Trivia Questions - Comics - Life Magazine - Artists - Writers - Authors - Modern Art

 

 

Arts and Literature trivia questions and answers.

Who drew the first cartoon published in an American newspaper?
A: Benjamin Franklin. His drawing of a severed snake--each piece representing one of the colonies--appeared with the motto "Unite or Die" in the Pennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754

What famous American's 1952 autobiography is entitled From Under My Hat?
A: Hedda Hopper's -- she was known for her exotic hats and juicy Hollywood gossip.

Somerset Maugham's 1919 novel The Moon and Sixpence is a roman a clef about what great French artist?
A: Paul Gauguin.

What is the origin of the phrase, "United we stand, divided we fall"?
A: Aesop's fables. It's from the Four Oxen and the Lion, written in the sixth century B.C.

The first Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1771, devoted its first volume to "A" and "B." How many additional volumes did it take to cover "C"{ through "Z"?
A: Only two.

Whose marriage in March 1952 was featured in a "Life" magazine cover story?
A: Comic strip characters Daisy Mae Scragg and Li'l Abner of Dogpatch. Marryin' Sam performed the ceremony for $1.35, ending their 17-year courtship.

The work of what famous French artist hung upside down in the Museum of Modern Art in New York for 47 days before someone realized it?
A: Henri Matisse, in 1961. The painting was Le Bateau.

What comic-strip character started out in 1932 as a middle-aged woman who sold apples on street corners?
A: "Mary Worth," who was originally known as "Apple Mary."

Who used the pen names Acton, Ellis and Currer Bell?
A: Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte.

What book did Aristotle Onassis keep on his desk in his multimillion-dollar yacht Christina?
A: A copy of J. Paul Getty's How to be Rich.

Who wrote the first modern ghost story in the English language?
A: Daniel Defoe. It was True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal.