Q 01/05

Which children's modelling compound, sold as a toy from 1956, started out as a wallpaper cleaner?

A) Silly Putty

B) Plasticine

C) Play-Doh

D) Sculpey

Answer · why

C) Play-Doh

Play-Doh was first made in Cincinnati in the 1930s to lift coal residue off wallpaper. A nursery school teacher who saw its craft potential helped tur...

Q 02/05

On which host's variety show was Elvis Presley filmed only from the waist up in January 1957?

A) Milton Berle

B) Ed Sullivan

C) Arthur Godfrey

D) Red Skelton

Answer · why

B) Ed Sullivan

Ed Sullivan's show cropped Presley at the waist only on his third and final visit, though legend says the cameras did it every time.

Q 03/05

Which Wham-O toy, first sold as the Pluto Platter, took its lasting name from a pie company's tins?

A) Frisbee

B) Hula Hoop

C) Slip 'N Slide

D) Super Ball

Answer · why

A) Frisbee

Frisbee comes from the Frisbie Pie Company of Connecticut, whose empty tins Yale students tossed around campus. Wham-O adopted the nickname in June 19...

Q 04/05

What kind of animal was Bert, the cartoon star of the civil defense film Duck and Cover?

A) Snail

B) Armadillo

C) Hedgehog

D) Turtle

Answer · why

D) Turtle

Bert the Turtle pulls into his shell when a monkey dangles a lit firecracker near him, a lesson for schoolchildren on shielding themselves from an ato...

Q 05/05

Which frontier hero, played on TV by Fess Parker, sparked a 1950s craze for coonskin caps?

A) Davy Crockett

B) Daniel Boone

C) Kit Carson

D) Wild Bill Hickok

Answer · why

A) Davy Crockett

Davy Crockett merchandise, from caps to bubble gum cards, had brought in more than $300 million by the end of 1955.