15. What hillbilly couple, starring in several films, first appeared in the movie The Egg and I? [Answer]
16. What “blue-collar” comedian’s nickname is “Tater Salad”? [Answer]
17. What syndicated columnist, writing from Miami, is famous for the phrase “I’m not making this up”? [Answer]
18. What impish comic often played the characters Geraldine Jones and Reverend Leroy? [Answer]
19. Humor writer James Thurber wrote affectionately of his hometown, an Ohio metropolis. What was it? [Answer]
20. What female humor columnist wrote the best-selling nonfiction books of 1978 and 1979? [Answer]
Still More Great Americans on Film
1. What Native American princess was the subject of a 1995 Walt Disney animated movie? [Answer]
2. The Greatest (1977) had boxer Muhammad Ali playing what character? [Answer]
3. What frontier hero did John Wayne play in The Alamo? [Answer]
4. Gary Busey played a rock-and-roll pioneer in what 1978 film? (Hint: “Peggy Sue”) [Answer]
5. Swanee River (1939) had Don Ameche playing America’s favorite songwriter of the 1800s. Who? [Answer]
6. The Jolson Story (1946) starred Larry Parks as legendary singer Al Jolson. Who provided Jolson’s singing voice? [Answer]
7. Wallace Beery played in a 1934 movie about the greatest showman of the nineteenth century, famed as a circus mogul. Who was he? [Answer]
8. The Pride of St. Louis (1952) starred Dan Dailey as a baseball star and commentator. Who? (Hint: His initials are the same as Dailey’s.) [Answer]
9. Gary Cooper played a World War I army hero in a film that won him an Oscar. What was the title? [Answer]
10. Rod Steiger played Chicago’s most famous gangster in what 1959 movie? [Answer]
11. Steve Allen played the world’s most famous clarinetist in what 1955 film? [Answer]
12. Annie Oakley (1935) starred what vivacious actress in the title role? [Answer]
13. Rhapsody in Blue (1945) was the story of what renowned jazz and classical composer? [Answer]
14. What handsome leading man played the title role in Billy the Kid (1941)? [Answer]
15. What Wild West showman did Joel McCrea portray in a 1944 film? [Answer]
16. Sunrise at Campobello (1960) had the lovely Greer Garson playing a very unlovely First Lady. Who? [Answer]
17. Paul Newman played an Old West outlaw judge in what 1972 movie? [Answer]
18. W. C. Fields and Me (1976) told the tale of hard-drinking comic Fields. What chubby actor played the chubby comic? [Answer]
19. Pony Express (1953) had Charlton Heston and Forrest Tucker playing two notorious western gunslingers. Who? [Answer]
20. The Paleface (1948) was an Old West comedy starring Bob Hope as a timid dentist. What historical western gunwoman did Jane Russell play? [Answer]
21. Spencer Tracy starred in Plymouth Adventure (1952). What group of colonists was the movie about? [Answer]
22. What actor played the title role in The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)? [Answer]
23. The Story of G.I. Joe (1945) starred Burgess Meredith as what famous World War II correspondent? [Answer]
24. Red Mountain (1951) starred Alan Ladd in a brutal tale of Quantrill’s Raiders. What war were they a part of? [Answer]
25. The Buccaneer (1937) had Frederic March playing America’s most famous pirate, a Frenchman in Louisiana. Who was he? [Answer]
26. Blonde beauty Carroll Baker played a blonde movie queen of the 1930s. Who? [Answer]
27. A 1940 film starred Dean Jagger as the Mormon leader who blazed the path to Utah. Who was he? [Answer]
28. Dr. Samuel Mudd’s story was told in The Prisoner of Shark Island (1936). What famous assassin was Mudd involved with? [Answer]
29. Words and Music (1948) told the tale of songwriting partners Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. What diminutive actor played the even more diminutive Hart? [Answer]
30. Abraham Lincoln’s early career as a lawyer was featured in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). What laid-back actor played Lincoln? [Answer]
31. Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles’s masterpiece, was based on the life of what famous newspaper magnate? [Answer]
32. The Howard in the film Melvin and Howard was what reclusive multimillionaire? [Answer]
Kid Stuff: Theme Parks and Such
Who are we kidding? Theme parks aren’t just for kids, are they? Adults like to pretend they’re “taking the kids to the park,” but we enjoy it as much as—probably more than—the kids.
