Monthly Trivia Archives: February 2011

Week of February 27 – Oscar 2011 Trivia

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Colin Firth was reportedly the third choice for ‘The King’s Speech’ lead.  Hugh Grant was the first.

Christian Bale reportedly lost how 30 pounds to play Dicky Ecklund in ‘The Fighter’\

John Wayne won an Oscar for the original ‘True Grit.’  Jeff Bridges is nominated as Best Actor for the new version of True Grit.

At age 14, Hailee Steinfeld is the ninth-youngest Best Supporting Actress nominee of all time. Tatum O’Neal was the youngest at age 10 for her role in Paper Moon (1974).

Three-time nominee Amy Adams made her film debut in Drop Dead Gorgeous.

“Toy Story 3,” which is up for five Academy Awards is only the third animated feature film to receive an Oscar nomination for best picture. “Beauty and the Beast,” nominated in 1991, was the first, and “Up,” nominated last year, was the second.

Jeff Bridges (“True Grit”), Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and Jeremy Renner (“The Town”) are nominated in acting categories at the Oscars for the second year in a row, while previous acting winners Bridges, Javier Bardem (“Biutiful”) Geoffrey Rush (“The King’s Speech”) and Nicole Kidman (“Rabbit Hole”) are up for another trophy.


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Week of February 20 – President’s Trivia

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James Madison (4th President) was the first president to wear trousers rather than knee breeches.  He was also the shortest and lightest President at 5 feet, 4 inches and about 100 pounds.

John Quincy Adams (6th President) regularly swam nude in the Potomac River. The first American professional journalist, Anne Royall, knew of Adams’ 5:00 a.m. swims. After being refused interviews with Adams many times, she went to the river, gathered his clothes and sat on them until she had her interview. Before this, no female had interviewed a president.

The term “O.K” is credited to Martin Van Buren (8th President) who was raised in Kinderhook, New York. After he went into politics, Van Buren became known as “Old Kinderhook.”  Soon people were using the term O.K. referring to Van Buren and the word okay was derived.

William Henry Harrison (9th President) was the only president who studied to to become a doctor.  Harrison delivered the longest inaugural address, and was the first president to die in office, after 32 days after elected.  On March 4, he gave a 105 minute speech and did not wear an overcoat or hat.  He developed pneumonia and died in the White House exactly one month after giving his speech, on April 4 at age 68.

John Tyler (10th President) was the president with the most children—he had 15.

Abraham Lincoln (16th President) was the first president to wear a beard and the tallest president at 6’ 4″.

William Harding (29th President) had the largest feet of any president. He wore size 14 shoes.

Grover Cleveland  (22nd President) personally answered the White House phone.

FDR (32nd President) was the first president whose mother was eligible to vote for him.

Harry Truman (33rd President) would get up at 5 o’clock in the morning to practice the piano for two hours.

Jimmy Carter (39th President) was the first president born in a hospital.


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Week of February 13 – Wizard of Oz trivia

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Several actors playing Winged Monkeys were injured when the piano wires holding them up snapped during a shoot on the haunted forest scene.

Reports suggest each Munchkin earned $50 per week, while Toto bagged $125 per week.

So frightening was Margaret Hamilton’s performance as the  Wicked Witch of The West that most of her scenes were heavily edited or cut entirely.

The running time is 101 minutes, but the original cut was 112 minutes – only audiences at test screenings have seen the additional 11 minutes.

The fire that engulfs the Witch’s hands as she’s trying to remove the ruby slippers is actually apple juice spewing out of the shoes – the film was then sped up to make it look more like fire.

A Cairn terrier called Terry played the role of the dog Toto.

The tornado was a 35-foot-long muslin stocking, spun around among miniatures of a Kansas farm and fields in a dusty atmosphere.

So scary were the costumes worn by Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr  (his costume weighed 90 pounds) and Jack Haley that they had to eat meals in their dressing rooms, lest they alarm other diners in the MGM cafeteria.

MGM head Louis B Mayer had the idea of changing the colour of the slippers from silver to ruby.

Jell-O crystals were stuck over all the horses in the Emerald City palace to lend them their colour. The scenes were shot speedily, before the horses began to lick them off.

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Week of February 6 – Slogans/Jingles

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“Mama mia, thatsa spicy meatball” – Alka Seltzer

“Look, Ma, no cavities!” – Crest

“They’re g-r-r-r-eat!”- Kellog’s Frosted Flakes

“Give a hoot, don’t pollute” – U.S. Forest Service

“Where’s the beef?” – Wendy’s

“I can bring home the bacon…” – Enjoli

“Nothin’ says lovin’ like somethin’ from the oven.”  – Pillsbury

“Away go your troubles down the drain.”  – Roto- Rooter

“Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t.” – Peter Paul Mounds/Almond Joy


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