O. Henry's "Full House" Trivia Quiz

Answer: John Steinbeck

Steinbeck appears between each segment to introduce and give background information on the upcoming story. His works often focused on the struggles of working people. He won the Pulitzer Prize for "Of Mice and Men" and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

Some of his other well-known stories are "The Grapes of Wrath" and "East of Eden". He passed away late in 1968 from coronary problems.

Answer: jaywalking

Soapy, the tramp, tries several unsuccessful methods to attract a policeman's attention doing something illegal. In one attempt, he even tries to solicit a street walker (Marilyn Monroe). Another time, he throws a brick through a store window, but as he stands still waiting to get arrested, his sidekick (David Wayne) runs away and the cops chase him.

Then Soapy decides to try to kick a police officer, but slips on a banana peel and the cop ends up being concerned for Soapy. In a surprise plot twist, for which O.

Henry is famous, Soapy is arrested for loitering outside a church when he was not even trying at that time.

Answer: a pencil

The pencil was found at a murder scene. It was an award given to a singing group to which Barney once belonged. At one time the group had been awarded these gold pencils. Barney recognizes the pencil and uses his knowledge to quickly find the brash murder suspect (Richard Widmark).

Answer: Barney owes him money.

Poor Barney Woods, a policeman of honor, has a conflict. He won't arrest the killer because the criminal once loaned him $1000 (quite a sum of money for the early 1900s) which he had never repaid. Then he sees that the newspaper, "The Clarion Call", is offering a $1000 reward for information about the murderer. Barney gets the money and turns it over to the killer. Now he can arrest without a guilty conscience.

Answer: Behrman

The temperamental artist Behrman (Gregory Ratoff) causes distress to the sisters living below him with his noisy tantrums. However, he proves to be a good friend to them in the end.

Answer: Fred Allen and Oscar Levant

These bumbling crooks get more than they expected when they kidnap J. B. Dorset (a.k.a. Red Chief). They young boy is quite a handful and causes much consternation to them. In the end, instead of getting a ransom they had hoped, they have to pay J.B.'s parents to take him back.

Fred Allen was a very successful radio personality and had a long-running show on NBC. Oscar Levant was known for his wry humor and was an accomplished pianist. He also appeared in several musical movies such as "American in Paris", "Rhapsody in Blue", "The Barkleys of Broadway" and "The Band Wagon" amongst others. Neither were usually cast as the criminal type, which adds to the comedy.

Answer: Howard Hawks

Five directors worked on this movie, each directing a different segment. The others were: Henry Koster ("The Cop and the Anthem"), Henry Hathaway ("The Clarion Call"), Jean Negulesco ("The Last Leaf") and Henry King ("The Gift of the Magi"). Hawks hailed from the American mid-west and directed more than 45 movies in a wide variety of genres.

Some of his best-known movies are "Sergeant York" (1941), "His Girl Friday" (1940), "Scarface" (1932), and "The Thing from Another World" (1951). He was nominated for Academy Award for Best Director for "Sergeant York", but lost to John Ford that year.

His only Oscar was an honorary one presented in 1975. Hawks passed away in 1977 at age 81.

Answer: He doesn't receive an expected bonus at work.

Jim had expected to get a substantial Christmas bonus at his job, but an announcement by his employer indicates that because of poor business, the company will not be distributing the usual holiday bonuses. Jim is devastated since he wanted to buy Della an expensive gift and must now scramble to try and get money another way.

Answer: Sig Ruman

The portly, German-born Ruman was usually typecast as an authoritarian German or villain. Sometime he would also play against type this such as in this movie. Some of the movies he appeared in were "Stalag 17" (1953), "Ninotchka" (1939), three Marx Brothers films, and played another pawnbroker in "The Glenn Miller Story" (1954). He passed away in 1967 at age 82.

Answer: The Ransom of Red Chief

"Slick" Brown says this to William Peoria when they are discussing their past swindles. Apparently they had previous scams involving selling shares in non-existent oil wells. As Slick observes, "An oil well is a hole in the ground surrounded by suckers."