14. Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona has the world’s largest collection of what type of instruments? [Answer]
15. The largest living thing in the world is named for Civil War general William Sherman. What is it? [Answer]
16. The world’s largest natural rock bridge is in what western state? [Answer]
17. Old Perpetual, the largest hot-water geyser in the world, is in what western state? (Hint: not Wyoming) [Answer]
18. In what northern state could you see the world’s largest loon? [Answer]
19. What famous well did Edwin Drake drill in August 1859? [Answer]
20. New York has “the world’s largest store,” which is what? [Answer]
21. The world’s longest mining tunnel is found in what mountain state? [Answer]
22. You could see the world’s largest enchilada at the Whole Enchilada Fiesta in what southwestern state? [Answer]
23. Hibbing, Minnesota, calls itself the world capital of what important mineral ore? [Answer]
24. The USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine, can be visited in what New England state? [Answer]
25. The Gift of the Waters Pageant in Wyoming celebrates a land exchange from the Native Americans to the people of Wyoming. What land did the people receive? [Answer]
26. The largest piece of granite in the world is what tourist attraction near Atlanta, Georgia? [Answer]
27. What Native American athlete was the king of Sweden speaking to in 1912 when he said, “You, sir, are the greatest athlete in the world”? [Answer]
28. Boston, Massachusetts, has the oldest commissioned navy ship in the world. What is it? [Answer]
29. The World’s Largest Garage Sale is held each October in Warrensburg. What northeastern state is it in? [Answer]
30. The oldest living thing on earth, a tree, is in what western state? [Answer]
31. Manhattan’s eighty-story building was the world’s tallest building when it opened in 1913. What five-and-dime chain owned it? [Answer]
The Oldest . . .
We don’t want to be old, but we’re certainly fascinated by old things. We’re especially fascinated by knowing that something is the oldest of its kind, aren’t we?
1. The oldest city in the U.S. is in what state? [Answer]
2. The oldest state capital has a Spanish name. What is it? [Answer]
3. Which New England state’s constitution is the oldest written constitution still in effect? [Answer]
4. The oldest band in the U.S., nicknamed the President’s Own, is what? [Answer]
5. America’s oldest English colony, found in Virginia, has nothing remaining but a church tower. What was the colony? [Answer]
6. The nation’s oldest seaside resort is in New Jersey, but it isn’t Atlantic City. What is it? [Answer]
7. America’s oldest amusement park is in Bristol in which New England state? [Answer]
8. Voorlezer’s House, the nation’s oldest elementary school, was built in 1695 on what famous New York island? [Answer]
9. The oldest and largest national military park in the U.S. commemorates Civil War fighting in which two southern states? [Answer]
10. The oldest state capitol in continuous use is where? [Answer]
11. The oldest inhabited town in the U.S. is probably the Acoma Pueblo, a Native American community in which southwestern state? [Answer]
12. The nation’s oldest house (in Santa Fe, New Mexico) was built by what group of European settlers? [Answer]
13. The Wayside Inn, founded in 1702, is America’s oldest inn still in operation. What New England state is it in? [Answer]
14. San Francisco is noted for its cable cars, but what Deep South city has the oldest continuously operating streetcars in the country? [Answer]
15. The country’s oldest public building in continuous use is the Palace of the Governors in what southwestern capital? [Answer]
The One and Only . . .
There are many examples of uniqueness in America. Maybe it’s because we’re fascinated by the unusual, the offbeat.
