Six Degrees - Back to Basics! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Both were born in neighboring counties in Pennsylvania, USA (albeit approximately 60 years apart).

Ethel Waters, who lived a most interesting life, was born on October 31, 1896 [and passed away in 1977] in Chester, Pennsylvania which sits in Delaware county. Right next to it is Philadelphia County where Kevin was born in 1958. She was nominated for her one and only Academy Award in 1949 as Best Supporting Actress in "Pinky" (and poor Kevin, as of the nominations announced in 2007, has yet to be in the running). Miss Waters overcame very much to achieve her well-deserved stardom, having been the impoverished daughter of a 13-year old rape victim (while Bacon's parents were very successful - his mother taught school with his father a city planner). Waters married three times (the first of those, in some karmic manner, when she was but 13) but never had children of her own.

The Bacons, Kevin and actress Kyra Sedgewick, do have a daughter named Sosie Ruth and a son named Travis Sedg. Ethel Waters is best remembered for the spiritual song "His Eye is on the Sparrow" (which she made entirely memorable in the 1952 movie "Member of the Wedding"). Throughout her very strong life and firmly-fought-for happiness she was nicknamed 'Sweet Mama Stringbean' (not that anyone is entirely sure why at this point in history) AND was the second African American actress to ever be nominated for an Oscar for acting.

Answer: She was in a 1943 film directed by Vincente Minnelli, who was married to Judy Garland who played Dorothy Gale in "The Wizard of Oz".

Tempting as those other answers might have sounded, Vincente Minnelli is right as he directed Ethel Waters in "Cabin in the Sky", an all-black musical (and a pretty good film at that) that was based on the story of Doctor Faustus and the selling of souls, etc. MGM took a chance on the movie in 1943 and, even though not a major hit, was enough of a success to make everyone feel respectable about being involved with it. That Lena Horne AND Louis Armstrong were on screen didn't hurt matters, either. Waters' second husband was named Clyde Edward Matthews (they remained wed for only five years, from 1929-1934). L. Frank Baum was indeed a born Methodist but Ethel was a life-long Catholic. Now to those chickens... at the age of 20, and long before Mr. Baum (1856-1919) had given flight to obedient monkeys or written down Emerald Cities or yellow-brick roads, he took up the breeding of "A-list" chickens, specifically the quite popular 'Hamburg Chicken'.

At the time this was an actually very wise and profitable venture but it would seem that the population was a little fickle when it came to their preferences in fowl so, lucky for us, he eventually took up theatrical interests and began hatching the notion of this land called 'Oz'. Ethel Waters never claimed such a youthful attraction to chickens, however.

Answer: Baum is buried in the very same cemetery as that of Gerald Ford's grandfather, Mr. Charles Henry King.

Ford was not aware of his actual parentage until shortly before turning fifteen in 1928 so he never met his "real" grandfather who, like L. Frank Baum, is buried in 'Forest Lawn Memorial Park' in Glendale, California and has rested there since 1930. Charles King was a very prominent banker in Omaha, Nebraska but his son Leslie (Gerald's father) was a bit of a snake.

He was a raging alcoholic and physically abused his young wife and she collected her 16-day old son and fled ultimately, marrying Ford's adoptive father a few years later. Actually, up until he was a teenager, Gerald Ford's legal name was Leslie Lynch King, Jr.

He just didn't know it. The estranged father and son DID meet when the younger man was in high school, but just once. Gerald Ford (1913-2006) was unimpressed with his sire and found him both arrogant and far too carefree. Considering the circumstances an apology or explanation seemed reasonable but neither happened. Ford was a noted athlete in both high school and in college but Baum never went to a University at all. I found no evidence of any high schools named after either gentleman (although the former President has an airport in Michgan that bears his name).

The Betty Ford Clinic, co-founded by the former First Lady in 1982, is now chaired by Susan Ford and she's the daughter of the family and in no way related to the Baum lineage.

Answer: They were both Boy Scouts. Well, of course they were! Let's be more specific and say they were both "Eagle" Scouts.

