When Mr. Piffles was adopted by Piff the Magic Dragon, he had no idea how his life was about to change forever.
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Piffles Taylor Neil Joseph "Piffles" Taylor (March 29, 1895 – 1946) was a Canadian World War I pilot, Canadian football player, coach, and executive. He was "largely responsible for the development of football in Western Canada". Born in Collingwood, Ontario, and raised in Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, he studied law and played collegiately at the University of Toronto before joining the Regina Rugby Club in 1914. In 1916, he joined the Royal Flying Corps and became a fighter pilot.
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In 2008, van der Put created his stage persona of Piff the Magic Dragon, dressing in a green, red and yellow dragon costume, with self-deprecating humour and deadpan delivery. He is assisted by "Mr. Piffles", a chihuahua in a dragon costume. The Magic Dragon persona was created by happenstance, when he went to a costume party in a dragon outfit, and nobody else turned up in costume.
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The N.J. Taylor Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy, formerly awarded to the West Division champions. The winner of this trophy faced the winner of the James S. Dixon Trophy for the Grey Cup. Both the N. J. Taylor Trophy and James S. Dixon Trophy were retired in 2004. The N.J. Taylor Trophy was named after former Western Inter-Provincial Football Union president N. J. "Piffles" Taylor.
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He lost an eye when he was shot down and spent a year in a German prisoner of war camp during World War I. His brother Sam, also a pilot, was shot down and killed. Neil Joseph "Piffles" Taylor Recruitment Form Despite the loss of an eye, Taylor returned to the Regina RC in 1919, quarterbacking the team to the Hugo Ross Trophy over Calgary. He played for them through 1921, and served as their coach in 1922 and 1923. He joined the newly renamed Regina Roughriders as their executive in 1926.
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These comics teamed Sniffles with a little girl named Mary Jane who could shrink herself to mouse size, originally by sprinkling magic sand borrowed from the Sandman. Throughout most of the series, she could shrink just by reciting "First I close my eyes real tight / Then I wish with all my might / Magic words of poof poof piffles / Make me just as small as Sniffles." By now Sniffles had lost most of his animated film personality and was just a companion to Mary Jane as she explored something found in a garden or entered a sort of magical toyland. Mary Jane soon surpassed the mouse in popularity, and she got top billing in later issues.
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He has had national tours of the UK and Australia, including runs at the Soho Theatre and Sydney Opera House. Regarding the origin of Mr. Piffles, van der Put said: In 2011, Piff appeared on the first season of Penn & Teller: Fool Us with a phased transformation of incorrect card to signed card, a performance that according to Metro saw him "steal the show" with a routine that would "have been as welcome on a small stage at a comedy festival as it would a Vegas stage". Although his card trick segment of the performance fooled Penn and Teller initially, the pair seemed to figure it out and were therefore "not fooled" by Piff's own admission on stage. Penn subsequently revealed the method they gave on air was "kinda sorta wrong" and Piff just played along.
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Retrieved September 7, 2016 both running between 1916 and 1917.Callahan J, Lambiek. Retrieved September 7, 2016 During 1917 he moved to the Hearst organization, where he worked until 1940. That year he started the comic strip Over Here,The Washington (D.C.) Times, November 19, 1917, page 10, Chronicling America. Retrieved September 7, 2016 which described common situations from different points of view. By 1918, the initially sparse collection of characters was settled on the Piffles, which were a typical American family of the time.The Washington (D.C.) Times, September 2, 1918, page 14, Chronicling America. Retrieved September 7, 2016 Among them were "Calamity Jane", who was permanently pessimistic; "Comedian", who had a penchant for bad jokes; "Willie" the trouble-making kid, and love-struck couple "Hon" and "Dearie", who became the feature's titular characters between 1919 and 1921, when it became The Piffle Family.
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