Fun in the 1950s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Toys

James Wright accidentally invented Silly Putty in 1943. During WWII, a shortage of natural rubber led scientists to try to create synthetic rubber. Wright mixed boric acid and silicone oil - the result was a stretchy, bouncy substance that could flow like liquid. It wasn't as strong as rubber, but it was patented anyway and proved to have both practical and fun uses.

Peter Hodgson saw its potential in 1949 and bought the rights to it. He sold it in little plastic eggs, giving it the name Silly Putty. It became popular in the 1950s with children who could stretch it and put it on comics to make the picture stick, and stretch it in all ways. Since 1950, more than 300 million Silly Putty eggs have been sold.

The first commercial for Silly Putty aired in 1957 during an episode of "The Howdy Doody Show." In 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts took Silly Putty with them when they went up into space. After Hodgson died in 1976, Crayola acquired the rights to Silly Putty. On May 28, 2001, Silly Putty was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, NY.

Answer: Fashion

In 1952, the Warner Brothers Corset Company (Ira and Lucien Warner) created the Merry Widow. It was a strapless corset made to make the torso appear slimmer. It combined the bra, waist cincher, and garter belt into one piece.

The Warner Brothers named their corset after the 1905 operetta "The Merry Widow" by Franz Lehar. The brothers had great business sense, debuting their new fashion at the same time the Lana Turner MGM film adaptation of "The Merry Widow" came out.

Answer: Wrestler

Wladek Kowalski was born on October 13, 1926, in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. His parents were Polish immigrants. He had not planned to become a wrestler when he was growing up. However, he was 6'4" by the age of 14, and he worked out at the YMCA. His plan was to become an electrical engineer.

There are different stories as to how he became a wrestler. A common one is that while in college, he learned you can make good money wrestling, so he gave it a try. As a professional, he had various names such as "Tarzan Kowalski," and "The Polish Apollo." In 1950, however, he started to use "Killer Kowalski," and that is the name he is best known as today. He wrestled from 1947 to 1977 with various wrestling organizations, including the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). While he was mean and scary in the matches, outside he was friendly and polite. This upset promoters who wanted him to be in character all the time. In 1976, he won the WWF World Tag Team Championship with Big John Studd. They wrestled under the name "The Executioners."

On June 19, 2006, Kowalski married Theresa Ferrioli. On August 8, 2008, Kowalski had a heart attack. He died on August 30, 2008, at the age of 81.

Answer: Slang

Dream boat was first used in the 1920s and 1930s, much like "to have one's ship come in." It means the person was looking forward to that big-ticket item becoming theirs. This became even more popular in 1936 when Guy Lombardo sang the song "When My Dream Boat Comes Home," where it was used to describe a romantic partner.

In the 1940s, it was changed to one word: "dreamboat." The word started to refer to a person who was very good-looking. At first it was applied to men and women. However, by the end of the 1940s and the start of the 1950s, it was used only to describe males. It was often used to describe actors such as Montgomery Clift or Marlon Brando.

In the 1985 movie "Back to the Future," young Lorraine (Lea Thompson) referred to Marty (Michael J. Fox) as a dreamboat when she is a teen, and he has gone back in time to 1955.

Answer: Toys

Hoops have been used since at least 500 BC. However, the modern hula hoop was born when Joan Anderson saw children in Australia playing with bamboo hoops. She named it "hula hoop" after the Hawaiian dance and took her idea to Wham-O. They took the idea, and by 1958 it had become popular. Unlike the original hoops, these hoops were made from plastic.

In 1999, the hula hoop was inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.

Answer: Slang

The fuzz became a popular slang term for the police in the 1950s. However, it originated around 1924. There is no known person or reason behind this slang term as it originated in the streets with criminals. There are some speculations, however. One is that "force" (as in police force) was mispronounced as fuzz, and it stuck. Another popular theory is that the police were always making a fuss (and fuss became fuzz).

It became popular in the 1950s with the Beatniks and counterculture. Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and other writers used "the fuzz" in their books and poems and helped make the slang term popular in the mainstream. Also, detective books and films had become popular, and to sound authentic, writers would use the street lingo. Teenagers were now a distinct group as well, and to distance themselves from the children and from the adults, they started using slang words like "the fuzz" instead of police.

