Things That Are Gay Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Flintstones

"The Flintstones" was a remarkably popular animated comedy programme made by Hanna-Barbera. It is set in the Stone Age. Fred Flintstone and his family play against Barney Rubble and his family. The show's popularity begat live-action movies and even Flintstone-themed chewable vitamins. From the third season on, the theme song was "Meet the Flintstones." It begins "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones, they're the modern Stone Age family". One verse promises "When you're with the Flintstones / Have a yabba dabba doo time / A dabba doo time / We'll have a gay old time." The theme song was covered by the B-52s, pretending to be "the B.C. 52s", contemporaries of the Flintstones.

Answer: Can-Can

Cole Porter wrote the music and lyrics for "Can-Can." The play is about a Montmartre dance hall threatened with closure by a wicked judge. It is set in Paris in 1893. The original Broadway production won the 1953 Tony Awards for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Gwen Verdon) and for Best Choreography (Michael Kidd).

The expression "Gay Paree" arose during the Belle Epoque and was popular at the turn of the century to mean that the French capital was carefree, joyous, lively and exciting.

Answer: George Herbert

George Herbert (1593-1633) wrote a poem entitled "Gratefulnesse" which became well-known after its publication in 1633. Through an unknown hand, the phrase about "grateful hearts" found its way in to a form of saying grace used for several centuries in England. The poem begins "Thou that hast giv'n so much to me / Give one thing more, a gratefull heart."

Answer: State Fair

Near the beginning of the motion picture version of the Broadway musical "State Fair" (1945), young daughter Margy, a member of the Frake Family, on their way to the fair, sings "It Might As Well Be Spring." The song won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture. Frank Sinatra recorded it in 1961 for his album "Sinatra and Strings." Saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto collaborated on a Bossa Nova version performed and recorded live at Cafe au Go Go in New York City in 1964.

Answer: Herman's Hermits

This is a song about a man left behind in a house when his love has gone away. He leaves a note for the milkman saying "No milk today" because he has less need, being newly single. The song asks "How could they know just what this message means / The end of all my hopes the end of all my dreams / How could they know a palace there had been / Behind the door where my love reigned as queen / No milk today it wasn't always so / The company was gay we turn'd night into day." Herman's Hermit's lead singer Peter Noone called it their best recording.

Answer: Europe

The 1944 motion picture, based on the 1942 memoir of the same name, describes a European trip taken by the girls in 1923, the year of their graduation from high school. Gail Russell played Skinner and Diana Lynn played Kimbrough. The teenagers take a steamship to Europe to follow one's potential boyfriend. Romantic adventures ensue in London and Paris, until their parents insist on the girls' return to America.

The comedy is innocent and mildly amusing.

Answer: the Saint

The author/creator of the Saint, Leslie Charteris, was upset with RKO Radio Pictures and with George Sanders for their portrayal of his hero in motion pictures. RKO did not renew its rights to make further Saint movies. In its place, the studio created "The Gay Falcon" in 1941.

The Falcon was played by George Sanders. Charteris sued RKO on the premise that "the Falcon was the Saint in disguise." The Falcon became a series.

Answer: the Hays Office found divorce unseemly

The Motion Picture Production Code governed films made in the US from 1934 to 1968. The code was administered by the Hays Office (named after Will H. Hays, the president of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America). The Hays Office rejected "Gay Divorce" as a title because they reasoned that it was unseemly to portray divorce as anything but sad and solemn. Oddly, no such objection was raised to depicting Ginger Rogers' character as gay and lighthearted, thus "The Gay Divorcée." This movie was Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' second (of ten) films together.

The Cole Porter songs "Night and Day" and "The Continental" were featured. A little-known actress named Betty Grable (only 17 years old) had a small part.

Answer: the Cisco Kid

Based on a short story by O. Henry, "The Gay Cavalier" pitted the Cisco Kid against a wealthy, larcenous and salacious don. Gilbert Roland played the Cisco Kid for the first of six castings in that role. In the end, he saves the day, rescues the beautiful young heroine, apprehends the bad guys and sets all to right in the Old West. The original Monogram Pictures movie posters read "AN AMOROUS CABALLERO! ... Romantic! Taunting! Tempting!"

Answer: the 1890s

The decade of the 1890s was turbulent. In the US, where it was called "the Gay Nineties," and in the UK, where it was called "the Naughty Nineties," there was social change afoot. This was the time when the plays (and trial) of Oscar Wilde occurred, when suffragettes and teetotalers campaigned, when public entertainment was less inhibited, and when some people lived the high life.

A look at the times can be seen in the novels of Edith Wharton and Booth Tarkington. A similar look is available in motion pictures such as Mae West and Cary Grant in "She Done Him Wrong" (1933), Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature in "My Gal Sal" (1942), and Hello, Dolly! (1969).