Mary and Madeleine Collinson were born in 1952 in Malta, moving to England in 1969 as teenagers. The following year they appeared as the joint “Miss October” in Playboy magazine, becoming the publication’s first identical twin centerfold models. The sisters used their Playboy pictorial as a springboard for a film career. They took roles in several experimental films with leanings towards the “freeform hippie movement” of the time. In 1971, they were cast in the Hammer horror film Twins of Evil as twin vampires alongside Hammer heavyweight Peter Cushing. The film was the third installment of the trilogy based on the 1872 novella Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.  The previous two entries featured a lesbian storyline that was absent in Twins of Evil. The film was given mixed reviews at the time of its release, but has since developed a cult following. It was the Collinson sisters’ last hurrah in their fleeting acting career.

Madeleine married and returned to Malta to raise a family. Later, she fell ill and was diagnosed with advanced emphysema. She was admitted to a Maltese hospital and died when her ventilator lost power during a blackout. She was 62.

Mary married and lived in Milan, Italy with her family. Out of the spotlight for years, she passed away from bronchopneumonia in 2021 — seven years after her sister.

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Geremi González led the Chicago Cubs with 11 wins in his rookie season with the team. However, he struggled in subsequent season and spent some time in the minor leagues with hopes of improvement. He bounced around the majors with the Rays, the Red Sox and the Mets until he landed in Milwaukee, pitching for the Brewers. It was here — after eight seasons in the Major Leagues — that he told his team that his name had been misspelled as “Jeremi.” It was finally corrected by the Brewers. Geremi lasted one season with the Brewers and headed for Japan to play a season with the Yomiuri Giants before calling it a career.

Geremi González holds two unusual baseball distinctions. He was the pitcher of record when home-run powerhouse Sammy Sosa was caught using a corked bat. Geremi was the only pitcher to have faced Barry Bonds six or more times and never allowed him reach base — the only one of 583 pitchers that Bonds faced in his career.

In 2008, in his native Venezuela, 33-year-old Geremi was struck by lightning and killed.

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Hadji Ali performed for Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Judy Garland proclaimed him her favorite vaudeville performed. More recently, magician David Blaine cited him as his favorite magician and a personal inspiration. Hadji Ali’s “talent” was impressive and decidedly unusual.

Born in Egypt somewhere between 1888 and 1892, young Hadji developed an affinity for swimming in the Nile River. He discovered that he could swallow large amounts of water and then spit it out like a spouting whale. As he grew older, he refined his ability. He was able to control intake, bodily placement and distribution and, most importantly, regurgitation.

He began to exhibit his talent at fairs, music halls and sideshows. In his act, Hadji would swallow huge amounts of water and top it off with a generous amount of kerosene. He’d spew the fuel, set it alight and then act as a human fire extinguisher and douse the flame to the delight and astonishment of audiences. Another feat Hadji performed was to swallow several dozen hazelnuts followed by a handful of almonds, then, regurgitate the nuts in the exact order as determined by the audience’s request. Hadji would also swallow several different colored handkerchiefs and regurgitate them in a randomly-determined order. He’d cap off a performance by placing eight lit cigarettes in his mouth and spew smoke like a volcano for well over a minute.

Hadji’s act was popular among most audiences. Every so often, a dinner show was cut short when several audience members experienced nausea from viewing Hadji’s exploits while eating.

Hadji Ali’s passed away in 1937 after a bout of bronchitis. Prior to his death, posters advertising his live appearances boasted that $50,000 was offered by the Rockefeller Medical Institute for Hadji’s stomach for examination. Upon his death, The Rockefeller Institute said that no such monetary offer had ever been made… although they would be interested in conducting such an examination. Hadji’s daughter solicited her father’s remains to surgeons at Johns Hopkins University. Her offer was declined.

Hadji Ali was interred at Kensico Cemetery in New York.

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Chicago transplant Mary Webster — in all honesty — had a pretty unremarkable career. As a twenty-year old aspiring actress, she took roles portraying teenage characters in episodic television. She made her big screen debut in 1957 opposite Jerry Lewis in The Delicate Delinquent, his first full-length motion picture after his split with partner Dean Martin. Later the same year, Mary costarred in The Tin Star, a role that prepared her for a string of Western roles that would follow. She was featured in a number of guest roles in Westerns, dramas, two episodes of Twilight Zone and even a few comedies into the early 1960s, when she left Hollywood and retired from acting.

And then, in 1991, Mary showed up as a contestant on the popular game show Jeopardy! during the Seniors Tournament.

Her passing in 2017 at the age of 81 warranted a small write up in The Hollywood Reporter.

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Considering the nature of his chosen profession and the fun-filled products with which he was associated, Leo Hirschfield led a complicated life.

The son of an Austrian candy maker, young Leo came to the United States and began working for Manhattan confectioners Stern & Saalberg. While in the employ of Stern & Saalberg, Leo was awarded several patents for advancement in candy-making technology. The patents, however, were shared with Stern & Saalberg. In 1895, Leo invented a fruit-flavored gelatin product called “Bromangelon,” which became a very popular dessert… until it was eclipsed by a similar product introduced two years later… a product called “Jell-o.”

In 1907, Leo was still employed by Stern & Saalberg. He developed a uniquely-textured chocolate candy which he named “Tootsie,” supposedly after a nickname for his daughter. However, company records show that a character named “Tootsie” served as a spokesperson and mascot for the Bromangelon product. Nevertheless, Tootsie Rolls were introduced to the market and, thanks to a huge marketing campaign, became a nationwide success. Leo was named a director within the Stern & Saalberg company and became a very wealthy man.

In early 1920, Leo left Stern & Saalberg to start his own candy enterprise. In 1921, Leo’s wife became seriously ill and she was committed to a sanitarium. Leo’s health began to decline as well. Although Leo was rich from his time with Stern & Saalberg, his own candy venture was not especially successful.  Leo was also despondent over his wife’s health. On January 13, 1922, Leo checked in to a room at the Hotel Monterey in New York City and shot himself in the head. He left a note reading “sorry, but I could not help it.”

With no official birth records available, Leo was believed to be 54 years old. Stern & Saalberg became Sweets Company of America which eventually became Tootsie Roll Industries. It grew to be one of the largest candy companies in the world.

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