Entertainment Mingle-Mangle Trivia Quiz

Answer: World's Fair and Columbian Exposition of 1893

Also referred to as the Chicago World's Fair, the 1893 Fair celebrated the 400th anniversary of Columbus's voyage to the New World. Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Manhattan's Central Park, also helped design the World's Columbian Exposition (as it was also called).

The Centennial Exhibition was in Philadelphia in 1876, to celebrate the USA's centennial, naturally. The 1904 exposition, also known as the St. Louis World's Fair, marked the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase (Vente de la Louisiane) from France, a significant expansion of U.S. territory. The 1939 fair, held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, didn't commemorate anything in particular, but rather looked to the future, with the theme "Dawn of a New Day". At the time it was second only to St. Louis's in size.

Answer: Jungle Cruise

If You Had Wings, a dark ride sponsored by Eastern Air Lines, was the first to go, in 1987. After assorted re-inventions, in 1998 it became Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride closed in 1998 and was replaced the following year with The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh.

The Submarine Voyage closed in 1994. Its lagoon lay dormant for a decade until it was drained and paved over, and Pooh's Playful Spot was built. I'm seeing a Pooh-related pattern here among the ride closures!

Answer: Blackjack

To be honest, all of the games favor the house. After all, why would a casino have any other game? But the house edge is the smallest for Blackjack, also known as Twenty-One. Although there have been enormous wins in Baccarat by experienced and high-rolling players, Blackjack still has the best odds for the player, especially if you can count cards (and not get caught).

Answer: Superman

Writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster had their original villainous Super-Man published in a short story in a science fiction fanzine in 1933. After the remodel, they took their new superhero to various publishing houses with little success, until they re-envisioned the Fairbanks-like Superman further to be a Herculean mythic hero with a circus strongman costume (shorts over tights), a cape, and a capital S on the chest. DC Comics bought the idea and published Superman in 'Action Comics' #1 in 1938.

Answer: NBC

When the National Broadcast Company (NBC) divided itself into two networks in 1927, legend has it that the colors came from the pushpins to designate those stations affiliated with NBC's flagship station WEAF and those stations affiliated with NBC's low-budget station, WJZ.

In 1943, NBC was forced to divest itself of the Blue Network, which became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), a distinct television and radio network. The NBC Red Network became the NBC Radio Network until 2004, when it became NBC News Radio, no longer a radio network as such but the radio service of NBC News.

Answer: She painted it on with a brush

Lipstick during the 19th century was colored with carmine dye, which was extracted from an insect called cochineal. Mixed with waxes and oils, it was very thick and expensive and considered unnatural-looking and inappropriate, but Sarah Bernhardt defied convention and began wearing it in public in the late 1800s. By the 1910s, wearing lipstick in public had become more or less acceptable.

Many women through the 20th and 21st centuries continued to apply their lip color with a brush, even when it came in a convenient tube.

Answer: Miss World

Eric Morley created the Miss World pageant in the UK in 1951 as the Festival Bikini Contest. The name "Miss World" came from the press, not from Morley, but he adopted it for his pageant when he decided to make it recurring. When Morley died in 2000, widow Julia Morley took over the presidency. Miss China, model Yu Wenxia, won the title in 2012 and by tradition lived in London during her "reign".

The Miss Universe pageant began in 1952 by Pacific Mills, a California clothing company, but American tycoon Donald Trump bought the pageant in 1996. The Miss International pageant, another California creation, began in 1960 to promote world peace and goodwill. Japan began hosting it in 1968. The Miss Earth pageant began in 2001 to promote environmental awareness; the title-holder becomes the spokesperson for the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP).

Answer: Gorgeous George

Geroge Raymond Wagner (1915-1963), better known as Gorgeous George, was renown for his curly locks and for his theatrics, such as marching to the ring to "Pomp and Circumstance" and spraying down the ring with perfume. Comedian Bob Hope donated many of the fancy robes that George wore. George's enormous popularity contributed to the spread of the new technology of television in the United States in the 1940s and '50s. George's self-promoting style influenced later sports figures such as Muhammad Ali, known as much for his poetry and larger-than-life personality as for his boxing skills.

Answer: Mr. Ed

If you know that whales and dolphins are cetaceans, then this is not too difficult! Mr. Ed was a horse, of course, a talking palomino horse from American television in the 1960s. He was played by gelding Bamboo Harvester.

Moby Dick was the white sperm whale obsessively hunted by the self-destructive Captain Ahab in Herman Melville's classic novel, published in 1851 and made into a movie in 1956. Willy was an orca, or killer whale, played by Keiko in the movie 'Free Willy' (1993) and its sequels. Flipper was the bottlenose dolphin of the 1960s TV show named for him. He was played by various female dolphins from the Miami Seaquarium.

Answer: the Chinese water torture cell escape

For the Chinese Torture Cell Escape, the illusionist is lowered by his ankles into a glass-fronted tank filled with water. After the tank is sealed and then concealed behind a curtain, the magician must escape before he drowns. In 1975, when long-haired Doug Henning (1947-2000) performed the illusion live on television, he became the first magician to successfully duplicate the trick since Houdini last performed it in 1926.