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Those Crazy Thurber Cartoons! Trivia Quiz

Besides writing such classics of humor as "The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty", James Thurber is as well known for his unique cartoons, often lunatic situations depicted in his deadpan style. Here's an overview of some of his best-known drawings.

A multiple-choice quiz by tjoebigham. Estimated time: 5 mins.

Author
tjoebigham

Time
5 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
184,087

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
15

Difficulty
Tough

Avg Score
8 / 15

Plays
292

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 15

1. What does a woman accuse a little boy of doing? Hint

stealing her purse

biting her daughter

kidnapping her parrot

breaking her window

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Question 2 of 15

2. "Here's a study for you, doctor-he faints." What is the man showing the doc? Hint

a bloodhound

a poodle

a zebra

a pangolin

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Question 3 of 15

3. "Momma always gets sore and spoils the game for everybody" says one little boy to the other. What is the game his mom is spoiling? Hint

croquet

polo

backgammon

lacrosse

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Question 4 of 15

4. A woman bursts into the room of a married couple. What does she ask for? Hint

a cup of sugar

.38 cartridges

the use of their phone

a flashlight

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Question 5 of 15

5. Between two women are many bloodhound puppies. Where did the woman say to the other their father belonged to? Hint

the dog pound

her late husband

her mother-in-law

some people who were driving through in a Packard

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Question 6 of 15

6. "I don't know. George got it somewhere" says one housewife to her friend's question about the origin of what thing? Hint

penguin

echidna

totem pole

shrunken head

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Question 7 of 15

7. "All right, have it your way," says a sarcastic wife to her hubby in their bed, "You heard a _____ bark." Hint

basenji

beagle

seal

St. Bernard

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Question 8 of 15

8. "Perhaps THIS will refresh your memory!" This cliche is seen in many a courtroom story and film. What does Thurber's prosecutor show the witness? Hint

a toucan

a Komodo Dragon

a wolverine

a kangaroo

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Question 9 of 15

9. A man is talking to his girl in a hotel lobby. What does he say he'll do while she waits there? Hint

bring down the etchings

bring the car around

pay their hotel bill

take his mother to meet her

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Question 10 of 15

10. "What have you done with Dr. Millmoss?" asks a woman of what animal? Hint

rhinoceros

shark

leopard

hippopotamus

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Question 11 of 15

11. What animal does Mrs. Sprague always see? Hint

camel

python

rabbit

badger

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Question 12 of 15

12. An eye doctor shows a chart to a bespectacled woman. He points to the letters FSJN. "Of course I can see it clearly" says the woman, "It's________" Hint

three sea horses and an H

an R, an 8, a Y and a V

three snakes and an accordion

three worms and a Z

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Question 13 of 15

13. When the fencer shouts "Touche!", what's he doing? Hint

cutting his opponent's head off

getting wounded by his opponent

cutting off his opponent's buttons

losing his pants

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Question 14 of 15

14. What does the doctor say Mrs. Quint is? Hint

his meat

his new lover

the apple of his eye

the payer of his bills

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Question 15 of 15

15. What author is NOT mentioned in a Thurber catoon? Hint

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Algernon Swinbune

Walter Pater

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. What does a woman accuse a little boy of doing?

Answer: biting her daughter

"Are you the young man that bit my daughter?" asks a typical imposing Thurber woman of a little tyke with his pull-toy. To the right her little girl seems not to express any concern with what just happened. (Did the boy give her a hickey, d'you think?)

2. "Here's a study for you, doctor-he faints." What is the man showing the doc?

Answer: a bloodhound

The doctor is, of course, a vetenarian. What the bloodhound has fainted from, Thurber, as always, leaves us to guess. (On the vet's wall is a sign saying "Help our four-legged friends!") Thurber was a lifelong dog lover and the bloodhound was obviously his favorite breed.

3. "Momma always gets sore and spoils the game for everybody" says one little boy to the other. What is the game his mom is spoiling?

Answer: croquet

The boy's mother is a typical Thurber woman, large, homely, physically imposing and agressive. She seems to have made a mistake in her play and is seen getting ready to really whack the ball! Thurber's cartoon women often vent their aggressions in sport.

