Mayday, Mayday! Famous events that occurred in May Quiz

Answer: Janet Gaynor

The Best Actor in a Leading Role award went to Emil Jannings. Tickets to the shindig, held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, cost the 270 attendees just five bucks each.
As opposed to the way the winners' names are now cloaked in secrecy, until the dramatic "and the award goes to" announcement on the night of the awards, back then it was quite different. Approximately three months before the live bash, the winners were all notified by telegram.

Interesting fact: That first ceremony was the only one not to have been aired over the radio or shown on TV.

Answer: The Cascades

The explosion killed 57 people, leveled over 200 homes and took down dozens of bridges. The estimated cost of the damages was over a billion dollars, and that was in 1980 money. Translated into 2010 money it would be more than two and a half billion bucks. It could have been much worse had not the United States Geological Survey scientists convinced thousand of residents to stay away, as the area had been experiencing several quakes in the preceding months.

Interesting fact: As the result of the column of ash hitting an altitude of over 80,000 feet, deposits of it reached into 11 states.

Answer: Woodrow Wilson

On May 9, 1914, Wilson declared Mother's Day as an official national holiday .
It is celebrated in the United States on the second Sunday in May. Worldwide, over 100 countries celebrate it in May, although not all on the same date (e.g. in Sweden it is cause for celebration on the last Sunday in May).
Most Arab countries celebrate it on March 21.

Interesting fact. In America, more long distance phone calls are made on Mother's Day than on any other day of the year. (And the restaurants don't do badly either).

Answer: Ohio

In addition to those killed, nine more were injured. Some of those shot were actually protesting, while others were merely spectators. Reaction across the country was swift, as a student strike of over 4 million forced the closing of over 450 schools. Just five days after the shooting, 100,000 protesters descended upon Washington D.C. which caused President Nixon to be taken to Camp David in MD for safekeeping. National Guard troops were called out to protect more than 20 campuses as over 30 college ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) offices, across 16 states were torched.

Interesting fact: The now famous photograph of a young woman kneeling alongside the body of 20 year old student Jeffrey Miller, won the Pulitizer Prize for Photography (1970) for John Filo.

Answer: Irish

Abraham Stoker was born November 8, 1847 in Dublin, Ireland. He wrote a dozen novels, starting with "The Primrose Path" (1875) and his final one was "The Lair of the White Worm", aka "The Garden of Eden" (1911).
The classic Hollywood movie, "Dracula" (1931), starring Bela Lugosi as the bloodsucking Transylvanian Count would terrify movie goers and help sales of the book, too. Stoker also wrote three collections of short stories, as well as five works of nonfiction. He died April 20, 1912, in London.

Interesting fact: An unauthorized, silent German film, "Nosferatu" released in 1922, was based on the book, and starred Max Schreck as "Count Orlok".

Answer: Lockheed

Powers wound up serving only a year and a half, when he was part of a prisoner swap which sent Soviet Colonel Vilyam Fisher, who had taken the name Rudolph Abel, after being nabbed by the feebs in 1957. He had been sentenced to 45 years but only served four as a result of the deal. The U-2 was an ideal espionage plane in that it could take photos from altitudes of 70,000 feet, which up until that fateful May day, had been thought to be out of the reach of Soviet retaliation. Powers would later work as a test pilot for Lockheed, which in 1965 merged with Martin Marietta and became Lockheed-Martin. The 47 year old Powers was killed in a helicopter crash, on August 1, 1977 as he covered a wildfire, while working for a local TV station near Burbank, CA. He has been awarded awarded "The Distinguished Flying Cross", "The CIA Director's Medal", "The Prisoner of War Medal" and most recently, "The Silver Star".

Interesting fact: In the chaos of the assault on Powers a Soviet MIG managed to hit one of its own, killing pilot Sergei Safronov, who became a victim of "friendly fire".