1. What is the only state with a one-syllable name? [Answer]
2. Who was the only Catholic president? [Answer]
3. What large state is the only one that can choose to divide itself into five states? [Answer]
4. What’s the only state with an area of less than two thousand square miles? [Answer]
5. What is the only state named for another country? [Answer]
6. Where would you find the nation’s only monument to an insect? [Answer]
7. Canada lies south of the U.S. at only one point, near a famous Michigan city. Which one? [Answer]
8. Who is the only president to have a national park named for him? [Answer]
9. What is the only state capital with a one-syllable name? [Answer]
10. What breed of dog, with a city in its name, is the only breed of dog developed in the U.S.? [Answer]
11. What conservative and pro-family politician was the only divorced man to serve as president? [Answer]
12. New Jersey has the only state university that was begun in the colonial period. What is the name? [Answer]
13. What state has the only American diamond field open to the public? [Answer]
14. What two men are the only appointees to the office of vice president? [Answer]
15. What is the only state that borders only one state? [Answer]
16. What southern state is the only state with laws not based on British law? [Answer]
17. What is the only U.S. city to have its coliseum and arts complex named for a German rocket scientist? [Answer]
18. Who was the only U.S. president who admitted to having an illegitimate child? [Answer]
19. John Sevier was the only governor of what state? [Answer]
20. Venice, Florida, has the world’s only training school for what type of comical entertainers? [Answer]
21. What is the only U.S. state that formed as a result of popular vote to separate from another state? [Answer]
22. Cabbages and Kings was the only novel by America’s most famous short-story writer. Who? [Answer]
23. John Witherspoon was the only clergyman to sign which noted American document? [Answer]
24. Who is the only president buried in Washington’s National Cathedral? (Hint: World War I) [Answer]
25. What is the only underwater monument to a Civil War battle? [Answer]
26. The only national park dedicated to the performing arts is in Vienna, Virginia. What is its name? [Answer]
27. The only national park in the northeastern U.S. is the nation’s second most visited. What is it? [Answer]
28. What New England state was the only colony not invaded by the British during the Revolutionary War? [Answer]
29. The only museum in the world devoted to uranium mining is in what southwestern state? [Answer]
30. Pennsylvania has the only U.S. town named for a Native American athlete. Who? [Answer]
31. Carville, Louisiana, has the only American hospital for the treatment of a disease that was well known in ancient times. What is it? [Answer]
The Tube: TV in America
Was there life before TV? There was, but it’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? Americans think they watch too much—then go on watching. But it isn’t all bad. Most of us have pleasant memories of some favorite shows. And whether it’s bad or good, it’s here to stay, a fixture on the American scene.
There’s one problem with TV trivia questions: where to stop? The following are just a sampling. Someone could do a whole book of TV trivia (and probably already has).
1. What cable channel has its headquarters in, appropriately, downtown Nashville? [Answer]
2. What sitcom (a spinoff from another sitcom) holds the record number of Emmys for a comedy series? [Answer]
3. What comedienne ended her weekly shows by tugging on her left earlobe? [Answer]
4. What beloved children’s show had such characters as Mr. Moose, B
unny Rabbit, Miss Worm, and Mr. Green Jeans? [Answer]
5. What fitness guru with a long-running daily workout show died in 2011 at age ninety-six? [Answer]
6. AMOMI is in a former movie studio in Queens, New York. What is it? [Answer]
7. Charles Ginsburg led the team that invented what once-omnipresent entertainment device? [Answer]
8. What plump comic’s show featured the June Taylor Dancers? [Answer]
9. What TV puppeteer gave the world Lamb Chop, Charlie Horse, and Hush Puppy? [Answer]
10. What handsome and hirsute actor lost out (twice!) as a contestant on The Dating Game? (Hint: Hawaii) [Answer]
11. Who was the host of the original Jeopardy (pre–Alex Trebek)? [Answer]
12. What type of commercial aired for the last time on December 31, 1970? [Answer]
13. What popular game show of the 1970s (revived in the 1990s) featured nine celebrities in an enormous tic-tac-toe board? [Answer]
14. The Clio awards are given annually for what? [Answer]
15. Earl Hammer Jr. created what beloved family drama of the 1970s? [Answer]
16. Who wrote the newspaper column “Little Old New York” before his variety show became a fixture of Sunday night TV? [Answer]
17. Archie and Edith sang “Those Were the Days” as the opening of what popular sitcom? [Answer]
18. The goofy Griffin household is the subject of what popular animated series? [Answer]
19. “Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen” was the popular final episode of what long-running sitcom (that ended in 1983)? [Answer]
