Truman Capote Trivia

1. "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was originally planned for publication in the magazine "Harper's Bazaar", but a new owner decided it was too racy for their audience. When was this first publication?

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: 1950s

The novella had been accepted for the July 1958 issue of "Harper's Bazaar", but the magazine changed owners and editor-in-chief, and it was decided that the story was not suitable for their target audience. "Esquire" published the novella in its November 1958 issue, and Random House issued a book containing the novella and three short stories later that year. Since then, it has been released several times, in combination with different stories. The story in the book is set in the 1940s - it starts in 1943, and the fact that it was in the middle of World War II was an important element of proceedings. The movie changed the time to be the 1960s, when Holly's behaviour, while still outrageous, was somewhat more in line with the growing spirit of the times.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: Tex, Flo, Jimmy, Fern and Bobo

His parents, Tex John Smith and Flo Buckskin, were rodeo performers. Perry and Barbara ("Bobo") were the only surviving children. Jimmy committed suicide after shooting his wife, and Fern (who changed her name to Joy) was an alcoholic who jumped or fell from a hotel window in San Francisco.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Dick Hickock and Perry Smith

George Dzundza played Detective Max Greevy on Law & Order. Clarence Duntz (begging your pardon, sir!) was part of the KBI team that arrested the murderers.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: The 1930's South

Capote placed this autobiographical story in the 30's, in an unnamed part of the South (though based on his birthplace, Monroeville, Alabama).

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Fred

The narrator is never given a name, but she decides to call him Fred in honor of her brother, who is overseas fighting. Joe is the bartender with whom the narrator is conversing as the reminiscence starts. Doc is the husband she left behind when she moved to New York. Paul is the name of the character in the movie who more or less fills the role of the narrator in Holly's life.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: He returned from the Korean War

Specifically, he was the first Korean War combat veteran to return to the state of Alaska.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Sunday, November 15, 1959 in Holcomb, Kansas

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: yes & y

Her name is Cousin Kate. They call her by that when they come to yell at her about giving Buddy whiskey. She is based on Capote's real-life cousin Sook Faulk, with whom he lived with until twelve. Geraldine Page memorably played her in the 1966 TV version, narrated by Capote himself.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: Bill and Johnny

Bill was the boy and Johnny was his grandfather. After Johnny's sister died, they had no home and were wandering Texas in search of family, though they had no idea which city their family would be in. What was so interesting about them? See the next question.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Herbert, Bonnie, Nancy and Kenyon Clutter

Beverly and Eveanna were the surviving daughters.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: Buddy

She calls him 'Buddy' after a boy in the 1880's who was her friend but who died early. 'Fred' is what Holly Golightly calls the narrator of 'Breakfast At Tiffany's' after her brother in the Army who dies in WW2. 'Dill' is from 'To Kill A {Mockingbird';} Harper Lee based him on Capote, whom she knew in childhood.

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Texas

That is where she married Doc Golightly at the age of 14. Her "poor trash" background is an essential component of her personality, and her desperate desire to escape from the chains in which she felt it confined her motivates much of her reckless behavior.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Coke, White Rock and Nehi

They filled Dick and Perry's car with bottles and split the refund money with them. Bill used the money "to blow us to a real feed". Johnny ate pancakes all night and Bill gorged on potato chips and ice cream.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: Queenie

Queenie is a 'tough little orange and white rat terrier who has survived distemper and two rattlesnake bites.'

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Veterinarian

He introduces himself by saying, "I'm a horse doctor, animal man. Do some farming, too. Near Tulip, Texas." He arrives to take Holly back home, to look after her four step-children the way she was expected to. Doc gave Fred and Lulamae a home after their mother died, taught her to play guitar, indulged her desire for magazines and expected little in return. She was still fond of him, but refused to be tied down, as she explained to Joe, the barman. "Never love a wild thing, Mr. Bell," Holly advised him. "That was Doc's mistake. He was always lugging home wild things. A hawk with a hurt wing. One time it was a full-grown bobcat with a broken leg. But you can't give your heart to a wild thing: the more you do, the stronger they get. Until they're strong enough to run into the woods. Or fly into a tree. Then a taller tree. Then the sky. That's how you'll end up, Mr. Bell. If you let yourself love a wild thing. You'll end up looking at the sky."

