50 Fun Facts About Tuesdays with Morrie

Mitch Albom conceived Tuesdays with Morrie as a way to pay off which of his old professor's debts?

Medical bills were mounting because Morrie wanted to die at home rather than in a hospital, and the publisher's advance went toward the cost of his care.

Which TV news program's interviews with Morrie Schwartz led Mitch Albom to seek out his old professor?

Nightline ran three interviews with Morrie during 1995, and when its longtime anchor retired in 2005 he replayed them instead of a career highlights reel.

Which TV interviewer did Morrie quiz about his faith and call a narcissist before agreeing to appear?

Ted Koppel laughed at the verdict, got his interview and came back twice more, greeting Morrie with a kiss on the last visit.

Which illness, which he knows will finally stop his breathing, is Morrie Schwartz dying of?

ALS kills the nerve cells that control the muscles, and Morrie was diagnosed in August 1994, about fifteen months before his death.

At which school near Boston did Morrie teach for three decades, with Mitch Albom among his students?

Brandeis University hired Morrie in the late 1950s, and Mitch Albom took every class he offered there before graduating in 1979.

Which plant in the study window does Morrie watch through his final months in Tuesdays with Morrie?

A hibiscus appears in the book's first paragraph, shedding its pink leaves, and Morrie later asks Mitch to hold it up while he talks about dying being natural.

What freed sportswriter Mitch Albom to fly to Massachusetts every Tuesday in Morrie's final months?

A union strike hit his newspaper in July 1995 and was not called off until 1997, so with no column to file Mitch Albom phoned his old professor and asked to come back.

What did Mitch Albom start bringing to Morrie's house on the third Tuesday, preserving their talks?

A tape recorder let Mitch keep Morrie's voice for later, and clips from those tapes can be heard on the audiobook he narrates.

After a colleague died without hearing his tributes, what gathering did Morrie hold for himself?

A living funeral let Morrie hear every tribute while he could still answer back, and one guest read a poem that called him a "tender sequoia".

Which talk-show host promoted Tuesdays with Morrie on air, then produced the TV film of the memoir?

Oprah Winfrey gave the book a brief spot on her show that pushed it onto the bestseller list, then lobbied for the film rights and made it through Harpo Films.

Which Yankees great's "luckiest man" farewell speech does Mitch Albom imitate for the dying Morrie?

Lou Gehrig called himself the luckiest man on the face of the earth in 1939; Morrie hears the line, nods and replies that he never said that himself.

Which Hollywood veteran won an Emmy playing Morrie Schwartz, in what proved his final television role?

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, the very city where the real Morrie lived and died, and the film around him was named Outstanding Television Movie.

Which subject did Morrie Schwartz teach, in a department that sent students to civil rights projects?

Sociology was Mitch Albom's own degree subject, earned after Morrie talked him into a 112-page honors thesis on football as an American ritual.

In which Midwestern city was Mitch Albom a sports columnist when he found Morrie again?

Detroit became the New Jersey native's adopted home, and he later founded a group of charities there called SAY Detroit.

In Morrie's best-known saying, what does a person learn once they have learned how to die?

How to live is the other half of the saying, which Morrie repeats for emphasis: facing the end pulls a person out of the haze of everyday distractions.

Which famous scientist does Morrie Schwartz discuss in his final television interview?

Stephen Hawking had the same illness and by then spoke through a computer; Morrie called that admirable but said he would know it was time to go once he could no longer respond to people.

Whose televised murder trial runs through Tuesdays with Morrie, ending on the eleventh Tuesday?

O. J. Simpson is found not guilty while Mitch watches on a bedroom television with Morrie's aide Connie, who shrieks at the verdict and walks out.

Which biblical sufferer does Mitch Albom ask Morrie about, drawing the reply that God "overdid it"?

Job loses his wealth, his children and his health in a test of faith; asked what he makes of that, Morrie coughs, smiles and says he thinks God overdid it.

What did Mitch Albom carry to Morrie's house every Tuesday, even after Morrie could no longer enjoy it?

Bags of food from Morrie's favorite deli kept coming even after his wife showed Mitch a fridge full of untouched containers; by then it had become a tradition.

Morrie promises to show Mitch it is okay to do what, which finally happens at their last goodbye?

Cry is what Mitch finally does as he pulls away from their last embrace, and Morrie raises his eyebrows at the sight, a small win for the professor.

On the thirteenth Tuesday, what does Morrie say death cannot end, even as it ends a life?

A relationship outlasts a life, Morrie argues: unlike plants and animals, he says, people stay alive in the hearts of those they loved.

Which favorite poet of Morrie's wrote the line about love that he repeats as a motto?

W. H. Auden wrote it in the poem September 1, 1939; he later dropped that stanza from his collected poems and said he loathed the poem.

What nickname did Mitch Albom give his professor Morrie Schwartz during his college years?

Coach stuck for life, and Morrie called Mitch his player in return; after Morrie died, Mitch found an old college paper with notes the two had scribbled to each other under those names.

Which phrase did Morrie Schwartz tell Mitch Albom he wanted carved on his tombstone?

A Teacher to the Last was the phrase Morrie announced on the ninth Tuesday, and Mitch agreed it was the perfect one for the stone.

What does Mitch Albom name as the subject of his old professor's last class in Tuesdays with Morrie?

