# Trivia Dominoes: Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657 "2010-02-04T08:12:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 123
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2441 "2010-03-30T14:47:27Z")
The Irish writer James Joyce published _Finnegan’s Wake_ in 1939. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2442 "2010-03-30T15:03:44Z")
Finnegan’s Wake is a traditional Celtic Irish folk song. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2443 "2010-03-30T15:10:51Z")
The Boston Celtics take their name from the Original Celtics, a New York based barnstorming basketball team of the 1920s. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2444 "2010-03-30T15:15:10Z")
Barnstorming was a popular form of entertainment in the 1920s in which stunt pilots would perform tricks with airplanes, either individually or in groups called a flying circus. Barnstorming was the first major form of civil aviation in the history of flight. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2445 "2010-03-30T16:24:24Z")
Movies about barnstorming include “Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies”, with Cliff Robertson, and most famously, “The Great Waldo Pepper” with Robert Redford. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2446 "2010-03-30T16:29:23Z")
Robert Heinlein’s story “Waldo” is the source of “waldo” – a term for a remote manipulator. The story featured such devices, operated by the title character. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2447 "2010-03-30T16:30:49Z")
_Jonathan Livingston Seagull_ author (and world class douche) Richard Bach made his living as a barnstormer for a while; his books _Nothing by Chance_, _Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah_, and _Biplane_ (among others) all draw on this experience. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2448 "2010-03-30T16:40:59Z")
Richard Bach had previously been an F-84 fighter pilot with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. His unit was deployed to France during the Berlin crisis, and the experience was the subject of his first (and by far most readable) book, _Stranger to the Ground_. Most recently, after decades of douchedom, he’s been writing fiction about anthropomorphized ferrets. He also claims, unverifiably, to be the great etc. grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2449 "2010-03-30T16:45:37Z")
The last song by composer Israel Bailin (better known as Irving Berlin) to reach the Billboard Top Ten in the U.S. was Dutch singer Taco’s 1983 rendition of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.” Incidentally, Taco wasn’t a stage name. His real name is Taco Ockerse. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2450 "2010-03-30T16:48:42Z")
_Puttin’ On the Ritz_ was previously used in the movie and decades later became the showstopper number in the musical version of Mel Brooks’ _Young Frankenstein_. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2451 "2010-03-30T17:36:20Z")
Shuler Hensley, who played Frankenstein’s Monster in the Broadway cast of _Young Frankenstein_, played the same role in the Hugh Jackman film _Van Helsing_. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2452 "2010-03-30T18:39:22Z")
North Carolina Senator Heath Shuler was a star quarterback at the University of Tennessee, but a complete bust as a pro quarterback for the Washington Redskins. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2453 "2010-03-30T19:31:14Z")
The Washington Redskins moved from Boston after the 1936 season, and picked TCU quarterback/defensive back/punter Sammy Baugh in the 1937 NFL draft. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2454 "2010-03-30T19:35:33Z")
Jay Berwanger, a halfback from the University of Chicago and Heisman Trophy winner (before it was named the Heisman Trophy) was the first player chosen in the first NFL draft in 1936. He chose not to play pro football. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2455 "2010-03-30T19:53:13Z")
“Chicago Pile-1”, the world’s first artificial nuclear reactor, was built in a racquets court under the abandoned west stands at the University of Chicago’s football field. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2456 "2010-03-30T20:16:05Z")
The University of Chicago’s football field was named for Amos Alonzo Stagg, their former coach. In addition to being an All-American football player and successful coach, Stagg also participated in the first public basketball game, at Springfield, Mass. in 1892. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2457 "2010-03-30T20:30:17Z")
Because German universities were said to have the finest research libraries, when John D. Rockefeller endowed the University of Chicago he had the entire catalogs of the libraries at the University of Berlin and the University of Heidelberg duplicated (sometimes requiring translation of the books into English) to form the basis of their library collection. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2458 "2010-03-30T20:41:58Z")
The University of Chicago, once a college football powerhouse and a member of what is now the Big Ten Conference, dropped the sport entirely in 1929 because of concerns over academic priorities. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2459 "2010-03-30T20:51:07Z")
Composer Raymond Scott’s “Powerhouse” was regularly used in Warner Brothers cartoons, especially during scenes set inside factories. The metal trio Rush included a snippet of “Powerhouse” in their instrumental piece “La Villa Stranglato.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657/2460 "2010-03-30T23:40:50Z")
Comic artist Basil Wolverton made his reputation by creating bizarre one-off characters like Lena the Hyena, but his best-known regular comic, _Powerhouse Pepper_, a boxer who spoke in rhyme. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=122) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trivia-dominoes-play-off-the-last-bit-of-trivia/527657.md?page=124)