Is there a word for the opposite of writer’s block? If there isn’t, Dolly Parton should get to coin it, since the country music legend says she penned “I Will Always Love You” and “Jolene” in one day. “That was a good writing day” is how the ever-humble fan favorite described the process of writing the two eventual Billboard Country Music No. 1 hits in 1972. They remain two of her best-known songs a full half-century later, with “I Will Always Love You” taking on a second life when Whitney Houston covered it for the 1992 blockbuster The Bodyguard. Parton, who used some of her royalties from the cover to invest in a Black neighborhood in Nashville, is a fan of Houston’s version and has said she “would’ve loved” to perform a duet with Houston even though “she’d have outsung me on that one for sure.”

Dolly Parton has several tattoos.

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Though she’s never revealed them publicly, Parton has “a few little tattoos here and there.” The singer apparently scars easily, and has used her ink — including beehives, butterflies, and ribbons — to cover them up.

“Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” aren’t the only megahits in history that were written quickly, of course. It took Mariah Carey and songwriter Walter Afanasieff just 15 minutes to co-write “All I Want for Christmas,” while the Beatles’ “Yesterday,” Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” the Guess Who’s “American Woman,” and several other famous tunes were all put together in around 10 minutes. Sometimes when inspiration strikes, it really strikes.

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There are impressive filmographies, and then there’s John Cazale's. The actor only appeared in five films during his lifetime, all of which were nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards: The Godfather (1972), The Conversation (1974), The Godfather Part II (1974), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), and The Deer Hunter (1978). Even more remarkably, three of them — both Godfathers and The Deer Hunter — won the top prize. The last of these was released after Cazale’s untimely death from bone cancer in March 1978, at which time the 42-year-old thespian was the romantic partner of fellow great Meryl Streep. (He was also in 1990's The Godfather Part III via archival footage, which didn’t break his streak — that sequel was also up for Best Picture.)

John Cazale was nominated for an Oscar himself.

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Despite receiving widespread praise for his performances, Cazale was never nominated for an Academy Award himself. He fared better during his stage career, winning an Obie for his performance in 1968’s “The Indian Wants the Bronx” — as did Pacino, with whom he shared the stage.

Described by no less an authority than his Godfather co-star Al Pacino as “one of the great actors of our time — that time, any time,” Cazale remains best known for playing the tragic Fredo Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s mafioso saga. Revered by everyone from contemporaries Gene Hackman and Robert De Niro to more recent admirers such as Michael Fassbender and Steve Buscemi, he was the subject of the 2009 documentary I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale. The film was well received upon its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and further cemented Cazale’s status as one of the most respected performers of his generation.

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You may love Disney, but you probably don’t love it as much as Jeff Reitz. The 49-year-old brought new meaning to the term “Disney adult” by visiting the Happiest Place on Earth 2,995 days in a row — a streak that only ended when Disneyland shut down during the pandemic. It began as “a joke and a fun thing to do” between him and a friend when the two were in between jobs on New Year’s Eve 2011, and it continued for eight years, three months, and 13 days. The original plan was to spend every day of 2012 at the park, in part because it was a leap year and Reitz liked the idea of going 366 days in a single year, but he didn’t feel inclined to stop once 2013 rolled around. He became the unofficial record-holder at the 1,000-day mark and was oh so close to reaching 3,000 days before COVID-19 prevented that particular milestone when Disneyland shut down on March 14, 2020.

Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney’s first character.

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Mickey was actually preceded by one Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, the star of 26 short cartoons beginning in 1927. After losing the rights to Oswald, Disney came up with Mickey — and the two creatures bear a striking resemblance to one another.

Reitz, who worked in nearby Long Beach, would usually arrive at Disneyland between 4:30 and 5 p.m. and log some 10,000 steps during his three-to-five-hour visits. Though he initially struggled with the park’s closure, he eventually made peace with it: “A lot has changed over the eight years that I started it,” he said after his streak ended. “I’m good with it. I went more than eight years. I got to see a lot of changes at the park. Now, I’m not worried about going every day like I was.” After more than a year of being closed, Disneyland reopened in April 2021. It’s not clear if Reitz has been back, but he has enough memories to last him a while.

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Some caricaturists, whether in celebrity restaurants or theme parks, face customers who are less than thrilled with their portraits, but to be drawn by caricaturist Al Hirschfeld was considered an honor. Hirschfeld began working with The New York Times in 1929, often drawing the stars of Broadway and Hollywood, but it wasn’t until the birth of his daughter Nina in 1945 that a now-legendary game began. In many of his drawings following her birth, for the Times and other prominent publications, Hirschfeld hid his daughter’s name “in folds of sleeves, tousled hairdos, eyebrows, wrinkles, backgrounds, shoelaces — anywhere to make it difficult, but not too difficult, to find,” Hirschfeld once said. Next to his signature, the artist included the number of times “Nina” appeared throughout the image. 

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the first caricaturists.

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Although the Renaissance master is known for his explorations of human perfection (see: Vitruvian Man), Leonardo da Vinci also drew sketches of exaggerated and grotesque faces. Some scholars consider these works the beginning of caricature.

This tradition inspired an unofficial puzzle for decades, as readers scanned Hirschfeld’s work to find each and every “Nina” — and this included Hirschfeld himself. According to his foundation’s website, the artist became so accustomed to adding his daughter’s name as part of his artistic process that he often had to go back through the piece and find every hidden “Nina” for himself in order to come up with the total count. Hirschfeld continued this tradition for nearly 60 years, until his death at the age of 99 in 2003.

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