Trivia Dominoes: Play Off the Last Bit of Trivia

La Ronde, which opened as the midway for Expo '67 in Montreal, is now one of the parks in the Six Flags chain.

Director Max Ophuls was famous for his long tracking shots and was considered by Andrew Sarris as one of his Pantheon Directors in The American Cinema, despite the fact that he made most of his films in Europe. His best known movies – often considered classics of cinema, include Lola Montes, Letter from an Unknown Woman, Madame de . . . , Le Plaisir and Le Ronde.

In Salman Rushdie’s novel Shalimar the Clown, the character Maximilian Ophuls is an American diplomat.

American diplomats are supervised by the United States Department of State, now led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. John Jay was the first Secretary of State. Henry Kissinger is the only person who, in that capacity, acknowledged receipt of a presidential resignation, when Richard Nixon left office on Aug. 9, 1974.

Kissinger also officially received the resignation of Nixon’s vice-president, Sprio Agnew, in 1972. Nixon and Agnew were the only president and vice president elected together who both failed to complete their terms of office.

The classic 1909 Tin Pan Alley song “I Wonder Who’s Kissing Her Now” has been recorded by numerous artists, notably Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

(That’s pretty tenuous, but I like it. :slight_smile: )

In the early 90s, Schenectady Mayor Frank Duci tried to get the Emmy Awards to be held in his city by writing a letter to Frank Sinatra asking him to use his influence. In the letter, Duci mentioned an acquaintance in common: mobster Paul “Legs” Dicocco, who had gone to jail for perjury.

He got no reply.

Duci was never known as the smartest mayor around.

Nitpick: That was in 1973.

Paul Revere was a noted dentist, silversmith, patriot and member of the Sons of Liberty before his famous April 1775 ride to warn of the march of British troops to Lexington and Concord.

Paul Revere was played by William Shatner in the 1970s miniseries The Bastard (based on the first of the Kent Family Chronicles novels by John Jakes). Both Shatner and Revere have roots in Quebec.

Longfellow wrote Paul Revere’s Ride in 1860, so it was true at the time that “hardly a man is now alive/ who remembers that famous day and year” of April 18, 1775.

A “Nantucket Sleighride” was a whaling term for when the whale was harpooned and then dragged the whaleboat along with it until it tired. The term was used as the title of the second album by Mountain.

[del]Revere Beach, just north of Boston, was the first official public beach in the US, established in 1895, aided by the construction of the narrow-gauge Boston, Revere Beach, and Lynn Railroad. Once home to an amusement park, it is now the home of a major sand-sculpting festival.[/del]

Leroy Anderson composed “Sleighride” as one of his many contributions to the repertoire of Arthur Fiedler’s Boston Pops, most of which have memorable melodies. Others include “Syncopated Clock”, “Belle of the Ball”, “Jazz Pizzicato”, “Trumpeter’s Lullaby”, “Chicken Reel”, and “Fiddle Faddle”.

Fiddle Faddle is a candy made of caramel coated popcorn and peanuts; it’s very similar to the much older Cracker Jack though it’s generally considered the lesser and it’s usually sold in discount stores and it doesn’t have a famous logo like Sailor Jack and his dog Bingo (the Cracker Jack mascots).

“Fiddle” and “Faddle” were Secret Service code names for two women who were part of JFK’s entourage while he was traveling. They usually were assigned quarters near the President, and it was determined officially that they had no discernable duties.

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[/ul]Mark Goodson and Paul Todman were pioneering producers in the TV Game show genre, with such shows as Beat the Clock, What’s My Line?, The Price is Right, To Tell the Truth, and I’ve Got a Secret.

The United States Secret Service was originally founded in 1865 to fight counterfeiting; it was estimated that up to a third of the U.S. currency in circulation during the Civil War was counterfeit.

The 1957-59 TV series “The Silent Service” documented the underreported history of the US Navy submarine fleet in World War II. A number of episodes, each telling the story of one sub and one crew, included telegenic scenes of emergency surfacing operations.

The film U-571 caused quite a stir for its portrayal of US Navy submariners capturing a naval Enigma machine and code books, thereby breaking the code and helping win the war.
In real life, not only did America barely have a submarine presence in the Atlantic, but the first capture of an Enigma machine was done by the *Brits *in 1941. Then again, and again, and again - 13 times total throughout the war, compared to one by the Americans… in June 1944. By that time, German naval transmissions were almost plain text to the Allies already, and the u-boot menace had long since passed.

In the Batman comic books, the Riddler’s real name is Edward Nigma – E. Nigma.

Nitpick: Todman’s first (nick)name was Bill.

Playing off E. Nigma: Frank Gorshin and John Astin both played the Riddler on the Adam West-headlined Batman series.