GENERAL TRIVIA QUESTION THREAD

[DownGoesFrazier]

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Edited by: finance on Apr 21, 2010 9:57 AM

[DownGoesFrazier]

James Cagney--RAGTIME? (I was going to say Henry Fonda, but he died in 1982.)

[phroso]

RAGTIME is correct. As I thought about it, ON GOLDEN POND was the only other possible answer, but it was based on a stage play rather than a novel. Nice work, finance. Your board . . .

[DownGoesFrazier]

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Edited by: finance on Apr 22, 2010 10:54 AM

[DownGoesFrazier]

Thanks, phroso.......In late 1954, the ex-husband of a Hollywood star hired a private detective to tail her, presumably to catch her in the act. After a couple weeks of this, the ex-husband, accompanied by a Hollywood friend (a star) and two detectives, broke into a Hollywood apartment to confront the ex-wife. It was the right building, but the wrong apartment. A legal settlement with the occupant of the apartment was the result.........In Hollywood history, what name has been given to this incident? Who was the female star? Who was the ex-husband? Who was the friend of the ex-husband who accompanied him in the break-in?

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 22, 2010 10:55 AM

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 22, 2010 3:48 PM

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 22, 2010 4:45 PM

[DownGoesFrazier]

Things are moving slowly. Maybe some of the trivia honchos are at the festival.

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 23, 2010 10:54 AM

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 23, 2010 3:24 PM

[DownGoesFrazier]

Hint: The ex-husband did not work in the film industry, but was well-known in another field.

[MilesArcher]

I believe this is the infamous "Wrong Door Raid" in which Joe DiMaggio and Frank Sinatra broke into an apartment trying to catch Marilyn Monroe with a lover. It turned out to be the wrong apartment.

[DownGoesFrazier]

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Edited by: finance on Apr 24, 2010 9:46 AM

[DownGoesFrazier]

This "wrong door raid" gets funnier the more I think about it. Your thread, Miles.

[MilesArcher]

Thanks, finance. There's always a question about a movie with a similar theme being a remake of an earlier film. Let's just say that Spencer Tracy made a rare western that was sort of a remake of an earlier movie that starred Edward G. Robinson. They each played the somewhat ruthless patriarch of a family with troubled sons. Some years later there was another movie with a similar theme, but with a circus settting. Can you name the three movies and the actor who played the father in the circus movie?

[cmvgor]

*House Of Strangers* -- 1949 -- Robinson -- Banker

*Broken Lance* -- 1954 -- Tracy -- Rancher

*The Big Show* -- 1961 -- Nehemia Persoff -- Trapeze artist.

 

Robinson committed some banking fraud; Tracy got someone killed in a turf war with copper miners; Persoff pinched pennies and failed to replace a worn turnbuckle and somebody died. In each case a son took the fall for the misdeed and did the time.

[MilesArcher]

You are correct Mr. Moviegoer! Would you call the latter two remakes or just movies with similar themes? Good work, it's your turn now.

[cmvgor]

I say they're remakes. And I theorize that the next incarnation of this plot will involve a pizzeria dynasty wherein Papa serves ungrated parmesan, and somebody chokes.

 

The movies cited in the last question have another thing in common that relates to the question I want to pose -- story structure. Their stories open with the convict son, paroled, going home and meeting family and acquaintances. Then, as the son stands before a portrait of the father (who is now deceased), the story flashes back some years and gives the background of the family conflict. Fading back in to the "present" the story advences to the final showdown among the sons.

 

This brings to mind another movie with a looonnng flashback. Call the origional runtime two hours and two minutes. Estimate that an hour and fifty-nine minutes are spent in the flashback and three minutes are spent in the "present". The flashback comes in the middle of a quick ambush/gunfight. It opens in 1908, flashes back to the early 1880s, leads up to a shooting death in 1881, and fades back for the final 30 secends or so of the 1908 shootout.

 

Film?

