This Scrooged trivia quiz has 50 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 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed Scrooged (1988)?
Richard Donner
He had made Superman and The Goonies and would follow this with Lethal Weapon 2. He and Murray met for drinks before signing on to check they got along; the shoot tested that.
Q 02What is the job of Bill Murray's character in Scrooged?
Television network president
He runs IBC and is staging a live Christmas Eve broadcast of A Christmas Carol, which is what makes the film a story about the story.
Q 03What is the name of the fictional network Frank runs?
IBC
Its Christmas line-up includes 'Robert Goulet's Cajun Christmas' and 'The Night the Reindeer Died'. Exteriors were shot outside the Seagram Building in New York.
Q 04Which two former Saturday Night Live writers wrote the Scrooged screenplay?
Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue
Murray reworked the script with them before agreeing to star. O'Donoghue later estimated only 40% of their script survived and disowned the finished film in spectacular language.
Q 05How long had Bill Murray been away from acting before Scrooged?
Four years
He retreated after The Razor's Edge flopped in 1984 and the Ghostbusters phenomenon overwhelmed him. He said the flop made him feel 'radioactive'.
Q 06How much was Bill Murray paid for Scrooged?
$6 million
Producer Art Linson argued that every year Murray stayed away increased his drawing power. He said only Eddie Murphy could match him for opening-weekend pull.
Q 07What was Scrooged's production budget?
$32 million
Filming ran three-and-a-half months from December 1987 to March 1988, mostly on Hollywood sets. It went on to gross $100.3 million worldwide.
Q 08Which meek IBC executive does Frank fire for questioning the violent Christmas Carol promo?
Eliot Loudermilk
Bobcat Goldthwait plays him. Abandoned by his family, he later shows up with a shotgun, and ends the film rehired with a raise and helping Frank storm the studio.
Q 09How did Frank's mentor Lew Hayward, the film's Marley figure, die?
Of a heart attack while golfing
John Forsythe plays him as a decaying corpse with a golf ball still lodged in his skull. He warns Frank three ghosts are coming.
Q 10In Scrooged, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears in what form?
A chain-smoking taxi driver
Sam Kinison had been considered for the part.
Q 11Which musician plays the Ghost of Christmas Past in Scrooged?
David Johansen
He was a personal friend of Murray's. His New York Dolls bandmate Arthur Kane reportedly flew into a jealous rage on seeing how big the part was.
Q 12Carol Kane's Ghost of Christmas Present is a violent fairy who hits Frank with what household appliance?
A toaster
Kane said she also kicked Murray 'in areas that weren't pleasant for him', and once tore the inside of his lip. Murray insisted she really hit him.
Q 13Why did Carol Kane end up performing her own ballet scenes rather than using a planned body double?
The set designer found her 'horrible' moves funnier
Q 21In Scrooged's promo 'The Night the Reindeer Died', which TV action star saves Santa with a minigun?
Lee Majors
Donner contacted him directly. The stripped-down M134 was the same one used in Predator, and he found it almost too heavy to carry.
Q 22Which comedian plays Scrooge in IBC's live broadcast within the film?
Buddy Hackett
Jamie Farr of M*A*S*H plays Jacob Marley in the same production, and gymnast Mary Lou Retton is Tiny Tim.
Q 23Which Olympic gymnast plays Tiny Tim in the broadcast-within-the-film?
Mary Lou Retton
Her Tiny Tim throws away the crutch and does a tumbling pass. Robert Goulet, John Houseman and Lee Majors all appear as themselves.
He saw her rehearsing and convinced Donner to keep it. Kane sometimes cried for long stretches on set out of frustration at the violent scenes.
Q 14Who plays Claire Phillips, Frank's ex-girlfriend who runs a homeless shelter?
Karen Allen
Murray insisted the romance be expanded before he signed on. Claire is later shown, in the future, having taken his advice and become a selfish socialite.
Q 15Which screen legend plays Preston Rhinelander, the IBC boss who wants programming that appeals to pets?
Robert Mitchum
He was not interested in the small role until Donner had him meet Murray, who talked him into it. Critics later noted the pet-TV joke has aged into prophecy.
Q 16Who plays Grace Cooley, Frank's loyal assistant, in Scrooged?
Alfre Woodard
Los Angeles Times critic Sheila Benson called hers the film's one completely persuasive performance. Her son Calvin has not spoken since seeing his father die.
Q 17What are the first words the mute boy Calvin says at the end of Scrooged?
God bless us, everyone
It is Tiny Tim's line from Dickens, delivered as Frank and Claire reunite. Nicholas Phillips plays Calvin.
Q 18Which song does Frank lead the cast and audience in singing at the end of the film?
Put a Little Love in Your Heart
The Al Green and Annie Lennox version peaked at No. 9 in January 1989 and is now a Christmas radio staple despite never mentioning Christmas.
Q 19Which two singers recorded the closing-credits single from Scrooged that reached No. 9 in January 1989?
Al Green and Annie Lennox
It spent 17 weeks on the US chart. The A&M soundtrack had nine songs, seven of which were released as singles.
Q 20How many of Bill Murray's real brothers appear in Scrooged?
Three
Brian Doyle-Murray plays Frank's father, John Murray plays his brother James, and Joel Murray cameos as a party guest.
Q 24Which jazz great appears as a street musician in Scrooged?
Miles Davis
He plays alongside Paul Shaffer, David Sanborn and Larry Carlton on a New York sidewalk, and Frank tells them to get a job.
Q 25Which dance troupe made its final appearance in Scrooged?
The Solid Gold Dancers
They perform in the IBC Christmas Carol broadcast. Their TV show had ended earlier in 1988.
Q 26To what year does the Ghost of Christmas Past first take Frank, to see his neglected childhood?
1955
Young Frank escapes his dismissive father through television. Later stops in 1968 and 1971 show him meeting and then losing Claire at IBC.
Q 27Where does the Ghost of Christmas Present abandon Frank, next to Herman's frozen body?
A utility space under a sidewalk
Herman is the homeless man Frank mocked at Claire's shelter. Frank breaks through a boarded door and finds himself back on the set minutes before air.
Q 28In the future the Ghost of Christmas Future shows Frank, what has happened to Calvin?
He has been institutionalized
Frank also sees his own cremation, attended only by his brother and sister-in-law, and ends up inside the burning coffin before snapping back to the elevator.
Q 29How is Frank's body dealt with in the vision of his own funeral?
Cremated
He finds himself inside the coffin as the flames close in. Only James and his wife Wendie attend.
Q 30How did the writers react to Murray's improvised, emotional final speech on set?
They thought he was having a breakdown
The crew applauded, then O'Donoghue asked 'What was that? The Jim Jones hour?' Donner punched him in the arm hard enough to leave a week-long bruise.