  The Appell-type polynomial family corresponding to the simplest
non-commutative derivative operator turns out to be connected with the Boolean
probability theory, the simplest of the three universal non-commutative
probability theories (the other two being free and tensor/classical
probability). The basic properties of the Boolean Appell polynomials are
described. In particular, their generating function turns out to have a
resolvent-type form, just like the generating function for the free Sheffer
polynomials. It follows that the Meixner (that is, Sheffer plus orthogonal)
polynomial classes, in the Boolean and free theory, coincide. This is true even
in the multivariate case. A number of applications of this fact are described,
to the Belinschi-Nica and Bercovici-Pata maps, conditional freeness, and the
Laha-Lukacs type characterization.
  A number of properties which hold for the Meixner class in the free and
classical cases turn out to hold in general in the Boolean theory. Examples
include the behavior of the Jacobi coefficients under convolution, the
relationship between the Jacobi coefficients and cumulants, and an operator
model for cumulants. Along the way, we obtain a multivariate version of the
Stieltjes continued fraction expansion for the moment generating function of an
arbitrary state with monic orthogonal polynomials.