The Meaning of Life was taught from experience, in a class that met on Tuesdays after breakfast, required no books and had exactly one student.

Which sporting event was Mitch Albom covering abroad soon after his first visit to the dying Morrie?

Wimbledon usually had Mitch devouring the British tabloids, but that year he found himself envying the quality of Morrie's days instead.

Asked what he would come back as if reincarnated, which graceful animal does Morrie Schwartz choose?

A gazelle appealed because it is graceful and fast; looking at Morrie's shrunken, immobile body, Mitch tells him the choice is not strange at all.

Which religion gave Morrie the image of a bird on the shoulder asking if today is the day?

Buddhism was one of several faiths Morrie drew on: born Jewish, he turned agnostic in his teens and built his own outlook from more than one tradition.

Which actor won a supporting Emmy as Mitch Albom in the TV film of Tuesdays with Morrie?

Hank Azaria said this part and a later Holocaust drama, Uprising, left him in a depressive state, which he countered by watching Monty Python DVDs.

Which beloved pastime did Morrie Schwartz have to give up, the day he knew something bad was coming?

Dancing had been a weekly ritual: Morrie went to a church's Wednesday "Dance Free" nights and moved to any music, careless of how he looked.

What did Morrie's last class require of Mitch Albom in place of a final exam?

One long paper on what was learned was the only requirement, and Mitch Albom presents the book itself as that paper; the two men called it their final thesis.

Which career did Mitch Albom chase in New York before a favorite uncle's death changed his course?

Pianist was the dream Morrie had urged him to follow instead of the law career his father wanted; when it stalled, Mitch went back to school for journalism.

Which illness killed Mitch Albom's favorite uncle and later struck his younger brother Peter?

Pancreatic cancer made Mitch sure he too would die young, yet it was Peter who fell ill, fighting it abroad with an experimental drug and refusing family help.

In which European country was Mitch Albom's brother Peter living while he fought cancer far from family?

Spain is where Mitch finally reached Peter by phone after Morrie's death; days later a fax arrived with news of his week and his ailments, signed "sore tush".

What does Mitch Albom's wife Janine do at Morrie's request that leaves him in tears?

Janine sings a love song from the 1930s by Ray Noble, surprising her husband: a professional singer, she usually declines when asked to perform on the spot.

Which disease struck Morrie's brother David the morning after the boys played in the rain?

Polio left David in leg braces, and young Morrie blamed himself for their night in the downpour, going to synagogue by himself each morning to pray for his brother.

Because his father could not read English, what did eight-year-old Morrie have to read aloud to him?

A hospital telegram brought the news that his mother had died, and Morrie kept that slip of paper for the rest of his life.

What kind of shop did Morrie's mother run before her illness, with the family living behind it?

A candy store fronted the family's bare apartment; with their father often out of work, Morrie and his brother washed porch steps for a nickel.

Which workplace, where his father sought him a job, made teenage Morrie vow never to exploit others?

A fur factory in the Depression was dark, hot and ruled by a shouting boss; it had no work to spare, and Morrie later settled on teaching after ruling out law and medicine.

What does Morrie call life's pull between what people want to do and what they must do?

The tension of opposites came up when Mitch, as a student, complained of being torn; asked which side wins, Morrie told him that love does.

How did Morrie answer a college basketball crowd chanting that their team ranked first?

Asked why second place was bad: the question stopped the chant cold in 1979, when the home team was doing well, and Morrie sat down triumphant.

According to campus lore, why did Morrie Schwartz give his male students A's during the Vietnam War?

To keep their draft deferments, students needed a minimum grade average, so Morrie proposed that his whole department simply hand out A's.

What does Mitch Albom admit doing on arriving at Morrie's house while his old professor waited outside?

Finished a work phone call is the honest answer: Mitch even pretended to hunt for something on the car floor, and writes that he is not proud of it.

What had Morrie Schwartz's family briefly left his bedside to do at the moment he died?

They had stepped out to get some coffee, the only time the room stood empty; Mitch Albom believes Morrie chose that moment so no one would be haunted by his last breath.

What did Morrie Schwartz jokingly ask of the rabbi who would lead his funeral service?

Not to overcook him: Morrie had chosen cremation, and the joke left the rabbi, a close friend from the university, stunned.

Which spot did Morrie choose for his grave, asking Mitch to visit and talk over his problems?

A hill above a pond, under a tree, struck Morrie as a good place to think; he told Mitch that once he was gone, Mitch could talk and he would listen.

Which newspaper ran the feature on Morrie headlined "A Professor's Final Course: His Own Death"?

The Boston Globe ran the piece in March 1995 after a friend passed along the sayings Morrie had been jotting down about living in the shadow of death.

Into which form did Mitch Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher adapt Tuesdays with Morrie after the TV film?

A stage play opened Off-Broadway in 2002 with Alvin Epstein as Morrie, and it has since had hundreds of regional and international productions.

In Morrie's classroom trust fall, what did one student do that let her drop into a partner's arms?

Closed her eyes, and she fell without flinching; Morrie told the class that real trust means going by what you feel, not by what you see.

Which topic do Mitch Albom and Morrie take up on the tenth Tuesday, the visit Mitch's wife Janine joins?

Marriage gets a short list of rules from Morrie: respect the other person, know how to compromise, talk openly and share a common set of values.