One thing’s for sure: America leads the world in theme parks. It’s one of our unique contributions to civilization—maybe not the greatest contribution, but one of the most fun, anyway.
1. What two world-famous parks are entered through Main Street, U.S.A.? [Answer]
2. What gigantic shopping center is home to the Nickelodeon Universe theme park and its SpongeBob SquarePants ride? [Answer]
3. What Smoky Mountain theme park is owned by a country music star and was originally named Rebel Railroad? [Answer]
4. Disney’s Epcot Center is a popular attraction. What does Epcot stand for? [Answer]
5. Where does the Carowinds Park get its name? [Answer]
6. At what popular Pennsylvania park could you ride Big Bird’s Rambling River and Ernie’s Waterworks? [Answer]
7. In what southern capital could you ride Goliath, Dare Devil Dive, and the Wile E. Coyote Canyon Blaster? [Answer]
8. In what park (one of the oldies but goodies) could you find the Finding Nemo Adventure Submarine Voyage, Toontown, and Peter Pan’s Flight? [Answer]
9. What New Jersey park has Nitro, the third-highest roller coaster in the world? [Answer]
10. What legendary lumberman is the center of a theme park in Brainerd, Minnesota? [Answer]
11. The entrance to Universal Studio’s Islands of Adventure has a replica of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Which one? [Answer]
12. The Tree of Life is found in the book of Genesis but also in what Florida park? [Answer]
13. Hollywood’s largest and busiest studio is also a popular theme park. What film studio is it? [Answer]
14. The first theme park built around a country music theme was what? [Answer]
15. If you are riding the Loch Ness Monster, Apollo’s Chariot, and Griffon, what Virginia theme park are you experiencing? [Answer]
16. What Pennsylvania park is owned by a candy company? [Answer]
17. Frontier City is a family theme park in what western capital? [Answer]
18. LEGOLAND Florida, which opened in 2011, is on the site of what earlier tourist attraction, famed for its water ski shows? [Answer]
19. What Orlando park has replicas of many of the sites in the Gospels? [Answer]
20. In what theme park could you visit Morocco, China, Japan, and Italy without ever leaving the United States? [Answer]
21. Magic Springs Family Theme Park is in what southern state? [Answer]
22. Arlington, Texas, has what famous park? [Answer]
23. If you are dining at Cinderella’s Castle, where are you? [Answer]
24. If you are having fun in Crackaxle Canyon, Rockville, or Kidzopolis, what Texas theme park are you in? [Answer]
25. The Raging Bull roller coaster, with a track almost a mile long, is the big attraction at what midwestern park? [Answer]
26. If you are riding the Dominator (a floorless coaster) or Shockwave (a stand-up coaster), what Virginia park are you in? [Answer]
27. The starred hat worn by Mickey Mouse as the sorcerer’s apprentice is the symbol of which Disney park? [Answer]
28. If you are visiting France, Germany, Italy, and England while you are near colonial Williamsburg, where are you? [Answer]
29. Pandemonium and the SkyScreamer are rides at what mid-America park? [Answer]
30. Which Florida park has the floorless Kraken roller coaster and the inverted Manta coaster? [Answer]
31. If yo
u are riding the wooden Apocalypse coaster and the in-reverse Déjà Vu coaster, what Six Flags park are you visiting? [Answer]
32. If you are riding the roller coasters at Worlds of Fun, where are you? [Answer]
33. If you are riding the terrifying SheiKra, the first drop coaster in America, where are you? [Answer]
34. What California park bills itself as America’s first theme park? (Hint: jellies) [Answer]
35. The Amity section of Universal Studios Florida is built around what scary movie of the 1970s? [Answer]
Leading Men (Again)
Given the names of three of an actor’s major films, would you know the actor’s name?
