Orange branch opening keeps library busy

This is cer­tainly a busy week­end for the Delaware County Dis­trict Library! The momen­tous open­ing of the Library’s Orange Branch, 7171 Good­ing Blvd., is tomor­row at noon, and staff will be there, ready and wait­ing to check out books, DVDs, audio books, and mag­a­zines to you and your family.

The Orange Branch Open House is today, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with activ­i­ties, self-guided tours, music, refresh­ments, and give­aways for all. If you don’t already have a Library card, you can reg­is­ter for one dur­ing the Open House so that it’s all ready for you to use on Sun­day. The open­ing of the Orange Branch is an his­tor­i­cal event for DCDL, and I hope you are a part of it.

The Orange Branch’s reg­u­lar hours of oper­a­tion are the same as those of the Delaware and Pow­ell Branches: Monday-Thursday 9:00–9:00; Fri­day 9:00–6:00; Sat­ur­day 9:00–5:00; and Sun­day 12:00–5:00. Thanks to the pas­sage of the Library levy in 2009, we were able to add addi­tional hours at all loca­tions, includ­ing the Ostran­der Branch. Its hours are Tuesday-Thursday 10:00–8:00; Fri­day and Sat­ur­day 10:00–4:00.

At the Delaware Branch, 84 E. Win­ter St., the Friend of the Delaware County Dis­trict Library will be hold­ing a gigan­tic book sale in the book­mo­bile garage on the south side of the build­ing. The sale runs today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sun­day from noon to 5 p.m. You’re bound to find bar­gains galore, and you can buy a whole bag of books for only $6. That could well be the best bar­gain you’re going to find in Delaware this weekend!

What is the Billy Goat Curse?

The Billy Goat curse was sup­pos­edly placed on the Cubs in 1945 when Billy Goat Tav­ern owner Billy Sia­nis was asked to leave a World Series game against the Detroit Tigers at the Cubs’ home ground of Wrigley Field because his pet goat’s odor was both­er­ing other fans. He was out­raged and declared, “Them Cubs, they aren’t gonna win no more,” which has been inter­preted to mean that there would never be another World Series game won at Wrigley Field. The exact nature of the curse dif­fers in var­i­ous accounts of the inci­dent. Sia­nis’ fam­ily claims that he dis­patched a telegram to team owner Philip K. Wrigley which read, “You are going to lose this World Series and you are never going to win another World Series again. You are never going to win a World Series again because you insulted my goat.” The curse was immor­tal­ized in news­pa­per columns over the years, par­tic­u­larly by syn­di­cated colum­nist Mike Royko. The Story of the Chicago Cubs pro­vided this account.

Why didn’t Harpo Marx ever speak?

Accord­ing to Grou­cho, Harpo, Chico and Some­times Zeppo, it is not entirely true that Harpo (born Adolph) never spoke. He spoke quite reg­u­larly on stage until the pro­duc­tion of “Home Again. He had about six lines in the play but the direc­tor didn’t think he deliv­ered lines all that well. After they had toured the show in vaude­ville and were play­ing (accord­ing to Harpo) the the­atre in Cham­paign, Illi­nois, Harpo decided to ad-lib all through the per­for­mance. A critic in the local news­pa­per described the show by say­ing, in part, “Adolph Marx per­formed beau­ti­ful pan­tomime which was ruined when­ever he spoke.” Harpo then decided he could do a bet­ter job of steal­ing focus by not speak­ing; how­ever, he con­tin­ued to speak extem­po­ra­ne­ously onstage on occa­sion on stage.

What is the name of the cat that Pepe Le Pew is always chas­ing in the cartoons?

Though Pepe Le Pew would chase any­thing resem­bling a skunk, as listed in Looney Tunes: The Ulti­mate Visual Guide, the offi­cial name for the female cat Pepe pur­sues is Pene­lope. She’s also been called Fifi, Fab­rette and Feline.

If you have a ques­tion that you would like to see answered in this col­umn, mail it to Mary Jane San­tos, Delaware County Dis­trict Library, 84 E. Win­ter St., Delaware, OH 43015, or call us at 740–362-3861. You can also email your ques­tions by vis­it­ing delawarelibrary.org, or directly to Mary Jane at mjsantos@delawarelibrary.org. No mat­ter how you con­tact us, we’re always glad you asked!