1. “Good grief!” was often said by characters in what long-running comic strip? [Answer]
2. What 2003 film told the story of a clown fish searching for his son? [Answer]
3. What strip did Jim Davis launch in 1978 because he thought the world needed a comic strip about cats? [Answer]
4. The world’s first movie-length cartoon was what 1937 fairy-tale classic from Walt Disney? [Answer]
5. What TV cartoon rodent’s continuing nemesis was Oil Can Harry? [Answer]
6. The Okefenokee Swamp was the setting for what long-running comic strip about a possum and his friends? [Answer]
7. In the comic strip “Doonesbury,” what president was represented by a waffle? [Answer]
8. In comic books, whose secret identity was Dr. Bruce Banner? [Answer]
9. What comic strip with a biblical title has the characters Rat, Pig, Zebra, and Goat? [Answer]
10. Cartoonist Robert Ripley became popular with what syndicated feature? [Answer]
11. Walt Disney himself provided the voice for which animated character? [Answer]
12. What mop-haired comic-strip girl’s favorite expression was “Leapin’ lizards!”? [Answer]
13. What visual contribution did cartoonist Thomas Nast make to American politics? [Answer]
14. The Museum of Cartoon Art is at White Plains in what northeastern state? [Answer]
15. What “Man of a Thousand Voices” provided many of the voices for the Looney Tunes characters? [Answer]
16. The National Cartoonists Society gives what annual awards for the best cartoons? [Answer]
17. What popular feature did zany cartoonist Gary Larson terminate in 1994, claiming he didn’t want the humor to become stale? [Answer]
18. What giddy animated bird’s archenemy was another bird, Buzz Buzzard? [Answer]
19. “The Web Slinger” is a nickname for what Marvel Comics superhero? [Answer]
20. What satirical strip featuring the hillbillies of Dogpatch ran from 1943 to 1977? [Answer]
21. The long-running strip “Hi and Lois” was spun off from what earlier strip set on an army base? [Answer]
22. What family comic by Bil Keane always appears drawn in a circle? [Answer]
23. What blond, mischievous little boy was featured on a set of 2010 postage stamps? [Answer]
24. Comedian Wally Cox provided the voice for what meek but powerful animated TV dog hero? [Answer]
25. America’s first daily comic strip, “A. Mutt,” began in 1907. What strip, with two men in the title, did it become? [Answer]
26. The comic strip “Thimble Theater” had the Oyl family as characters, plus a pipe-smoking sailor. What was his name? [Answer]
Out Here in Radio Land
Radio is as pervasive as air. For years it was practically the property of teen listeners (and those country music fans out there, too). Then in the 1990s, adults decided they liked radio again—maybe because of that great revival of social analysis, the call-in show. Radio is alive and well in America, folks.
1. What raspy-voiced DJ, born Robert Smith, died of a heart attack in 1995? (Hint: howl) [Answer]
2. What clever name did disc jockey George D. Hay bestow on his “Barn Dance” country music show? [Answer]
3. What often-controversial political commentator was barred from entering the United Kingdom in 2009? [Answer]
4. What letter do radio stations west of the Mississippi River begin with? [Answer]
5. What new form of radio was launched by Sirius Satellite in 2008? [Answer]
6. What foul-mouthed New York call-in host became the “Shock Jock” of the 1990s? [Answer]
7. The Museum of Television and Radio is, appropriately, in what northeastern metropolis? [Answer]
8. What ever-young “American Bandstand” host was still doing Top 40 radio countdowns in the 1990s? [Answer]
9. What former Saturday Night Live cast member began hosting a daily radio show in 2007? [Answer]
10. WLS was for years an institution in Chicago radio. What Chicago-based department store chain owned the station? [Answer]
11. What radio host claims to work “with half my brain tied behind me”? [Answer]
12. What communication and entertainment medium did Edwin Armstrong invent in 1939? [Answer]
13. Conservative host Laura Ingraham served for a time as an aide to what Supreme Court justice? [Answer]
14. What name was given to the sixteen-inch records formerly played only by radio stations? [Answer]
15. What name does weird disc jockey Barry Hansen broadcast under? [Answer]
16. Fanny Brice played what hilarious (and obnoxious) little girl on radio? [Answer]
17. Who, after thirty-nine years on the air, retired from hosting “American Top 40” in 2009? [Answer]
18. What two fictional taxi drivers of radio fame worked for the Fresh Air Cab Company? [Answer]
