The bright red flower called the poinsettia has become a traditional part of American Christmas celebrations. But the flower’s common name, which, while it sounds exotic, has nothing to do with the native name for the plant, is a reference to an American diplomat of whom a 1929 edition of the Baltimore Evening Sun wrote “His Career was as flamboyantly colorful as the poinsettia, and yet he is almost forgotten.”
Each year, based on age and law and international convention, old copyrights expire and once protected works fall into the public domain. Animal Crackers, the second major motion picture to feature the Marx brothers, disappeared for nearly a quarter of a century, and parts of it were nearly forgotten for 86 years, and today it belongs to the public.