I know there are millions of Disney fans in this country and maybe not as many they’d like due to recent political choices made by their management. My better-half surprised me with an article dated July 1993 containing a Disney World trivia quiz. Please don’t email me to tell me that some of the answers aren’t accurate because this retro quiz contains information that’s thirty-two years old. Here are ten questions for those true Disney lovers out there. As always, the answers will be posted below.
Mickey’s Starland opened in 1988 with a different name. What was the name and why?
How many countries are included in World Showcase? Name them in order around the lagoon.
What is the name of the shipwrecked boat atop Mount Mayday at Typhon lagoon?
What is the name of the first hotel ever constructed at Walt Disney World?
The Empress Lillie at the Disney Village Marketplace is named after what lucky lady?
What is the name of the largest water slide at Typhon Lagoon?
What two colonial cities inspired the design of The Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom?
What is the hat size of the Mickey Mouse ears atop the Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park’s landmark, the Eiffel Tower?
The Magic of Disney Animation at Disney’s-MGM Studios Theme Park is narrated by two famous personalities? Who are they?
What Disney World resort is home to Doubloon Lagoon, a themed swimming pool with a serpent?
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Answers
Mickey’s Birthdayland (his 60th), 11- Mexico-Norway-China-Germany-Italy-USA-Japan-Morocco-France-England-Canada, The Miss Tilly, The Contemporary, Walt’s wife Lillian, Humunga Kowagunga, Philadelphia & Boston, 342 1/2, Robin Williams & Walter Cronkite, Magic Journeys.
I thought it might be interesting to have a general quiz of our American government’s history, past and present. As in all of my other quizzes the answers will be posted at the end of the post. I scored a measly 5 correct answers because some of these questions are a bit silly. Have fun with it.
What two states claim the designation of being the Sunshine State?
What US city is almost at the same latitude as Mexico City?
What often played American song’s tune, meter, and verse were borrowed from an English drinking song?
What does verdigris have to do with the Statue of Liberty?
What is the most stolen street sign in New York City?
What is the only place below sea level in the US that isn’t located in the California desert?
What is the name of the boulevard on which the gold depository is located at Fort Knox?
What name was originally considered by Walt Disney for Disneyland?
In 1992 the governor of Hawaii received a petition containing 30,000 signatures to change the name of the island of Maui. What was that suggested name?
How many chests of tea were dumped overboard at the Boston Tea Party on 12/16,1773?
Answers
Florida & South Dakota, Hilo Hawaii, The Star-Spangled Banner, It’s the green patina on the copper metal, Hooker Place, New Orleans, Bullion Boulevard, Mickey Mouse Park, Gilligan’s Island, 342.
To say I’m pleased about the current situation in our country is the biggest understatement of my life. I’m not going to list all of the wonderful things I’ve been seeing and hearing because it would only get me inundated by hateful trolls of the liberal persuasion. This is a country that leads and has always been a source of “firsts”. It has always been the “first” to initiate programs and to do many things that the rest of the world just loves to endlessly talk about. Here’s what a little bit of my research found out about some other “firsts” here in the good old U.S. of A.
The world’s “first” underwater tunnel., the Holland, opened in 1927 in New York under the Hudson River.
Tiros I was the “first” weather satellite launched.
Rev. John Mitchell of Oklahoma, in 1909, organized the “first” troop of the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1958 the “first” commercial jet service, National Airlines, began regular flights between New York and Miami.
In 1995 the Walt Disney company released Toy Story, the “first” film entirely computer-generated.
In 1799 a 12-year-old North Carolina boy discovered gold for the “first” time.
In 1909 Admiral Robert Peary was the “first” man to reach the North Pole.
In 1927 Time magazine’s Man of the Year was Charles Lindbergh for his “first” solo transatlantic flight to Paris.
In 1914 the city of Cleveland installed the “first” traffic light.
The famous four-word phrase, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, was used for the “first” time in York, Pennsylvania in 1777.
Admiral Robert Peary
I could have listed many more ‘firsts”, but I think I’ve made my point. We Americans began as over-achievers when we landed in Plymouth and hopefully it will never stop. Let’s now be the first major power in history to clean up the mess of our Federal Government and begin to once again overachieve.