More Great Americans on Film
1. All the President’s Men was concerned with the downfall of what twentieth-century president? [Answer]
2. John Dunbar, a soldier who begins a new life with a Native American tribe, is the subject of what 1991 Oscar-winning film? [Answer]
3. Pride of the Yankees (1942) had Gary Cooper playing one of baseball’s greats, who dies at the height of his fame. Who? [Answer]
4. What 1991 movie starred Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, the controversial lead singer of a 1960s rock group with the same name? [Answer]
5. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) starred what two pop music idols? [Answer]
6. Gary Cooper starred in The Plainsman (1936) as what Old West gunslinger? [Answer]
7. American Hot Wax (1978) was about the great disc jockey of early rock and roll. Who was he? [Answer]
8. William “Bull” Halsey, the World War II naval hero, was the subject of The Gallant Hours (1959). What spunky redheaded actor played him? [Answer]
9. What 1995 film told of an ill-fated space mission of 1970? [Answer]
10. The Long Riders (1980) used real-life brother actors to portray two sets of Old West outlaw brothers. Who were the outlaw brothers? [Answer]
11. What flamboyant general of World War II and the Korean War was played by Gregory Peck in a 1977 film? [Answer]
12. What short and boyish actor played Young Tom Edison in a 1940 film? [Answer]
13. Reds (1981) told the story of American communist John Reed, the only American buried in the Kremlin. Who served as both star and director? [Answer]
14. My Darling Clementine (1946) has Henry Fonda playing an Old West sheriff who wipes out the Dalton gang. Who was he? [Answer]
15. Beau James (1957) told the story of New York mayor Jimmy Walker, a world celebrity of the 1920s. What noted stand-up comic and actor played the role? (Hint: Christmas specials) [Answer]
16. Night and Day (1946) had Cary Grant playing one of America’s most popular and sophisticated songwriters. Who? [Answer]
17. Mommie Dearest (1981) told the tale of a popular (and supposedly sadistic) film queen. Who? [Answer]
18. Robert Taylor played Col. Paul Tibbetts in the World War II film Above and Beyond (1952). What world-changing event was Tibbetts famous for? [Answer]
19. Man of Conquest (1939) told of the man who served as governor of Tennessee, president of Texas, and a longtime friend of the Native Americans. Who? [Answer]
20. The Spirit of St. Louis (1957) had Jimmy Stewart playing one of America’s greatest aviators, famed for flying solo across the Atlantic. Who was he? [Answer]
21. What tall, lean actor played Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (1940)? [Answer]
22. NASA’s Mercury astronauts were the subject of what popular 1983 movie? [Answer]
23. Singer Nat King Cole played blues composer W. C. Handy in what 1958 movie named for one of Handy’s classics? [Answer]
24. The Scarface Mob (1958) focused on Al Capone’s gang and starred Robert Stack as a federal agent he would later play on TV. Who? [Answer]
25. Controversial comedian Lenny Bruce was the subject of Lenny (1974). What Oscar-winning actor played him? [Answer]
26. What world-famous inventor was played by Spencer Tracy in a 1940 film? (Hint: light) [Answer]
27. A popular 1955 film starred Richard Todd as a Scottish preacher who becomes U.S. Senate chaplain. What was the film? [Answer]
28. The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) starred what solid actor as Twain? [Answer]
29. What 1972 movie was a musical celebration of the Founding Fathers and the Declaration of Independence? [Answer]
30. Stars and Stripes Forever (1952) was the story of what bandmaster and march composer? [Answer]
31. What beloved cowboy comedian was portrayed by his own son in a 1950 biopic? [Answer]
32. Beloved Infidel starred Gregory Peck as one of the great twentieth-century novelists (and an alcoholic). Who? [Answer]
33. Tyrone Power and Henry Fonda played two notorious outlaw brothers in what 1938 Western? [Answer]
34. The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) was a musical about a real Denver socialite who survived the sinking of the Titanic. What perky star played Molly? [Answer]
America on Stage
Americans love a good play. Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn tells of two con artists staging The Royal Nonesuch, which involved an actor scampering on the stage wearing nothing but body paint. Fortunately, most American theater has been of much higher quality. And much of it is concerned with the American experience itself.
