You tell me you like the quizzes, and I want you to be happy, so here is a quiz based on names. Some are fictional, some real, but you’ll be able to identify them. Let’s begin. And give yourself 5 points for each correct answer.
1. You met him in a poem by Longfellow, and you loved this native American. He fell in love with Minnehaha, and his grandmother was Nokomis. Does that help? Who was he?
2. In what musical does Julie Jordan win our hearts? She gave her heart to Billy Bigelow. I loved this musical!
3. “Ah, look at all the lonely people” and you’ll know the name of this song and character immortalized by the Beatles. Name her.
4. “I was a child and she was a child in a kingdom by the sea.” We read about this lovely maiden in a poem by Edgar Allan Poe. Her name?
5. “Get thee to a nunnery,” she was rudely told. Who was she?
6. Who was known as the Sage of Monticello?
7. It was a delightful film, starring Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan and Hermione Gingold and was one of Lerner and Loewe’s very best. Its name?
8. Probably the most famous single word in moviedom, “Rosebud,” from a 1941 film. Who or what was “Rosebud”?
9. Who was known as the Swedish Nightingale? Phineas T. Barnum introduced her to America.
10. Mumtaz Mahal, born in 1593, so entranced her husband that he ignored his other wives and built a magnificent tomb for his beloved when she died. What is the name of that tomb?
11. “Entreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee.” These immortal words were said by whom to whom?
12. It is the portrait of Lisa Gherardini, but that’s not what we call it, nor do we usually say “La Gioconda” is so great. Instead, we refer to her as what?
13. What is “The Father of Waters”? (How easy can a quiz be?)
14. Who can ever forget her? She was a truly devastating storm in 2005. What was her name?
15. I think it is my favorite poem by Robert Browning. It’s about an artist — a real painter, whose works are on display in Florence — who deviates from his high principles because of his wife’s wiles. The lines, “A man’s grasp should exceed his reach, or what’s a heaven for?” come from it. The name of the poem and painter? They’re the same.
16. The words are inscribed on a bronze plaque on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. It’s a wonderful poem by Emma Lazarus. What is its title?
17. Who was known as the Brown Bomber?
18. “Funny Girl” was the name of the Barbra Streisand hit film. It was based — kind of — on the life of what famous comedian, actor, singer all rolled into one body?
19. June 6, 1944 is usually referred to by the name, not the date. How do we usually refer to it?
20. A Fort Wayne reference. The theater we treasure and call the Embassy was originally named for the owner’s mother. What was the theatrer’s first name?
Bonus: You probably loved “The Sound of Music.” Name the real-life family on whom the musical was based.
Answers: 1. Hiawatha; 2. Lead female role in “Carousel”; 3. “Eleanor Rigby”; 4. Annabel Lee; 5. Ophelia, in “Hamlet”; 6. Thomas Jefferson; 7. “Gigi”; 8. A sled; 9. Jenny Lind.
10. Taj Mahal; 11. Ruth and Naomi; 12. Mona Lisa; 13. Mississippi River; 14. Katrina; 15. “Andrea del Sarto”; 16. “The New Colossus”; 17. Joe Louis, heavyweight champion of the world 1937-1949; 18. Fanny Brice; 19. D Day; 20. Emboyd.
Bonus answer: von Trapp family.
