11-02-2006 02:38 AM
Solved! Go to Best Answer
09-25-2015 01:18 PM
The Curse of Capistrano sounds very western-like. The Lone Ranger?
Or was it that singing cowboy chap? I'm not very good with westerns. 'Alias Smith and Jones' is about my limit, as long as its Pete Duel.
Hopalong Cassidy? He was a cowboy, wasn't he? I know Casey Jones was a train driver.
Lets leave it at that - my wild west ignorance has been advertised sufficiently.
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09-25-2015 10:16 PM - edited 09-25-2015 10:17 PM
sigmapsidelta - Great guess! Yes, it is a western. But not the Lone Ranger or any of the others. However, like the Lone Ranger this character also wore a mask.
Additional hints for #782:
1. The first appearance of the story was serialized in five parts in the pulp magazine "All-Story Weekly."
2. Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, on their honeymoon, selected the story as the inaugural picture for their new studio, United Artists, beginning the character's cinematic tradition. The story was adapted for the film (1920) and given a different name.
3. The first appearance of McCulley's story in book form was published by Grosset & Dunlap (1924) but under the same title as the film.
4. The author died (1958) just as the Disney-produced television show was becoming popular.
09-25-2015 10:52 PM
782
Zorro - Hint # 4 made it a gimme
09-25-2015 11:10 PM
Ah, well.
We had Zorro over here, but he wasn't as big with kids as other TV shows. I think we may have got them quite a while after the US. Unless what I saw was their second or later showing in the mid to late 1960s.
It was probably the sword. Guns seemed to be the in-thing when I was a kid, revolver or whatever kind of zap-gun Captain Scarlet carried, and anything in between. Never got to phasers. By the time we met phasers here I was a bit past shooting my friends in the street and personally providing the sound effects.
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09-25-2015 11:29 PM
mmadigan - Congrats! You are correct. "Zorro, 'the Fox', so cunning and free ..." I almost stopped with hint #3, but the 4th brought back such fond memories of that era of watching westerns. Not just with my brothers, but my dad would watch them too. Zorro, Lone Ranger, Bonanza, Gunsmoke etc. During those westerns is when whomever had claimed the leather recliner had to 'make room for daddy.' Although my mother wasn't keen on westerns, she did like Miss Kitty on Gunsmoke!
I found it very interesting that Zorro was the first film by United Artists and that "The Mark of Zorro" by G&D is worth a second look.
Zorro
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zorro
Z
09-25-2015 11:35 PM
sigmapsidelta - re: guns. Interestingly in his debut, he used a pistol. I don't recall that at all.
His favored weapon is a rapier, which he often used to leave his distinctive mark, a Z cut with three quick strokes. He also used a bullwhip.
09-27-2015 11:08 PM
783. The word 'book' is suggested by some etymologists to derive from the ancient practice of writing on tablets made of what wood?
09-28-2015 06:24 AM
783. Beech
And for the other side of the story
http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/06/origin-of-the-word-book/
09-28-2015 08:43 AM
mmadigan - Congrats! You are correct again. Thanks ever so much for the link to "the other side" of the origins. I, for one, like to learn more about things or learn new stuff. Plus I have a 'thing' for etymologies, folk or not.
And moving right along with the next quiz question:
784. Who was the first African American woman to have a book of essays published? What was the title of the book and when was it published?
09-28-2015 03:03 PM
784. Ann Plato 's book Essays: Including Biographies & Miscellaneous Pieces in Prose & Poetry was published in 1841.
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/ann-plato-black-woman-author-born
09-28-2015 11:56 PM - edited 09-28-2015 11:58 PM
Rockmaple - Congrats! You are correct. As always, thanks for the link. It provided more background about Ann Plato than the blurb that I had. According to your link, she was one of the first black women to publish a book in America. My blurb states that she was the second African-American woman to have a book published in America. Also that of the 20 poems, eleven had death as their subject.
I sorta take issue with 'the critics' mentioned in your blurb re: "Some critics find Plato's essays and poetry to be overly moralizing, unoriginal, and she’s been put down for not mentioning the issue of American slavery. Her one reference to slavery concerns the abolition of slavery in the West Indies in 1838." First it seems to me that a lot of writing back then was of the moralizing nature. Given that she was a school teacher at the Black Zion Methodist Church School of Hartford, it doesn't surprise me that her essays would be of that type. Even textbooks at that time could be considered "overly moralizing" imo.
Also, I have to wonder if these 'critics' were of the time period or are looking backward regarding their put down of her not mentioning the issue of American slavery in 1841. I would suspect that her reference to slavery concerning the abolition of slavery in the West Indies in 1838 covered how she felt about slavery. While Ann did live in the North and was free, for an African American woman to tackle the subject would have created even more of a fire storm in the South than what 10 years later Uncle Tom's Cabin did. Plus one can't assume that just because Ann lived in the North that she would not have met with hostile forces in her own area. Not only did Harriet Beecher Stowe receive threatening letters, she also received a package containing a slave's severed ear. In Mobile, Alabama a bookseller was forced to leave town for selling the novel.
And now a literary question about our friendly neighbor . . .
785. Which famous novelist was Governor General of Canada?
10-02-2015 12:46 AM
Question # 785 Hint 1:
The most well-known novel by the author was adapted to film by Alfred Hitchcock in the mid-1930s. In the late 1950s a color remake was done; the late 1970s adaptation is the most faithful to the novel; and in the first decade of the 21st century a version was produced for British television.
Of the four major film versions of the novel, Hitchcock's film has been the most acclaimed. In the late 1999, the British Film Institute ranked it the fourth best British film of the 20th century; in 2004, Total Film named it the 21st greatest British movie ever made, and in 2011 ranked it the second-best book-to-film adaptation of all time.
10-02-2015 06:18 AM
Lord Tweedsmuir, served 1935-1940 was also known as John Buchan.
When Lord Tweedsmuir became Governor General, Canada was graced with a very literary vice-regal couple. Lord Tweedsmuir was a prolific author, writing two or three books a year – his suspense novel Thirty-Nine Steps later became famous when Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie. Lady Tweedsmuir wrote many books and plays under the name of Susan Buchan.
During his time as Governor General, Lord Tweedsmuir continued to write and his book Augustus, and his autobiography, Memory Hold-the-Door, were penned at Rideau Hall. While he pursued his own writing career, he also promoted the development of a distinctly Canadian culture. In 1936, encouraged by Lady Tweedsmuir, he created the Governor General's Literary Awards, which continue to be Canada's most prestigious recognition of literary merit.
10-02-2015 10:25 AM
Thirty-Nine Steps has been remade into an Off Broadway play in NYC. One reviewer calls it "Hitchcock Made Hilarious."
10-06-2015 12:42 AM - edited 10-06-2015 12:45 AM
rockmaple - Thanks for the info and link to the review of the off-Broadway play of "39 Steps." I sent that to my son in NYC who finally went to his first Broadway play!! He went to see The Phantom of the Opera (Broadway's Longest Running Show) and said that they had great seats. I was beginning to think that he would end up moving away someday without ever going to a Broadway play. However, in the past year he was been taking more time to do things like plays, museums, and sunset sailboat cruises - finally taking time to smell the roses so to speak. And not that I would know one from the other, but he informed us that there is a big difference between 1 star Michelin restaurants and 2 star ones!
mmadigan - Congrats! You are correct. Thanks for the additional info on John Buchan, who was a very interesting guy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Buchan
786. Which Italian novel for children has been adapted in over 240 languages?
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