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492:, a privately held company based in Canada. Ripley Entertainment airs national television shows, features publications of oddities, and has holdings in a variety of public attractions, including Ripley's Aquarium, Ripley's Believe it or Not! Museums, Ripley's Haunted Adventure, Ripley's Mini-Golf and Arcade, Ripley's Moving Theater, Ripley's Sightseeing Trains, Guinness World Records Attractions, and Louis Tussaud's Wax Museums.
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television series. This was a rather bold move on Ripley's part, because of the small number of
Americans with access to television at this early time in the medium's development. He completed only 13 episodes of the series before he became incapacitated by severe health problems. On May 27, 1949, at
258:, a child 15 years his junior. He made his first trip around the world in 1922, publishing his travel journal in the newspapers. He became fascinated with unusual and exotic foreign locales and cultures. Because he took the veracity of his claims quite seriously, in 1923, he hired a researcher and
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Ripley prospered during the Great
Depression, netting $ 500,000 a year by the end of the 1930s. He employed a large staff of researchers, artists, translators, and secretaries to handle a deluge of suggestions for new oddities to report – and he traveled the world in search of curiosities and
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Ripley's cartoon series was estimated to have 80 million readers worldwide, and he is said to have received more mail than the
President of the United States. He became a wealthy man, with homes in New York and Florida, but he always retained close ties to his home town of Santa Rosa,
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expanded his media to include radio and
Hollywood. He started building museums in major cities. Funding for Ripley's highly publicized global travels were provided by the Hearst organization. Always in search of the bizarre, he recorded live radio shows underwater and from the sky, the
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array of odd facts and also verified the small-town claims submitted by readers. Pearlroth spent 52 years as the feature's researcher, finding and verifying unusual facts for Ripley, and after Ripley's death, for the King
Features syndicate editors who took over management of the
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panel. Another employee who edited the newspaper cartoon series over the years was Lester Byck. Others who drew the series after Ripley's death include Don Wimmer, Joe
Campbell (1946–1956), Art Slogg, Clem Gretter (1941–1949), Carl Dorese, Bob Clarke (1943–1944), Stan Randall,
245:, although his exact birthdate is disputed. He dropped out of high school after his father's death to help his family, and at age 16, he began working as a sports cartoonist for various newspapers. In 1913, he moved to New York City. While drawing cartoons for
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Subjects covered in Ripley's cartoons and text ranged from sports feats to little-known facts about unusual and exotic sites. He also included items submitted by readers, who supplied photographs of a wide variety of small-town
American trivia ranging from
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making its syndicated debut in 360 newspapers and 17 languages worldwide. With the success of this series assured, Ripley capitalized on his fame by getting the first book collection of his newspaper panel series published.
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published his opinion in favor of giving the song official status, stating, "it is the spirit of the music that inspires" as much as it is Key's "soul-stirring" words. By a law signed on March 3, 1931, by
President
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in 1925. In 1926, he became the New York State handball champion and also wrote a book on boxing. With a proven track record as a versatile writer and artist, he attracted the attention of publishing mogul
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newspaper, he created his first "Believe It or Not!" cartoon, published in the
December 19, 1918, issue. With a positive response from readers, the cartoon began appearing weekly.
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Ripley claimed to be able to "prove every statement he made" because he worked with professional fact researcher Norbert Pearlroth, who assembled
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Throughout the 1920s, Ripley continued to broaden the scope of his work and his popularity increased greatly. He published a guide to the game of
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World travel became impossible during World War II, so Ripley concentrated on charity pursuit. In 1948, the year of the 20th anniversary of the
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newspaper panel series, television show, and radio show, which feature odd facts from around the world.
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to oddly marked domestic animals, all documented by photographs and then depicted by his drawings.
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A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley
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tree, which stands on the north side of Juilliard Park in downtown Santa Rosa.
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in 1933. The concept was a success, and at one point, Odditoriums were in
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Early cartoon by Ripley, pre-"Believe It or Not," published in 1920.
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as a full-time assistant. In 1926, Ripley's cartoons moved from the
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569:"Robert Ripley: The Life and True Lies of Mr. Believe-It-Or-Not"
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594:"The Unbelievable True Story of "Ripley's Believe It or Not!""
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California, and he made a point of bringing attention to the
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https://doi.org/10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.2000866
488:, a company bearing his name and owned since 1985 by the
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panels. He also appeared in a Vitaphone musical short,
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In 1919, Ripley married fourteen-year-old film actress
427:, which is adjacent to the Santa Rosa Rural Cemetery.
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LeRoy Robert Ripley was born on February 22, 1890, in
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Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery, Santa Rosa, California, U.S.