Answer: Wrestler

Houston Harris was born on July 10, 1924, in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. Before he was a wrestler, he played professional baseball in the Negro Leagues. While playing baseball, he met Joe Savoldi, who trained him to wrestle. Savoldi named Harris "Bubu Brazil, the South American Giant." However, his name was misprinted as "Bobo," and the name stuck.

His first match was in 1948, and the match ended in a draw. At that time, black wrestlers could only wrestle other black wrestlers. However, Brazil was allowed to wrestle white wrestlers as well because he made them money. By the 1950s, he had become a very popular wrestler. Savoldi taught Brazil to fight honestly and not cheat to win. Most of his career, he fought in the North, wrestling for WWWF (now the WWE). His biggest wrestling rival was The Sheik.

He retired in 1993. Although he never won the heavyweight title, he was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame the same year he retired. After a series of strokes, Brazil died on January 20, 1998, at the age of 73.

Answer: Fashion

The Ful-Vue glasses of 1931 were a predecessor of the cat-eye glasses. Then later, Altina Schinasi designed Harlequin frames. Socialite Clare Booth Luce bought a pair, which made them even more popular.

Then in 1952, fashion designer Claire McCardell designed her own version of the Harlequin frames. They became known as cat-eye glasses. They were made popular by actresses such as Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe. By the 1960s, the cat-eye glasses were not as popular, but they became popular again in the 1990s.

Answer: TV actors

Lucille Ball was born on August 6, 1911, in Jamestown, NY. Her family moved frequently when she was very young because her father worked for Bell Telephone. Sadly, her father died at age 27 from typhoid fever, when Ball was three. After his death, they returned to New York to live.

Her mother remarried about four years later. When she was 12, her step-grandfather encouraged her to audition for an event the Shriners were hosting that needed a chorus line. Ball did it and loved it, especially the praise. In 1926, her mother enrolled Ball in the John Murray Anderson School for Dramatic Arts in New York City. The family did not have much money, and her mother only did this to keep Ball from dating a boy who was known as a hoodlum. Ball's instructors did not think she had a future in entertainment.

In 1948, Ball starred as Liz Cooper on the radio series, "My Favorite Husband." The show was successful, and CBS wanted to make it a TV series. Ball agreed, but on the condition that her husband, Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz, could also work with her on the show. At first, CBS was reluctant, believing that no one would believe that Lucy could be married to a Cuban. Lucy pointed out she was married to a Cuban in real life.

"I Love Lucy" debuted on October 15, 1951, and ran for six seasons. The show made Lucille Ball a household name. She won two Emmy Awards for her role as Lucy during the run of the show (1953 and 1956). Sadly, with ongoing marital problems stemming from Arnaz's drinking and infidelity, the couple divorced in 1960, but remained friends until he died in 1986. In April 1989, Lucille Ball was diagnosed with a dissecting aortic aneurysm and had successful surgery. She died on April 26, 1989, from an abdominal aortic aneurysm, not connected to the first aneurysm. She was 77.

Answer: Wrestler

George Raymond Wagner was born on March 24, 1915, in Butte, Nebraska, USA. Around the age of 14, he dropped out of school to work, and also wrestled at carnivals to make 35 cents when he won. Three years later, he was booked by Morris Siegel, the area's top promoter. He won his first title in 1938, after defeating Buck Lipscomb, earning the Northwest Middleweight Crown. A year later, he won the Pacific Coast Light Heavyweight Championship.

In 1941, he developed his wrestling character, the effeminate man known as Gorgeous George. When the announcer announced his name, he exaggerated this effeminacy, which, back then, was unheard of in the ring. George also had valets who would spray the ref's hands before the ref could check him for anything illegal. This was how we got the expression, "Get your filthy hands off me!"
He was known for not always wrestling honestly. He used to say, "Win if you can, lose if you must, but always cheat!"

In 1947, he appeared on television for the first time. His acting as his character, which was once considered rare, helped make wrestling part of mainstream television sports. His last match was in 1962. Nearly 50 and suffering from alcoholism, he retired. He was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver that same year. On December 24, 1963, he passed away at the age of 48, after having a heart attack.

Answer: TV actors

Herbert John "Jackie" Gleason (born Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr.) was born on February 26, 1916, in Brooklyn, NY. He was the younger of two children, but his older brother died at the age of 14 from meningitis. When Gleason was about nine, his father removed himself from family photographs, and the following day, he left and never returned. His mother got a job as a subway attendant.

