Wrong Predictions Trivia Quiz

Answer: A concert manager, on firing Elvis Presley

This quote is by Jim Denny, Grand Ole Opry manager, on firing Elvis Presley on 2 October 1954 after one performance (his full quote was "You ain't goin' nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving a truck"). Fortunately, Elvis disregarded this advice and went on to earn Gold or Platinum status for 81 albums, 53 singles, and 16 extended play singles. Presley died 16 August 1977 at his home Graceland in Memphis, TN. His only daughter, Lisa Marie, was married to Michael Jackson on 26 May 1994, but that marriage lasted not quite two years.

Answer: An executive at Columbia Pictures, after Fred Astaire came to Hollywood and made several screen tests

Fred Astaire went on to make more than 50 movies, many with dancer Ginger Rogers. He won an Honorary Academy Award in 1950 and was nominated for a second one in 1975 (for Best Supporting Actor for "The Towering Inferno" (1974)). The scene in the movie "The Green Mile" showing death row prisoner John Coffey watching Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing (in the 1935 movie "Top Hat") to the song "Cheek to Cheek" and the line "I'm in Heaven?" is a real tearjerker.

Answer: Thomas Watson, Sr., former chairman of IBM

Although this quote is widely attributed to Thomas Watson, Sr. (108,000 Google hits), there seems to be no concrete record to definitely prove he ever said this. After spending umpteen hours researching this, I am reminded of the famous quote from the 1962 movie "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance" (starring John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart). Newspaperman Maxwell Scott said (after listening to a long-concealed story), "This is the west, sir.

When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

Answer: Gary Cooper, on his decision not to take the role of Rhett Butler in "Gone with the Wind" (played by Clark Gable)

Gary Cooper turned down the role of Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable) saying, "I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." In the 1940 Academy Awards, "Gone with the Wind" won nine Oscars, including Best Picture, Vivien Leigh for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Hattie McDaniel for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland were nominated for Oscars but did not win. "High Noon" (1952) starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly.

It won four Academy Awards and was nominated for Best Picture (but lost to "The Greatest Show on Earth").

Answer: Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University

A famous Irving Berlin song of that era (just before the stock market crash of 1929) went, "Blue skies, smiling at me, Nothing but blue skies do I see, Bluebirds singing a song, Nothing but bluebirds all day long, Never saw the sun shining so bright, Never saw things going so right, ..." The Great Depression that followed the stock market crash of 1929 was not totally cured (unemployment and financial dysfunction) until World War II. Princeton has the nickname Tigers, Arkansas is Razorbacks, and Notre Dame is Fighting Irish.

The three wrong answers in this question are all famous college football coaches (but not at the colleges in the wrong answers!).

Answer: An executive at Decca Recording Co., rejecting the Beatles

The Beatles went on to earn 54 Gold, 27 Platinum, and 8 Multi-Platinum singles. Many people think their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on 9 February 1964 (which was watched by an estimated 73 million viewers) was their first American TV appearance. In actuality, they were on the Jack Parr Show on 3 January 1964.

Answer: Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre

Marshal Ferdinand Foch became a commander of French forces in World War I (and was strongly criticized for his tactics and the heavy casualties that were suffered by Allied armies in the Battle of the Somme). Despite this, he was appointed supreme commander of the Allied armies on 26 March 1918. German pilot Manfred von Richthofen (commonly known as The Red Baron) flying a Fokker DR-I triplane (painted all red) became the top ace of WWI, with 80 victories.

He was finally killed 21 April 1918 (by either Canadian flyer Arthur "Roy" Brown or by Australian Sergeant Cedric Popkin from the ground). One thing Foch did get right: Commenting on the Treaty of Versailles (ending WWI) he said, "This is not peace.

It is an armistice for 20 years." Most historians think World War II was caused in large part by the harsh terms of the Treaty of Versailles.

Although Charles de Gaulle was a veteran of World War I, he is perhaps best known as a French military commander and leader of the Free French in World War II.

Answer: Ken Olsen, co-founder, former president, and former CEO of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC)

Olsen said this in a 1977 talk at the World Future Society in Boston, MA. The home personal computer became affordable to the general public in the late 1970s, with models like the Radio Shack TRS-80, the Commodore PET and the Apple II. IBM became a late player in this market with its introduction of the PC in 1981 (with a famous ad campaign featuring a Charlie Chaplin look-alike).

The home market then grew rapidly with clones, with entries from many other companies. This in turn gave rise to the operating systems and other software from Microsoft Corporation (Bill Gates and Paul Allen).

The Apple Macintosh computer (Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak) was introduced with a TV ad during the Super Bowl in 1984 (it showed a girl in red running shorts flinging a sledgehammer at a screen showing an IBM-type "Big Brother") The ad was inspired by George Orwell's novel "1984." It cost $1.6 million to produce, and Apple Corporation paid $500,000 for the one-minute time slot in which it ran.

Answer: An editor to author F. Scott Fitzgerald

This seems to be a quote that everyone has heard of (2,140 Google hits) but nobody has documentation on. This reminds me of the 1994 movie "The Usual Suspects" (starring Kevin Spacey) and the mysterious, unseen criminal named Keyser Soze. The term "Keyser Soze" has come to mean someone who everyone has heard about, but no one has ever met in person.

Answer: Movie producer Darryl Zanuck, co-founder of 20th Century Fox

Soon after television was made commercially available to the public, its demise in less than six months was predicted by Darryl Zanuck with this quote. Ten years later, the Hollywood worry was that television would ruin the movie business. Happily, both industries seem to be doing quite nicely!