Wynton Marsalis was born October 18, 1961 in Louisiana and has become a well-known composer and trumpeter. He was born the second of six sons in his family (one of his brothers being autistic - unlike Ford's family, where that particular affliction did not exist).

The quote in the answer list was made by Marsalis, but Gerald Ford never used it or, if he did, he did so privately. Wynton did attend Juilliard but served on no governing body there (although he was, as might be expected, highly active in the Jazz Department).

Therefore, by process of elimination, it is true that these two fellows were both Eagle Scouts in their youth and that such service served them well in their individually well-spent future endeavors. As of 2006, Wynton Marsalis has made sixteen classical and more than thirty jazz recordings and has won nine Grammy Awards in the process [so far].

In addition to that he has been very aggressive in lending his celebrity to the efforts involved in rebuilding New Orleans after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Answer: Each of them "co-starred" in an award-winning project (different as those venues were) with actress Kate Winslet!

The 'Best Spoken Word Album for Children' at the 2000 Grammy Awards went to "Listen to the Storyteller". It was contributed to by both Marsalis and Miss Winslet who, lest you haven't been to a movie since the mid-1990s, was in the film "Titanic" in 1999 with Mr. DiCaprio. Leo's acting career began in 1989 when he was cast as Garry Buckman in the TV version of the Steve Martin film "Parenthood". That same year he was given a part in the soap opera "Santa Barbara" which led to a short-lived stint as Luke Brower on TV's "Growing Pains" in 1991. Soon after that series was cancelled his film career took off in earnest and he is now considered one of the best (and most bankable) young actors in Hollywood. Who's Leo's best friend in real life, you might be wondering? According to him it is Tobey Maguire. Yes, Spider-Man and Howard Hughes are pals. Imagine that! Wynton Marsalis was an energetic supporter, not detractor, of Mayor Nagin in Louisiana. Also, in regards to Afghanistan, there was really an "official" ban there on 'Leo DiCaprio haircuts' for a time.

It seemed they had become unduly, or perhaps unwisely, popular to be worn. Wynton was never singled out for any sort of outlawing in that country (but I can't vouch for how they might feel about American jazz in general). Finally, I have no evidence to verify that either man in the question ever even read a word written by 'Rolling Stone' magazine's legendary Hunter Thompson.

Answer: They were both subjects on a television special about notable celebrity 'misjudgements' in 2004.

Rush HUDSON Limbaugh III was born on January 12, 1951 in Missoruri and has found some acclaim as an American radio/TV talk show host. He's a self-proclaimed conservative (and a rather loud one of those at that) and can be heard almost daily on "The Rush Limbaugh Show". Opinions about his staunch views aside, the man CAN be credited with revitalizing AM radio since the early 1990s and has also been considered a pivotal reason for the Republican party's landmark Congressional victories in 1994. While not exactly a politician himself, he surely has exhibited a good bit of political clout.

A very public admission to an addiction to prescription drugs managed to put only a small dent in his popularity in the new milennium - his opinions are still as readily offered as they were before (despite the generally across-the-board backlash against the Republican party in 2006).

The TV special "101 Biggest Celebrity Oops" addressed Rush's drug problem(s) and, on the same assembly of misfires, Leo DiCaprio showed up for following the blockbuster film "Titanic" with the veritable stinker "The Beach". Ultimate conclusion? Both guys have to make a living, imperfect as they happen to be. Mr. Limbaugh is very up front about his affection for a good cigar but -no- he's never been known to smuggle any, suspicious ones or otherwise. DiCaprio is a chain smoker - but not of cigars; he sticks to cigarettes.

Answer: According to one website, Rush Limbaugh offered a somber eulogy to Idi Amin, calling him "his personal hero" on his radio broadcast in 2003 (but nobody heard it).

That may have been a slippery one because the reason nobody heard it was because he never REALLY said that. It was a parody (which 'looked' like actual news, but wasn't - typical internet shenanigans). Even Rush Limbaugh wouldn't say venerating things about a mostly vile dictator.

