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Quiz about The Taming of the Snood
Quiz about The Taming of the Snood

The Taming of the Snood Trivia Quiz


This 1940 Columbia short was written for Buster Keaton, and partnered him with Elsie Ames.

A multiple-choice quiz by ubermom. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
ubermom
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
320,034
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
7 / 10
Plays
118
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Though there are no actual snoods in this movie, there is at least the potential for a snood, given where Buster works. What is Buster selling? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Miss Wilson (Dorothy Appleby) has stolen something, and ducks into Buster's workplace to hide from the cops. But the flatfoots are waiting outside, watching for her. Desperate to get rid of the goods, she fools Buster into acting as a mule to transport her ill-gotten gains. What does she hide in the purchase that Buster is to deliver later? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Buster arrives at Miss Wilson's apartment to find the maid (Elsie Ames) singing at her work. She's a dreadful singer and an even worse maid. What does she do that ought to get her fired? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. Buster walks in unannounced, takes a seat, and watches the maid's antics with a wary eye. But things take a strange turn. How is it that Buster ends up getting the maid drunk? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. Once the maid is plastered, Buster and Elsie do a lot of improvisation around the prop Buster's father had built the family vaudeville act around. What's the prop? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Well, all the drunken goofing around has ended with the maid cold-cocking herself. Where does Buster hide the knocked-out maid when Miss Wilson comes home? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Miss Wilson takes the parrot out of the room for a moment, removing her contraband from Buster's hat and hiding it on the parrot. She returns and hands the cage to Buster, who is to deliver it in exchange for the promise of another purchase. But the maid leaps into his arms, and he tosses the cage aside to catch her, setting free the parrot. The parrot flies out the window and onto the ledge. How does Miss Wilson convince Buster to go out after it? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. The first mishap to befall Buster on the ledge has him getting beaned with a flower pot. How does this happen? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. The maid throws Buster a rope and starts to pull him up, but gets chased away by Miss Wilson. Roughly 50 feet of rope go streaming out the window, presumably with Buster at the other end, before the maid runs back and catches it -- leaving Buster dangling. She drops him again, and he lands on a flagpole. The flagpole breaks and sends Buster flying. Where does he end up? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. In the end, Buster and the maid wind up landing front of Miss Wilson and two police detectives. Buster hands Miss Wilson her ill-gotten loot before uttering his final line. Then one by one the characters start fainting. Who is the only one left standing? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Though there are no actual snoods in this movie, there is at least the potential for a snood, given where Buster works. What is Buster selling?

Answer: Hats

A snood is a woman's hair net. Though Buster clearly raided the hat collection from the Columbia wardrobe department, there's nary a snood in sight.

The movie was supposed to actually center on Buster's failing hat shop, but ended up drifting off into other territory.
2. Miss Wilson (Dorothy Appleby) has stolen something, and ducks into Buster's workplace to hide from the cops. But the flatfoots are waiting outside, watching for her. Desperate to get rid of the goods, she fools Buster into acting as a mule to transport her ill-gotten gains. What does she hide in the purchase that Buster is to deliver later?

Answer: A ring

The film opens with a headline about a jewel heist. Miss Wilson, the thief, ducks into Buster's hat shop to hide from the cops, then ditches the diamond in the band of Buster's porkpie.

Buster's business is so lousy, he has his hats marked 4/3 off. He ends up paying his customer $3 to buy his hat. The original script had Buster's mirrors repossessed; in the film, he explains that they haven't been delivered yet. Whatever the reason for the lack of mirrors, Buster thoughtfully provides a tub of water -- "Nature's own looking-glass" -- which he accidentally douses Miss Wilson with. Mopping her off afterward is ad-libbed.
3. Buster arrives at Miss Wilson's apartment to find the maid (Elsie Ames) singing at her work. She's a dreadful singer and an even worse maid. What does she do that ought to get her fired?

Answer: She dumps an entire dustpan of dirt all over the floor while she's dancing.

Critics -- and Buster's wife Eleanor -- roundly denounced Elsie for her lack of talent, but Buster defended her because she could do a good pratfall. Elsie actually does a couple of Buster's standard gags in this movie -- such as picking up her feet and putting them on a table before falling. Buster seemed to enjoy working with Elsie in this scene, which was largely ad-libbed; if you watch frame by frame, you'll catch a fleeting, quickly-suppressed smile on his face.

