Scrooged Trivia
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This Scrooged trivia quiz has 48 free questions with answers and covers the 1988 film from the opening 'Night the Reindeer Died' promo to the sing-along finale: Bill Murray's return from a four-year break, the script by two Saturday Night Live veterans, the chain-smoking cab driver and the toaster-swinging fairy who play the ghosts, the cameos from Lee Majors, Buddy Hackett, Mary Lou Retton and Miles Davis, and the three real Murray brothers in the cast. It also digs into the production: the $32 million budget, the Seagram Building exteriors, the fights between Murray and director Richard Donner, the improvised final speech that had the writers thinking he was having a breakdown, the Thanksgiving-weekend box office, the Al Green and Annie Lennox single, and the Best Makeup Oscar nomination it lost to Beetlejuice. Early questions are for anyone who watches it every December; the last third is for people who can name Frank's mentor and know which network executive wanted TV for pets. Every answer was checked against a reference source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which director made Scrooged a year after the first Lethal Weapon?
Richard Donner
Richard Donner kept telling Bill Murray to play scenes 'louder, louder, louder', and Murray later joked that he thought the director was deaf.
Q 02What is the job of Bill Murray's character in Scrooged?
Television network president
Frank Cross is a ruthless television network president, staging a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol called 'Scrooge'.
Q 03Which Bonnie and Clyde co-star plays Herman, the homeless man Frank meets at Claire's shelter in Scrooged?
Michael J. Pollard
Michael J. Pollard was Oscar-nominated as the hapless getaway driver in Bonnie and Clyde; two decades later he plays Herman, whose fate finally rattles Frank.
Q 04Scrooged co-writer Michael O'Donoghue wrote for Bill Murray on which TV show?
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live had O'Donoghue on its original writing staff, and Murray agreed to star in Scrooged only after reworking the script with its writers.
Q 05During his four-year break before Scrooged, Bill Murray took a cameo in which musical?
Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors cast Murray as a pain-seeking dental patient, and he slips a 'Feed me, Seymour' ad-lib into Scrooged's closing singalong.
Q 06Producer Art Linson said only Bill Murray and which other star could guarantee a huge opening weekend in 1988?
Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy was the only other name on Art Linson's list, the producer's defense of paying Murray a reported $6 million after four years away.
Q 07Which stand-up comic plays Eliot Loudermilk, the executive Frank fires for doubting his promo in Scrooged?
Bobcat Goldthwait
Bobcat Goldthwait plays the meek Eliot, who storms back into the building drunk and carrying a shotgun.
Q 08How did Frank's mentor Lew Hayward, the film's Marley figure, die?
Of a heart attack while golfing
Lew Hayward died of a heart attack while golfing; John Forsythe plays his decaying corpse, which warns Frank of the ghosts to come.
Q 09In Scrooged, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears in what form?
A chain-smoking taxi driver
The Ghost of Christmas Past is a chain-smoking taxi driver who hauls Frank back through his childhood; Sam Kinison had been considered for the part.
Q 10Which 1970s New York punk frontman plays the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged?
David Johansen
David Johansen went from fronting the proto-punk New York Dolls to a party hit with 'Hot Hot Hot' under his alter ego, Buster Poindexter.
Q 11Carol Kane's Ghost of Christmas Present is a violent fairy who hits Frank with what household appliance?
A toaster
Carol Kane's fairy whacks Frank with a toaster among other blows; she really did hurt Murray, once tearing the inside of his lip.
Q 12In Scrooged's childhood flashback, young Frank gets veal for Christmas instead of which toy he asked Santa for?
A train set
A train set is what young Frank asked Santa for, and when he protests, his father tells him to get a job and buy one himself.
Q 13Who plays Claire Phillips, Frank's ex-girlfriend who runs a homeless shelter?
Karen Allen
Karen Allen, of Raiders of the Lost Ark, plays Claire Phillips; the Christmas Future vision shows Claire hardened into a cold socialite after taking Frank's advice.
Q 21Which comedian plays Scrooge in IBC's live broadcast in Scrooged?
Buddy Hackett
Buddy Hackett plays Scrooge in the show a reformed Frank ends up hijacking: he rehires Eliot with a raise, and the two take over the live broadcast.
