Trivia Dominoes: Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia

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45149

Major Franklin Delano Marion Burns (aka “Ferret Face”) was ranking surgeon and second-in-command at the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. Early on in the series he had an ongoing affair with Major Margaret Houlihan which was a poorly-kept secret throughout the Army, though the two were convinced that nobody else was aware.

His character was portrayed by Robert Duvall in the 1970 film and Larry Linville during the first five seasons of the TV series MAS*H, who once described Burns as a man with “a mind that had stripped its gears”.

45150

Cream’s album *Disraeli Gears *was recorded in just five days in 1967, from May 11 to May 15, at Atlantic Studios in New York. “We worked very fast,” Bruce says. “We didn’t know that you were meant to take months and years to make an album. A lot of the tracks were first and second takes.”

45151

The name of the Atlantic Ocean was first used in Ancient Greece around 450 BC, and derives its meaning from Greek mythology. In the Greek language, “Atlantic” is loosely translated to mean “the island of Atlas” or “sea of Atlas.”

45152

The term “atlas” for a collection of maps was originally coined by geographer Gerardus Mercator in 1595, when he published the book Atlas Sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura (“Atlas or cosmographical meditations upon the creation of the universe, and the universe as created”). Though Mercator’s original book was not just a collection of maps, but a treatise on the history and creation of the universe, the term soon became specifically applied to map collections.

Mercator chose the name to honor the Greek Titan Atlas, whom he consiered to be the first great geographer.

45153

Angelo Siciliano was an Italian immigrant who became interested in bodybuilding as a child. After supposedly having sand kicked in his face by a stronger man,* he developed the concept of “dynamic tension” and, after changing his name to Charles Atlas, became the most famous body builder starting in 1921, when he was named “America’s most perfectly developed man.” His training courses – complete with the bully kicking sand in the face of a 97-pound weakling – became the most popular in the world and the ads were ubiquitous in comic books and magazines.

Among those who used his training were boxers Max Baer, Rocky Marciano, and Joe Louis, plus actor David Prowse, the body of Darth Vader.

*as he told the story

45154

British actor and bodybuilder David Prowse spoke Darth Vader’s dialogue during the filming of George Lucas’s Star Wars, and learned only later that Vader’s lines were to be dubbed by American actor James Earl Jones. Due to failing health, Prowse made his last announced public appearance in October 2016.

45155

The American Film Institute listed Darth Vader as the third greatest movie villain in cinema history on 100 Years… 100 Heroes and Villains, behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates.

45156

The top three heroes on the list of America’s 100 Greatest Heroes & Villains are Atticus Finch, Indiana Jones, and James Bond. As noted above, Hannibal Lecter is the #1 villain; Clarice Starling is #6 on the heroes list.

45157

In the 1970s, director George Lucas owned an Alaskan Malamute dog named Indiana. The dog provided inspiration for two of Lucas’s characters:

His appearance (and the fact that he would sit in the passenger seat of Lucas’s car, like a co-pilot) inspired the development of Chewbacca in Star Wars.

And, the dog’s name was borrowed for the name of Indiana Jones. In the third Indiana Jones film, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), a lampshade is hung on this fact, when Indiana’s father, Dr. Henry Jones Sr. (played by Sean Connery) clarifies that Indiana’s given name is actually Henry, and “we named the dog Indiana.”

45158

The Civil War memorial in Indianapolis, Indiana is the nation’s largest. It is only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty, and includes your choice of an elevator or stairs to reach the summit, with remarkable views out over the entire city.

45159

R. Dean Taylor wrote and composed the song Indiana Wants Me after watching the movie Bonnie and Clyde.In addition to writing, composing, and originally recording the selection, Taylor produced the record and arranged it in collaboration with David Van De Pitte.

45160

“My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean” is a traditional Scottish folk song. It may be a veiled tribute to the exiled Charles Edward Stuart (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’).

A pre-fame (and pre-Ringo) Beatles recorded a rock 'n roll version as “My Bonnie” with Tony Sheridan in 1961 under the name the Beat Brothers; it went to #5 in West Germany. It has also been covered by Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Bing Crosby, Bobby Darin and Jerry Lee Lewis.