1. What ever popular musical (named for a state) was originally titled Away We Go? [Answer]
2. Theatre West Virginia has an outdoor musical about the country’s most famous two-family feud. Who were the two families? [Answer]
3. What famous New York City section runs from 41st to 53rd Streets and 6th to 9th Avenues? [Answer]
4. The outdoor drama The Lost Colony tells of a famous English colony that disappeared without a trace in 1590. What state was it in? [Answer]
5. The Stephen Foster Story, an outdoor drama on the life of the great songwriter, is held in what state? [Answer]
6. What musical play about the Founding Fathers has a numerical title? [Answer]
7. Unto These Hills is an outdoor drama telling of a Native American tribe’s removal from North Carolina to Oklahoma. What tribe? [Answer]
8. The popular Mesa Arizona Easter Pageant is staged by what religious group? [Answer]
9. The musical Jersey Boys features songs made popular by what singing group? [Answer]
10. Arthur Miller’s drama The Crucible is about what episode in colonial history? [Answer]
11. Baby It’s You, which opened on Broadway in 2011, is billed as a “jukebox musical” about what singing group of the 1960s? [Answer]
12. The popular musical Gypsy tells of the girlhood of what colorful woman? [Answer]
13. New London, Connecticut’s theater center, is named for America’s most famous playwright. Who? [Answer]
14. Antoinette Perry, an actress and theatre producer, lent her name to what annual awards? [Answer]
15. The North Carolina outdoor drama Strike at the Wind concerns the Lumbee people and their sorrows. What sort of people were they? [Answer]
16. Chillicothe, Ohio, has an outdoor drama on the life of one of the country’s most famous Native American leaders. Who? [Answer]
17. What Stephen Sondheim musical’s cast includes John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, and John Hinckley? [Answer]
18. In what state would you find the Andy Griffith Playhouse? [Answer]
19. What drama concerns blind-and-deaf Helen Keller and her teacher? [Answer]
20. Who is the main character in an outdoor drama seen by millions in Eureka Springs, Arkansas? [Answer]
21. The musical Big River is a bouncy adaptation of what great American novel? [Answer]
22. Knickerbocker Holiday is a musical about Peter Stuyvesant, the tyrannical Dutch governor of which colony? [Answer]
23. A 1938 play by Robert Sherwood concerns what beloved president? [Answer]
24. The Gentleman from the Cane is staged at a Tennessee state park named for the play’s hero, a famous frontiersman who died at the Alamo. Who? [Answer]
25. Trumpet in the Land, an outdoor drama, tells the tale of sixty Native American Christians who were massacred in the 1700s. Where is the play held? [Answer]
26. What musical that opened on Broadway in 1997 concerns a ship disaster in 1912? [Answer]
27. Which southeastern state is the “Outdoor Theatre Capital of America”? [Answer]
28. What all-American musical is set in River City, Iowa? [Answer]
29. The musical All Shook Up features songs made famous by what pop star? [Answer]
30. In what state could you see the Mormon Miracle Pageant, with a cast of six hundred? [Answer]
31. The delightful musical The Unsinkable Molly Brown concerns a woman who survived what disaster? [Answer]
TV Record Holders
1. What annual sports program is (as if you couldn’t guess) always one of the year’s top-rated TV shows? [Answer]
2. What sitcom’s final episode in February 1983 was the highest-rated TV show of all time? (Hint: army) [Answer]
3. What classic 1939 film, shown in two parts, was the top-rated movie on TV? [Answer]
4. What chase show’s final episode in January 1967 was one of the top-rated TV shows of all time? (Hint: a one-armed man) [Answer]
5. What Sunday-night show, running from 1948 to 1971, was the top-rated TV variety show ever? [Answer]
6. What Sunday-night Western charmed TV audiences for twenty years, from 1955 to 1975? (Hint: Hoss) [Answer]
7. What was TV’s longest-running animal series, running 1954–71? [Answer]
8. TV’s longest-running comedy show (1951–71) was hosted by what rubber-faced comic? [Answer]
9. The top sitcoms of the 1980s were The Cosby Show and what show set in a Boston tavern? [Answer]
10. What show (with a redheaded star) was the top sitcom of the 1950s? [Answer]
11. The top sitcom of the 1960s starred a southern comic as a southern sheriff. What was the show? [Answer]
12. What evening soap’s November 21, 1980, episode was one of the top-rated TV shows of all time? (Hint: Who shot . . . ?) [Answer]
13. What “champagne music-maker’s” TV show ran from 1955 to 1971 (and is still popular in reruns)? [Answer]
14. What Jack Webb series was the top-rated cop drama of the 1950s? (Hint: Just the facts, ma’am.) [Answer]
The Fabulous Funnies
Comic strips are an American invention, and their characters become almost as real as real people. In fact, if you heard the names of some characters, you could probably identify the strip they’re a part of.
