50 Fun Facts About Catch-22

Who wrote Catch-22?

It was his debut novel, begun in 1953 and published in 1961; he was later nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

What is the name of the novel's antihero, a captain and B-25 bombardier?

Heller took the name from a wartime friend, Francis Yohannan, and gave the character Assyrian heritage to broaden his appeal.

On which Mediterranean island is the fictional 256th Squadron based for most of the novel?

The real island lies in the Tuscan Archipelago 14 km from Elba, and its highest point is just 29 metres above sea level.

Which commanding officer keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly, so they can never go home?

He wants to look brave to his superiors despite having flown only one combat mission himself.

How many combat missions has Yossarian flown by the end of the novel?

He had flown 44 when the story opens, is traumatised, yet manages 27 more.

According to the catch, an airman who asks to be grounded because he is crazy proves what?

Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them.

Under what medical pretext is Yossarian hiding in hospital when the novel opens?

He is greatly relieved to be treated for a condition that is 'almost jaundice'.

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

Yossarian had read Orr's endless crashes as incompetence; the news of his escape ends the novel on an upbeat note.

How far into the book, by chapter number, are the full details of the gunner Snowden's death finally revealed?

Yossarian treats a leg wound with bandages and sulfanilamide before finding the fatal wound under the flak suit.

During which bombing mission is Snowden mortally wounded?

Heller said the episodes where Yossarian tends the dying gunner came from his own wartime experience.

Why was the ampersand added to the name of Milo's M&M Enterprises?

The two Ms stand for his initials, and everyone 'has a share'.

Milo's syndicate begins by buying eggs in Sicily for one cent and eventually selling them to the mess halls for how much?

In between he sells them to Malta for four and a half cents and buys them back for seven, somehow at a profit.

Milo's one disastrous deal is buying the entire crop of what, which he then tries to feed to the men coated in chocolate?

Yossarian eventually suggests selling it to the government, quoting Coolidge that the business of government is business.

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

Charles Erwin Wilson had told the Senate 'What's good for General Motors is good for the country.'

In one of the novel's few appearances of Germans, what does Milo hire German pilots to do?

Heller portrays Milo's actions as the product of greed rather than malice, a parable of the military-industrial complex.

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

He was promoted to major by 'an I.B.M. machine with a sense of humor almost as keen as his father's'.

What promoted Major Major to the rank of major, according to the novel?

His father had named him Major Major Major as a joke, passing up Drum Major, Minor Major, Sergeant Major and C Sharp Major.

Under what title was the novel's opening chapter first published in 1955?

Heller's agent asked for a change to avoid confusion with Leon Uris's new novel Mila 18.

Which 1960 film ruled out 'Catch-11' as a title?

Catch-17 was dropped to avoid confusion with Stalag 17, and Catch-14 because the publisher did not think 14 was a funny number.

Which Simon & Schuster editor is credited with coming up with the number 22?

He championed the book against a vice president who found it 'repetitive and offensive'; Heller signed for a $1,500 advance.

How much was Heller paid to sign the contract for Catch-22 in 1961?

Dell later paid $32,000 for the paperback rights, and Columbia $100,000 for the film rights.

How many combat missions did the author himself fly as a bombardier in 1944?

He later called most of them 'milk runs' and said he 'never had a bad officer'.

In which Brooklyn neighbourhood was the author born in 1923?

He was the son of poor Russian Jewish parents and worked as a blacksmith's apprentice before joining the Army Air Corps at 19.

According to Heller, the first line he thought of in 1953 had Yossarian falling madly in love at first sight with whom?

Within a day he had envisioned the story, the characters and the plot that grew from that opening.

Heller said the antiwar and antigovernment feeling in Catch-22 came less from World War II than from what?

That is why the novel includes deliberate anachronisms like loyalty oaths and IBM machines.

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

He also acknowledged the influence of Céline, Waugh and Nabokov.

Chapter 11, 'Captain Black', parodies which episode of 1950s American politics?

Captain Black's Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade skewers the demands for oaths; 'Who promoted Major Major?' echoes McCarthy's questions about Major Peress.

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

The Nation, by contrast, called it 'the best novel to come out in years'.

Which novel beat Catch-22 to the 1962 National Book Award?

Walker Percy's book won; Catch-22 never made the New York Times bestseller list in hardcover but was number one in Britain.

How much did the paperback edition of Catch-22 cost when it finally made the book a national hit?

It sold 1.1 million copies between September 1962 and April 1963; the hardcover had been $5.95.

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

A common joke was that every student going off to college took a copy; more than eight million sold in the US.

How did Heller reply when critics asked why he had never written another novel as good as Catch-22?

His follow-up Something Happened took until 1974 and still hit number one.

What was the title of Heller's 1994 sequel to Catch-22?

Set in 1990s New York, it makes Yossarian 68 even though he was 28 in 1944; Heller said he knew.

Which tail gunner, who kept fainting while Yossarian tended Snowden, becomes a main character in the sequel?

He and Lew Rabinowitz are two Brooklyn veterans whose stories interweave with Yossarian's old age.

Who directed the 1970 film adaptation of Catch-22?

He and screenwriter Buck Henry spent two years wrestling the novel into a script.

Which actor played Yossarian in the 1970 film?

Jon Voight played Milo, Orson Welles General Dreedle, and Art Garfunkel made his acting debut as Nately.

Which comedian played Major Major in the 1970 film, discarding the character's famous resemblance joke entirely?

Scholar Philip Beidler asks what to make of a casting that eliminates the entire point of the character's looks.

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

The set near Guaymas, Sonora, needed a five-mile highway costing $180,000, and the film helped save the B-25 from extinction.

How many flyable B-25 Mitchell bombers did the 1970 film's budget accommodate?

The film is credited with rescuing the type from possible extinction; one hulk was flown in with its wheels down to be burned.

Who produced, co-directed and played Scheisskopf in the 2019 Hulu miniseries of Catch-22?

Christopher Abbott was Yossarian, Kyle Chandler Cathcart and Hugh Laurie the mysterious Major de Coverley.

Which Ohio school district's 1972 removal of Catch-22 and two Vonnegut books led to a landmark students' rights ruling?

The 1976 appeal ruling called a library 'a storehouse of knowledge', reasoning the Supreme Court echoed in Island Trees v. Pico.

Where did the Modern Library's review panel rank Catch-22 among the greatest English-language novels of the 20th century?

The public vote put it 12th, and the BBC's Big Read placed it 11th among Britain's best-loved books.

Who played Yossarian in the 1973 television pilot for a Catch-22 comedy series?

The pilot aired but no series followed.

Which ex-P.F.C. thwarts Cathcart's dream of becoming a general by sabotaging his mail?

The mail-room clerk is one of the novel's many examples of unintentional or malicious miscommunication.

Which chapters of the novel flash back to the 'Great Big Siege of Bologna'?

The book jumps between 1944 and earlier events across several sections.

Who spent two years writing the 1970 film's screenplay with Mike Nichols and also acted in it?

The pair had previously collaborated on The Graduate.

Which musician appeared in the 1970 film but had his scenes cut?

His partner Art Garfunkel made his acting debut in the film as Nately.

How much did the 1970 film's makers spend building a five-mile highway to their Mexican airfield?

They spent another $250,000 on a 6,000-foot runway; the site is now Guaymas airport.

Who played Yossarian in the 2019 Hulu miniseries?

Kyle Chandler played Cathcart and Hugh Laurie played Major de Coverley.

On which Italian island was principal photography for the 2019 miniseries scheduled to begin?

Filming also took place in Viterbo; George Clooney was hit by a car riding a motorcycle to the set.