This is post 4 of 4, in which we bring to a close the principal content offered in this, our 2022 Virtual Holiday Get-Together. If you’re just now joining us, scroll back to today’s Post 1 of 4 to enjoy the posted content, start to finish.
Thanks are proffered to all who put this e-gathering together, and before we sign-off, here are the answers to the quiz we put up in Post 1 of 4, followed by Josée Bellemare’s 2020 presentation “The Many Ways of Joy,” which we thought a nice close to the afternoon.
Note that while this is the final post of the afternoon, our ZOOM-chat may well continue for a little longer, at the discretion of those involved.
ANSWERS TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE
1) In the atrociously bad 1964 “Yuletide science fiction fantasy” Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, what are the names of the two Earth children kidnapped by the Martians?
ANSWER: Billy and Betty, portrayed by Victor Stiles and Donna Conforti.
2) 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special included an animated sequence entitled “The Faithful Wookiee,” which introduced a new character to Star Wars canon, bounty hunter Boba Fett. Name the Canadian animation studio that George Lucas enlisted to produce this “Faithful Wookiee” cartoon.
ANSWER: Nelvana
Headquartered in Toronto, Nelvana Limited, now Nelvana Enterprises, was founded in 1971 and produces principally children’s programming. George Lucas was a fan of the studio and chose Nelvana to produce the 10-minute short for the Star Wars Holiday Special. The cartoon is widely considered to be the only redeeming part of an otherwise abysmal, embarrassingly unwatchable steaming coil of Bantha poodoo.
3) Rankin/Bass’ 1964 stop-motion animated Christmas classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was filmed in Japan under the direction of animation supervisor Tadahito “Tad” Mochinaga. The voice work and songs, however, were recorded elsewhere; where was the show’s soundtrack recorded?
ANSWER: Toronto, Canada. Most of the speaking roles and songs were performed by Canadian talent, including Paul Soles as Hermey, Billie Mae Richards as Rudolph, Janis Orenstein as Clarice, and Larry Mann as Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snow Monster.
4) What is the clever postal code created by Canada Post for the North Pole?
ANSWER: H0H 0H0
5) The Big Heart, My Heart Tells Me, and It’s Only Human—these were working titles for which classic Christmas film?
ANSWER: Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Set during the Christmas season, the film was originally to be called Christmas Miracle on 34th Street, until its release date was moved to May by studio chief Darryl F. Zanuck, who argued that more people went to the movies in summer!
6) Name the only three Christmas movies to have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.
ANSWER: It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), Miracle on 34th Street, and The Bishop’s Wife (both 1947). None won Best Picture, but Edmund Gwenn, who played Kris Kringle/Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street, was awarded the Best Supporting Actor prize, quipping during his acceptance speech, “Now I know there’s a Santa Claus.”
7) How many ghosts appear to surly Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?
ANSWER: Four. In addition to the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, a fourth ghost, that of Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, first appears to Scrooge and foretells of the impending visits by the other three.
8) What is briefly visible on Katrina “Kate” Andrich’s wrist as she rides her father’s cab home in Last Christmas (2019)?
ANSWER: Tattoos of dragons. Actress Emilia Clarke, who played Kate, had the tattoos inked as a memento of her star-making role in Game of Thrones, that of Daenerys Targaryen, the Queen of Dragons.
9) He famously voiced an animated space hero, she made her mark as a scream queen; name these two actors, and the 2004 Christmas movie in which they star.
ANSWER: Tim “Buzz Lightyear” Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween fame, who starred as Luther and Nora Krank in Christmas with the Kranks. The film also featured Ghostbuster and Conehead Dan Aykroyd.
10) What former “James Bond” starred as the bishop in Christmas classic The Bishop’s Wife?
ANSWER: David Niven, who appeared as Bond in the spy-picture spoof Casino Royale (1967).
11) What child actress was featured as a young family member in two back-to-back classic Christmas films?
ANSWER: Karolyn Grimes, who at age six, portrayed Zuzu, George and Mary Bailey’s youngest daughter in It’s a Wonderful Life, and the following year, Debby Brougham, Bishop Henry Brougham and his wife, Julia’s, daughter in The Bishop’s Wife.
