Satire: 10 Little Known Facts About Howard Hughes

He was a colorful rich guy.

Howard HughesPhoto byCreative Commons: RockSkater99

When it comes to rich, womanizing, crazy pilots, Howard Hughes is at the top of the list. In addition to his aviation exploits, Howard excelled in other fields. Moviemaking comes to mind. He also developed some serious idiosyncrasies. All in all, it made for an interesting life. Here are some things you may or may not have known about Howard.

1: He introduced a new movie genre.

Most of us are familiar with the “buddy movies” of Hollywood. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is a great example of that. Well, Howard Hughes gave us the “bosom western” in the form of, “The Outlaw”, utilizing Jane Russell’s form. Jane later did commercials for Playtex’s 18-hour bra. I’m not sure what happened when the 18 hours were up.

2: While recovering from injuries incurred in a plane crash, Hughes redesigned his hospital bed.

I wonder if he gave any thought to redesigning his hospital gown?

3: It’s possible that the character, Tony Hawk, aka Iron Man, was based on Howard Hughes.

Interestingly, Hughes’ parents died before he was an adult, but he wasn’t considered the basis for Superman or Batman.

4: After Hughes’ death, actress Terry Moore came forward and said she was married to Hughes and their marriage was never legally dissolved. She, therefore, felt she had a claim to his estate.

Her claim was somewhat weakened by several marriages after her alleged marriage to Hughes.

Moore said her desire to have children was so strong she didn’t care if she was a bigamist. Looks like her desire to make a buck was also pretty strong.

5: In 1937 Hughes set a record by flying from LA to Newark seven hours, 28 minutes, and 25 seconds.

This raised the question, “Why would anybody be in a hurry to get to Newark?

6: Hughes had quite a reputation as a Hollywood playboy.

One of the starlets he dated, Ava Gardner, said they got in a serious physical altercation which left both of them bloody.

Hughes was allegedly jealous of Gardner’s relationship with Mickey Rooney. Am I the only one confused about what the requirements for a Hollywood playboy were back then? So, did Howard Hughes and Andy Hardy both qualify? It was a confusing time.

7: When the owner of the Desert Inn tried to evict Hughes from the top floor of the hotel, Hughes bought the place.

The owner tried to kick Hughes out because Hughes didn’t gamble and the owner wanted to comp gambling high rollovers with the rooms. While Hughes didn’t gamble, he obviously took chances.

8: Late in his life, Hughes allegedly wore Kleenex boxes over his feet.

That makes sense. Maybe his feet were runny. I wonder, how did he decide which socks to wear with that?

9: Hughes’ plane, the Spruce Goose, was actually made of birch.

Unfortunately, journalists couldn’t think of a good rhyme for birch. Spruce Goose was chosen over, “Pine Swine” and “Oak Joke.”

10: And finally, Howard once watched the movie, “Ice Station Zebra” 150 consecutive times while naked.

That may make Howard Hughes the greatest movie buff of all time.

I expect it’s more fun to read about the life of Howard Hughes than it was to live it.