Novels of the 1920s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Zane Grey

Born Pearl Zane Grey, he was probably most responsible for the myth of the wild west as portrayed in popular media. Trained as a dentist, he began to write to escape the tedium of his work. He published over ninety volumes, about a third of those posthumously. Although westerns were his preferred genre, he wrote eight books on fishing, six children's books, two hunting books, and two on baseball.

His works were dramatized in films and television nineteen times. "The Zane Grey Theater" ran on television from 1956 to 1962 hosted by Dick Powell for 124 episodes.

"Man of the Forest" is a tale about western land grabbing via a planned kidnapping. Filmed in 1933, Randolph Scott played the lead.

Answer: Sinclair Lewis

The 1920s were Lewis' classic period; in addition to "Main Street", which made him an overnight success and rich, he wrote "Babbit" (1922), "Arrowsmith" (1925) for which he received a Pulitzer Prize but refused, "Elmer Gantry" (1927) that raised the ire of church leaders, and "Dodsworth" (1929) that culminated in the Nobel Prize for his body of work.

"Main Street" was based on Lewis' home town of Sauk Centre, Minnesota in which he depicted in this satirical novel the pettiness and hypocrisy of the mid-western town through the eyes of a big city woman married to a small town doctor.

Lewis suffered from alcoholism which was contributing factor in his death at sixty-five in 1951.

Answer: Booth Tarkington

Tarkington lived most of his life in Indianapolis, Indiana. He, like Sinclair Lewis, set many of his works in the mid-west but perhaps was gentler on the satire. "The Magnificent Ambersons" was a 1942 Orson Welles-directed film that got a nomination for Best Picture in spite of Welles' difficulties with the studio.

A silent version was filmed in 1925. Tarkington continued to publish until the late 1940s.

Answer: Enchanted April

Elizabeth von Arnim published twenty books during her lifetime. Her writing grew out of an unhappy marriage to Count von Arnim. After his death she married twice more, the last being a man thirty years her junior. She migrated to the United States and died in South Carolina at 74 in 1941.

"Enchanted April" tells of a group of British women who share a cottage in Italy, each with some kind of marital or personal issue and find enlightenment and hope. It won a Golden Globe for Joan Plowright and Miranda Richardson.

Her last novel was "Mr. Skeffington" (1940) which was filmed in 1942 starring Claude Rains and Bette Davis.

Answer: So Big

Ferber had published twelve books before reaching super-star status as an author. She was a member of the famous Algonquin Round Table, and was a bitter enemy of Alexander Woollcott, the titular head of the group. She once described Woollcott as "a New Jersey Nero who has mistaken his pinafore for a toga".

Many of her works were made into films or stage musicals with "Showboat" being the most familiar. Cultural icon James Dean's last film was "Giant" (1955). She frequently collaborated with George M Kauffman on writing projects and productions.

Answer: It dealt openly with teenage sexuality

This 1925 best-seller fell into a genre dubbed 'Bohemian' with its scenes of adolescent sexuality which no doubt added to sales. It became a Noel Coward stage play and was filmed three times- One silent version, one in 1933, and the 1943 adaptation that starred Charles Boyer, Joan Fontaine, and Alexis Smith.

Answer: Lorelei Lee

Loos published few novels. But she was a notable powerhouse in screen writing, even publishing books on the subject. Here are just a few of the films where she either contributed a base story, wrote the screen play, or made major contributions: "Babes in Arms"(1939), "San Francisco" (1936), "Saratoga" (1937), and "I Married an Angel" (1942).

In the silent era she contributed to many films, now mostly lost. She also had a hand in ten Broadway plays including "Gigi"(1951) and "The Whole Town's Talking' (1923).

Answer: Warwick Deeping

Deeping was a physician who turned to writing. His genre was historical fiction and he seemed dedicated to keeping the ideals of the Edwardian Period alive. According to sources, his books are out of print and may only be found in back shelves of used book stores.

Answer: Thornton Wilder

This was Wilder's most successful novel; his other Pulitzers were for his plays "Our Town" and "The Skin of Our Teeth". "The Bridge of San Luis Rey" is the story of diverse people finding their fate at the bridge.

Both the plays mentioned are favorites with amateur theatrical groups as they rarely require much in the way of set design and props. I once had the opportunity to direct one of Wilder's one act plays "The Happy Journey from Trenton to Camden"(1931). All I needed were some folding chairs, a bare stage, and a stage manager ala "Our Town".

Answer: All Quiet on the Western Front

"All Quiet on the Western Front" was a sensation in its day and was re-printed in twenty-five countries. It describes not only the effect of war upon the souls of men but how they carry these scars into the post-war. Remarque wrote in German and was translated into other languages. His books were the target of book-burnings in Nazi Germany. He was married to Paulette Goddard who was with him until his death in 1970.

The title is sometimes misused as a term for a lull in progress such as waiting for the news of a lay-off but pleased that the decision is still not made.