Classic Movie Trivia

Who, based on ticket sales, is the third most popular actor of the twentieth century, preceded only by Clark Gable and John Wayne?

Picture Pane Puzzle - Solved!

In this age of at-your-fingertips knowledge, posting trivia questions has become a bit of a challenge for me - so, I give you a new type of trivia: The Picture Pane Puzzle. It's up to you to determine the mystery film by recognizing the images from it, posted below.

Think you know it?! Use the Comments option below to post your guess!

11/25: Poster Maryann has solved this week's Picture Pane Puzzle. She recognized Gene Kelly's cranium to identify this film as 1964's What A Way to Go! What a way indeed - bravo, Maryann!

Seen It?!

In this age of at-your-fingertips knowledge, posting trivia questions has become a bit of a challenge for me - who's to say a quick Google search isn't truly responsible for all those right answers I've fielded? I don't mind, really, but don't you feel so much more the true movie connoisseur when you solve a perfectly perplexing puzzle without consulting a search engine? If so, then I give you a new type of trivia: The Picture Pane Puzzle. It's up to you to determine the mystery film by recognizing the images from it, posted below.

From what film were the following stills taken?















Post your answers using the comments link below.

Did You Know?

Sinsister-voiced actor Vincent Price, best known for his roles in dark dramas like The Pit and the Pendulum, House of Wax, and my personal favorite, 1944's Laura, was a Yale graduate of art history, an avid art collector, and author of a syndicated art column in the late 1960's. He also founded and headed the Vincent Price Collection of Fine Arts at Los Angeles College, still an active element of the campus today.

Classic Movie Trivia

What legendary director sometimes referred to himself by the Gaelic version of his birth name, Sean Aloysius Kilmartin O'Feeney?

Le Movie Star Mysterieuse

This screen siren has made appearances in some of the best-loved films of all time, though she's rarely, if ever, appeared in a starring role...


So just who is she? Take a crack at her identity and post your answers below!

Update 5/22: Poster Marc correctly guessed blonde bombshell Gloria Grahame was the mystery movie star! Somebody knows his stunning starlets...

Paging Ms. Turner

Identify this box-office beauty from the portrait below, taken during her earliest years in Hollywood:

Update, 3/6: Resourceful poster Kathleen correctly recognized this brunette as silver-screen sweetheart Lana Turner!

Congratulations, Kathleen, and thanks for stopping by!

Classic Movie Trivia

Identify this classic movie star from the photo below:

Simply click the comments link below to submit your guess. I can't believe no one's gotten it yet...

Update, 11/15: Poster Marc recognized Margarita Cansino, better known as Rita Hayworth, in this portrait, taken well before she was The Love Goddess we all know and love. Congratulations, Marc, and thanks for stopping by!

Ava and the Mickster

This classic cinema actress was married three times in less than ten years, to none other than an actor, a bandleader, and a man who combined both his film and music talent to become a famous crooner and a big screen star. None of her marriages lasted more than a five years; in fact, two of them ended after little more than a year each. Who is the actress, and who were her husbands?

Update: Yay to Amelia Lucia for being the first poster and the first correct answer. Ava Gardner did indeed have three marriages: to pint-size Mickey Rooney when she was just 19 (it lasted roughly 14 months), to bandleader Artie Shaw (they parted eight days after their first anniversary), and finally to Frank Sinatra, whome she wed after a tiring and tumultuous courtship in 1951. Here's Miss Mogambo and Andy Hardy on their honeymoon, 1942 - and I feel it's worth noting that Mickey was propped up on a crate in this photo to erase the four-inch height difference he and Ava shared:

You guys gotta stop being so frighteningly good at these trivia questions.

Did You Know...?

The term "Rat Pack", which popularly references swinging singers Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior and their contemporaries (Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, among others) is actually the name created by another social set prominent in the late 1940's and early 1950's. The informally organized "Holmby Hills Rat Pack" initially included Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart and wife Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland and husband Sid Luft, Hollywood agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar, David Niven and wife Hjordis, and technical advisor/professional impostor Mike Romanoff and wife Gloria (Romanoff acted occasionally). Over the years, the configuration of the group changed dramatically and, as marriages dissolved or group members passed away, it eventually came to refer to Dean, Sammy, and the group of outrageous nightclub singers, notorious for their affection for booze and broads. Actress Shirley MacLaine even became an honorary Rat in the mid-60's, though by this time, the group called themselves "The Clan".

