How do you play "Ask Me Another"?

[Espee]

Yes, Starucca Viaduct was a dumb one. Maybe that was the night my food poisoning was setting in?
I shared the basics from this thread with a vintage friend, and she tells me she's just ordered one of the books for me...
I used to bug my mom with trivia questions-- I figured she had a generational advantage on questions from "The Nostalgia Quiz Book." But the neighbor lady scoffed-- "We won't remember years from now, who was in the cast of The Carol Burnett Show or something like that..."
I silently disagreed-- I had never watched CB by then, but I was always seeing the cast listed in TV Guide. (Later, I became a weekly viewer.)

 

[Espee]

I passed some of LizzieMaine's information on to Janet Klein, who set out to obtain one of the books. And she shared some of the story with a sold-out Steve Allen Theater Thursday night, as background before singing "Who-oo? You-oo, That's Who!"

And by the way, it was in the famous "Why a Duck?" routine, in "The Coconuts" (1929) that the Marx Brothers refered to Ask Me Another:
"Here is a little peninsula, and... here is a viaduct leading over to the mainland."
"Vhy a duck?"
"I'm all right, how are you? I say here is a little peninsula, with a viaduct leading over to the mainland."
"All right, vhy a duck?"
"I'm not playing Ask Me Another, I say that's a VIADUCT."
"All right, vhy a duck? Vhy a no chicken?"

 

[LizzieMaine]

You should get her to answer one of the quizzes -- it'd be interesting to get some "modern vintage celebrity" scores to put up alongside the celebrity scores in the book.

The answer, by the way, the question about America's largest export in 1927 was none of the answers given. The correct answer was "cotton."

 

[Espee]

You should get her to answer one of the quizzes -- it'd be interesting to get some "modern vintage celebrity" scores to put up alongside the celebrity scores in the book.

Okay, I sent Janet a message to quit peeking at the answers, for the moment. And maybe toward the back, in the specialized topics quizzes, there would be one on Art History she'd prefer.

 

[Espee]

The answer, by the way, the question about America's largest export in 1927 was none of the answers given. The correct answer was "cotton."

Hmmm... maybe the "Confederate States of America" could have had a future.

 

[Espee]

I have the book now-- it's got an orange cover. I saw only "Copyright 1927" and no other date for printing. But I was wondering why a question referring to Lon Chaney was worded in the past tense-- "What motion picture actor WAS...."
After that, I found an answer referring to Wiley Post's round-the-world flight of 1931.
So I guess this is the 1938 updated version Lizzie referred to.

 

[Espee]

And I happened to be in the city of Whittier when I came to the question:

Give the next line: "Blessings on thee, little man..."
(Barefoot boy with cheeks of tan-- John Greenleaf Whittier)

 

[Espee]

I did the introduction at Janet's show last night, based on "Ask Me Another." And her first number (hastily substituted) was "Who-oo? You-oo, That's Who!"
Today, a friend who was at the show, discovered that National Public Radio is debuting a trivia series called Ask Me Another. What timing! (Or were they waiting for a copyright to expire?)
I quoted the "Cocoanuts" routine and gave the basics about the book, which I was holding in my hands. Then I threw out a few questions from General Quiz #1 for anyone to call out the answers.
For the top U.S. export commodity, I heard "steel" and a couple others, but also the correct "cotton." (And one declaration of "popular music!")
As for the phrase associated with Dr. Emil Coue, the only one who knew was Janet, whispering from the wings. (I'd heard if from her a long time ago-- "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better.")
The capitals of Spain and Portugal were easy for someone-- "Madrid and Lisbon."
I asked for folks to please speak up LOUD if they knew the answer to the final question. At this point I veered off from the book:
"What ukulele chanteuse is known for performing lovely, obscure and naughty songs?"
They came through pretty well for me on that one...