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Between $40 and $50

Based on stories from a cellmate who worked for the Clutters that Mr. Clutter went through thousands of dollars every month, the killers had expected to find a very full wall safe in the house. They didn't realize Mr. Clutter did all his business by check and the money he was referring to was the value of the crops and labor.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: fruitcakes

It is late November when they begin to make Christmas fruitcakes for distant friends. The cousin calls it 'fruitcake weather'.

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Oklahoma!

The narrator reports that she was also fond of Cole Porter and Gershwin, and also included country songs in her repertoire. The choice of music depended on her mood. Given the variety of songs she performed, she must have been either a very accomplished guitar player, or a singer who was satisfied with absolutely minimal chord strumming.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Susan Kidwell, Nancy Ewalt and Larry Hendricks

The Ewalts had driven over to the Clutter house so that Nancy could ride to church with the family. Spooked that the house was silent, they fetched Nancy Clutter's friend, Susan Kidwell and Larry Hendricks, a teacher who lived in her building, to look inside. Even though the doors were unlocked, Mr. Ewalt felt the Clutters wouldn't appreciate him "just barging right in." Wendell Meier was part of the sheriff's party.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: gathering pecans

Cranberries don't grow in the South! The pecans are for the cakes, natch.

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Her brother's death

The news of her brother's death in action was delivered by means of a telegram from Doc. After Holly had virtually destroyed her apartment in a mixture of rage and sorrow, she seemed to return to her usual behaviour, but there were permanent changes. She never called the narrator Fred again. Although a Hollywood career had been dangled in front of her by her agent, she was never promised a specific role. Rusty's marriage was of no concern - she had moved on before it happened. Her pregnancy was initially welcomed, as being a way to secure the affections of her diplomat lover, and she laid plans to marry him. She seems to have had second thoughts, though, as her miscarriage in the course of a riding accident immediately prior to her arrest is suggested as being possibly intentional.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Susan's father had abandoned the family

Nancy Clutter "adopted" Susan almost as soon as she arrived in Holcomb. It was only with Susan that Nancy felt comfortable discussing her family problems. The 4-H Club is an educational and service organization. It's motto is "We learn by doing," and the four H's stand for "Head, Heart, Health and Hands."

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: an old baby carriage

It is the narrator's old baby carriage of worn wicker with wheels that 'wobble like a drunkard's legs', used to carry the gathered pecans.

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Convicted racketeer

Holly took the train to visit him in Sing Sing every Thursday. She was paid $100 to pretend to be his niece and deliver messages on his behalf. Although she was aware that something fishy was going on, she had no idea what it was, and was happy to get the easy money. The other occupations apply to some of the other men in Holly's complicated life. José Ybarra-Jaegar was the Brazilian diplomat with whom Holly planned to leave the country. O. J. Berman was a Hollywood agent, the man responsible for turning Holly from a country hick into a social butterfly with a promising future in modeling and (possibly) movies. Mr. I. Y. Yunioshi, a photographer, who lived on the top floor of the brownstone where Holly and the narrator lived. Early on, he was the one whose bell she rang to be let in when she had lost her key, and he was the one who took the photograph which is discussed in the opening part of the story.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: Buying life insurance

It was pure coincidence that he was buying life insurance the day he was killed. When the salesman, Mr. Johnson, heard of the murders, he still had Mr. Clutter's uncashed first premium check. He "did the honorable thing and deposited the check". The investigators quickly discarded the insurance payout as a motive.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 1

Answer: Bobby was Catholic; the Clutters were Methodist

The religious difference was of great importance. Capote describes this part of Kansas as being that part of the Bible Belt where a man took his religion seriously, if only for business purposes.

From Quiz Capote's 'Christmas Memory'

Answer: rob a bank

They sell canned jams and preserves, hand-picked blackberries, gather flowers for funerals, enter contests from football to coffee slogans (theirs is 'A.M. Amen!'). They also ran a 'Fun and Freak Museum' with a stereopticon of tourist sites and a three-legged biddy hatched on their farm (it later died).

From Quiz Breakfast at Tiffany's

Answer: Weather reports

She offered as examples, "There's a hurricane in Cuba" and "It's snowing in Palermo". These messages turned out to be coded instructions for the operation of Sally's narcotics ring, which led to Holly's arrest and subsequent precipitate flight to Rio de Janeiro.

From Quiz In Cold Blood: Part 2

Answer: He was afraid of guns

The Clutters had a lot of pets. Besides Teddy, who was a stray Kenyon adopted, Nancy had a horse named Babe and her "closest cat friend, Evinrude".

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