Not on the air, anyway. The other three answers though, are completely full of holes, so that 'eulogy' response is at least accurate. Rush's mother did in fact sing with a Big Band orchestra; Amin's mother was an herbalist in Uganda (and a most respected one, too). "Outlawz" did boast a member who called himself I.D.E. Amin, but that was as far as name games went with them. And, finally, Amin was a winning boxer, hanging onto the title from 1951-1960 in Uganda. Rush? He droppped out of college before his first year was completed and was never a boxer then or later. Idi Amin Dada (c. 1924-16 August 2003) was the President of Uganda for almost the entire 1970s.

His time in power was riddled with much violence, including the persecution of the Acholi, Lango, Indian and other ethnic groups as well as Abayudaya Jews, Hindus and Christians.

The International Commission of Jurists estimates that the death toll was not less than 80,000 and more likely around 300,000. Other legitimate estimates are much higher. It is said that he gave himself the title "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular"! Without question, the man was a beast.

Answer: The same Scottish film director named Kevin MacDonald made two separate films with each one as the subject of it.

Kevin MacDonald directed "The Last King of Scotland" in 2006, the film starring Forest Whitaker in a bravura performance playing Idi Amin. The same director filmed Jagger for a TV documentary in 2001 called "Being Mick" (which looked at his friends and family during the course of recording his album "Goodness in the Doorway"). Mick Jagger was and is quite a fan of The Ealing Club (he finally met and ultimately formed all members of The Rolling Stones there in the 1960s), but Amin wasn't a known patron. Needless to say, Idi Amin being a 'follower' of Kabbalah, even briefly, is documented nowhere. Jagger was a follower for a short while, though. Mick IS 5'10" tall. Amin, however, measured six inches higher than that.

Answer: Both have appeared on-screen with Sir Anthony Hopkins!

In 1972, a new fossil snail was named Anomphalus Jaggerius in honour of Mick. Then in 1995, a new fossil trilobite species of genus Aegrotocatellus (Latin for "sick puppy") was assigned the name Aegrotocatellus Jaggeri. And that's the truth. Howie Mandel has no such snail honors, though.

The latter did appear on "The Tonight Show" in November 2005 with Sir Anthony, who had appeared with Sir Mick in the 1992 feature film "Freejack". Mandel and Washington were in TV's "St. Elsewhere" together for several seasons but Denzel has not yet shared a role with Jagger (and likely never will). Howie Mandel, to be honest, has his fair share of private afflictions.

He's clinically obsessive/compulsive, color-blind AND severely mysophobic [the germ phobia].

In many ways he's very above average, though, having married his high school sweetheart Terry and still being happily wed as of early 2007 - which amounts to more than a quarter century of domestic bliss. He also ranked on "Comedy Central's" Top 100 Greatest Stand-Up Comedians at #82.

After steady work in television (the dramatic "St. Elsewhere" at first and later the hit game show "Deal or No Deal"), movies and constant tours, Mr. Mandel has proven himself and his credibility in many commendable directions.

Answer: Kevin and Howie both have "no full-frontal nudity" clauses written into their various contracts (not that too many are complaining about that in the case of Mr. Mandel)...

No 'complete' nudity for Bacon or Mandel, thank you! This has not been much of a problem for Howie, true enough (although he was voted "Sexiest Comedian" amongt males in a University of Pennsylvania survey of 20,000 people once - which can only be explained by...well...I have no idea HOW to explain it, quite frankly).

The interesting thing about Bacon is that he is, privately, a practicing nudist. However, there are certain "things" he firmly believes the public has no right to see. With one lapse, I might add.

In "Wild Things" (1998) there is a scene with him exiting a shower and (albeit briefly) nothing was left to the imagination. Two reasons that scene was allowed to get through to the screen, though: Kevin was a producer of the film and decided that, if he made too much of a protest, he'd end up forced to sue himself for 'breech of contract' -and- after seeing the scene he commented (and I can't repeat it verbatim here) about how 'nice' certain parts of himself looked. I suppose there is something to be said for such -ahem- pridefulness? I should add, too, that in "Hollow Man" (2000) there was a very meticulously designed 'anatomically correct' body double for Kevin Bacon. All computer-generated.