Balderdash 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: An unknown woman in Missouri had a headstone only marked with a cast iron kettle. Finding out who she was has been a problem. It would appear that frying up dinner was her signature, though.

In Missouri, in 1883, the governorship there decided to beef up their Bureau Of Vital Records. This task included figuring out who died where and when for their records. It was a hard job since many people were rural (farmers mostly) and to find out who was who was almost impossible.

But they did find a grave marker of a woman who no one remembered. Her marker was only an iron kettle - and it lent no more information than that.

Answer: It's that Canadian schoolteacher who earned the nickname Mr. Gumby. He even managed to fit himself into a box about the same size as a picnic basket.

Pierre Beauchemin dazzled the audience with this gasper on "Guinness World Records: Primetime" in 1999. The box really WAS about the size of a picnic basket (just 29" x 15" x 15")! He had to disjoint both of his legs to do this, of course, not that there is anything 'regular' about that. Always unbelievably double jointed, Pierre was told by doctors he would be a cripple by the time he hit 30 - never happened.

He passed away in 2000 at age 40, due to a very sudden illness.

Answer: That's those two fellows who started out in the early 60s. They eventually hit the Woodstock stage in 1969.

Wilson and Hite were record collectors and blues historians who formed the band Canned Heat in the early 60s. They went to the Monterey Festival after getting some attention and did end up at Woodstock (singing just five songs: "A Change Is Gonna Come", "Woodstock Boogie", "Going Up The Country", "Let's Work Together" and "Too Many Drivers At The Wheel").

The band changed members a lot but those two stayed until their deaths; Alan Wilson, a harmonica player extraordinaire, in 1970 and Bob Hite ('The Bear') in 1981.

Answer: How awful! A baby was shot and killed when a gun went off that was being stored in the oven! His grandmother had hidden it there and when someone turned the oven on it discharged.

WNDU (Channel 16) reported this horrific story on April 17th that year. Young Dylan Christopher Goodwin, just 5 months old, was shot in the head by a gun his grandmother stored in the oven. When ignited it just fired. The bullet went through the oven structure and hit poor Dylan some 25 feet away. Clearly no one intended for such a thing to happen BUT, strangely, there was a gun safe in the house! Unfortunately it was not used.

Answer: In Australia you'd be taking a day off work. Calling in sick, even though you feel fine. Shame on you!

What am I doing writing a quiz question about Australian slang? Don't ask me. But, anyway, it is a phrase used for taking a day off work without a valid reason. In America we say "chuck it" a lot. Ignore it or get rid of the bother. All part of the same idea, one would conclude.

Answer: Hard Boiled Eggs (served with pepper and mustard. Very popular snack back then).

Their last midday meal, as the vessel sunk before noon occurred the next night, really wasn't so extraordinary. Third Class people did get fed well and were catered but their menu was very basic. Hard boiled eggs were not an option that day, though. The galley prepared the food for all passengers, no matter which class, and was located on D Deck (right above the engine room).

The ship's bugler, Mr. P.W. Fletcher, went from deck to deck blowing his horn and announced when chow time was. Both he and his bugle never saw the sunrise of April 15th that year.

Answer: Leonardo Da Vinci is right. He even had a sketch or two involving robots! He had many a talent and a startling vision about things to come.

Da Vinci 'just' a painter, eh? Not even close! He was a sculptor, astronomer, geologist, mathematician, botanist, animal behaviourist, inventor, engineer, architect and even a musician.

Answer: The longest baseball game lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes! It went 25 innings before somebody won it! The score only ending up 7 to 6.

On May 19th, 1984 the Chicago White Sox vs. the Milwaukee Brewers had quite a marathon of it. Chicago won eventually. The other three choices are quite nonsense. The Baseball Almanac reports another long one, in the early 1900s that was pretty lengthy, too (Brooklyn against Boston), but that one ended up a tie.

There are many baseball records but the White Sox victory is the one to both win the game and in the most innings and longest time ever.

Answer: They must have run out of other available nominees that year. But the answer is Sylvia Miles for her short work in "Midnight Cowboy".

Let's eliminate the completely wrong answers first. Paxinou and Straight both won on their efforts in 1943 and 1976, consecutively speaking. Foster was nominated in 1976, too, but had a considerably greater screen time than just 6 minutes. So Miles is the one and Sylvia Miles earns this record. "Midnight Cowboy" was a very unsettling movie in 1969, in my opinion! Completely bleak. What a pack of lost characters! However, despite its 'X' rating, it was named Best Picture.

But things were a bit liberal in '69.

Answer: What am I supposed to answer? They all almost did!

See what happens when initial Nielsen ratings basically stink? Give them a year or two to get their footing and it all becomes a valued chunk of pop culture. The business part of it makes the networks money. Sponsors stayed away so the plug was almost pulled - we are lucky that someone decided to stick with these three (and others).

Whew. I can stop lying now! Hope you had a little fun with this one.