christmas Trivia Quiz # 43

'Mary nodded, pa rum pa pa pum'

If Grandpa believes it, it must be true. The old dame didn't even see it coming.

"Holiday Inn" was released in 1942; composer Irving Berlin had been hired to write the score for the film, which required a song for each major holiday. Berlin was particularly concerned about the Christmas number, which would be the high point of the film. Although Jewish, Berlin had fond childhood memories of the enormous Christmas tree which graced the home of one of his Irish-Catholic friends. After completing the song, Berlin called his transcriber Helmy Kresa (Berlin could not read or write music; Kresa would thus take down the songs as Berlin sang and played them). With typical modesty, he told Kresa "I want you to take down a song I wrote over the weekend. Not only is it the best song I ever wrote; it's the best song anybody ever wrote!" Kresa, who knew Berlin well, took this egotistical statement in stride, but even he was quite impressed by what he heard. As sung by Bing Crosby, "White Christmas" became one of the most beloved Christmas songs, particularly by soldiers overseas at the height of WWII who nostalgically remembered their own childhood Christmases. Crosby's single of "White Christmas" became the best selling single in any music category, having sold an amazing 30million copies worldwide. It held this distinction for fifty years, until 1998 when Elton John's remake of "Candle in the Wind" in honor of the late Princess Diana, broke its record. Crosby reintroduced "White Christmas" in the 1954 movie of that title starring Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney.

George, in "The Strike". Somebody gives him a card that says that money has been given to a charity on his behalf. So, he does the same, except he makes up the charity. He gets wine and cigars as gifts and gives out donations to "The Human Fund" ("money for people"). Mr. Kruger, his boss, decides to give some money to charity on the company's behalf. When he checks out "The Human Fund", he finds that it doesn't exist. George lies and tells him that he gave out fake Christmas gifts because he celebrates Festivus. Festivus was invented by Frank Costanza. He was trying to buy a doll (??) for George but another man took it and the doll was destroyed. Now he celebrates Festivus with an aluminum pole (no tree), the "Feats of Strength" and the "Airing of Grievences".

They discussed the role of enzymes and gene regulatory elements in biotechnology and genetic engineering.

This movie didn't go down well with all those loyal Seuss fans, but I liked it. I thought it was really funny. One of my favourite lines is "Hey, honey, our baby's here... He looks just like your boss!" Cracks me up every time!

You see it for a split second.

Scrooge also sees his child self being met by his beloved little sister Fan, who takes him home for Christmas.

Hans actually reads the message aloud, which is pretty funny, even considering the grim visual.

Rev. Dooley's church is nearby, and John Boy sits through the children's interpretation of the birth of Jesus while waiting for Dooley to help him on the search.