12) What is notable about supporting player Alvin Greenman, who portrayed young Macy’s Department Store janitor Alfred in the original Miracle on 34th Street?
He is the only original cast member to appear in the 1994 remake of the classic, where he cameoed as a doorman, also named Alfred.
13) In the Lost in Space episode “Return From Outer Space,” against his father’s express orders, young Will Robinson employs dangerous alien technology to matter-transfer himself across the gulf of space and back to Earth, materializing in a small town at Christmastime. His plan is to alert Alpha Control at Cape Kennedy of his family’s location on a distant, barren planet so that a rescue ship might be dispatched. But no one in town believes that he’s a member of the famous First Family in Space, long missing and now presumed dead! In what U.S. state is located the small town to which Will beams himself?
ANSWER: Vermont. The fictional town of Hatfield Four Corners is located in a Quebec-bordering state less than two hours’ drive south of Montreal!
14) Who wrote the book that served as inspiration for the movie Christmas with the Kranks?
ANSWER: John Grisham, known principally for his popular legal thrillers. His comedic novel Skipping Christmas (2001) served as the film’s source material.
15) Gimmel, Nun, Hey, and Shin are the Hebrew letters traditionally inscribed on a dreidel, one on each of the four sides. A dreidel is a spinning top associated with Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. The letters stand for the phrase “Nes gadôl hayah sham,” or in English, “A great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the phrase is modified slightly to read “Nes gadôl hayah poh,” or “A great miracle happened here.” But what are Kimar, Rigna, Stobo, and Shim?
ANSWER: The names of Martian characters in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
16) Because nothing says Yuletide like math, in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many presents are given altogether?
ANSWER: 364. Here’s the breakdown: partridges in a pear tree (1 × 12 = 12); turtle doves (2 × 11 = 22); French hens (3 × 10 = 30); calling birds (4 × 9 = 36); golden rings (5 × 8 = 40); geese a-laying (6 × 7 = 42); swans a-swimming (7 × 6 = 42); maids a-milking (8 × 5 = 40); ladies dancing (9 × 4 = 36); lords a-leaping (10 × 3 = 30); pipers playing (11 × 2 = 22); drummers drumming (12 × 1 = 12). Adding all those subtotals provides us with the grand total of gifts given (12 + 22 + 30 + 36 + 40 + 42 + 42 + 40 + 36 + 30 + 22 + 12 = 364)!
17) Name all of Santa’s reindeer!
ANSWER: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph
Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” or more commonly, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” cites an original eight tiny reindeer. Owing to his bright, shiny red nose, Rudolph, the most famous reindeer of all, joined the team in 1939, bringing the total number to nine. Rudolph was born of a marketing campaign launched by the Chicago-based department store Montgomery Ward to promote the Holiday season.
While most of the team are generally perceived to be male, interestingly, male reindeer lose their antlers in early December once mating season has ended, while the females retain theirs throughout the winter. As Santa’s reindeer are always depicted sporting their antlers, scientifically therefore, one can only conclude that they are all female. Of course, it may be that this particular breed of magical flying reindeer do not adhere to the laws of nature as do their conventional woodland cousins!
18) In It’s a Wonderful Life, a distraught and suicidal George Bailey is certain that his family and friends would have been better off had he never been born, and in a chilling alternate-history sequence, his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, allows him a look at just such a scenario in a bid to convince George otherwise. The two stop for a drink at a bar George finds markedly changed from the friendly watering hole he’d always known. While Clarence considers ordering a flaming rum punch, he finally settles on “a mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon, light on the troubles!” George, on the other hand, asks fo a stiff drink more suited to his current mood; what does he order?
ANSWER: A double bourbon.
19) The rom-com Last Christmas is based on the Wham song of the same name, written and co-performed by British pop star George Michael. Though released in 2019, in what year is the film primarily set?
ANSWER: 2017, which would thus make the titular “last Christmas” December 25, 2016, eerily, the date of George Michael’s unfortunate death.
20) What Christmas song plays over the end credits of Die Hard (1988)?
ANSWER: Vaughn Monroe’s version of “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”
THE MANY WAYS OF JOY