Q 22Which Olympic gymnast plays Tiny Tim in IBC's live broadcast in Scrooged?
Mary Lou Retton
Mary Lou Retton, the 1984 Olympic all-around champion, plays Tiny Tim, tossing away the crutch to perform a tumbling pass.
Q 23Which jazz great appears as a street musician in Scrooged?
Miles Davis
Miles Davis busks on a Manhattan sidewalk with Paul Shaffer, David Sanborn and Larry Carlton, and Frank heckles them, asking if they learned that song yesterday.
Q 14Which star of 1962's Cape Fear plays Preston Rhinelander, Frank's boss in Scrooged, who wants shows that appeal to pets?
Robert Mitchum
Robert Mitchum's Rhinelander also saddles Frank with an unwanted assistant, Brice Cummings, who is plainly after Frank's job.
Q 15Who plays Grace Cooley, Frank's loyal assistant, in Scrooged?
Alfre Woodard
Alfre Woodard plays Grace Cooley, the assistant Frank overworks on Christmas Eve; her son Calvin has not spoken since his father died.
Q 16What are the first words the mute boy Calvin says at the end of Scrooged?
God bless us, everyone
'God bless us, everyone' comes when Frank, winding up his on-air speech, asks Calvin whether he forgot something, and the boy speaks for the first time since his father died.
Q 17Which song does Frank lead the cast and audience in singing at the end of Scrooged?
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
Frank leads everyone in 'Put a Little Love in Your Heart', Jackie DeShannon's 1969 hit, which a new duet version revived for the closing credits.
Q 18Which duo recorded Scrooged's closing-credits single, a No. 9 hit in January 1989?
Al Green and Annie Lennox
Al Green and Annie Lennox take over a song the film has already used: Frank's studio crew sing it live on air in the finale, then the duet plays over the credits.
Q 19Frank's father in Scrooged's childhood flashback is played by which real-life relative of Bill Murray?
His brother
His brother Brian Doyle-Murray plays Earl Cross, and the casting mirrors itself: John Murray, another of Bill's three brothers in the film, plays Frank's brother James.
Q 20In Scrooged's fake promo 'The Night the Reindeer Died', which TV action star defends Santa's workshop from terrorists?
Lee Majors
Lee Majors plays himself, greeted as the Six Million Dollar Man, and tells Santa the world can't afford to lose him before heading out to fight.
Q 24Which dance troupe plays the Scroogettes in IBC's live broadcast in Scrooged?
The Solid Gold Dancers
The Solid Gold Dancers turn up as the Scroogettes even though their own syndicated show had been cancelled in July 1988, months before the film opened.
Q 25In Scrooged, the Ghost of Christmas Past is aghast that Frank left Claire for which children's TV character?
Frisbee the Dog
Frisbee the Dog is the kids' show Frank was nurturing when he skipped Christmas dinner with Claire to dine with his boss, and the ghost can't believe he chose it over her.
Q 26In Scrooged, the Ghost of Christmas Present abandons Frank beside Herman, who is in what condition?
Frozen to death
Frozen to death underground after leaving Claire's shelter, Herman gets a tirade from Frank, who rages that she would have fed him and kept him warm.
Q 27In Scrooged, what has happened to Calvin in the future the final ghost shows Frank?
He has been institutionalized
He has been institutionalized, the first sight in a bleak future where Claire, having taken Frank's advice to look out for herself, has turned into a cold socialite.
Q 28How is Frank's body dealt with in the vision of his own funeral?
Cremated
Frank is cremated in the vision; he finds himself inside the coffin as the flames close in, with only his brother James and sister-in-law Wendie attending.
Q 29In Scrooged, what Christmas gift does Frank tell his assistant Grace to put herself down for?
A bath towel
A bath towel is what Frank's Christmas list hands nearly everyone, and when Grace asks about her bonus instead, he upgrades her to a towel and a facecloth.
Q 30What does Frank insist the mice in the 'Scrooge' broadcast must wear?
Antlers
Frank demands antlers on the mice for the live 'Scrooge' broadcast, suggesting they be stapled on when the handler objects.