I have been looking for the name of a painting that appeared in DA Adam Schiff's office in the original TV series "Law and Order". The painting has a man in a suit, balding with hair still on both sides of his head. He is wearing glasses and looking down at a paper. He seems to be holding a pen or a brush in his right hand. I have been wondering what this painting was for over 20 years. Google Image searches come up with nothing, nor do any fan sites. Does anyone in FUNTRIVIA land know what this is?
lanfranco,
Thank you for your analysis, and I can see what you mean about it looking like a piece of throw together schlock. I have also wondered if it was that as well. However, there seems to be a few things that might indicate that it isn't just a piece of "fabricated" set dressing:
1) All of the other pictures in the DA's office are real (Beardless Abe Linclon, Manhattan skyline...) which would make this one an outlier
2) The camera actually focuses on it from time to time, at least twice at the end of an episode we get a full framing of it as the camera pans over to it and then fades to black.
3) Adam never refers to it, even in passing, which if it were meant to be a relative, you would think he would at least once.
But you are totally right that the painting is at least weird. I don't have your trained eye, but the angle that the man in the photo is holding his pencil is at least a choice and totally unnatural at best. Would a manufactured set piece have been that sloppy? Most of the background art that I see is anodyne rather than creative.
I know you have already replied, but could you let us know any more thoughts you had on this?
Thanks,
J (misdiaslocos)
7 answers
Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
7 answers
Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
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Jun 14 26 by misdiaslocos
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Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
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Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
3 answers
Jun 09 26 by pehinhota
Which was the first airship in World War I to be destroyed in mid-air by an airplane?
That would be the L37(LZ37) on 6-7 June 1915
[quote] That the British would take retaliatory measures became evident in April 1915 when Captain Lanoe G. Hawker, of the Royal Flying Corps based at Abeele in Belgium, flying a B.E.2c armed with a few bombs and hand grenades, attacked and destroyed the airship shed at Gontrode, within which, and also destroyed, was LZ38 (LZ38). It was an audacious attack, and highlighted just how vulnerable the airships were when on the ground.
That they might be as vulnerable, given certain conditions, whilst airborne was graphically demonstrated on 6-7 June 1915, when Lt. R.A.J. Warneford Vc, of the RNAS was flying toward Ostend on his first ever night flight. His mission, emulating the earlier effort against Gontrode, was to bomb the Zeppelin sheds at Evere. Whilst en-route he spotted L37 (LZ37) in the clouds. Warneford maneuvered his plane over the vessel and released his bombs, one or more of which hit something solid. In any event there was a great explosion which ignited the gas, and the L37 (LZ37) fell earthwards engulfed in flames. This was the first time an airship had been destroyed by an aircraft whilst in flight.[/quote]
https://20thcenturybattles.com/german-airships-in-the-great-war-1914-18/ (elburcher)
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Jun 14 26 by pehinhota
7 answers
Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
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Jun 14 26 by pehinhota
7 answers
Jun 13 26 by misdiaslocos
What do the hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher and the grebe have in common?
Hey pholberton,
So...you asked this question a couple of weeks ag....WHAT!?!? 20 years and 5 months ago!?!?
Let me give a shot at answering it in a timely manner...
They the opposite of the penguin, the emu, the ostrich, and the kiwi. These birds have wings but cannot fly. The hummingbird, the loon, the swift, the kingfisher and the grebe have legs, but cannot walk.
https://www.deseret.com/1994/3/18/19098456/five-birds-that-cannot-walk/
I hope you didn't need this answer for a science report or something.
J
(misdiaslocos)
1 answer
Dec 26 05 by pholberton
In 2004 which was the first US Army ship named after an African American?
While the USAV Major General Robert Smalls is the first ARMY ship to be named for an African-American, the NAVY had one all the way back in 1943!!
The USS Harmon (DE-678), A destroyer escort, was named for Leonard Roy Harmon who, in the Battle of Guadalcanal deliberately stood in front of enemy gunfire to save a fellow sailor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Roy_Harmon
J (misdiaslocos)
2 answers
May 14 26 by pehinhota
In which country was a cordless telephone developed within nineteen months (in 1979) that was suitable for establishing a wireless voice telephony network to serve remote villages in the Mexican state of Guerrero?
This is a very specific question. Some more context.
The commission came in 1979, but was not completed until 1981, as is implied in the question.
"Am 12. September 1981 nahm DDR-Staatschef Erich Honecker in Mexiko das Netz in Betrieb."
There are other milestones
First Wireless Conversation (1880): Alexander Graham Bell and Charles Sumner Tainter invented the Photophone, which successfully transmitted a voice message wirelessly over a beam of light, rather than radio waves.
https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/volume_4/issue_6/features/alexander_graham_bell_s_photophone/
First Practical Wireless Telephone (1912): Japanese inventor Dr. Torigata Uichi created the "T.Y.K. wireless telephone system." It was the world's first practical, long-range wireless voice communication system that predated vacuum tubes. (Super cool looking, check it out!!)
https://www.postalmuseum.jp/column/collection/tykwirelesstelephone.html
First Commercial Cellular Network (1979): The first full-scale, commercial cellular network was launched by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) in Tokyo, Japan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1G
J (misdiaslocos)
3 answers
Jun 09 26 by pehinhota
3 answers
Jun 12 26 by Upstart3
The 1609 book "The Feminine Monarchie" by Charles Butler is known as the first work in English about what subject?
