Magic Bus Trivia Quiz

Answer: "It Happened One Night"

The first film to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screenplay, "It Happened One Night" was a 1934 Frank Capra comedy about spoiled heiress Ellie (Claudette Colbert) and down-and-out reporter Peter (Clark Gable).

They met on a Greyhound bus driving from Florida to New York where Peter, in exchange for the exclusive story, agreed to help her reunite with her ne'er-do-well husband against the wishes of her wealthy father. Along the way, they had several adventures and fell in love with each other, and after Ellie's marriage was annulled, they ended up together.

Answer: "The Honeymooners"

"The Honeymooners" was an early American sitcom which debuted in 1955. It featured Jackie Gleason as Gotham Bus Company driver Ralph Kramden and revolved around his life with his wife Alice (Audrey Meadows) and his adventures with his best pal Ed (Art Carney).

Although Gleason portrayed a bus driver, the main connection to buses in the episodes was that he appeared in his bus driver uniform; most of the show took place in the Kramden's kitchen, but there were some scenes at the bus depot. After Gleason's death, a Brooklyn, New York, bus depot was renamed in his honor.

Answer: "Grand Theft Auto"

The first "Grand Theft Auto" video game was released in 1997 and would spawn several sequels in which players would perform tasks for a criminal enterprise and could earn points by stealing vehicles and causing mayhem and destruction. In the original game, there were different locations that had variations on a school bus: Liberty City had a school bus, San Andreas had a church bus, and Vice City had a sports team bus.

The game also featured a city bus which was called "the Coach" rather than "the Bus".

The Coach was involved in a side-mission where players had to drive above a certain speed to prevent a bomb from exploding (ala the film "Speed").

Answer: "The John Larroquette Show"

After working the late shift at the TV show "Night Court", John Larroquette moved to the late shift at a St. Louis bus depot on his self-titled sitcom which ran from 1993 to 1996. He portrayed recovering alcoholic John Hemingway who was surrounded by a quirky group of employees, passengers, and other visitors to the bus station.

The show featured a number of celebrity guest cameos including the band Boyz II Men and several of "The Golden Girls" (playing their "Golden Girl" characters). David Crosby of Crosby, Stills and Nash had a recurring role as Hemingway's AA sponsor, and a sadly un-aired episode from the last season featured Ryan Reynolds as Hemingway's son.

Answer: "Vigilante 8"

Released in 1998, "Vigilante 8" was set in an alternate 1975 when the global oil crisis had turned the U.S. into a lawless wild land. The Vigilantes were the good guys in this game - a group of citizens from the southwestern states led by a cowboy named Convoy.

The bad guys were the Coyotes who worked for an oil syndicate determined to control the world's oil market. A kid named Molo wanted to join the Coyotes so he stole a 1966 school bus and equipped it for duty to prove himself worthy. The bus turned out to be a popular vehicle; even though it was slow, it had great armor protection.

Answer: "The Graduate"

The bus in "The Graduate" only appeared for a minute or so at the end of the film but it was a memorable scene. Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross portrayed Benjamin and Elaine in the 1967 Mike Nichols film. Benjamin was a recent college graduate who was in a relationship with Elaine's mother, Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), only to realize that it was her daughter that he really wanted.

But after the affair with Mrs. Robinson was made public, Elaine was pressured by her parents to marry her former boyfriend. Benjamin arrived at the church just after she was married but managed to get her to leave with him.

They ran out of the church, bolting the door with a large cross and then flagged down a Santa Barbara Municipal Bus. Sitting at the back of the bus with everyone staring at them, they initially looked elated over the escape, but they soon appeared somber, perhaps considering the consequences of what they had done.

The film ended with the bus driving away.

Answer: "Smoke and Mirrors"

A collection of mini-games, "Smoke and Mirrors" was scheduled to be released in 1995, but the company that was releasing the game went out of business. Advanced copies sent to video game magazines had generated mixed reviews, so the game was shelved, but it managed to end up on the Internet where it gained a cult following. Magicians Penn and Teller came up with the ideas for the mini-games, including an adventure game that involved killing rival magicians.

But the oddest of the mix was a favorite of Penn Jillette's called "Desert Bus". According to Jillette, the idea for this game came from Eddie Gorodetsky, one of the producers of "Two and a Half Men" and was inspired by then U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's disdain of violent video games.

The goal of "Desert Bus" was to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada -- an eight-hour trip. The game was played in real time; if you put the controller down or let the bus drift, it would non-violently crash into sand, and then you'd be towed back to Tucson to start again. "Video Games" magazine reviewed the game as "brilliant in concept, if mind-numbingly boring in gameplay".

Answer: "Speed"

The 1994 action film "Speed" featured Keanu Reeves as Los Angeles SWAT officer Jack Traven who was trying to stop a bomber (Dennis Hopper) from blowing up a city bus. The bomber had rigged the bus to explode if its speed dropped below 50 mph. Jack managed to board the moving bus where he met passenger Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) who had to drive the bus after the driver was accidentally shot. Thanks to a bit of technological trickery, the passengers got off the bus before it exploded.

After an additional adventure on a subway, the bomber met a gruesome end, and Jack and Annie appeared to embark on a relationship.

Answer: "The Partridge Family"

Inspired by the band The Cowsills, "The Partridge Family" was an American television show that ran from 1970-1974 and featured Shirley Jones as the widowed mother of five musically-inclined kids. Besides the show, the Partridge Family also released albums, although only Jones and her real-life stepson David Cassidy performed on the records.

The group had a number one single in the U.S., Canada, and Australia with "I Think I Love You" and even received a "Best New Artist" Grammy nomination in 1971; both they and Elton John lost the award to The Carpenters.

The family bus was a 1957 Chevrolet school bus which was painted in the style of Piet Mondrian and featured the sign "Careful Nervous Mother Driving" on the back.

Answer: "Jeepers Creepers 2"

The horror film "Jeepers Creepers 2" was the 2003 sequel to 2001's "Jeepers Creepers". The Creeper was a demonic being that emerged from hibernation every twenty-three years to feed on humans for twenty-three days, a plot similar to the 1993-1994 "X-Files" episodes involving Eugene Tooms.

In the film, the Creeper disabled a high school bus carrying basketball players and cheerleaders by blowing out its tires. With the bus stranded, the Creeper then killed several of the students and others before being apparently killed himself and displayed as a side-show freak.

The end of the film took place twenty-three years later with the man who killed the Creeper watching it, with a harpoon at his side.