Called Elizabeth... Sometimes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Elizabeth Taylor

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in Hampstead, London, England. She has become legendary because of her unusual beauty, an enormous range of acting roles, and her many marriages. She has become famous, among others, for "National Velvet," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Butterfield 8," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf." She is famous for saying, "I have a woman's body and a child's emotions." This recognition brings to mind her affection for and friendship with Michael Jackson.

Answer: Elizabeth Blackwell

Elizabeth Blackwell, originally born in England, knew her share of family trauma--six of her sisters and two brothers died when she was young. She came from a strong Quaker background which supported the equality of women. When, finally, she applied to medical school in New York, the other students thought it was a prank. She was treated dismissively but persevered to earn her medical degree in 1849.
Since she was prevented from practicing in the US, she was advised to go to Paris. There she came down with a major eye infection, had a eye removed and a glass eye implanted.
Always a fighter, she co-founded the New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children in 1857. She was active in training women to be nurses in the American Civil War.
Interestingly, it was in Spain that both her guide on female education guide and her autobiography were published.
She died in 1910 following a devastating stroke.

Answer: Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton had a long and highly productive life from 1815 to 1902.
She was always a fighter for equality, and once is said to have said that the word 'obey' should be taken out of the marriage ceremony. Stanton and Lucretia Motts organized the 1848 Seneca Falls Women's Rights Convention, which passed spawned the woman's suffrage movement.
Stanton, ever the writer, worked closely with Susan B. Anthony.
In 1890 Stanton became the first president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association; within two years Susan B. Anthony became president. Stanton's autobiography 'Eighty Years and More' appeared in 1898.
She is famous for writing: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal," a feminist echo of the United States "Declaration of Independence."

Answer: Elizabeth Ruth Grable

This is Betty Grable who, in her bathing suit picture, became known as the pin-up girl during World War II. She starred in "The Gay Divorcee," "How to Marry a Millionaire," and "Moon Over Miami."
Deborah Kerr was magnificent in "The King and I" "From Here to Eternity,""An Affair to Remember" and many other films. She died in October 2007. Rita Hayworth was one of the amazingly talented and beautiful actresses known as "The Pin-Up Girl." She starred in "Separate Tables," "Salome," "Trouble Down Under." Susan Hayward is best known for her Oscar-winning turn in "I Want to Live!" (1958).

Answer: Fry

Elizabeth Gurney Fry was a Quaker reformer, especially of prisons. Called the "Angel of Newgate," she worked particularly in behalf of women prisoners. At her death, people stood in silence. Elizabeth Warren was a contemporary lawyer and financial reformer. Elizabeth Dole (Mary Elizabeth Hanford "Liddy" Dole) is the famous senator and prior head of the American Red Cross and the wife of Bob Dole. Also from North Carolina, Elizabeth Edwards (originally born Mary Elizabeth Anania) is a lawyer and advocate for health reform.

Interestingly, Elizabeth Edwards who was known as Elizabeth Anania only took the name of Edwards in 1996 when her son Wade died. She is said to have said that she only took the name of Edwards in honor of her son. In "Ms Magazine," Spring 2004, she openly stated, "I took my son's name....I didn't take my husband's name."

Answer: Betty Friedan

Bette Friedan or Bettye Naomi Goldstein authored "The Feminine Mystique", first published in 1963. It is a study which considers women's experience in terms of what people expected of women. Friedan founded NOW, and later published a book, "The Second Stage." Among many other contributions, Gloria Steinem founded the influential magazine "Ms." Steinem once was a Playboy Bunny, and she later wrote extensively about that experience. Bella Abzug (Bella Savitsky) was the first Jewish woman in the United States Congress.

A lawyer, she ran unsuccessfully for the Mayor of New York City. Abzug appeared in Woody Allen's "Manhattan" and on "Saturday Night Live".

Answer: Betsy Ross

Betsy Ross had a hard life: the Quakers disowned her, a husband of hers died in the explosion of a munitions depot, among other calamities. It is said that in May 1776 when George Washington and others asked her to make the first American flag with a six pointed star, thinking that a five pointed star might be too difficult for a woman to design, Betsy Ross came right back at him with a five pointed star which she cut with just one snip. Betsy Ross has written that she completed the flag in late May, early June 1776.

These dates are not definite, however, and there is increasing controversy as to whether or not Betsy Ross actually independently created the first American flag.

Answer: Elizabeth Virginia Wallace

Born as Elizabeth Virginia Wallace, Bess Truman became Harry Truman's ideal from the start. He said of her at Sunday school, "Golden curls" and "the most beautiful blue eyes." Bess Truman did not enjoy social life in Washington, wanting to return to what she called, "independence" outside of it.

She became the First Lady who lived the longest--97 years old. She is known for having said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

Answer: Bess Myerson

In 1945, Myerson became the first Jewish Miss America. During the competition, an official unsuccessfully tried to get her to change her name to something considered less 'ethnic," such as "Betty Merrick." After her award, various sponsors refused to deal with her.

In 1980, Myerson unsuccessfully ran against another Elizabeth, Elizabeth Holtzman, for the Democratic nomination for the New York United States Senate seat. Myerson went on to do important work on presidential commissions for social inequality and a degree in music, work which finally resulted in her being awarded an honorary doctorate.

As a tall, stunning young woman studying piano at the High School of Music and Art in the Bronx, a teacher remembered Myerson as "being beautiful and serious."

Answer: Elizabeth Bloomer

Born Elizabeth Anne Bloomer in Chicago, Betty Ford would come to be a fighter for women's health and freedom from addiction. At the age of eleven, just after the 1929 Stock Market Crash, Betty Bloomer was teaching the foxtrot, the waltz and other dances.

She went on to study in Vermont under the world famous Martha Graham. Her fifty-eight year marriage to Gerald R. Ford was heartfelt. It withstood many dramatic moments--the various attempted assassination attempts on his life, her battles with addiction, and her candid acknowledgment of breast cancer.

She has an amazing candor about everything. Once she said "I would give my life to have my husband have my poll numbers." Tweed, Michael, 'Back in View, a First Lady With Her Own Legacy,' 'The New York Times,' 31 December 2006.