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in New York City. He was buried in his home town of
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661:"Introduction: Ripley: Believe It or Not"
721:The World of Ripley's Believe It or Not!
764:Robbins, Peggy. "Ripley, Robert LeRoy"
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292:. In 1929, Hearst was responsible for
1213:20th-century American anthropologists
641:"O, Believers, Prepare to Be Amazed!"
639:Rothstein, Edward (August 24, 2007).
543:"Francis Scott Key | American lawyer"
484:Ripley's ideas and legacy live on in
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1198:People from Santa Rosa, California
1163:20th-century American illustrators
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801:Ripley's biography & timeline
1178:American comic strip cartoonists
219:, who is known for creating the
200:Ripley's Odditorium in Hollywood
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806:Works by or about Robert Ripley
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27:American cartoonist (1890–1949)
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759:Ripley: The Modern Marco Polo
567:Thompson, Neal (2013-05-06).
1153:Ripley's Believe It or Not!
861:Ripley's Believe It or Not!
766:American National Biography
337:theatrical short films for
231:unusually shaped vegetables
222:Ripley's Believe It or Not!
146:Ripley's Believe It or Not!
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691:Melissa Pritchard (2012).
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1114:World of the Unexplained
425:Oddfellows Lawn Cemetery
302:The Star-Spangled Banner
1173:American comics artists
1168:American comics writers
1158:Amateur anthropologists
1101:The Riddle of Master Lu
1083:Bureau of Investigation
775:Thompson, Neal (2014).
694:The Odditorium: Stories
547:Encyclopedia Britannica
520:Encyclopædia Britannica
415:age 59, he died from a
290:King Features Syndicate
286:William Randolph Hearst
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304:", with its lyrics by
243:Santa Rosa, California
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66:Santa Rosa, California
744:Neal Thompson (2014).
718:Julie Mooney (1999).
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310:To Anacreon in Heaven
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1193:Pseudoarchaeologists
1132:Ripley Entertainment
824:Ripley Entertainment
629:Peggy Robbins, 1999.
592:Silverstein, Barry.
486:Ripley Entertainment
443:, American Olympian.
406:cartoon series, the
183: 1919;
157:Ripley Entertainment
153:Board member of
909:The Animated Series
815:Robert Leroy Ripley
666:American Experience
205:LeRoy Robert Ripley
1045:Jean-Yves Blondeau
646:The New York Times
515:"Robert L. Ripley"
490:Jim Pattison Group
469:Believe it or Not!
461:Believe it or Not!
450:Church of One Tree
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412:Believe it or Not!
408:Believe it or Not!
404:Believe it or Not!
396:The New York Times
347:Believe it or Not!
335:Believe It or Not!
294:Believe It or Not!
288:, who managed the
248:The New York Globe
202:
1183:American curators
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1108:Haunted Adventure
886:Television series
351:Seasons Greetings
314:John Philip Sousa
306:Francis Scott Key
281:American handball
264:Norbert Pearlroth
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132:Years active
62:February 22, 1890
16:(Redirected from
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876:Vitaphone shorts
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810:Internet Archive
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757:Considine, Bob.
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441:Pat McDonald
417:heart attack
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79:(1949-05-27)
77:May 27, 1949
1208:1949 deaths
1203:1890 births
1010:Jessica Cox
573:Vanity Fair
371:Ray Collins
355:Ruth Etting
143:Creator of
101:Occupations
1147:Categories
1040:Bob Munden
1030:Bill Haast
1015:The Enigma
953:Paul Frehm
923:Philippine
578:2016-02-11
496:References
474:Paul Frehm
421:Santa Rosa
375:Odditorium
363:Ted Husing
359:Joe Penner
209:cartoonist
135:1920s–1949
108:Cartoonist
58:1890-02-22
949:(creator)
779:. Crown.
676:7 January
391:Cleveland
383:San Diego
343:Vitaphone
237:Biography
1025:Pyro Boy
552:June 15,
260:polyglot
1119:Pinball
940:Authors
808:at the
768:(1999)
761:(1961).
527:18 June
454:redwood
423:in the
379:Chicago
270:to the
189:
177:
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118:curator
1069:Annual
783:
728:
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599:19 May
480:Legacy
464:'s
387:Dallas
262:named
163:Spouse
87:, U.S.
68:, U.S.
1093:Media
1060:Books
869:Films
377:, in
179:(
175:
930:2019
916:2000
902:1982
895:1949
781:ISBN
726:ISBN
699:ISBN
678:2015
601:2023
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341:and
185:div.
74:Died
52:Born
817:at
671:PBS
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