49 Fun Facts About Catch-22

In which war is Catch-22 set?

World War II, the war in which Heller himself flew 60 combat missions as a bombardier, experience he drew on for the novel.

In Catch-22, who is declared dead after falsely listing himself aboard a plane that crashes?

Doc Daneeka was never really aboard, yet he can't convince the Army, or even his wife, that he isn't dead.

In Catch-22, on which Mediterranean island is Yossarian's squadron based for most of the story?

Pianosa is a real island, but Heller himself flew his combat missions from Corsica.

In Catch-22, why won't Yossarian wear his uniform to receive his medal?

Snowden's blood had soaked it, so Yossarian stands in formation stark naked to receive the medal.

In Catch-22, what does Colonel Cathcart keep raising?

The mission count: every time the men near it, Cathcart raises it again, hoping to please his superiors and become a general.

Under Catch-22, an airman asking to be grounded as crazy proves what?

Asking proves that he is sane and must keep flying, since a concern for one's safety in the face of real danger is 'the process of a rational mind'.

Under what medical pretext is Yossarian hiding in hospital when Catch-22 opens?

A chronic liver condition that stays just short of jaundice, so the puzzled doctors can neither treat it nor discharge him.

How does Yossarian's tentmate Orr finally escape the war?

He rows to Sweden after ditching his plane, and Yossarian realises that all of Orr's crashes were practice runs, so he decides to follow him.

In Catch-22, what 'secret' does Yossarian learn from the gunner Snowden's death?

Man was matter: Yossarian bandages Snowden's visible leg wound, then opens his flak suit to find the fatal wound as Snowden's insides spill out.

In Catch-22, during which bombing mission is the gunner Snowden mortally wounded?

Avignon was a raid Heller flew himself, and he later wrote that Yossarian's scenes tending Snowden came from that mission.

In Catch-22, what does Milo keep telling the men to justify M&M Enterprises' black-market deals?

Everyone has a share, Milo insists, even while he strips supplies from the men's own planes to sell.

In Catch-22's opening chapter, who drives Yossarian and Dunbar out of the hospital?

A relentlessly friendly Texan: he is so good-natured and likable that soon nobody in the ward can stand him.

In Catch-22, Milo corners the market in which crop, then serves it to the men coated in chocolate?

Egyptian cotton: Milo buys up the entire crop, then can't sell any of it, the one deal that goes wrong for his syndicate.

Milo's maxim 'What's good for the syndicate is good for the country' parodies a 1953 remark by the president of which company?

General Motors' Charles Wilson actually said 'what was good for our country was good for General Motors, and vice versa', but the shorter misquote stuck.

In Catch-22, what does Milo contract with the Germans to do?

Bomb his own squadron's base, and Milo escapes punishment by revealing the enormous profit the deal made.

Which real-life film star does Major Major Major Major unfortunately resemble?

Henry Fonda is the likeness, and to make things worse his father had named him Major Major Major purely as a joke.

In Catch-22, what promoted Major Major to the rank of major?

An IBM machine with a sense of humour promoted him, and the sudden rank left him resented and friendless in his own squadron.

Under what title was Catch-22's opening chapter first published in 1955?

Catch-18 was dropped just before the novel came out, because Leon Uris had recently published a novel called Mila 18.

In Catch-22, whose name does Yossarian sign on the letters he censors?

Washington Irving, sometimes reversed to Irving Washington: the signature brings a C.I.D. man to the hospital to find out who is behind it.

In Catch-22, what kept driving Chief White Halfoat's family off their land?

Oil discoveries: oil companies kept following the family and kicking them off, and Halfoat later predicts he will die of pneumonia, which he does.

In Catch-22, what kills Hungry Joe?

Huple's cat smothers him in his sleep, a grim end for a man whose screaming nightmares stopped whenever he was put back on combat duty.

What was Joseph Heller's day job when he began writing Catch-22 in 1953?

Advertising copywriter, and those office years later shaped his second novel, Something Happened, about a man who works in a company.

In which Brooklyn neighbourhood did Joseph Heller grow up?

Coney Island is where he grew up, and as a boy he sent a story to the Daily News, which rejected it.

According to Heller, the line that started Catch-22 was about falling in love at first sight with whom?

The chaplain was in that opening line, and within a week Heller had written the whole first chapter and sent it to his agent.

Heller said the antiwar feeling in Catch-22 came less from the war it portrays than from what?

The Korean War and the 1950s were his real targets, so Heller deliberately planted 1950s anachronisms in a wartime story.

Which Czech novel did Heller reportedly say he would never have written Catch-22 without first reading?

