It Happened One Night Trivia

1. Where is Ellie Andrews when we first see her?

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Boat

Ellie Andrews is aboard her father's yacht, and they are arguing about her marriage to a man her father considers to be a worthless scoundrel. Ellie jumps off the boat and swims to shore, beginning the adventure. Ellie (Ellen) was played by Claudette Colbert, who was a major star at the time. She began acting in 1927. Colbert starred in "Cleopatra" (1934) right after "It Happened One Night". Other major pictures include "Drums Along the Mohawk" (1939) and "The Palm Beach Story" (1942). Her last film role was as Troy Donahue's mother in "Parrish" (1961). Colbert was born in Saint-Mande, France in 1903 and died in Barbados in 1996. Casting Ellie was actually a chore for the producers. Colbert was the sixth actress to be chosen for the part, after five others, including Myrna Loy, turned it down. She accepted when they doubled her salary.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: She dives off the yacht and swims away.

Ellie has recently married King Westley, but her father disapproves of the marriage and threatens to have it annulled. Ellie is determined to reach her husband in New York City. When she dives off the boat, she is wearing a long gown, but apparently it does not slow her down.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Reporter

Peter Warne (Clark Gable) is a newspaper reporter. His editor reads him the riot act, and tells him never to return. It is shortly afterwards that Warne meets the fugitive Ellie Andrews, and decides that the story of her escape is exactly the type of scoop that will get him back in the good graces of his editor. Clark Gable was the definition of movie star. He began acting in silents in 1923, but really became a star in the talking era. He won the Best Actor Academy Award for "It Happened One Night" and was nominated for "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935) and "Gone With the Wind" (1939). As Rhett Butler, Gable delivered what AFI defined as the greatest line in film history.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: A stack of newspapers that Peter has tossed out of the bus window

The only seat remaining on the bus is the one at the rear, and a stack of newspapers is taking up most of that seat. Peter asks the driver to move the papers, but the driver waves him off. As a result, Peter throws the papers out of the window, and he and the bus driver have a bit of an argument, which consists mostly of the bus driver saying, "Oh yeah?"

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Miami

Ellie Andrews jumps off the boat into Miami Harbor. The sign on the bus station identifies it as Miami. The bus is traveling to New York City. It travels through Jacksonville, Charleston and Columbia SC, Greensboro NC, Richmond, Washington DC, Baltimore and Philadelphia on the way. Ellie gets off the bus in Jacksonville, and is left behind, but Warne sticks around for her.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: He pretends to be her husband.

Although Peter is initially amused by Shapely's attentions to Ellie, he soon becomes annoyed at the sound of Shapely's voice, so he climbs out of his seat, walks up to Shapely, and says he'd like to sit next to his wife. This shocks Ellie as much as it does Shapely.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: The Walls of Jericho

Peter hangs a blanket between the two beds to ensure privacy. He refers to it as "the Walls of Jericho". It was necessary, because two unmarried people sharing the same room would have been quite scandalous in the 1930s. At the end of the film, we hear a trumpet blowing and the blanket falls to the floor. The story of the walls of Jericho is told in Joshua 6:1-21.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Brat

The nickname is appropriate because at first, Ellie acts like a spoiled brat on the bus. When the bus makes a quick stop, she expects the bus driver to wait for her when she has to run an errand downtown, even though doing so would upset the bus schedule.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: The Man on the Flying Trapeze

"The Man on the Flying Trapeze" was written by British musician George Leybourne, and first published in 1867. The group sings three verses. The song was popular in 1934, as Walter O'Keefe was using it as the theme song for his radio program. W.C. Fields was even in a film named "Man on the Flying Trapeze" in 1935. The song itself is about famed French acrobat Jules Leotard. "The Continental" was sung by Ginger Rogers in "The Gay Divorcee" (1934), and was actually the first song to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song. "Love in Bloom" was a big hit for Bing Crosby in 1934. "Anything Goes" was the title tune from the Cole Pole musical, which opened on Broadway in November 1934.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: The Walls of Jericho

The Walls of Jericho make their first appearance in the famous scene where Clark Gable removes his shirt in front of Ellie, only to reveal to America that he wore no undershirt. The popular story is that sales of tee shirts dropped dramatically after "It Happened One Night" was released and men saw this fairly sexy scene.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Carrots

Peter is chewing on some carrots. It is uncertain where he got them from. Ellie complains because she does not like the taste of carrots, although she finally gets hungry enough to eat one. Animator Fritz Freleng says that Gable's rapid banter while he chewed the carrots helped to inspire the creation of Bugs Bunny, who first appeared in 1940. Freleng did write that "It Happened One Night" was one of his favorite films.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: They pretend to be a bickering married couple.

Gable and Colbert are wonderful in this charming scene. Ellie is clearly beginning to loosen up and even seems to enjoy her and Peter's charade in front of the detectives.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: King Westley

King Westley, played by Jameson Thomas, does not actually show up until over an hour into the film. He makes an arrangement with Alexander Andrews, Ellie's father, to convince the runaway heiress to come home. At the end of the film, Ellie walks out on him at the altar, and Alexander pays King $100,000 to agree to an annulment. The plot of "It Happened One Night" is driven by Ellie seeking to reunite with King, little knowing she would fall in love with a different man on the way to New York. Joe Gordon was the newspaper editor.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: His mother passes out because she hasn't eaten in a long time.

If you watch closely in this scene on the bus, you can spot a few continuity errors. For example, in one shot, there is a curtain separating the bus driver from the passengers but just before the bus crashes, there is no curtain. Most notably, two completely different actors play the bus driver in different shots of the scene.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: He convinces Oscar that he is a gangster and he is kidnapping Ellie.

Peter scares Shapely so badly that he takes off running into the woods, falling once on his face. This is a truly funny scene.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: They never kiss on screen

They never do kiss on screen. They come very close to kissing when they are near the haystacks. And Ellie tells Peter that she is in love with him at the motel, but he refrains from kissing her because she is still married. At the mansion, she is far too angry to be in any mood for kissing.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: She pulls up her skirt and shows some leg.

Perhaps more famous than the scene where Gable wears no undershirt is the shot of Claudette Colbert lifting her skirt to reveal a very shapely leg. The scene is especially funny because Peter fancies himself such a hitchhiking expert, but he has absolutely no luck getting a car to stop, even though loads of cars drive by. The limb is mightier than the thumb, as Ellie says.

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: Frank Capra

If there is an American director, it is Frank Capra. He directed many of the most popular films of all time, including "It's a Wonderful Life" (1947) and "Mister Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). Capra's pictures always root for the underdog against the powerful. Capra also directed the "Why We Fight" series to inspire Americans during World War II. Capra won his first Academy Award for directing "It Happened One Night". He won again for "Mr Deeds Goes to Town" (1936) and "You Can't Take it With You" (1938). Capra has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6614 Hollywood Blvd. Howard Hawks was a master of the screwball comedy (along with other genres), directing films such as "Bringing Up Baby" (1938) and "His Girl Friday" (1940). George Cukor worked on many of the greatest films ever made, including "The Philadelphia Story" (1940). Preston Sturges directed many of the best comedies of the 1940s, including "The Lady Eve" (1941) and "Sullivan's Travels" (1941).

From Quiz It Happened One Night

Answer: A toy trumpet

Just before we see the lights go out in Peter and Ellie's room, we hear the toy trumpet being played. Then we see a shot of a blanket (the Walls of Jericho) falling to the floor. Of course, at this point, Peter and Ellie are officially married to each other.

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