Today’s post is going to do the unimaginable and permit us to time travel back 84 years to 1940. This is going to be a rambling narrative of things that were happening at the time and will start with the top five movies of the day: Boom Town, Fantasia, His Girl Friday, Kitty Foyle, and Knute Rockne All-American. Strange as it seems I recently saw a couple of these movies being streamed and I spent an hour and a half watching His Girl Friday with Cary Grant. After all those years it was still fun to watch because Cary Grant was effing amazing.
Ginger Rogers earned the best actress at the Academy Awards. The movie Grapes of Wrath was huge, and Walt Disney’s animation began to become a force in the movie industry with Pinocchio and Fantasia. Tom and Jerry weren’t far behind with Hanna-Barbera releasing Puss Gets the Boot. The year also brought us two future celebrities: Smokey Robinson born on February 19 and Peter Fonda born February 23. With the Great Depression over, 1940 consumer food intake became more dependent on canned foods such as soup, meat and vegetables.
Air travel was on the rise and the NFL’s Green Bay Packers became the first team to travel by air. The TWA Transcontinental Airline introduced the Stratoliner to help promote more travel across the continent. The United States had yet to be drawn into the war in Europe. The 1939-1940 World’s Fair was held at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in New York and was the largest world’s fair of all time.
In the world of sports baseball rapidly was spreading in popularity across the country. The Negro National League was steadily becoming more popular with teams like the Washington Homestead Grays (league champs), the Baltimore Elite Giants, and the Newark Eagles playing to large crowds.
Knute Rockne ruled college football with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers being named the national champs. The Heisman Trophy winner was Michigan halfback Tom Harmon. The NFL Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins 73-0, in one of the most one-sided games in professional football history.
In the early 1940’s cars began to take on a lower, longer and broader look. This new look fit in well with the luxury cars that were beginning to be produced. They were the La Salle Series 52, the Lincoln Zephyr V-12, and the Packard Custom Super-8 180.The Pennsylvania Turnpike was opened on October 1, 1940, and the first Los Angeles freeway was dedicated in December.
The entertainment industry released the top hits of 1940: In the Mood-Glenn Miller, Frensi-Arte Shaw, Only Forever-Bing Crosby, and I’ll Never Smile Again-Tommy Dorsey. The talk radio shows of 1940 listed The Adventures of Ellery Queen, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, and Fibber McGee and Molly. And last but not least Franklin Delano Roosevelt hit the campaign trail in an attempt for a third term.
Now for some of the important stuff. The US population was 132 million. The average salary for a full-time employee was $1200 a year with the minimum wage of $.30 an hour. A loaf of bread was $.08, a pound of bacon was $.27, a pound of butter was $.36, a dozen eggs were $.33, a gallon of milk was $.26, a pound of coffee which $.21, 5 pounds of sugar was $.26, 10 pounds of potatoes was $.24, gasoline was $.11 a gallon, movie tickets were $.24, postage stamps were $.03, and an average car cost $990.00, and a single-family home was on average $2938.00.
I am feeling extremely miscellaneous today. Here are 15 miscellaneous truths that you didn’t know you wanted to know. Enjoy!
Mount Baker in Washington state is the world record holder for the most snowfall in one season. In the winter of 1998-99, the ski resort recorded 1140 inches of snow.
The first chalkboard for classroom use was recorded in 1714.
The first read recorded e-mail was sent in 1972.
Rod Stewart once dug graves for a living.
Beginning with Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, footballs used in the big game have been marked with synthetic DNA to prevent sports-memorabilia fraud. Souvenirs from the 2000 Summer Olympics were also marked with human DNA in the ink.
The last letter added to the English alphabet was “J”.
A typical American family goes through approximately 6000 pounds of food in any given year.
Prior to James Madison, US presidents wore knee britches instead of long pants.
A Twinkie contains 60% air.
The original name of the game volleyball was “mintonette”. It was created in 1895 when a YMCA gym teacher borrowed from basketball, tennis, and handball to create a new game.
Thomas Morgan and Elizabeth Caerleon were married for 81 years. When she died on January 19, 1891, their aggregate age was 209 years, 262 days.
Englishman were once legally barred from witnessing childbirth.
The stripes on a tigers face are used for identification, since no two tigers sport the same stripe pattern.
The first fairy tale adapted into cartoon by Walt Disney was Little Red Riding Hood, released in 1922.
Francis Scott Key wrote the lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner to the tune of an 18th-century British drinking song.