The Good Soldier Švejk was planned to run to six volumes, but Hašek had finished only three when he died, leaving it unfinished.

Catch-22's Chapter 11, 'Captain Black', parodies which episode of American politics?

Red Scare-era McCarthyism: Captain Black makes every man sign loyalty oaths just to eat, but spitefully won't let Major Major sign one.

Which magazine panned Catch-22, saying it gave 'the impression of having been shouted onto paper'?

The New Yorker panned it, while novelist Nelson Algren, writing in The Nation, called it the best American novel to come out of anywhere in years.

In Catch-22, who keeps trying to kill Yossarian after he tells her about a death?

Nately's whore blames Yossarian for Nately's death and keeps ambushing him, right up to the novel's last page.

In Catch-22, which magazine does Colonel Cathcart hope will feature his group?

The Saturday Evening Post: Cathcart wants prayers said before every raid, hoping a flattering article there will help him make general.

Which conflict did Catch-22 come to embody for the young readers who made it a cult book in the 1960s?

The Vietnam War made it a campus favourite, and its title, 'catch-22', entered English as the word for a no-win situation.

What quip did Joseph Heller use when told he'd never written another novel as good as Catch-22?

'Who has?' was his reply, yet he went back to Yossarian himself in Closing Time, a 1994 novel revisiting the book's characters.

In Catch-22, what does the Army do to Dunbar?

Makes him 'disappear', after rebellions such as deliberately missing a defenceless village he was ordered to hit.

In Catch-22, what does McWatt do after killing Kid Sampson?

Flies into a mountain: driven to it by the accident, McWatt crashes his plane on purpose rather than land.

Who directed the 1970 film adaptation of Catch-22?

Mike Nichols made it after his hit The Graduate, yet it did not fare well on release in 1970, and Roger Ebert called it a disappointment.

Which actor played Yossarian in the 1970 film of Catch-22?

Alan Arkin played him as a tense, paranoid wreck, which Roger Ebert said missed the point, since Yossarian should seem the one sane man.

Which comedian played Major Major in the 1970 film of Catch-22?

Bob Newhart's Major Major hides from everyone, leaving Sergeant Towser, played by Norman Fell, to run the squadron.

In which country was the 1970 film of Catch-22 mainly shot, at an airfield built for the production?

Mexico won out after the filmmakers failed to find the right unspoiled terrain in Italy, where the novel is set.

Which bomber flew in the 1970 film of Catch-22?

B-25 Mitchell: stunt pilot Frank Tallman had to track down and buy a whole fleet of the old bombers for the production.

Who played Scheisskopf in the 2019 Hulu miniseries of Catch-22?

George Clooney was first set to play Colonel Cathcart, then switched to the smaller part of Scheisskopf, and Kyle Chandler took over Cathcart.

In 1972 an Ohio school board pulled Catch-22 from its library, along with a novel by which author?

Kurt Vonnegut's novel went too, and in 1976 an appeals court called a school library 'a storehouse of knowledge' that boards can't winnow of books they dislike.

Which future Jaws star played Yossarian in a 1973 TV pilot based on Catch-22?

Richard Dreyfuss starred, but no series followed, and that same year he landed a key role in George Lucas's hit American Graffiti.

Which ex-P.F.C. mail clerk quietly sways the feud between Generals Dreedle and Peckem by binning memos?

Wintergreen keeps going AWOL and getting demoted, yet his grip on the mail makes him more powerful than the generals.

In Catch-22, what does Yossarian secretly move on a map so the Bologna raid seems unnecessary?

The bomb line: Captain Black and Colonel Korn briefly believe Bologna has been captured.

Who wrote the screenplay for the 1970 film of Catch-22 and also played Colonel Korn in it?

Buck Henry's Korn is Cathcart's sly right-hand man, who does most of the thinking while Cathcart takes the credit.

Which musician was cast in the 1970 film of Catch-22, only for his part to be cut?

Paul Simon lost the part, and while Art Garfunkel was away filming, Simon wrote 'The Only Living Boy in New York' about being left behind.

Which famous director played General Dreedle in the 1970 film of Catch-22?

Orson Welles played Dreedle, the blunt general who keeps an attractive nurse at his side mainly to torment his son-in-law, Colonel Moodus.

In Catch-22, which Harvard-educated idealist vanishes along with his plane on a mission?

Clevinger: back at cadet school, Lieutenant Scheisskopf had already put him on trial on trumped-up charges.

In Catch-22, Milo is elected mayor of which Sicilian city?

Palermo: his syndicate's deals, often buying from and selling to himself, make Milo a hero in cities all around the Mediterranean.