20. Paul Henning, who died in 2005, created what “down home” sitcom? [Answer]
21. What man, the first host of The Tonight Show, emceed Meeting of Minds for PBS in 1977? [Answer]
22. Of the country’s thousands of fan clubs, what TV series has the most clubs? (Hint: space) [Answer]
23. What word is used for a long TV ad bought by a company to promote its product? [Answer]
24. What famous news channel has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia? [Answer]
25. In 1957 what theater duo created the musical Cinderella expressly for TV? [Answer]
26. What TV comic was so popular that in 1951 NBC signed him to a thirty-year contract? [Answer]
27. Country music stars Roy Clark and Buck Owens hosted what long-running variety show? [Answer]
28. What information and communication item did Russian-born Vladimir Zworykin introduce to the world? [Answer]
29. What brassy sitcom star had turned down the role of Peg Bundy in Married . . . with Children? [Answer]
30. What TV teacher is the only person to have won an Emmy for a religious program? (Hint: Catholic) [Answer]
31. What religious broadcaster hosts The 700 Club? [Answer]
32. The first televised presidential debates, in 1960, featured which two men? [Answer]
33. What respected NBC anchorman died in 2003? [Answer]
Great Americans on Film
Many great American movies are about . . . great Americans—or at least famous ones.
1. What Republican president was the subject of a controversial 2008 film directed by Oliver Stone? [Answer]
2. Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar playing what colorful author? [Answer]
3. In the 2004 movie The Aviator, Leonardo DiCaprio played what eccentric millionaire? [Answer]
4. What World War II general was the subject of a 1970 film that won actor George C. Scott an Oscar? [Answer]
5. In Walk the Line, Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon played what country music couple? [Answer]
6. Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for playing what soulful blind singer? [Answer]
7. Wild Bill was a 1995 movie about western gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok. What actor (and son of a famous actor) played him? [Answer]
8. What two outlaws were portrayed in a 1967 movie with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway? [Answer]
9. Man of a Thousand Faces starred James Cagney as the best-known star of silent films. Who? [Answer]
10. JFK was, obviously, about John F. Kennedy. Who starred in the film? [Answer]
11. Jefferson in Paris (1995) starred what tall blond actor as tall red-haired President Thomas Jefferson? [Answer]
12. James Cagney won an Oscar playing songwriter and performer George M. Cohan. What patriotic movie was it? [Answer]
13. Anne Bancroft played devoted teacher Annie Sullivan in a film about a courageous blind woman. Who? [Answer]
14. The Untouchables (1987) was the story of what noted federal crime fighter? [Answer]
15. The 2003 Civil War epic Gods and Generals featured Stephen Lang playing what honored Confederate general? [Answer]
16. Bugsy was a 1991 film about gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. What handsome leading man played Siegel? [Answer]
17. Meryl Streep played what famous chef in a 2009 film? [Answer]
18. Sally Field won an Oscar playing a real-life labor union organizer in what 1979 movie? [Answer]
19. Coal Miner’s Daughter had Sissy Spacek playing what country music queen? [Answer]
20. William Powell played the lead in the 1936 Oscar winner about America’s greatest stage producer. Who was he? [Answer]
21. The Cross and the Switchblade told the tale of ghetto evangelist David Wilkerson. What former pop singer played the lead? [Answer]
22. George Hamilton starred in a 1971 film about a famous motorcycle stuntman. Who? [Answer]
23. Bound for Glory (1976) was the tale of folksinger Woody Guthrie. Who played him? [Answer]
24. Robert De Niro played brutal boxer Jake LaMotta in what 1980 film? [Answer]
25. Boys Town was about the boys’ home and its founder, Father Flanagan. What down-to-earth actor won an Oscar for playing Flanagan? [Answer]
26. What famed baseball slugger did portly actor John Goodman portray? [Answer]
27. Baby Face Nelson (1957) was played by what baby-faced (and short) actor? [Answer]
28. Knute Rockne, All American (1940) starred Pat O’Brien as the legendary football coach. What future president also starred in the film? [Answer]
29. Dean Jones played a convicted Watergate burglar who becomes a devout Christian. What was the film? [Answer]
30. What two outlaws did Robert Redford and Paul Newman portray in a very popular 1969 film? [Answer]
31. Doris Day sang her way through a role as what western sharpshooter? [Answer]
32. What great Italian explorer did Frederic March play in a 1949 film? [Answer]
33. Fess Parker played what famous frontiersman in a 1955 Disney film? [Answer]
34. Dan Emmett, who wrote “Dixie,” was the subject of the 1943 film Dixie. What popular crooner played Emmett? [Answer]
Leading Men (On Screen, That Is)
How well do you know Hollywood’s leading men, past and present? If you saw the names of three films an actor had starred in, would his name come to mind? Find out.
1. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Patriot Games, The Fugitive [Answer]
2. Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Bonfire of the Vanities [Answer]
3. Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Petrified Forest [Answer]
4. The Mask, Batman Forever, Dumb and Dumber [Answer]
5. Some Like It Hot, The Defiant Ones, Spartacus [Answer]
6. Top Hat, Easter Parade, Shall We Dance? [Answer]
7. The Conversation, The French Connection, Unforgiven [Answer]
8. Planet of the Apes, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur [Answer]
9. Rain Man, The Graduate, Kramer vs. Kramer [Answer]
10. Judge Dredd, Oscar, Rocky [Answer]
11. The Lost Weekend, The Uninvited, Bugles in the Afternoon [Answer]
12. Cape Fear, Ryan’s Daughter, The Night of the Hunter [Answer]
13. Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds, Back in the Saddle, Carolina Moon [Answer]
14. Cool Hand Luke, The Sting, The Hustler [Answer]
15. Wolf, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Shining [Answer]
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16. Singin’ in the Rain, Francis the Talking Mule, Call Me Madam [Answer]
17. The Fisher King, Hook, Jumanji [Answer]
18. Spellbound, Moby Dick, To Kill a Mockingbird [Answer]
19. Bugsy, Reds, Bonnie and Clyde [Answer]
20. The Champ, Grand Hotel, Min and Bill [Answer]
21. The Wild Bunch, Marty, Barabbas [Answer]
22. A Streetcar Named Desire, The Godfather, Julius Caesar [Answer]
23. The Ten Commandments, The King and I, The Magnificent Seven [Answer]
24. White Heat, Public Enemy, Yankee Doodle Dandy [Answer]
25. You Can’t Take It with You, Grand Hotel, Key Largo [Answer]
26. The Prince of Tides, Lorenzo’s Oil, Jefferson in Paris [Answer]
27. The Story of Louis Pasteur, The Good Earth, The Life of Emile Zola [Answer]
28. The Thin Man, Life with Father, My Man Godfrey [Answer]
29. The Mark of Zorro, The Razor’s Edge, In Old Chicago [Answer]
30. Love Me Tender, Jailhouse Rock, Blue Hawaii [Answer]
31. The Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Unholy Three [Answer]
32. The Gold Rush, The Great Dictator, The Kid [Answer]
33. From Here to Eternity, A Place in the Sun, The Misfits [Answer]
34. Sergeant York, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, High Noon [Answer]
35. Raising Arizona, Moonstruck, Honeymoon in Vegas [Answer]
36. Going My Way, Holiday Inn, The Road to Utopia [Answer]
37. Spartacus, Lust for Life, Gunfight at the OK Corral [Answer]
38. The Bridges of Madison County, Play Misty for Me, Unforgiven [Answer]
39. Rose Marie, Naughty Marietta, Sweethearts [Answer]
40. My Little Chickadee, You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man, David Copperfield [Answer]
Cartoons, Moving and Nonmoving
Obviously the comic strip (an American invention) preceded the animated cartoon (another American invention). The two have become cultural institutions, making us laugh and holding a mirror up to us (particularly in the political cartoon).
The Big Book of American Trivia Page 2