The Seven Dwarfs: Grumpy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Molière

Alceste, the misanthrope of the title, tries in vain to fight against the prevailing hypocrisy of life in society and at court. Of course, he has to fall in love with Célimène, a flighty young woman who embodies all the vices that he hates. Eventually, having been convinced of the infidelity of his beloved, and having lost the considerable sum of 20,000 francs in a lawsuit in which he had justice entirely on his side, he resolves to flee from Parisian society and live in retirement in the distant provinces. However, as the curtain falls, his true friends Philinte and Éliante are determined to dissuade him, and somehow we feel that they will succeed: we grumpy old men can't really be happy with nothing to grumble about!

Question created by TabbyTom, who agrees that if you can see light at the end of the tunnel it is undoubtedly a train coming the other way.

Answer: He was named for the famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde.

There are several conflicting stories about Oscar's name. One is that he was named for a curmudgeon of a barman named Oscar that the writers and puppet masters knew in New York, and another that he was named for Canadian folk musician Oscar Brand who served on the board for the Children's Television Workshop. In an interview in 2009, Oscar told Anderson Cooper that he is still orange but is covered with green moss. He has revealed his Canadian ancestry a few times. Carroll Spinney played Oscar and said he based his accent on a New York City cabbie's gruff voice. There are several international versions of Oscar's character on the versions of 'Sesame Street' around the world.

This question was brought to you by the letters B, R, U, Y, E, R and (back by popular demand) E.

Answer: Real Ale

Captain Grumpy's Beer Company, to give it its full name, was one of the increasing number of small breweries to spring up across the United Kingdom since the 1990s, encouraged by the availability of reasonably-priced small-scale brewing equipment, and a growing interest in locally-produced food and drink.

Wissey Valley has continued to use the name "Captain Grumpy" in the names of its beers, which include Cap'n Grumpy's Golden Rivet, Cap'n Grumpy's Best Bitter and Cap'n Grumpy's Wild Widow Mild.

Question brewed up by stedman.

Answer: Horace Vandergelder

"Ninety-nine percent of the people in the world are fools and the rest of us are in great danger of contagion." Rich and grumpy Horace Vandergelder terrorizes his clerks Cornelius and Barnaby, refuses to let his niece marry and is exasperated by Dolly Levi, the matchmaker who is charged with finding him a wife. Broken heart? Horace has "never heard of it".

The idea of two young clerks getting out from under a curmudgeonly boss and going on a spree is not new. The play "The Matchmaker" and its later musical incarnation "Hello Dolly" were inspired by an 1842 one-act farce "A Day Well Spent" by British playwright John Oxenford. Thornton Wilder revived it as 'The Merchant of Yonkers' (bearing more than a passing resemblance to Molière's 'The Miser') in 1938. Wilder re-wrote the play as "The Matchmaker" in 1955 with Ruth Roman in the title role. In 1964 the musical "Hello Dolly" with Carol Channing was first produced on Broadway, and the film version with Barbra Streisand came out in 1969.

Annaheldfan, also a Dolly Levi fan, posed this question.

Answer: Mordecai Richler

Mordecai Richler was not just an amazing novelist, he was a gourmet and bon vivant of such proportions that at least one Richler-inspired gastronomic tour of Montréal appears on the Internet. He really did love Grumpys (no apostrophe, we're in Montréal!), the watering hole of choice for the (male) Anglo intelligentsia over the last quarter of the 20th century. Today the crowd is younger and there is an open mike, but it still is a nice bar.

When he wasn't eating, smoking Cuban cigars or holding court at Grumpys, Mordecai Richler, the 'great shining star of his Canadian literary generation' was working hard. He was a prolific novelist and literary commentator for such publications as "The New Yorker", "The Times Review of Books" and "The Guardian". His wonderful novel "Solomon Gursky Was Here" (1989) was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and Richler became a Companion of the Order of Canada in the year of his death.

Annaheldfan spent many happy hours in Grumpys composing this question.