45161

Early on the morning of Nov. 23, 1976, cops were called to Elvis Presley’s Graceland home in Memphis to deal with a drunk man carrying a gun. The fact that he turned out to be Jerry Lee Lewis didn’t stop him from being arrested amid accusations of planning to shoot Elvis.

It was actually the second attempt by Lewis – known as “The Killer” – to enter Graceland that week. Around the same time the previous evening, he’d rolled up in a Rolls-Royce, only to be told by gate guard Harold Loyd that Presley was asleep. Lewis offered polite thanks and drove off – but later crashed his car and was cited for driving under the influence and without a license.

On the second night, he arrived in a brand-new Lincoln Continental, displaying a brand-new pistol on the dashboard, and displayed a much more negative state of mind. “He was outta his mind, man,” Loyd said later. “He was screamin’, hollerin’ and cussin’, ‘Get on the goddamn phone. I know you got an intercom system. Call up there and tell Elvis I wanna visit with him. Who the hell does he think he is? Tell him the Killer’s here to see him.’”

Perhaps understandably, Loyd reacted with some panic, and, on calling the house, was told to relay his information to the police. While six patrol cars were dispatched, Loyd said Presley himself called the guard house, while he was watching events unfold on CCTV. “[H]e used to stutter a lot when he got upset – ‘Wh-wh-what the hell’s goin’ on down there, Harold?’” the security man recalled. “I said, ‘Well, Jerry Lee Lewis is sittin’ in his car down here outside the gate, wavin’ a derringer pistol and raisin’ hell.’” On being told, “Oh, I-I-I don’t wanna talk to that crazy sonofabitch,” Presley asked Loyd to call the cops; and on being told it had already been done, added: “Good. When they get there tell 'em to lock his butt up and throw the goddamn key away. Okay?”

Arresting officer Billy J. Kirkpatrick later reported that Lewis had broken a window of his car while throwing an empty champagne bottle through it, and then suffered a facial injury on the broken glass. The pistol was found to be loaded and cocked, and he was arrested for carrying the weapon and being drunk in a public place – although in the end, the charges mostly went away.

45162

Jerry Lee Lewis was born into a poor farm family in eastern Louisiana. His parents mortgaged their farm to buy him a piano. In his youth, he played piano with his cousins Mickey Gilley (later a popular country music singer) and Jimmy Swaggart (yes, that Jimmy Swaggart.

45163

In 1930, Sinclair Lewis became the first writer from the United States (and the first from the Americas) to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. While his novels (including Babbitt, Elmer Gantry and Main Street) are not often read today, he was very influential in his time.

45164

The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet in Solna, Sweden (about 15 miles northwest of Saltsjöbaden) awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

45165

Between 1750 and 1850, the population in Sweden doubled; mass emigration to America became the only way to prevent famine. Between 1850 and 1910 more than one million Swedes moved to the United States. As a result, in the early 20th century, more Swedes lived in Chicago than in Gothenburg, which was Sweden’s second largest city.

45166

Notable Americans of Swedish descent include actress Maud Adams, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, composer Leroy Anderson, actress Candice Bergen, author Ray Bradbury, football hotshot Tom Brady, actor James Coburn, actor Matt Damon, sportscaster Dick Enberg, actress Edie Falco, musician Jerry Garcia, actor Larry Hagman, skater Dorothy Hamill, artist Claes Oldenburg, scientist Glenn T. Seaborg, director Steven Soderbergh, singer Taylor Swift and Chief Justice of the United States Earl Warren.

45167

Actress Beatrice Arthur, of Maude and other television shows, was a US Marine. She was a truck driver and typist during WWII, and in 1944 was discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant.

45168

In the 1980s, Beatrice Foods, which had traditionally been a manufacturer of food products, diversified into a wide range of unrelated industries through acquisitions, including STP automotive products, Avis Rent-a-Car, Playtex, Jensen Electronics, and World Dryer commercial hand dryers. The company ran a short-lived corporate advertising campaign, with a “We’re Beatrice” tag placed at the end of ads for their various products.

Beatrice had taken on a huge amount of debt during their diversification program, which proved to be unsustainable; by 1987, and the conglomerate had been broken up and sold off in pieces. Many of the original Beatrice Foods businesses wound up under the ownership of ConAgra Foods.