"In order to qualify, one had to be addicted to nonconformity, staying up late, drinking, laughing, and not caring what anyone thought or said about us. Spence(r Tracy) was only an honorary rat, because he lived a secluded life, but his heart was in the right place." - Lauren Bacall

Roger, Rogers!

Identify this classic cinema star:

Update: One week has gone by. No one has given the correct answer yet, but poster Cardinal Martini came awfully close with an awesome guess. Would you like to know who our Mystery Star is?

Virginia MacMath - aka Ginger Rogers
shown top, in Vaudeville (1927), and bottom, in a portrait from the late 1930's.

"I'm most grateful to have had that joyous time in motion pictures. It really was a Golden Age of Hollywood. Pictures were talking, they were singing, they were coloring. It was beginning to blossom out: bud and blossom were both present."

Paul, do you hate me?

From what classic movie is this quote taken?

"'Did you know that in Harry's Bar last New Year's Eve I punched an old woman? Don't tell me about drunk!'"
Update: Truer words were never spoken than those above, attributed to Robert Redford's character in 1967's Barefoot in the Park. Ol' Red plays a young newlywed lawyer in this light romantic comedy that's a bit yellowed with age, but everything - the quick, acerbic dialogue, the dazzling Mancini-esque score by Neal Hefti, Jane Fonda at her loveliest, and the fab supporting actors Mildred Natwick and Charles Boyer - combines to make this still infinitely better than the drivel they crank out these days. And seriously, there are few onscreen couples who are as totally attractive as Jane and Bobby...see it if you haven't!

Oh, no, John, I don't hate you! I just hate basketball!

Eight weeks after its release in 1944, this film became the highest-grossing film ever in the history of MGM. What movie made such a stir?

Update: The fabulous Arthur Freed-produced Meet Me in St. Louis eventually brought in over $7 million at the box office. If you haven't seen this movie, definitely do so soon - it is nothing short of wonderful. Margaret O'Brien is absolutely rabid in it!

My hobby is stuffing things. You know - taxidermy.

In Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho", how much money does Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) embezzle from the realty office she works at?
Update: The mendacious Miss Marion Crane pilfers a cool $40,000 from her place of employment and makes a run for it.

Who else loves this movie as much as I do? Hitchcock, Janet Leigh, Tony Perkins, Robert Bloch, Bernard Hermann's incredible score and of course, the man who seems to have starred in every single movie ever made, Martin Balsam. And oooh, how did I forget John Gavin? (Such a terrible actor, such an attractive man...what a shame.) Between the inventive cinematography, the supercharged tension simmering just beneath the film's surface, and the horrific truths about Norman and his mother, Psycho is nearly as perfect as a Hitchock movie can get.


What is your favorite scene from Psycho?

Games That Lovers Play

Actress Debbie Reynolds and crooner Eddie Fisher were married in typical celebrity style in September of 1955; daughter Carrie Fisher - yep, Princess Leia - came along in late '56. What famous movie-related mogul did Eddie and Debbie name their newborn son for in 1958?

Elizabeth Taylor, Eddie Fisher, and then-wife Debbie Reynolds

Update: Todd Emmanuel Fisher was named for his father's best friend, innovator and producer Mike Todd. Todd is best-known for co-creating the revolutionary method of wide-angle cinematography which, too, was named for him, Todd-AO. Todd, married to superstar Elizabeth Taylor in February of 1957 (her third husband in less than seven years), was killed in a plane crash the following March - ironically, on this date, the 22nd - in a private plane called The Lucky Liz. Todd Fisher was less than a month old at the time of his namesake's death.

