User:Zanimum/Surprise party

A 1929 surprise birthday party for United States President Herbert Hoover was planned by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (Mrs. Charles Lindbergh) and Lou Henry Hoover (Hoover's wife) at the Rapidan Camp presidential retreat was widely covered by the American media.

References in notable literary works include A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1889, as A Yankee at the court of King Arthur), . Books including the term in their title have been written by William Wegman,

The term once referred to

Various frivolous political parties have named themselves the Surprise Party, including in Australia and the United States. In the latter country, radio comedienne Gracie Allen ran a Presidential campaign in 1940, as a publicity stunt.

Surprise parties in fiction

• Mickey's Surprise Party (1939), a Disney animated short;
• Surprised Parties (1942), an Our Gang (The Little Rascals) short;
• Popeye's Mirthday (1953), a Popeye animated short;
• The Surprise Party (1989), a horror novel by author R. L. Stein;
• Bob's Birthday (1993), animated short, winner of Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film;
• Bear in the Big Blue House Live: Surprise Party (2001-2001), a touring children's stage show;
• Holly Hobbie and Friends: Surprise Party (2006), the first animated film to star Holly Hobbie;
• "Surprise" (2008 on), a series of skits on television sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live.

Episodes of various television series have featured episodes titled "Surprise Party", including The Transformers (1986), Mopatop's Shop (1999), Dinosaur Train (2009). Other notable episodes about surprise parties All in the Family (1977 episode "Edith's 50th Birthday"), Friends (1994, "The One with the Blackout", 1999, "The One Where Rachel Smokes"), Sesame Street (2001, episode 3960)