Here is a trivia challenge I included as part of poster sessions I have presented about my reel librarian research. (Scroll down to Part II to check your answers.) Enjoy!
Part I: The questions
Question 1:
What was Mary Hatch’s fate in It’s a Wonderful Life, after George Bailey was granted the wish that he had never been born?
a. She married Sam Wainwright
b. She became a dancehall girl
c. She drowned in the lake
d. She became a spinster librarian, complete with glasses and a bun
Question 2:
What is the message on the license plate of the librarian (played by Rene Russo) in the 1989 baseball movie Major League?
a. LIBRARY
b. READ
c. LUVLIBRY
d. BKSR4ME
Question 3:
What film features a library dance number to the song “Marian the Librarian”?
a. The Music Man
b. Good News
c. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
d. Oklahoma!
Question 4:
Which of the following films does NOT feature a librarian?
a. Party Girl
b. The Gun in Betty Lou’s Handbag
c. The Mummy
d. The Bourne Identity
Question 5:
What actor played the advertising librarian-turned-adventurer in the film Joe Versus the Volcano?
a. Noah Wyle
b. Jason Robards
c. Tom Hanks
d. Tom Wilkinson
Question 6:
What actress, well known for playing one of Bob Newhart’s TV wives, also played a librarian in the 1962 film Rome Adventure?
a. Mary Frann
b. Suzanne Pleshette
c. Vera Miles
d. Donna Reed
Question 7:
What “Laugh In” regular played a librarian in the 1978 film Foul Play?
a. Jo Anne Worley
b. Judy Carne
c. Goldie Hawn
d. Julie Christie
Question 8:
What 1957 movie stars Katharine Hepburn as a librarian?
a. Adam’s Rib
b. Desk Set
c. The Music Man
d. The Man Who Never Was
Part II: The answers
Question 1 answer:
Correct Answer: d
Extra Tidbits: Sam Wainwright, mentioned in (a), was interested in Mary; Violet (played by Gloria Grahame) did become a dancehall girl (b) in the film’s nightmarish second half; and George wasn’t there to save his brother, Harry, who did drown in the lake (c) in the second half.
Question 2 answer:
Correct Answer: b
Extra Tidbits: There is a close-up of her license plate in the film. I made up all the other choices!
Question 3 answer:
Correct Answer: a
Extra Tidbits: Good News (b) does feature a library dance number to the song “The French Lesson.” The other choices are musicals, but they do not feature librarians.
Question 4 answer:
Correct Answer: d
Extra Tidbits: The first three choices all feature librarians as major characters.
Question 5 answer:
Correct Answer: c
Extra Tidbits: Noah Wyle (a) played the librarian in The Librarian TV movies; and Jason Robards (b) played a small-town librarian in the film Something Wicked This Way Comes.
Question 6 answer:
Correct Answer: b
Extra Tidbits: As far as I know, Mary Frann (a) has never played a librarian, although she did play Bob Newhart’s wife in the 1980’s series “Newhart.” Vera Miles (c) played a librarian in The FBI Story and Donna Reed (d) played the immortal spinster librarian in the nightmarish second half of It’s a Wonderful Life.
Question 7 answer:
Correct Answer: c
Extra Tidbits: Jo Anne Worley (a) and Judy Carne (c) were both regulars on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In,” but as far as I know, have never played reel librarians.
Question 8 answer:
Correct Answer: b
Extra Tidbits: Katharine Hepburn starred in Adam’s Rib (b); The Music Man (c) features the well-known “Marian the Librarian” (played by Shirley Jones); and The Man Who Never Was also features a librarian (played by Gloria Grahame).
REEL LIBRARIANS 