WEEK OF MAY 19, 2008
Word of the week: "earworm." It's the name of a major agricultural pest, but that's not important right now. We are interested today in its colloquial meaning: a portion of a song or other piece of music that gets "stuck in your head" and mentally repeats itself incessantly against one's will. Other terms for the phenomenon include "repetune" and "melodymania."
Comics conundrum: In the comic strip "Blondie," Dagwood has been in a four-person car pool for many years. The other members are his neighbor Herb Woodley, a woman named Claudia and a blond bespectacled gentleman. Has any information about Claudia ever been revealed in the strip? Has that blond man ever been identified by name? If you can help with either of these questions, please let us know.
You Read It Here First: When Rickey Henderson is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, he will be the sixth member whose first name is the same as the last name of another member -- in this case, Branch Rickey. The others: Joe Morgan/Morgan Bulkeley, Grover Cleveland Alexander/Alexander Cartwright, Steve Carlton/Carlton Fisk, Whitey Ford/Ford Frick, and Waite Hoyt/Hoyt Wilhelm.
25 years ago in "TV Guide": May 1983 cover subjects included Tom Selleck and Bob Hope's 80th birthday NBC special. The May 7 issue had a review of Sunday's nationally syndicated late-night "Larry King Show," two years before King's CNN debut. This was basically a video version of the Monday-to-Friday national wee-hours radio show King had at that time, complete with listener call-ins.
The non-documentary that features the most Oscar-winning performers is Robert Altman's 1992 film "The Player," with 12. Ten of the 12 portrayed themselves: Cher, James Coburn, Louise Fletcher, Anjelica Huston, Joel Grey, Jack Lemmon, Marlee Matlin, Julia Roberts, Susan Sarandon and Rod Steiger. The only two Oscar "actors" in the film are Tim Robbins and Whoopi Goldberg. (Thanks to Lance Richmond of Seattle.)
When are two names only one? When you're composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, for one, whose last name is Lloyd Webber. There's at least one celebrity instance of a two-word first name, and that's Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. Hans Christian is a traditional Danish given name and it is used as a single name in that country.
Small-town celebrity birthplace of the week: Mount Olive, Ala. (current population about 4,000). Country-music legend Hank Williams was born there in 1923 as Hiram King Williams. His son, country singer Hank Williams Jr., was born with the first name of Randall. And Junior's son, singer Hank Williams III, was born with the first name of Shelton.
Your humble trivia author has always wondered about the shampoo-label directive, "lather, rinse, repeat." Is the "repeat" there just to get us all to use up the shampoo more quickly, or does it really take two rounds to do the job right? If you can provide a definitive answer, please let us know.
Our trivia pal Adam Cohen of Brooklyn, N.Y., has assembled a short list of well-known names and phrases that have exactly one of each of the five vowels: QUESTION MARK, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, TRUMAN DOCTRINE and PHIL DONAHUE. If you can think of any others (one-word answers don't count), please let us know.
Rick Connett of Walnut Creek, Calif., asks about the origin of the traditional church wedding vows. Our research indicates the "dearly beloved" service can be traced to the 1662 edition of Anglican Book of Common Prayer. But much of it, including "to have and to hold" and "for better or for worse," can be found in the English medieval variant of the Roman rite known as the Use of York.
TRIVIA
1) The Pony Express, which operated for only about 18 months in 1860 and 1861, made possible the first 10-day Atlantic-to-Pacific mail delivery. If it cost about three cents to mail a first-class letter in the 1860s, what did it cost to send a half-ounce Pony Express letter when the service was launched?
A) 10 cents
B) 50 cents
C) $2
D) $5
2) The technical term in English for a standard deck of 52 playing cards is "Anglo-American." What term is used in most other languages?
A) Bridge deck
B) French deck
C) Poker deck
D) Royal deck
3) The 1945 Jessamyn West Civil War-era novel, "The Friendly Persuasion," concerns a pacifist Quaker family. The novel was adapted into the 1956 film "Friendly Persuasion," which starred Gary Cooper. Author West based Cooper's character on her own great-grandfather, who was also the great-grandfather of:
A) Gary Cooper
B) Richard Nixon
C) Walter Cronkite
D) Betty White
4) American schoolchildren learn that the discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill in 1849 led to the California gold rush. What kind of mill was Sutter's Mill?
A) Sawmill
B) Grain mill
C) Paper mill
D) Windmill
5) In the 1990 film "Die Hard 2," New York City police detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) is not at all enamored of the latest electronic devices. As he remarks to his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), in the film, "As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with…"
A) Bicycles
B) Pet rocks
C) Frozen pizza
D) Parachutes
ANSWERS
1) It cost $5 per half-ounce to mail a letter via the Pony Express when service began in the spring of 1860.
2) The term for a standard deck of 52 playing cards in most languages other than English is "French deck." The four suits of modern playing cards originated in France in the late 15th century.
3) Author Jessamyn West based the main character of her novel "The Friendly Persuasion" on her great-grandfather Joshua Milhous, who was also Richard Nixon's great-grandfather. Thus, West and Nixon were second cousins.
4) Sutter's Mill, of 19th-century Gold Rush fame, was a sawmill. A replica of the mill can be seen today at the site of the original, in Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.
5) Previous answer: In reference to modern technology, detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) says in the film "Die Hard 2," "As far as I'm concerned, progress peaked with frozen pizza."
STAN'S WEEKLY TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 86
What is the world's only national capital that borders two other countries?
HOW TO WIN: Send your answer, with your full name and address, either by e-mail to TriviaBits@gmail.com, or on a postcard to Stan Newman's Trivia Challenge No. 86, P.O. Box 69, Massapequa Park, NY 11762. Only one submission per person, please. Answers must be received within seven days of publication. One winner will be chosen at random from all correct entries, who will receive a copy of Stan's new book "15,003 Answers: The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopedia," courtesy of Random House. Answer and winner will be announced in a future issue.
ANSWER TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE CONTEST NO. 79
Marlon Brando is a "direct link" between Charlie Chaplin and Charlie Sheen, having appeared in "A Countess from Hong Kong" (1967) with Chaplin, and "Free Money" (1998) with Sheen. Winner: Ryan Sherman of Everett, Wash.
