Scatter Brained

THE BOOK EDITION
4,391
   words in the longest sentence of James Joyce’s 
Ulysses.
 1,536
   pages in the 
abridged
 version of Samuel Richardson’s 
Clar-
issa
 (1748), generally agreed to be  the longest English 
novel.
     37
   bestselling books with titles beginning 
Chicken Soup for the
 
published between 1993 and 2003.
    131
   books in the original Babysitters Club series.
       3
   years that the average novel stays in print.
        2
   novelizations of the musical 
Grease
 currently in 
print. . . .

---

24
S C A T T E R B R A I N E D
songs, was one of the bigger box offi
  ce disappointments in 
cinematic history, and sounded the death knell for the big-
budget movie musical (at least until 
Moulin Rouge
 and 
Chi-
cago
 hit the screen).
✖  ✖  ✖
Of the 39 Broadway theater 
houses, only six sport ad-
dresses actually 
on
 Broadway 
in New York. Most are in 
the  
theater district around 
Times Square. But “off -Broad-
way” theaters are sometimes 
located 
on
 Broadway. And 
that’s not even to mention off -
off -Broadway  theaters.  Wait. 
Who’s on fi rst?
Th
 e distinction, it turns 
out, has to do with the number 
of seats in a theater, not its 
 
location. Broadway theaters 
generally have more than 500 
seats; off -Broadway,  between 
101 and 499; and off -off -
Broadway, fewer than 100.
✖  ✖  ✖
One of the central fi gures in 
early Broadway history was 
Edwin Booth. One of the most 
successful actors of his day, 
Edwin also opened an early New York theater (which, in the 
great tradition of Broadway theaters, soon closed). Booth also 
Lost in Translation
The movie 
Grease
 was released 
in Mexico with the memorable 
title 
Vaselina,
 which got us to 
thinking about other memorable 
translations. Limiting ourselves 
just to Bond movies:
Dr. No
 
➔
 
Chinese: 
Tie jin gang 
yong po shen mi dao
 (“007 
Seized the Secret Island”)
From Russia with Love
 
➔
 F
rench: 
Bons baisers de Russie
 
(“Good Kisses from Russia”)
A View to a Kill
 
➔
 
Japanese: 
Utsukusiki emono tachi
 
(“The Beautiful Prey”)
License to Kill
 
➔
 
Japanese: 
Ke-
sareta Licence
 (“The Can-
celled License”)
Octopussy
 
➔
 
Chinese again: 
Tie jin gang yong po bao 
zha dang
 (“007 Averted 
the Blast Plot”)

---

25