Answer: Christmas

Christmas, which commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, tends to be a joyous occasion in Christian households, with presents, charity, treats, and perhaps a lusciously decorated evergreen in the living room. For Ebenezer Scrooge, the miserly protagonist of Charles Dickens' novel "A Christmas Carol," it's a reminder of everything he hates most -- the poor, living wages, generosity -- but also the vehicle for a dramatic change of heart. Over the course of the Dr. Seuss book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," the Grinch has a change of heart, too -- in fact, the joy of the Whos in their holiday makes his heart grow three sizes. There are plenty of pop-culture villains who hate Christmas, but few of them are allowed to hate it for long.

CellarDoor was absolutely not hallucinating candy canes while writing this question.

Answer: Harrison Ford

In 1997, "Empire" magazine placed Harrison Ford at Number one in its list of The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time. Ford was noted for playing Indiana Jones, the fedora-wearing bullwhip-wielding hero of a popular and profitable movie franchise. He got his first big acting break in "Star Wars" in 1977, and was also noted for playing Jack Ryan in two dramatisations of Tom Clancy's best-selling series of novels.

That quote was extracted from an interview Ford did with "The Daily Telegraph" in 2011 while promoting the movie "Morning Glory".
In full: "'Am I grumpy?' Harrison Ford ponders the idea, and acknowledges: 'I might be.' Then the gruff and occasionally acerbic actor adds: 'But I think maybe sometimes it's misinterpreted. I've always been an independent son of a bitch. So, if I'm grumpy, then call me grumpy. I'm all right with that'."
On another occasion, Conan O'Brien told Ford, "There's an image out there that you're grumpy"--to which Ford replied with an expletive.

This question was posed by darksplash who is only ever grumpy when the alarm goes off first thing in the morning. And throughout the period until the bedroom light goes out at night.

Answer: Mr. Tickle tickled Mr. Grumpy whenever he was crotchety

Mr. Happy's plan was successful. After being continually tickled, Mr. Grumpy couldn't help but smile and laugh where he would normally be fractious.

"Mr. Grumpy" was first published in March 1978, the 27th book in the "Mr. Men" series written and illustrated by Roger Hargreaves. "Mr. Tickle" was the first book, written when Roger's son Adam asked his father "What does a tickle look like?". The story was the last to be adapted for the television series "Mr. Men", narrated by "Dad's Army" star, Arthur Lowe.

This question was written cheerfully by Snowman in the brief interlude between his crabby mood and his peevish mood.

Answer: Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau

Jack Lemmon (John Gustafson) and Walter Matthau (Max Goldman) starred in this movie, which also featured Ann-Margret as the sexy new neighbor (Ariel Truax), and Burgess Meredith as Lemmon's father, Grandpa Gustafson. John and Max live next to each other, and are always arguing and insulting each other. When Ariel moves in next door, both of the men are attracted to her, their fighting moves to the next level, and hilarity ensues.

Lemmon and Matthau worked together on ten movies. "Grumpy Old Men" was the sixth.

Tony Randall and Jack Klugman starred in the television version of "The Odd Couple".

Carroll O'Connor and Rob Reiner worked together on "All in the Family". O'Connor starred as Archie Bunker, and Reiner was his son-in-law, Michael 'Meathead' Stivic.

Burgess Meredith and Kevin Pollack had supporting roles in "Grumpy Old Men."


This question was submitted by SilverMoonsong, who is very grumpy before she has her morning coffee...

Answer: Allan Border

A world record holder for consecutive Test appearances and most Tests as captain, Allan Robert Border was charged with the unfortunate task of leading the Aussies following the retirement of legends Dennis Lillee, Rod Marsh and Greg Chappell in the mid '80s. He was the rock around which the team was rebuilt, his mental toughness proving invaluable to the team.

Usually known as A.B., the many heartbreaking defeats and a personal decision to bring a 'harder edge' to the team saw him garner the 'grumpy' moniker from his peers.

A great batsman, superb fielder and reliable part time bowler, Border was one of 55 inaugural inductees into the Cricket Hall of Fame.

Suitcasemurphy bowled us all out as he delivered the final question in our tour through all things curmudgeonly.