In another cartoon, a woman is at a bowling alley about to throw the ball overhand at the pins and her exasperated husband tells her "Go ahead and try it that way!"

4. A woman bursts into the room of a married couple. What does she ask for?

Answer: .38 cartridges

In her hand is an obviously empty revolver. No doubt there's a husband or boyfriend she'd like to shoot!

5. Between two women are many bloodhound puppies. Where did the woman say to the other their father belonged to?

Answer: some people who were driving through in a Packard

The implication is that the people in the Packard engaged in sexual indulgence and the pups' father took after his owners. There are 15 puppies on the floor so their dad was a real stud!

6. "I don't know. George got it somewhere" says one housewife to her friend's question about the origin of what thing?

Answer: penguin

Perhaps George got the penguin from the Antarctic! It stands to the left, seemingly lost in its own thoughts.

7. "All right, have it your way," says a sarcastic wife to her hubby in their bed, "You heard a _____ bark."

Answer: seal

And wouldn't you know, on the headboard of the bed, there's a seal! Such animals always show up in the weirdest places in Thurber cartoons! (BTW, basenjis, descended from Egyptian hunting dogs, can't bark!)

8. "Perhaps THIS will refresh your memory!" This cliche is seen in many a courtroom story and film. What does Thurber's prosecutor show the witness?

Answer: a kangaroo

Again, Thurber shows us an unusual animal in an everyday setting and leaves us to guess why it's there. Is the kangaroo an accomplice in a crime? Or a witness for the prosecution?

9. A man is talking to his girl in a hotel lobby. What does he say he'll do while she waits there?

Answer: bring down the etchings

Once, men said they would take their girlfriends to "see their etchings" as prelude to a day's dalliance. Here Thurber turns the cliche on its head, as the man says "You wait here, and I'll bring the etchings down" to her apparent approval. He will take the elevator, visible to the right. This is one of my favorite Thurber cartoons.

10. "What have you done with Dr. Millmoss?" asks a woman of what animal?

Answer: hippopotamus

The doctor's hat and glove are by the hippo, who looks blank-faced at the querying woman. He might have been another vetenarian, and the hippo might have been hungry!

11. What animal does Mrs. Sprague always see?

Answer: rabbit

"You said a moment ago that everybody you look at seems to be a rabbit. Now just what do you mean by that, Mrs. Sprague?" asks the psychiatrist to his distraught patient. And no wonder she's upset; he has a rabbit's head himself!

12. An eye doctor shows a chart to a bespectacled woman. He points to the letters FSJN. "Of course I can see it clearly" says the woman, "It's________"

Answer: three sea horses and an H

This cartoon obviously alludes to Thurber's own eye problems. As a child, his eye was accidentally pierced by an arrow shot by his older brother Willie. Later in life, Thurber suffered cataracts, becoming practicallly blind, forcing him to give up drawing. But he could find humor in his predicament. Read his funny essay "The Admiral on the Wheel" about how the world looks different to him without his glasses.

(Agatha Christie fans will remember how she used the Cyrillic N, which is our H, in "Murder on the Orient Express"!)

13. When the fencer shouts "Touche!", what's he doing?

Answer: cutting his opponent's head off

This is as gruesome as Thurber gets! There's no blood shown, though.

14. What does the doctor say Mrs. Quint is?

Answer: his meat

"You're not my patient. You're my meat, Mrs. Quint!" I love how the mustachioed doctor leans over the bedridden woman with that wonderful leer! She must be a very special patient to him!

15. What author is NOT mentioned in a Thurber catoon?

Answer: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Thurber never quoted Emerson in his cartoons. Pater was quoted as a mother tells her friend about her daughter, "She burns with a 'hard, gemlike flame'", from the last chapter of his "The Renaissance". A woman tells a man on a sled pulled by his dog, Swinburne's immortal line "The hounds of Spring are on Winter's traces" from "Atlanta In Calydon". And a crazed-looking woman bursts into a room bearing ferns and shouting Tennyson's "I come from fields of coot and hern!" from "The Brook".

Hope you enjoyed the quiz!

Source: Author tjoebigham

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