1. Far and Away; Days of Thunder; Born on the Fourth of July [Answer]
2. The War of the Roses; Disclosure; Wall Street [Answer]
3. On Golden Pond; The Grapes of Wrath; My Darling Clementine [Answer]
4. Mutiny on the Bounty; Red Dust; Gone with the Wind [Answer]
5. Arsenic and Old Lace; North by Northwest; The Philadelphia Story [Answer]
6. Sabrina; The Wild Bunch; Sunset Boulevard [Answer]
7. The Road to Morocco; The Paleface; Fancy Pants [Answer]
8. Grumpy Old Men; The Odd Couple; The Sunshine Boys [Answer]
9. The Nutty Professor; The Patsy; The Bellboy [Answer]
10. Bullitt; The Great Escape; The Magnificent Seven [Answer]
11. The Best Years of Our Lives; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Anna Karenina [Answer]
12. Cat Ballou; Point Blank; The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance [Answer]
13. Wonder Bar; The Jazz Singer; Mammy [Answer]
14. Hans Christian Andersen; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; Up in Arms [Answer]
15. All of Me; The Jerk; Father of the Bride [Answer]
16. Scent of a Woman; The Godfather; And Justice for All [Answer]
17. Tender Mercies; The Godfather; The Great Santini [Answer]
18. The General; Sherlock Jr.; The Navigator [Answer]
19. Kings Row; Bedtime for Bonzo; Knute Rockne, All American [Answer]
20. The Sting; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; The Way We Were [Answer]
21. The Sea Wolf; Little Caesar; Scarlet Street [Answer]
22. The Hospital; Patton; Dr. Strangelove [Answer]
23. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Calamity Jane; Kiss Me Kate [Answer]
24. Pal Joey; The Man with the Golden Arm; From Here to Eternity [Answer]
25. Singin’ in the Rain; Brigadoon; An American in Paris [Answer]
26. This Gun for Hire; The Glass Key; The Great Gatsby [Answer]
27. Kiss of Death; Samson and Delilah; My Darling Clementine [Answer]
28. Rear Window; You Can’t Take It with You; It’s a Wonderful Life [Answer]
29. Quo Vadis; Ivanhoe; Billy the Kid [Answer]
30. Father of the Bride; Judgment at Nuremberg; Boys Town [Answer]
31. Doc Hollywood; Back to the Future; Bright Lights, Big City [Answer]
32. Casino; The Godfather Part II; Raging Bull [Answer]
33. Broadway Danny Rose; Love and Death; Hannah and Her Sisters [Answer]
34. The Sheik; The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; Blood and Sand [Answer]
35. Deliverance; Coming Home; Catch Twenty-two [Answer]
36. The Cannonball Run; Smokey and the Bandit; The Longest Yard [Answer]
37. The Alamo; True Grit; Rio Lobo [Answer]
38. Groundhog Day; Ghostbusters; What about Bob? [Answer]
39. Young Frankenstein; Stir Crazy; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory [Answer]
40. Jane Eyre; Othello; Citizen Kane [Answer]
41. The Story of Alexander Graham Bell; Heaven Can Wait; Cocoon [Answer]
Toys and Games and Other Playful Things
1. What ever popular blonde doll did Jack Ryan create in 1958? [Answer]
2. Pong, introduced by Atari in 1975, was what new type of game? [Answer]
3. What popular board game features Chance and Community Chest cards? [Answer]
4. What Milton Bradley game was marketed as a “Sweet Little Game for Sweet Little Folks”? [Answer]
5. What popular “course” game did Garnet Carter introduce in 1927? (Hint: windmills) [Answer]
6. What bouncy, rideable toy was introduced by inventor George Hansburg in 1919? [Answer]
7. What type of doll was such a hot item in 1983 that some stores sold them for a hundred dollars each? [Answer]
8. What California company introduced the Frisbee in 1957 and the Hula Hoop in 1958? [Answer]
9. What huggable and ever popular toy was named for a U.S. president? [Answer]
10. What perennially popular items for kids have been produced for years by the Binney & Smith Company? [Answer]
11. What pliable substance, sold as a toy, was introduced by inventor Peter Hodgson? [Answer]
12. What type of hat did TV’s Davy Crockett popularize for kids in the 1950s? [Answer]
13. What word game played on a board was invented by Alfred Mosher Butts in 1932? [Answer]
14. What very popular question-and-answer game was introduced in 1983? [Answer]
15. What type of word puzzle was introduced in the New York World in 1913? [Answer]
16. The toy logs that have amused generations of American kids are named for what president? [Answer]
17. What familiar plastic toy is the focus of a September festival on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.? [Answer]
18. What movable toys are the center of a museum in Strasburg, Pennsylvania? [Answer]
19. What type of cuddly toy is displayed at Frannie’s Museum in Naples, Florida? [Answer]
20. In the 1930s, what game was played in movie theaters on “Bank Nights”? [Answer]
21. Faro, once called America’s National Card Game, took its name from what? [Answer]
22. Using letters from their names, Harold Matson and Elliot Handler named their toy company what? [Answer]
23. In 1860 what lithographer devised “The Checkered Game of Life” for people to play? [Answer]
24. The Ideal Company marketed dolls named for what popular child star of the 1930s? [Answer]
25. The two-person game called draughts in England is called what in the U.S.? [Answer]
Queens of the Screen
Could you guess the name of a Hollywood leading lady if given the name of three of her films? Find out.