Hello All,
I did a bit of digging and found an earlier work in English on Bees. "A Profitable Instruction on the Perfite Ordering of Bees", was published in 1568 and written by Thomas Hill. I think the difference is that "The Feminine Monarchie" is a truly scientific work whereas Hill's and others like it was more like collections of ancient wisdom.
So I think that the scope for the claim on "The Feminine Monarchie" needs to be narrowed a bit.
J (misdiaslocos)
3 answers
Jun 12 26 by Upstart3
What was the most important food staple and field crop in Europe before the introduction of potatoes?
I'd actually say that barley alone was the most important food (and drink) crop up to the early modern era (which began with the 16th century) and for millennia. Among the Greeks and Romans and other, far earlier, ancient peoples it was an extremely important crop and staple.
In the 16th century, barley's importance was supplanted (pun intended) by that of wheat, but for most of agricultural history, in Europe and elsewhere, barley was king.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barley (lanfranco)
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Jun 10 26 by pehinhota
1 answer
Jun 12 26 by Upstart3
3 answers
Jun 12 26 by Upstart3
1 answer
Jun 10 26 by odo5435
What was the most important food staple and field crop in Europe before the introduction of potatoes?
Various grains - wheat, barley, rye and oats leading the field. Local growing conditions tended to dictate which was the preferred grain, which would generally be made into porridge or bread. Or beer. Wheat was considered the finest grain, but was also the hardest to grow, hence the most expensive, and not widely eaten by commoners.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_cuisine#Cereals (looney_tunes)
2 answers
Jun 10 26 by pehinhota
How many muscles do our fingers have?
Here's an interesting experiment that demonstrates that there are no muscles in our fingers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6_khJUIvmE
However, Stephen Fry is wrong to say that the middle and ring fingers have a shared tendon. In fact, their individual extensor tendons are physically tied together by an anatomical bridge. This connection is why you cannot lift your ring finger if your middle finger is bent flat on the table, as shown in the video. (wellenbrecher)
2 answers
Jun 10 26 by serpa
How many muscles do our fingers have?
Contrary to popular belief, your fingers contain absolutely no muscles. Instead, your digits function like a sophisticated puppet system, operated by extrinsic muscles located in your forearm and intrinsic muscles within your palm.
https://www.scienceabc.com/humans/hand-fingers-no-muscles-phalanges-bones-tendons
(pehinhota)
2 answers
Jun 10 26 by serpa
In which country was a cordless telephone developed within nineteen months (in 1979) that was suitable for establishing a wireless voice telephony network to serve remote villages in the Mexican state of Guerrero?
The first mobile phone network was developed in the former East Germany. [quote]Blaumeise 3 was the internal designation for the first mobile phone in East Germany .It was developed in 1979 at VEB Funkwerk Köpenick in Berlin, a subsidiary of VEB Kombinat Nachrichtenelektronik . The reason for its development was a contract to build a radio network for voice telephony in Mexico to serve remote villages in the Mexican state of Guerrero . It consisted of permanently installed telephones connected to the existing landline network via a radio network. The device transmitted on the URTES network (UHF radio-telephony system) and was equipped with a conventional pulse dial . Its formal designation was UDS 721 U. It weighed 10 kg and had a range of over 40 km. The Stasi assigned it the internal code name Blaumeise 3 (Blue Tit 3 ).[/quote] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaumeise_3
https://www.volksstimme.de/sachsen-anhalt/regionale-wirtschaft/handys-aus-der-ddr-kamen-in-mexiko-gross-raus-454944
(gtho4)
3 answers
Jun 09 26 by pehinhota
In Sweden in 1967 it was known as Dagen H. In Iceland in 1968 it was known as H-dagurinn. What was it?
At least in Sweden, people were highly sceptical and afraid of this historic change. Polls before Dagen H showed that over 80% of the population opposed the switch.
Drivers became exceptionally cautious because everyone was so terrified. This fear actually worked as a safety mechanism. On the day of the changeover, accident rates plummeted and not a single fatal accident was recorded.
Here's a report:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiInZNG2dhk (wellenbrecher)
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Jun 04 26 by serpa
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Jun 04 26 by serpa
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Jun 03 26 by pehinhota
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Jun 03 26 by pehinhota
1 answer
Jun 02 26 by pehinhota
How many bricks are estimated to make up the Sphinx in Egypt?
The Great Sphinx in Egypt is not made of individual bricks or stacked stone blocks. Instead, it is a monolithic statue carved directly from a single massive outcrop of natural limestone bedrock on the Giza Plateau.
