Fun Fact(s) Friday: They All Laughed

While watching an interview with Fred Astaire on The Dick Cavett Show, I was struck by the number of Ohioans mentioned in the Gershwin tune 'They All Laughed', which Astaire performed upon request. Although the only state mentioned in the lyrics is Missouri, at least five of the nine influential people cited have some connection to Ohio.  While I would love to count Fred Astaire as an Ohioan, he (like Dick Cavett) was born in Nebraska.  (Yet, it's now known that Cavett has a closer connection to Ohio than his work with Jack Paar and that's because he's married to Ohioan Martha Rogers.) Now, back to the song, the following names dropped do all bear some connection to Ohio:

Christopher Columbus:  Yea, yea, yea, I know he's an Italian that sailed for the crown of Spain, 'discovered' America and contributed to the spread of syphilis but he's also the namesake for Ohio's capital.   The world's most authentic and museum-quality replica of the flagship Santa Maria is docked in Columbus, Ohio.
(Ohio tree that predated 1492 falls)

Thomas A. Edison:  The man responsible for the phonograph, kinetoscope and the home-friendly light bulb was born in Milan, Ohio.

Orville & Wilbur Wright:  The brothers that taught the world to fly, owned a bicycle shop and lived nearly their entire lives in Dayton, Ohio.
Aviators:  The Wright Brothers by Bill Gates

Rockefeller Center is named after the philanthropist John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who was born in Cleveland, Ohio.

Update:  Was pleasantly surprised to hear this exact version of 'They All Laughed' played in a cafe in Islington last week.