1. The Other Boleyn Girl, Black Swan, Thor [Answer]
2. Chicago, The Rebound, The Legend of Zorro [Answer]
3. The Iron Lady, The Bridges of Madison County, Sophie’s Choice [Answer]
4. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cold Mountain, Chicago [Answer]
5. Moonstruck, Silkwood, Mermaids [Answer]
6. Places in the Heart, Norma Rae, Steel Magnolias [Answer]
7. Cabaret; The Sterile Cuckoo; New York, New York [Answer]
8. The Fabulous Baker Boys, Wolf, The Age of Innocence [Answer]
9. Coal Miner’s Daughter, The River, Crimes of the Heart [Answer]
10. The Big Sleep, Key Largo, To Have and to Have Not [Answer]
11. Fancy Pants; Mame; The Long, Long Trailer [Answer]
12. The Graduate, The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater [Answer]
13. On Golden Pond, The Lion in Winter, Bringing Up Baby [Answer]
14. Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, High Society [Answer]
15. Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Mildred Pierce, Grand Hotel [Answer]
16. Come to the Stable, The Farmer’s Daughter, Man’s Castle [Answer]
17. You Can’t Take It with You, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, Shane [Answer]
18. Father of the Bride, Annie Hall, Reds [Answer]
19. Private Benjamin, Death Becomes Her, The Sugarland Express [Answer]
20. All about Eve, Dark Victory, The Little Foxes [Answer]
21. Calamity Jane, Pillow Talk, Send Me No Flowers [Answer]
22. The Heiress, The Snake Pit, Anthony Adverse [Answer]
23. Bon
nie and Clyde, Network, Supergirl [Answer]
24. Cold Mountain, Moulin Rouge, The Rabbit Hole [Answer]
25. The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, A Star Is Born [Answer]
26. Maytime, Rose Marie, San Francisco [Answer]
27. Terms of Endearment, The Apartment, Steel Magnolias [Answer]
28. Boomtown, It Happened One Night, The Egg and I [Answer]
29. David and Bathsheba, I Want to Live, My Foolish Heart [Answer]
30. Stepmom, Dead Man Walking, The Rocky Horror Picture Show [Answer]
31. Miss Congeniality, The Proposal, The Blind Side [Answer]
32. My Man Godfrey, Nothing Sacred, To Be or Not to Be [Answer]
33. The Thin Man, The Best Years of Our Lives, Cheaper by the Dozen [Answer]
34. Running with Scissors, Bugsy, Regarding Henry [Answer]
35. Some Like It Hot, The Seven Year Itch, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes [Answer]
36. Singin’ in the Rain, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, The Singing Nun [Answer]
37. Top Hat, Swing Time, Kitty Foyle [Answer]
38. Double Indemnity, Meet John Doe, The Lady Eve [Answer]
39. Cleopatra, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, National Velvet [Answer]
40. The Little Colonel, Bright Eyes, Curly Top [Answer]
41. Peyton Place, Imitation of Life, The Postman Always Rings Twice [Answer]
42. Klondike Annie, Belle of the Nineties, My Little Chickadee [Answer]
43. West Side Story, Gypsy, Miracle on 34th Street [Answer]
“They’re Playing My Song”
Some performers become so identified with a particular song that it is forever their song. For instance, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” will always be identified with Simon and Garfunkel. Try your hand at matching the song with its key performer. These range from early crooners to contemporary artists—from Al Jolson to Aerosmith and beyond. By the way, we had to leave out the Beatles, ABBA, etc., since this is American trivia.
1. “Friends in Low Places” [Answer]
The Big Book of American Trivia Page 4