1. Sarge, Otto, Plato, Miss Blips, Gen. Halftrack [Answer]
2. Helga, Lucky Eddie, Honi, Snert, Dr. Zook [Answer]
3. Dagwood, Herb, Tootsie, Cookie, Daisy, Mr. Dithers [Answer]
4. Dolly, Billy, Jeffy, P. J., Barfy [Answer]
5. Jughaid, Tater, Loweezy, Silas, Elviney [Answer]
6. Joey, Mr. Wilson, Ruff, Margaret, Gina [Answer]
7. The Asp, Daddy Warbucks, Sandy, Punjab [Answer]
8. Daisy Mae, Marryin’ Sam, Mammy Yokum, Moonbeam McSwine [Answer]
9. Sir Rodney, the King, Spook, the Wizard [Answer]
10. Marcie, Lucy, Woodstock, Spike, Rerun, Linus [Answer]
11. April, Ellie, Edgar, Elizabeth, Mike [Answer]
12. Hobbes, Susie, Dad, Mom [Answer]
13. The Fox family: Paige, Jason, Peter, Mom, and Dad [Answer]
14. Jon, Odie, Liz, the spider, Nermal [Answer]
15. Green Gills, Pajamas, Hildegarde Hamhocker, the Sheriff [Answer]
16. Opus, Bill the Cat, Steve Dallas [Answer]
17. Junior, Moon Maid, Mumbles, B. O. Plenty, Gravel Gertie, Luscious Mahoney [Answer]
18. Howland Owl, Churchy Lafemme, Miss Mamselle [Answer]
19. Grimmy, Sumo
, Attila [Answer]
20. Dot, Ditto, Dawg, Thurston [Answer]
21. Sluggo, Aunt Fritzi, Irma [Answer]
22. Mom, Dad, Electra, Andrea [Answer]
23. Skyler, Loon, Roz, Cosmo, the Senator [Answer]
24. Peter Parker, M. J. [Answer]
25. Sally, Ted, Hilary [Answer]
Make Me Laugh
Americans love to laugh. Our humorous streak goes all the way back to the colonial period, when Benjamin Franklin made people chuckle. Even the Puritans had their jocular side. Nowadays an entire cable channel is devoted to nothing but comedy. Well, why not? Making people laugh is serious business.
1. What comic and quiz show host gained fame with “You might be a redneck if . . .”? [Answer]
2. What manic comic often ad-libbed his routines on the TV sitcom Mork and Mindy? [Answer]
3. What long-lived comic received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his USO work? [Answer]
4. What red-haired TV comedienne had the good fortune of always having her name in her series’ titles? [Answer]
5. The famous Second City comedy troupe is, thanks to changes in the census, now centered in the Third City, which is what? [Answer]
6. What rope-swinging cowboy humorist first used the stage name “the Cherokee Kid”? [Answer]
7. What puffy-faced stand-up comic always complained he “got no respect”? [Answer]
8. What stingy comic always claimed to be thirty-nine years old? [Answer]
9. What wild-haired comedienne always complained about her husband, Fang? [Answer]
10. What two animal characters, a cockroach and a cat, were the subjects of columns by humorist Don Marquis? [Answer]
11. What author’s books include Republican Party Reptile, Give War a Chance, and Eat the Rich? [Answer]
12. What ventriloquist gave the world Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd? [Answer]
13. What popular cartoonist illustrated Art Linkletter’s humorous book Kids Say the Darndest Things? [Answer]
14. What American humor author was born in 1835, the year Halley’s Comet appeared, and claimed he would die seventy-six years later when the comet reappeared? [Answer]
The Big Book of American Trivia Page 3