[quote]The statue was carved from a single piece of limestone, and pigment residue suggests that the entire Great Sphinx was painted. According to some estimates, it would have taken about three years for 100 workers, using stone hammers and copper chisels, to finish the statue.[/quote]
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Sphinx (wellenbrecher)
2 answers
May 22 26 by GBfan
1 answer
May 30 26 by pehinhota
1 answer
May 30 26 by chabenao1
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May 29 26 by odo5435
In Test cricket, how many batsmen have been dismissed for a duck on the first ball of the opening day?
More than you might think and dating back to the 1894/95 season in Australia.
According to Wikipedia's page titled "Duck (Cricket)" being dismissed off the first ball of an innings is known as either a "Royal Duck" or a "Platinum Duck."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_(cricket)
ESPN Cricinfo has statistics for nearly everything you'd ever want to know about the game of Cricket.
Their list of batsmen "Dismissed by the first ball of a match in Tests" identifies some 35 unfortunate souls (or successful bowlers). The most recent such dismissal was in the 2024/25 season, again in Australia. We can expect this number to grow as the years progress.
https://www.espncricinfo.com/records/dismissed-by-the-first-ball-of-a-match-283164 (psnz)
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May 29 26 by odo5435
1 answer
May 29 26 by odo5435
The never-realized film titled "Whispers Like Thunder", a project by Ben Kingsley, was supposed to tell the story of which Native American woman?
"Whispers Like Thunder" was supposed to tell the story of Eliza "Lyda" Burton Conley of the Wyandot Nation. In 1907, she filed a case to prevent the U.S. government from selling and developing the Huron Indian Cemetery in Kansas City, on the grounds that this project violated treaty protections and her family's burial rights.
In 1910, she personally presented the case before the U.S. Supreme Court as the first Native American woman to do so, but the Court ruled against her and upheld the government's authority to proceed. Nevertheless, she gained significant public and political support, and in 1916, Congress ultimately passed legislation to protect the cemetery from sale and development.
https://wikibin.org/articles/whispers-like-thunder.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyda_Conley (wellenbrecher)
1 answer
May 28 26 by pehinhota
What book in the King James Bible is most questioned as to its authenticity?
Discussing "authenticity" doesn't mean it's "untrusted" in a religious sense. It's still part of the canonical New Testament in all major Christian traditions. The debate is about authorship, not necessarily its theological value.
[quote]2 Peter is traditionally attributed to Peter the Apostle, but most critical scholars consider the epistle pseudepigraphical (i.e., authored by one or more of Peter's followers, using Peter as a pseudonym)[/quote]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Epistle_of_Peter
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship_of_the_Petrine_epistles (wellenbrecher)
2 answers
May 22 26 by GBfan
Why do most conductors of large musical groups need a stick?
The baton (as it is named) is used to enhance the visibility of the most important conducting information - the beat. Conductors use a large variety of gestures to indicate how they wish passages to be played, but the baton is always indicating the beat, ensuring all musicians play on cue and at the same tempo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_(conducting) (WesleyCrusher)
1 answer
May 27 26 by odo5435
1 answer
May 27 26 by odo5435
Which NBA player was the first to get an official quintuple double in a game (10 or more in five different categories)?
Not even a career quintuple double has been achieved so far.
[quote]there is no overlap between the 14 players who have recorded 10+ steals in an NBA game and the 36 players who have recorded 10+ blocks in a game; in other words, no NBA player's career-high stat line is a quintuple-double. The best single-game career high in blocks for a player with a game of 10+ steals is 5 by Draymond Green, and the best single-game career high in steals for a player with a game of 10+ blocks is 8 (Andrei Kirilenko and Hakeem Olajuwon).[/quote]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-double#Quintuple-double (wellenbrecher)
2 answers
May 22 26 by GBfan
Who got paid the most to perform at Woodstock in 1969?
Here's a list of 29 artists and their fees:
[quote]1. Jimi Hendrix - $18,000
2. Blood, Sweat and Tears - $15,000
3. Joan Baez - $10,000
4. Creedence Clearwater Revival - $10,000
5. The Band - $7,500
6. Janis Joplin - $7,500
7. Jefferson Airplane - $7,500
8. Sly and the Family Stone - $7,000
9. Canned Heat - $6,500
10. The Who - $6,250
11. Richie Havens - $6,000
12. Arlo Guthrie - $5,000
13. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young - $5,000
14. Ravi Shankar - $4,500
15. Johnny Winter - $3,750
16. Ten Years After - $3,250
17. Country Joe and the Fish - $2,500
18. Grateful Dead - $2,500
19. The Incredible String Band - $2,250
20. Mountain - $2,000
21. Tim Hardin - $2,000
22. Joe Cocker - $1,375
23. Sweetwater - $1,250
24. John B. Sebastian - $1,000
25. Melanie - $750
26. Santana - $750
27. Sha Na Na - $700
28. Keef Hartley - $500
29. Quill - $375[/quote]
https://crackmagazine.net/2015/03/find-out-how-much-each-band-cost-at-woodstock/
Joe Cocker and Santana earned very little because they were virtually unknown when their contracts were signed in early 1969. In fact, their performances at Woodstock - and their inclusion in the 1970 documentary film - turned them into global superstars overnight. (wellenbrecher)
2 answers
May 22 26 by GBfan
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