We also see a continuity error -- the dirt Elsie had dumped magically disappears from the floor and is never seen again.
4. Buster walks in unannounced, takes a seat, and watches the maid's antics with a wary eye. But things take a strange turn. How is it that Buster ends up getting the maid drunk?

Answer: He tries to revive her after a blow to the head, but gives her too much restorative.

Elsie galavants, a stunt double trips and goes head-first into the wall, and Buster lifts Elsie into his arms to offer a restorative. He gets distracted by a parrot, though, and gives the maid much more of a dose than he'd intended.
5. Once the maid is plastered, Buster and Elsie do a lot of improvisation around the prop Buster's father had built the family vaudeville act around. What's the prop?

Answer: A table

Buster's father, Joseph Keaton V, billed himself as "The Man with a Table", later incorporating his wife and son into the act. Lest anybody wonders what anybody could do in a vaudeville act centered around a table, Buster and Elsie give us a glimpse. The director gives so much time to the ad-libbing that Buster and Elsie do around the table that scenes centering on the original plot -- Buster's failing hat shop -- are cut.

Prior to making Columbia shorts with Buster Keaton, Elsie had been an "eccentric dancer" on stage. She manages to fall into a pretty impressive split during her drunk routine, flipping Buster over her head.

And Buster himself is in pretty good shape for a recovering alcoholic in his mid-40s, hoisting Elsie up onto his shoulders.
6. Well, all the drunken goofing around has ended with the maid cold-cocking herself. Where does Buster hide the knocked-out maid when Miss Wilson comes home?

Answer: Behind the curtain

In maneuvers recalling the scene in "Spite Marriage" (1929), where Buster puts his drunken bride to bed, Buster tries to prop Elsie up, with intermittent success. Meanwhile Miss Wilson takes the parrot into another room to hide the stolen item on him.
7. Miss Wilson takes the parrot out of the room for a moment, removing her contraband from Buster's hat and hiding it on the parrot. She returns and hands the cage to Buster, who is to deliver it in exchange for the promise of another purchase. But the maid leaps into his arms, and he tosses the cage aside to catch her, setting free the parrot. The parrot flies out the window and onto the ledge. How does Miss Wilson convince Buster to go out after it?

Answer: She pulls a gun on him.

The entire window-ledge scene is done with rear projection, so it lacks the excitement of a Keaton Studios short, but Buster still manages to show us a few of his tricks. And the maid, though vapid and drunk, does her best to rescue the strange little man who delivered the hat.

Watch the rear-screen. The same stock shot shows behind Buster, no matter how far he falls.
8. The first mishap to befall Buster on the ledge has him getting beaned with a flower pot. How does this happen?

Answer: The parrot knocks it down while trying to hide.

Buster does the resulting fall with his typical understatement. He doesn't flail or cry out. He simply lets his face go blank and his heels slide off the ledge, which he catches with his fingers as he falls past. Stock shots of the streets of Los Angles loom beneath him.
9. The maid throws Buster a rope and starts to pull him up, but gets chased away by Miss Wilson. Roughly 50 feet of rope go streaming out the window, presumably with Buster at the other end, before the maid runs back and catches it -- leaving Buster dangling. She drops him again, and he lands on a flagpole. The flagpole breaks and sends Buster flying. Where does he end up?

Answer: Back in Miss Wilson's apartment

Yes, after falling at least 60 feet, and climbing up only about ten feet, Buster ends up coming back in the same window he went out. This is especially bizarre given the gag involving a workman, who shoves a board out a window into Buster -- who was climbing back onto the ledge he'd fallen from in the first place. He should have been outside the room where Miss Wilson took the parrot. To top off the spatial absurdity, the parrot, who had flown up to a ledge above Buster to knock down the flower pot, flies up yet again to perch on the flagpole that Buster had fallen at least 50 feet to land on.

In every single shot outside the windows, Buster is in front of exactly the same back projection shot.
10. In the end, Buster and the maid wind up landing front of Miss Wilson and two police detectives. Buster hands Miss Wilson her ill-gotten loot before uttering his final line. Then one by one the characters start fainting. Who is the only one left standing?

Answer: One of the police detectives

Buster and the maid faint, presumably in terror. Miss Wilson faints because Buster hands her the stolen ring in front of the cops. And one of the cops, excited at the prospect of a promotion, also faints.

The movie ends here, instead of back at Buster's hat shop, because of all the time Buster and Elsie had taken with their ad-libbing in the drunken maid scene. Fortunately for us, the director went with Buster rather than the script, giving us a look into The Three Keatons' vaudeville routine.
Source: Author ubermom

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
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