who feared the stigma of being associated with the Rosenberg name. Salvation came when they were adopted by Abel and Anne Meeropol. Abel, a poet and teacher remembered for writing the haunting anti-lynching song “Strange Fruit,” gave the boys not just a home but a nurturing, politically aware environment that helped shape their future. They took the Meeropol surname and grew up determined to build meaningful lives out of a tragic beginning.

As adults, both brothers carved out paths that reflected both intellectual rigor and social commitment. Michael became an economist and professor, while Robert pursued law and later founded the Rosenberg Fund for Children, dedicated to supporting children whose activist parents face persecution. Together, they have spent their lives reassessing the case that defined their childhood—acknowledging Julius’s involvement in espionage while arguing passionately that their mother, Ethel, was unjustly convicted and executed with scant evidence. Their story stands as both a family tragedy and a testament to resilience in the shadow of history.