City Folk (Part 11): Fictional Characters Quiz

Answer: 1965 musical version with Deborah Kerr and Susannah York

While the musical version is made-up the other three films were indeed all based on the Prouty novel about a woman who marries above her station in life, only to see the marriage deteriorate slowly as her husband, Stephen Dallas falls more and more out of love with Stella. Stella has become pregnant however, with their daughter. The daughter, Laurel becomes Stephen Dallas's sole reason for having anything to do with Stella. The story has spawned those successful film tearjerkers.

Dallas is one of Texas's most populous cities along with Houston and San Antonio. It is in north-central Texas, along the Trinity River. Representing the city are The Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, nicknamed "America's Team".

Answer: Colonel

Played by Lee Majors, (imagine if he were Major Majors), Steve Austin was a Colonel when his test plane crashed and he lost both legs, his right arm, and left eye. The authorities had and used "technology to rebuild him." He was fitted with cybernetic parts that gave him super strength and speed, and began working for the Office of Scientific Investigation as an special agent, investigating nefarious characters like foreign spies, mad scientists, bombers, space aliens, and...yes, and even a Bionic Bigfoot!

Austin, Texas has several companies specializing in robotics. Among them are Cognite, Gecko Robotics, ICON, LinkDyn, Meshify, and others. The University of Texas, at Austin has a program that offer a Graduate Portfolio Program in Robotics.

Answer: Miami

Former policeman turned private investigator, Tony Rome works in Miami, where he's been hired by a millionaire named Rudy Kosterman (played by city-named actor Simon Oakland) to locate jewelry that was stolen from his daughter (played by the city-named Sue Lyon). This movie was based on Marvin H. Albert's novel, "Miami Mayhem" one of three novels he wrote about the character Tony Rome. "Lady in Cement" and "My Kind of Game" were the other two.

The Miami Jewels is the name of the professional women's football team in the Women's Football League Association.

Answer: Guys and Dolls

"Guys and Dolls" was the 1955 film adaptation of the stage musical in which a gambler named Sky Masterson is challenged to take a cold female missionary to Havana, but they fall for each other, and the bet has a hidden motive to finance a crap game. Nathan Detroit meanwhile is trying to raise cash to be able to rent a location to hold his craps game.

The MGM Grand Detroit is among the biggest money-making casinos in Detroit. In 2017 it had revenues of $592 million. Its casino has 3,500 slot and video poker machines.

Answer: James Garner

James Garner had the right combination of humor and tough-guy edge to play this character, an ex-convict who became a private investigator when he re-entered civilian life. The wiseacre Rockford drove a Pontiac Firebird and lived in Malibu, California.

There are many cities named Rockford in the United States, but the largest one easily is Rockford, Illinois. It is the fourth largest city in Illinois and the 171st largest city in the country. Its population is over 152,000. Rockford, Michigan is the next most populous Rockford with only over 5,000 people.

Answer: Lee Horsley

Lee Horsley played the rich Texan detective named Matt Houston in the eponymously titled series that takes place in California. While solving mysteries, he balances his time by also administrating his family's offshore drilling company. The show received one Emmy Award nomination: for editing in 1983.

Houston, Texas is one of the world's most important cities in the oil and gas industry. There are more than 5,000 companies whose business is energy, and 13 of the 20 largest natural gas companies in the United States are located in Houston.

Answer: Joel Cairo

This Sam Spade movie features Humphrey Bogart up against a collection of villains, one of whom, Joel Cairo, is played by the great Peter Lorre, whose business cards are scented with gardenia. Isn't that a great creepy trait? Cairo has offered Sam Spade $5000 if he can find the eponymous black bird of the film's title. The writer, Dashiell Hammett had worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency, at one time; he based the Joel Cairo character on a man that Hammett arrested on a charge of forgery in 1920.

The Egyptian Agricultural Museum in Cairo is one of the finest flower museums in the world. Its collection contains flowers from all over the world and it features an exhibit on the history of flowers.

Answer: Boston Blackie

Jack Boyle himself had led a life of crime, and conceived his Boston Blackie character while writing from San Quentin prison. His initial stories were published in 1914 under the pseudonym "No. 6066."
There were many incarnations of Boston Blackie on film, but perhaps the best known was portrayed by actor Chester Morris who appeared in 14 films starting in 1941 with "Meet Boston Blackie." Prior to that film series there were 11 silent Boston Blackie films from 1918 to 1927 with Bert Lytell, Walter Long, Sam De Grasse, David Powell, Lionel Barrymore, William Russell, Thomas Carrigan, Forest Stanley, and Raymond Glenn all taking a stab at the role.
The radio series kicked off in 1944 and also starred Chester Morris. Richard Kollmar took over the role from 1945 to to 1949.
Kent Taylor played Boston Blackie from 1951 to 1953 on the television series.

Answer: "Alien" (1979)

Played by Tom Skerrit in the sci-fi/horror frightfest "Alien", Captain Dallas tries to track down the Xenomorph that has been terrorizing the crew of the Nostromo. He takes a flame-thrower and starts making his way through the airshafts. The other crew members are monitoring for signs of any other activity. They do see something moving closer to Dallas, who they instruct to go in a certain direction. It all gets too panicky and they tell him to just get out of there. But it's too late. As he swings the flamethrower to the side to light up a shaft, the monster is right there reaching out to him with outstretched arms. And to think that Harrison Ford turned down the role.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) has instituted a "border within a border" program that has slowed the flow of illegal aliens from Central America to Dallas. Dr. Howard Tyas, Jr. of Bethany Presbyterian Church has preferred calling the immigrants "refugees" as opposed to the INS's commissioner who uses the term "aliens". At the Dallas Hispanic Issues Forum, the two men have engaged in debates over the sanctuary movement, and the many issues involved.

Answer: Austin Powers in Thunderballs

"Austin Powers in Thunderballs" does not exist. The three actual films in the "Austin Powers" franchise that I've listed are: "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" released on May 2, 1997. "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" released on June 11, 1999. "Austin Powers in Goldmember" released on July 26, 2002. Mike Myers stars in the films as the title character, a shagadelic British secret agent; but Myers also plays Austin's nemesis Dr. Evil as well as another of Austin's enemies, Fat Bastard.

ARIC, the Austin Regional Intelligence Center plays an important role in countering violent extremist activity in the area, by gathering and analyzing and sharing data about violent threats. It is run by the Austin Police Department. It deals with issues involving general crime, suspicious activity, terrorism, public health, and fire-fighting services, as well as other areas of concern.