Believe It or Not #6 (1931)

• 50%
• 1931
• Murray Roth

At a Glendale University reunion, alumnus, cartoonist Robert L. Ripley, addresses the students at Hitchcock Hall. Following an opening pun, he presents some oddities from around the world, many based on questions from the audience. The first two, tributes the college world, are a 220 yard run in a college football game, and a college woman sinking ten consecutive free throw baskets while blindfolded. The next two, in reference to US political history, are George Washington not being the first president in the United States, and a lie told by Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg address. He then presents some of his drawings, first of a death march from the Kremlin to Siberia, and the poet Virgil who spent the equivalent of $100,000 on the burial of his pet fly. He then focuses on the interesting facts of individuals, including a blind French monk responsible for many of the laws of modern day maritime navigation, an Asian scholar who tied his ponytail to the ceiling so he wouldn't doze off while studying, and clearing up some misconceptions of John Paul Jones. He concludes with a story of a young boy whose irises are that of a clock with Roman numerals.