As some of you know, I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and every Christmas, we would read Jon Carroll’s Christmas Quiz, a S.F. Chronicle tradition. This is a shameless ripoff. Most of the questions come from Hollywood: An Oral History by Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson but many answers can be found on the internet. It’s a perfect night to get googling and fall down a few wormholes.
Dec. 24 2022 2:44pm — man, that was close, my building hasn’t had wifi since about 7pm last night.
Answers will be posted in a separate diary tomorrow at noon. All questions are worth one point each. 20 questions in all. There are no prizes, only bragging rights. You don’t have to answer in comments, this is just for fun.
1. How many films of Lois Weber survive today?
2. During the “golden age of Hollywood” which film studios comprised “the big 5 and the little 3”?
3. Which job in the studio system had many husband and wife teams?
4. Who was considered the Father of Monster makeup?
5. Which director would wear a red fez on the set so, “people would know who the director was”?
6. How did Hoot Gibson get his name?
7. Which director told Shirley MacLaine “Murder can be fun”?
8. Which lawyer successfully argued “The De Havilland Decision”?
9. Which studio did Isadore “Friz” Freleng start at?
10. What was Clark Gable’s biggest flop?
11. Who was Yakima Canutt?
12. Who directed the “wounded solider” scene in Gone With The Wind? What did they use to get the shot?
13. What did King Vidor have to promise Nicholas Schenk in order to make “Hallelujah” in 1929?
14. What film did Orson Welles first come to Los Angeles to film?
15. What film did Jack Lemmon do a screen test for and was cast in a different movie by the same director?
16. Which film probably influenced G. Gordon Liddy (though Liddy never admitted it)?
17. What screenwriter asked the studio if “he could work from home”?
18. Which silent film director was a homesteader in South Dakota?
19. Who was the first film star to receive a pie in the face?
20. What is the first “all talking” film?
Happy Holidays and stay safe travelling.
And WYFP?
*=Maybe
If I lose wifi again, I will try to answer comments asap. sorry, weather sucks.