Answer: Everett Scott

Everett "Deacon" Scott had set the record of 1,307 games, a number thought at the time to be unbeatable. Scott's streak started June 20, 1916, and it too ended in May, coming to a stop May 6, 1925. Gehrig's "absolutely unbreakable" record held up for 56 years, until Cal Ripken Jr. of the Baltimore Orioles played in his 2,131st straight game on September 6, 1995. He would extend it to 2,632, before taking himself out of the lineup in the 1998 season. How good was Lou Gehrig? Check this out: His career stats (over 17 years) were a .340 batting average (BA) with 493 home runs (HR) and 1,995 Runs Batted In (RBIs). He was a seven time All-Star, a six time World Series Champion, and two time American League Most Valuable Player. In 1934, he won the Triple Crown with a BA of .363, 49 HRs and 165 RBIs. He is a member of Major League Baseball's All Time Team. Lou Gehrig was inducted into The Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
The disease that killed him, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis is now known simply as "Lou Gehrig's Disease".

Interesting fact: On January 6, 1940 he became the first Major League baseball player to have his number (4) retired.

Answer: Lakehurst Naval Air Station

The result of the explosions and fires was 35 fatalities. The event was even more stunning, since just 6 weeks prior, the Hindenburg had successfully completed an uneventful round trip from Frankfurt to Rio de Janiero, Brazil.
Conspiracy theorists have all tried to come up with the definitive cause for the tragedy, but none has ever done so. The official cause of the crash remains classified as "unclear". The Hindenburg disaster pretty much ended the practice of travel by airship, as the public suddenly felt regular airplane travel was safer and more reliable.
An American movie, Hindenburg" (1975) which starred George C. Scott retold the tragic episode.

Interesting fact: The Hindenburg's pilot, Max Pruss, who survived the carnage, later blamed it on sabotage, although not a shred of evidence has ever been proved to support his claim.

Answer: David Ben- Gurion

Ben-Gurion served from May 1948-January 1954 and again from November 1955-June 1963. Weizmann was Israel's first President (which is for the most part merely a ceremonial role). Sharett was the second P.M. and Begin was the sixth. The first woman to serve as Prime Minister was Golda Meir, who served from 1969-1974. Israel, whose capital and most populated city is Jerusalem is led by their parliament known as the Knesset. Israel's 2010 estimated population is roughly seven and a half million folks. The financial center is in Tel Aviv and its currency is the shekel.
Over 40% of the world's Jewish population lives in Israel and its strongest Western ally is the United States. Israel became a member of the United Nations on November 15, 1949.

Interesting fact: In 1970, Russian born American mobster, Meyer Suchowljansky, better known as Meyer Lansky, fled from America to Israel in order to avoid charges of income tax evasion. He was deported to the U.S. in 1974, where he died in 1983.

Answer: The Last One

The show ended, appropriately enough, with the gang of six heading for their last cuppa Joe at Central Perk, their favorite coffee house haunt.
What a run and what a cast of characters, from the nutty, part time musician and masseuse, Phoebe Buffay -one of my all-time favorite TV character's names-(Lisa Kudrow), to the chauvanistic, womanizing Joey ("how YOU doin?") Tribbiani, who occasionally played Dr. Drake Ramoray on "Days of Our Lives". From the self centered, but cute as a button Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) to her on and off again boyfriend, the thrice married, nerdy, but lovable paleontologist Ross Geller(David Schwimmer). Throw in the the neatnick, perfectionist Monica Geller Bing (Courtney Cox) and husband Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), he of the cross-dressing father (Kathleen Turner)and you had one of the greatest comedy ensemble casts ever. Over the run of the series, it received over 60 Emmy nominations and won six. Aniston's portrayal of Rachel alone won her a Screen Actor's Guild Award (1996), an Emmy (2002) and a Golden Globe (2003). Their theme song was originally recorded by The Rembrandts on the album "LP" (1995).

Interesting fact: In the final season of "Friends" all six regular cast members were paid a million bucks - per episode! I truly don't begrudge them it: after all, they were, my Friends.