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| | The Straight Dope: Did tycoon Armand Hammer have anything to do with Arm & Hammer baking soda? |
 | | Hammer's mother, Mama Rose, described by her son as "a remarkably intuitive individual, a person with an enormous judgment about things," is said to have "had a simple solution for every problem--bicarbonate of soda and a good enema." Given the alternative, I guess Armand should be grateful he was named after the soda. |
 | | Hammer himself maintained that he was named after Armand Duval, the hero of Alexandre Dumas's La Dame au Camelias, one of his father's favorite plays. |
 | | Whatever the truth of the matter, Hammer once painted an arm-and-hammer emblem on his yacht, giving rise to persistent speculation that he either was (a) the owner of Church & Dwight, makes of A&H baking soda, or (b) a Commie. |
| www.straightdope.com /classics/a1_198.html (470 words) |
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