Normal is a setting on your clothes dryer
     
      Superman      Adam Smith
Today –  Having  gained global fame for his TV portrayal of the flying man of steel, George “Superman” Reeves may – or may not – have blown his brains out 52 years ago today. Having never known his biological father, Reeve’s mother divorced his stepfather Frank Bessolo when George was still a teen. Away at the time the only father he’d known had left town, George’s mother told the boy his stepfather had killed himself. Drawn to the stage in high school, George changed his last name from Bessolo to Reeves for his first screen appearance as one of the red-haired Tarleton Twins in Gone With the Wind. In 1951, Reeves reluctantly agreed to play the title role in the first of The Adventures of Superman  ’s 104 segments – which yielded great fame, but little fortune for Reeves. Always the gentleman both on and off set, reeves was aware of the idol status he’d achieved with his millions of young viewers. With the end of Superman, an increasingly heavy drinking Reeves struggled – and failed – to win any lucrative parts. Deeply  depressed, Reeves died from a bullet to his brains in his upstairs bedroom while his drunken friends continued to party on below. Following his death, which LA police ruled a suicide, Reeves mother went to her grave convinced her son had been murdered.  
Click here of a taste of Reeves as Superman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0B1ufyXOds

Birthday Boy – Hailed as the father of modern capitalism, Scottish philosopher and economist Adam “Wealth of Nations” Smith was baptized 288 years ago today. (His actual birthday is unknown.) True Facts: (1) As a child, Smith was abducted by gypsies. (2) In his youth, he was happiest with his invisible companions. (3) Never married, he remained close to his mother until her death six years before his. (4) He engaged in long conversations with himself. (5) A victim of frequent imaginary illnesses, a contemporary reported Smith “had a large nose, bulging eyes, a protruding lower lip, a nervous twitch and a speech impediment.” It is said that, on his death bed, Smith regretted having failed to do more with his life.  Smithian economics in his own words: “It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from regard to their own interests. We address ourselves not to their humanity, but to their self love.”