[cmvgor]

Western. A story that has been filmed many times, in many versions. Somewhat fact-based, somewhat legend-based. 1970s release.

[MilesArcher]

Is it "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid"?

[cmvgor]

Correct. It opens in Arizona, on Feb 29, 1908 where rancher Pat Garrett has a confrontation with a neighbor over an argument thay are having about land use. Gunfire breaks out, and the action flashes back to New Mexico in the early 1880s, where the action tells Director Sam Peckinpah'a version of _Sheriff_ Pat Garrett's execution of his orders to track down Billy The Kid, who is a political embarassment to the local powers. Soon after Billy's death is depicted, the action fades back to 1908, where Garrett takes his final shot and dies. Pat Garrett was killed by a neighboring rancher in a dispute over grazing rights for goats. Miles' thread.

[MilesArcher]

Thanks, I really had some other films in mind for a while. The gunfight at the O.K. corral was in 1881 and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid had their last showdown in Bolivia in 1908. I wonder how many times Billy the Kid has been portrayed in movies. We'll leave that for another thread. Now, as you may know, Shirley Temple just celebrated her 82nd birthday. As you also know, after her acting career was over, she became involved in politics and was at one time the U.S. ambassador to Ghana. I bet she regrets making a "Baby Burlesk" short called "Kid'n Africa" when she was about four or five. In her movie career she worked with an actor who would later become president, another actor who would become a U.S. senator, and a third actor who would become a governor. Can you name all three actors and the films in which they worked with Shirley. The first two should be easy.

[cujas]

This must be trivia for tap dancer's day.

 

The U.S. Senator from CA was George Murphy who co-starred with Shirley in *Little Miss Broadway*.

 

The U.S. President, who was also a governor from CA, was Ronald Reagan. He co-starred with Shirley in *That Hagen Girl*.

 

And John Lodge (of the Cabot-Lodges) was a Governor of Connecticut who co-starred with Shirley in

*The Little Colonel*.

 

But more importantly, this was the movie where Bill "Bojangles" Robinson did his world famous Stair Dance with Shirley.

[MilesArcher]

Right again, Cujas. John Lodge was a politically connected Wall Street attorney who had done some acting at Harvard and in New York. His Italian born wife, Francesca, whom he met while at Harvard, also did some acting and dancing. She was hired by MGM to dub Greta Garbo's voice in movies that were to be released in Italy. That's what brought them to California. He got a contract at Paramount and, the story goes, was spotted by Mae West, who wanted him for her next picture, "She Done Him Wrong". However, Miss West was somewhat controversial, and Lodge's family did not approve of him working with her, and he turned down the opportunity. Mae spotted another handsome fellow on the lot and got the studio to give him the part. His name was Cary Grant.

By the way, George Murphy played Ronald Reagan's father in "This Is The Army". Later, each of them served as president of the Screen Actors Guild. You are busy today, Cujas. It's your turn again!

[cujas]

One more question on musicals. This one is a story about an accomplished woman who was a secretary to two famous men.

 

She was a woman who loved and appreciated great music.

 

She's responsible for discovering two of the most outstanding movie singers in the Golden Age of Hollywood.

 

Can you name her, her two discoveries, her two bosses and the companies they worked for.

[DownGoesFrazier]

How about Ida Koverman, secretary to Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg? Discovered Nelson Eddy and Judy Garland?

[cujas]

You got most of it--but She was only Louis B.'s secretary at MGM. And before that Herbert Hoover.

 

Finance, It's all yours.

 

Edited by: cujas on Apr 26, 2010 6:23 PM

[DownGoesFrazier]

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Edited by: finance on Apr 27, 2010 10:56 AM

[DownGoesFrazier]

Thanks, cujas.

 

This actress was given a nickname even before the first film in which she had more than a bit part was released. Though she had only a small role, her appearance in the film affirmed her nickname, and it stayed with her for quite a while. Actress? Nickname? Film?

 

Edited by: finance on Apr 27, 2010 4:58 PM