I’m not a lover of celebrities because in all cases they are as flawed and screwed up as the rest of us. Being famous just makes their activities even worse than what they actually are because the media just won’t let go of things. Here are a few celebrity facts that most of you should find interesting. As I’m told so often, “everyone loves celebrities”. Well almost everyone.
In 2006, William Shatner was paid $25,000.00 by an online casino for a kidney stone he had recently passed.
Charlie Chapin once placed third in a Charlie Chaplin look-alike contest.
Martha Stewart once dated actor Anthony Hopkins but dumped him because she couldn’t separate him from Hannible Lecter, his character in Silence of the Lambs.
Elvis Presley got a “C” in music in eight grade and was told by the teacher that he had no singing talent.
Actress Cybil Shepherd dated Elvis in the 70’s and hinted on the Oprah Winfrey Show that she had to teach him how to perform cunninlinqus.
Mickey Mouse creator Walt Disney was afraid of mice.
Actress Drew Barrymore began drinking at age nine, smoking weed at ten and snorting cocaine at twelve. She then entered rehab at age thirteen, the youngest star ever to do so.
False web rumors began to circulate in 2005 that TV star Jaleel White (Urkel on Family Matters) had committed suicide and left a note that read “Did I do that?”, Urkel’s catchphrase.
Nobel Prize winning biologist Francis Crick was high on LSD when he discovered the double helix structure of DNA.
Actress Rebecca Gayheart while on her cell phone stuck and killed a nine-year old girl in LA in 2001. She pled guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to three years’ probation and a fine.
WE’RE LOOKING FOR VOLUNTEERS WHO WANT TO BE FAMOUS
Since the weather for the last two weeks has been iffy, I’ve been forced to binge watch a boatload of movies. Some were good, some were bad, and some were just awful. As much as I enjoy the current crop of movies with all of their special effects, I still enjoy going back 40 or 50 years and watching some of the classics. I hope the weather changes soon because truthfully, I’m getting really tired of watching movies. With that thought in mind I decided to offer up some good old movie trivia facts. I hope you find a few things that surprise you.
We all loved that high squeaky voice that Mickey Mouse had in his early movies. The person responsible for that voice is none other than Walt Disney himself.
In a charity event in 1984, Elton John was featured as ‘Mother Goose’. Sir John Gielgud costarred as the Egg Yolk.
In the Muppet Movie, Miss Piggy’s singing voice was dubbed by Johnny Mathis.
In his early years, Dean Martin, boxed under the name Kid Crochet.
In the 1939 film, The Return of Dr. X, one of the zombies was played by Humphrey Bogart.
Jor-el
In the 1931 film Public Enemy starring Jimmy Cagney, the musical theme of the movie was “I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles”.
The famous actor John Barrymore had a vulture for a pet that would sit on his knee and hiss.
The beautiful Belgian born Audrey Hepburn changed her name from Edda van Heemstra upon her arrival in Hollywood.
Temperamental star Marlon Brando’s was paid 3.7 million dollars for his brief appearance as Jor-el in the first Superman movie. He also sued the production company and received another 15 million for his share of the box-office receipts.
In the 1920’s film Every Sailor, one of the beautiful and talented chorus girls in the show was Jimmy Cagney.
I stumbled upon a stack of old books recently which were reviews of 1940, 1941, 1945, and 1946. I thought it would be kind of fun to drop back into 1940 and get a handle on how things were then right in the middle of a war. It might give us a little context that we don’t have these days except for the damn pandemic.
A couple of famous celebrities were born in 1940, Jack Nicholas on January 21, and John Hurt on January 22. In 1940, Whitman Samplers were the cats-meow for that special date. The men wore wool suits and women wore uncomfortable dresses in order to fit in with current styles. Formal dancing, accompanied by the big band sounds of the day, was always a good way to conclude a celebrity event. Also, roller skating was a popular activity as well as school and church outings. Even in those activities men usually dressed in suits and ties while women dressed a bit more casually.
Now let me supply you with a few movies of that period that were tops at the box office. Boomtown, Fantasia, His Girl Friday, Knute Rockne All American, The Mark of Zorro, The Grapes of Wrath, Northwest Passage, and a kids favorite, Pinocchio. Walt Disney’s Fantasia initially was a financial disappointment. However, in subsequent years the film was edited several times, and eventually became one of the most noted and classic of all the Disney films
Fran Tarkington, a well-known football player was born on February 3. Smokey Robinson rolled in on February 19, and Peter Fonda followed on February 23. A more infamous birthday girl was born on March 26, good old liberal Nancy Pelosi.
