Did you know?
On this date in 1890, the Uniontown Evening Standard carried an item about the “World’s Four Richest Men.”
All of those men would be small potatoes today.
The president of the Standard Oil Trust, John D. Rockefeller, topped the list. He was worth $135 million.
The Rothschild family had an aggregate wealth of over $1 billion, but no individual family member had a combined wealth of over $75 million.
William Waldorf Astor had $125 million, and railroad magnates Cornelius Vanderbilt ($110 million) and Jay Gould ($90 million) were the other three men who were considered the wealthiest men on earth.
Now, let’s look at the richest people in the world today.
The world’s richest man is Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico. He and his family have a net worth of $73 billion. Next, according to Forbes, is Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $67 billion.
Where would John D. Rockefeller be on the list today? Well, the Forbes list only has the top 1,342 billionaires. Rockefeller wouldn’t even make the list.
However, when you calculate the inflation since 1890, Rockefeller’s $135 million would be worth $3,461,538,461.54 today. And that would be tied for 395th on the Forbes list.
By the way, it’s been often said that Uniontown used to have “more millionaires than any city in America.” I’ve not seen that statement in any of the old newspapers I’ve found.
What I did find a few years ago was a statement published just after the turn of the 20th Century.
It established Uniontown as having more millionaires per capita, than any city in the country except Colorado Springs, Colo.
On this date in 1942, it was reported that Trotter native Pat Mullin had participated in that year’s Major League All Star game in Cleveland.
What was unusual about his appearance, was that he’d joined the war effort during the previous year, so he was given a leave just to play with that season’s baseball greats.
His being added to the American League All Star Team may have owed to the fact that in 1941 he’d batted .345 for his Detroit Tigers.
“Pat had a pair of putouts in middle but failed to connect safely in three times at bat,” it was reported.
One of his failed attempts was because he was “robbed by Ted Williams who speared his savage liner.”
After WWII, Mullin would return to the Tigers and play eight more seasons, before retiring in 1953.
He would be chosen for the American League All Star Team in both 1947 and 1948.
Two days later, on July 10, 1952, another All Star team was announced.
“Midget Loop Rosters Given,” was the headline for the story about that year’s Midget League All Star game at Baily Park.
Two Benson’s teammates, second baseman Sandy Stephens and outfielder Ernie Davis were among the players selected.
Of course, they would become all stars, of sorts, a few years later when the two Fayette County natives shared the spotlight on the collegiate All American football team in 1961. Davis also won the Heisman Trophy in 1961 while Stephens finished fourth.
Did you know that Fayette County once had eight drive-in theatres?
In the July 9, 1951 edition of the Evening Standard, I found one ad that listed all eight of them.
There was: Cuppies, the Comet, the Rainbow, the Oaks, Blue Ridge, Ficks, the Moonlite and the Starlite. And there was the Skyview, which was located in Carmichaels.
One of the ads for the Oaks at Cheat Lake, that was published on June 10th, 1953, boasted that “Tonight only adults,” with the featured films being “The Rage of Burlesque,” and “The Sarong Girl.”
Of course, there have always been opportunities to see that kind of entertainment fare, and even in person — in and around Fayette County.
The carnival known as the Cetlin & Wilson Shows was at the Reagan Show Grounds in early July of 1957.
The featured act? Helen Gould Beck, who was far better known by her stage name – Sally Rand.
Sally Rand gained international fame as a “fan dancer,” who had appeared in nearly three dozen major motion pictures.
In fact, the man who gave Helen Gould Beck her stage name was Cecil B. DeMille, because of his affinity for Rand McNally’s atlas.
While the performance of a woman whose act was virtually in the nude in Uniontown, she’d gotten greater exposure (but clothed) a few months earlier on the television show “To Tell The Truth.”
On Feb. 12, 1957, she failed to stump the panel consisting of Polly Bergen, Ralph Bellamy, Kitty Carlisle and Carl Reiner. They all knew her, and her “adult oriented” claims to fame.