Eddie Fisher, meanwhile, was apparently a bit too good at consoling his late best friend's lovely widow - he filed for divorce from darling wife Debbie after the public got wind of the lurid affair he was having with Miss Taylor, and proceeded to marry the widowed Elizabeth in May of 1959; their marriage lasted less than five years. I'm not certain what Taylor or Fisher have to say, if anything, about their scandalous behavior, but then again, I'm not sure I care. Reynolds and Taylor have worked together since then, supposedly on friendly terms - but I recommend reading Debbie Reynolds' autobiography for the most heartbreaking aspect of the whole messy love affair.

Singin' in the West Side

Though not having a significant role in both films, what movie star is in two major musicals: 1952's Singin in the Rain and 1961's epic West Side Story? Post your answer using the Comments link.


Update: Singer/dancer/actress Rita Moreno played the bit role of Zelda Zanders in Singin in the Rain', then starred as fiery Puerto Rican Anita in West Side Story. Moreno, who was born in Puerto Rico in 1931, won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Story.


Congrats to Ky for knowing this trivia tidbit!

You guess? Don't you know?

We've got a two-part question for you this time, as last week's trivia champion Amelia Lucia answered not one but two questions concerning 1940's The Philadelphia Story. This week we'll focus on a film that marks the signature collaboration of three of Hollywood's most eminent figures during the 1960's - director Blake Edwards, composer Henry Mancini, and gorgeous actress Audrey Hepburn - yes, it's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Let's see how much you know about this 1961 classic cinema confection.

1.Holly Golightly's (Audrey Hepburn's) neighbor Paul Varjak (George Peppard) has one published book to his credit, a compilation of short stories that he gives her as a housewarming gift. What is its title?
and,
2. Paul quotes a newspaper review of his book to Holly, complete with the month, day and year it was published: "...so said the New York Times book review, ________." According to his quote, what is the exact date?

Update: Wow, talk about a record here....less than three hours after I posted this doozy, fellow blogger Tillerman bowls over the Classic Film Trivia with two concise, and correct, answers: Paul's book, Nine Lives, was reviewed in the New York Times on October 1, 1956.
Congratulations to Tillerman for posting correctly, and first! I think Paul and Holly are chatting about his incredible film knowledge in the photo above.

Yar, it's the Voice of Doom

In George Cukor's delightful The Philadelphia Story, mischievous reporter Macaulay Connor (Jimmy Stewart) pranks the woman whose house he is visiting by calling her from the maids' chambers and telling her her "days are numbered". Who does he say is calling?
Update: Macaulay replies, "This is the voice of doom calling" when Mrs. Lord asks. Congratulations to Amelia Lucia for being the first poster AND the first to get it right!

Bonus Triva Question: What word do both Tracy (Katharine Hepburn) and Dexter (Cary Grant) use to describe the oceanic vessel upon which they had their honeymoon?

Update: They use the word "yare," as in, "Ah, she was yare, wasn't she?" "She certainly was yare."

Congratulations to my dear friend and fellow classic movie maven Amelia Lucia for getting both answers unquestionably correct. Let's hope this week's trivia question gives everyone more of a challenge!

Miss Melanie's Dilemma - Sunday's Trivia Question

Sunday's Trivia Question: In David O. Selznick's grand 1939 spectacle "Gone With the Wind", what book does Melanie Wilkes (Olivia de Havilland) read aloud to the nervous women sewing at her parlor table as they await news of their husbands and brothers who have gone on a dangerous murder mission?

Answer: Melanie reads from "David Copperfield", starting with the very first sentence of the book.

Try your luck on our current Triva Question!

The Fonda Fam

Friday's Trivia Question: Each of the three related people in this photograph are famous in their own right, and to varying degrees of fame. I'll give you a hint as to their better-known onscreen aliases: from left to right, think passenger, migrant worker, and gunslinger.
Who are they?

Update: You're looking at:

Henry Fonda, known for his role as migrant farmer Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, with kids Peter Fonda (of Easy Rider fame) and Jane Fonda (who becomes a sharpshooter in 1965's Cat Ballou).
source: The Screen Legend Henry Fonda Site

Congratulations to Joan for being the first to post the correct answer!