With the depression over, consumer food intake became more dependent on canned foods such as soup, meat, and vegetables. Before Spam there was Prem, a tasty and delicious meat made of genuine sugar-cured pork.
The war in Europe continued. 1940 was a pivotal year for England when on July 10, Britain’s factories and military facilities were being bombed by Hitler’s Air Force. The ban on bombing British cities was lifted by Hitler and the blitz began and continued off and on throughout the year, destroying many parts of the cities. Hitler also began marching west and slowly but surely began taking over most of Europe. The British troops were contained at Dunkirk and due to aid from a massive flotilla of private boats were able to be saved from destruction and returned to Britain.
The 1939-1940 World’s Fair was held at Flushing Meadows in New York and was the largest world’s fair of all-time. It featured exhibits like a keyboard operated speech synthesizer, color photography, nylon, air-conditioning, the View Master and the later unsuccessful Smell-O-Vision, among many others.
Sports checking revealed the National Football League, where the Chicago Bears of the Western division defeated the Washington Redskins of the Eastern division 73-0, in one of the most one-sided games in professional football history.
Alex Trebek was born on July 22 and Ringo Starr was born on July 7. The Saturday Evening Post magazine was the biggest seller in those days.
Roadways would be constructed at a fast pace. The Pennsylvania Turnpike, the first tunneled United States superhighway, opened on October 1, 1940. The Arroyo-Seco Parkway was dedicated in December and became the first Los Angeles freeway. The Queens-Midtown Tunnel in New York opened on November 15. Unfortunately, it was also the year that the Tacoma Narrows bridge collapsed only months after its completion, earning the nickname of “Galloping Gertie”.
Last but not least let’s address some food issues. On May 15 the first McDonald’s restaurant opened in San Bernardino, California by brothers Dick and Mac McDonald. A loaf of bread cost $.08 cents, bacon $.27 a pound, butter was $.36 a pound, and eggs $.33 a dozen. A 5-pound bag of sugar was $.26, gasoline was $.11 a gallon, postage stamps were $.03, a new car averaged $990, and last but not least a single-family home listed at $2938.00. The average salary for a full-time employee was $1200.00 a year with a minimum wage of $.30 an hour. The US population at that time was 132,122,000 and FDR was our president.
Since this week has been so traumatic and disturbing I’ve decided to lay some more really useless information on you. I’m just not up to writing anything too serious today because I’m still a little unfocused with everything that’s been going on. These facts are somewhat odd but still interesting and I hope you enjoy them.
Cats urine glows under a black light.
Blueberry jelly beans were especially made for Ronald Reagan.
In every episode of Seinfeld there’s a superman somewhere.
Checkmate comes from the Persian phrase "shah mat" which means the king is dead.
Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds while dogs have only ten.
91% of Americans lie daily.
When you sneeze water can come out of your mouth at speeds of 60mph.
Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
On a Canadian 2 dollar bill the flag flying over the parliament building appears to be an American flag. It’s actually Canada’s earlier flag of the Red Ensign.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
Almonds are a member of the peach family.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
Sloths are actually fast, they just prefer to move at a slow pace.
There are only two families who produced a father and son who were US presidents: Bush and Adams.
A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
Humans and horses are the only two animals that have hymens.
Polish is the only word in the English language that has two completely different meanings when the first letter is capitalized.
The longest word in the English language is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
Margaret Kerry was the live action model for Walt Disney’s Tinkerbell.
The average human lies at least twice a day.
Before Late Night Television, Jay Leno appeared in an episode of Laverne and Shirley.
In "American Graffiti", the license plate on Richard Dreyfusses’ car is changed every time you see it.
That should just about do it for today. I’m on my way to begin the search for another vehicle for the better-half. She’s still in morning for the loss of her little yellow car and the only way to help her along is to find another car as soon as possible. I’m actually surprised she didn’t want to bring the remains home so we could bury it in the yard next to our previous pets. She gets attached to the weirdest crap. It can be amazing, unbelievable, and disturbing all at the same time.
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