In high school, he performed in the school play and became interested in performing. He dropped out of school and got a job as an Emcee at a local theatre. When he was 19, his mother died from sepsis, and young Gleason went to Manhattan to try to make a career in entertainment.

By age 24, he began appearing in movies. His first movie was the 1941 musical-comedy "Navy Blues," starring Ann Sheridan and Jack Oakie. Lloyd Bacon directed the movie. Jackie Gleason played the bit part of Tubby. He was billed as Jackie C. Gleason (the C was in honor of his late brother Clement). During WWII, he was not drafted at first due to having children, but then fathers started getting drafted. He reported, but again was not drafted as he was classified 4-F (not fit for military service).

In 1952, Gleason had his own series, "The Jackie Gleason Show," which ran off and on until 1970 in various forms. It was on this show that he created the bus driver, Ralph Kramden, in a skit called "The Honeymooners." By 1955, "The Honeymooners" became its own show. It only ran for one season and 39 episodes (not counting lost episodes). Gleason was famous for not wanting to rehearse. Back then, the shows were live, and Gleason often forgot his lines. He would rub his stomach to let his co-hosts (Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, and Joyce Randolph) know he forgot his lines so they could bail him out. The show was a hit when it first aired, but slipped down to number 19 in the Nielsen ratings. The majority of the scenes also play in the Kramdens' kitchen in Brooklyn. Gleason used the address where he grew up as the address of the apartment where the Kramdens lived.

By 1952, Gleason was smoking six packs of cigarettes a day. He also struggled with his weight and had a drinking problem. In 1978, he had a triple-bypass surgery. His final film was "Nothing in Common" with Tom Hanks in 1986. Gleason was diagnosed with colon cancer while he filmed the movie. On top of that, he had phlebitis and diabetes. Gleason died on June 24, 1987, at his home in Florida. He was 71.

Answer: Toys

In 1949, George Lerner invented a new toy: Mr. Potato Head. It was first marketed by Hasbro in 1952. Then, it came with various parts (including eyes, nose, and ears) and pushpins to put on a real potato. The toy was popular, but this created a problem, as real potatoes eventually rot. In 1964, Hasbro included the plastic potato.

Mr. Potato Head was the first toy to be advertised on TV. The first commercial aired on April 30, 1952. This advertising, along with a polio outbreak, helped increase sales. That first year, over a million were sold.

In 1953, Mrs. Potato Head joined Mr. Potato Head with her own accessories. There was also a car and a boat trailer for the couple. In 2021, Hasbro dropped the Mr. and Mrs. and just sold them as Potato Head. However, they kept the same characteristics as Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head.

Answer: Slang

Square originally meant something positive, derived from the 13th-century Old French "esquarre." It meant that someone was honest and fair. This is where we get expressions like "fair and square" and a "square deal."

However, in 1944, someone who failed to appreciate jazz music was known as a square. It implied that you were not hip, because jazz was popular and you didn't get it. By the 1950s, the term had become popular outside of the jazz scene. It was used to describe anyone boring and not into the latest things. It could also be used to describe the person who did not go with the others for fear of trouble: "Aw, c'mon man, don't be such a square."

Answer: Fashion

Pencil skirts are narrow-fitting skirts popularized by French designer Christian Dior in 1954. They quickly became popular, especially among women who worked in an office. Sometimes the skirt would come as part of a two-piece women's suit. It could also come on its own as just a skirt to be worn with a blouse. Usually, pencil skirts have a vent in the back, or in some cases on the side of the skirt to make movement easier. Sometimes, for women who do not want to show too much leg, pencil skirts have a kick pleat in the back.

The hem of the skirt is usually around the knees when worn. The skirt was named because it looks long and thin like a pencil.

Answer: TV actors

Wardell Edwin Bond was born on April 9, 1903, in Benkelman, Nebraska, USA. In 1931, he graduated from USC (University of Southern California) with a degree in engineering. Bond became friends with John Wayne while at USC; Wayne was also attending school there, although Wayne dropped out after an injury made him unable to play football. They and the rest of the USC football team appeared in "Salute," a 1929 football movie. Ward then played small character roles in movies. In 1947, he appeared in "It's a Wonderful Life" as Bert the police officer.

In 1957, he became a household name when he starred in the TV series "Wagon Train," playing the wagon master, Major Seth Adams. He played the role until his death on November 5, 1960, from a massive heart attack in Dallas, Texas, at the age of 57.