20 Now-You-Know Facts That Really Poured Gas On Our Fire

In 1912, a tailor named Franz Reichelt jumped to his death from the first deck of the Eiffel Tower while testing out a homemade coat parachute--an invention he'd been working on with dedication. After telling authorities he would first test it with a dummy, Reichelt insisted on being the guinea pig himself. Unfortunately, his contraption failed him and he plummeted to his death. During John F. Kennedy's presidency, his mother asked Nikita Khrushchev to send her an autograph--a request which JFK later scolded her for making without consulting him first. Understandably so; as the mother of the head of state, such requests from her could be interpreted in various ways, even though she was simply trying to collect signatures. “The Empire Strikes Back,” widely considered one of if not THE best Star Wars movie ever made, almost didn't make it into theaters at all because George Lucas put the screen credits at the end rather than at beginning as was customary. Because of this decision that preserved dramatic opening sequences but broke protocol concerning where credits should go, Lucas was fined $250,000 and a movie that would make cinematic history nearly got pulled from theaters.