This is post 7 of 7 this afternoon and will bring to a close the principal content offered in this, our November virtual meeting. If you’re just now joining us, scroll back to today’s Post 1 of 7 to enjoy the whole meeting, start to finish.

14) ANSWERS TO TRIVIA CHALLENGE

Following are the answers to our special seasonal trivia challenge, put up earlier in Post 1 of 7; check your answers against these:

1) In the atrociously bad 1964 “Yuletide science fiction fantasy” Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, what are the names of the two Earth children kidnapped by the Martians?

A) Victor and Donna   B) Willie and Sue   C) Billy and Betty   D) Linus and Lucy

ANSWER: C) Billy and Betty

Victor Stiles and Donna Conforti were the actors who portrayed Billy and Betty.

Willie and Sue are adult characters in the black comedy Bad Santa (2003). Portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton, Willie is a sex-addicted, alcoholic, professional thief who annually lands a gig as a department store Santa and with his partner in crime, Marcus, a little person who dresses as an elf, rob the malls in which they are employed on Christmas Eve. Sue, played by Lauren Graham, is a woman with a Santa Claus fetish who Willie meets in a bar! Critics have called this film the antithesis of Miracle on 34th Street.

And, Linus and Lucy are, of course, the well-known van Pelt siblings, characters in the long-running Peanuts comic strip and featured players in television’s beloved animated Holiday special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).

2) 1978’s Star Wars Holiday Special included an animated sequence entitled “The Faithful Wookiee,” which introduced a new character to Star Wars canon. Name that character:

ANSWER: Bounty hunter Boba Fett

3) Name the Canadian animation studio that George Lucas enlisted to produce this “Faithful Wookiee” cartoon:

ANSWER: Nelvana

Headquartered in Toronto, Nelvana Limited, now Nelvana Enterprises, was founded in 1971 and produces principally children’s programming. George Lucas was a fan of the studio and chose Nelvana to produce the 10-minute short for the Star Wars Holiday Special. The cartoon is widely considered to be the only redeeming part of an otherwise abysmal, embarrassingly unwatchable pile of Bantha poodoo.

4) Which of these groupings does not belong?

A) Kimar, Momar, Bomar, and Girmar   B) Chochem, Hargo, Rigna, and Lomas   C) Gimmel, Nun, Hey, and Shin   D) Voldar, Stobo, Shim, and Torg

ANSWER: C) Gimmel, Nun, Hey, and Shin

These Hebrew letters are inscribed, one on each of the four sides of a dreidel, a spinning top associated with Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights. They stand for the phrase “Nes gadôl hayah sham,” or in English, “A great miracle happened there.” In Israel, the phrase is modified slightly to read “Nes gadôl hayah poh,” or “A great miracle happened here.”

The rest are the names of Martian characters in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

5) What is the clever postal code created by Canada Post for the North Pole?

ANSWER: H0H 0H0

6) What is the title of The Big Bang Theory episode in which Penny gifts Sheldon with a unique Christmas present: a restaurant napkin that Star Trek star Leonard Nimoy had used to wipe his mouth, and which he subsequently autographed to Sheldon at waitress Penny’s request?

A) “The Santa Simulation”   B) “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”            C) “The Holiday Summation”   D) “The Cooper Extraction”

ANSWER: B) “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis”

All of these Big Bang Theory episodes are Holiday-themed, but most unforgettable is this earliest, which aired on December 15, 2008, during the show’s second season. Sheldon is overwhelmed by Penny’s present. Not only is the gift personalized and signed by his hero, but by virtue of Nimoy having wiped his mouth with the napkin, also holds a sample of the actor’s DNA, from which, Sheldon excitedly asserts, “I can grow my own Leonard Nimoy!” He is so very taken by Penny’s present that he gives her an uncharacteristic hug.

7) In the above-mentioned Big Bang Theory episode, when Penny presents her gift to Sheldon, what is she wearing on her head?

A) Foam reindeer antlers   B) A red Santa Claus hat trimmed in white faux fur   C) A tiara   D) Nothing

ANSWER: B) A red Santa Claus hat trimmed in white faux fur

8) How many ghosts appear to surly Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol?

ANSWER: Four

In addition to the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, a fourth ghost, that of Scrooge’s deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, first appears to Scrooge and foretells of the impending visits by the three Christmas spectres.

9) Who does not belong?

A) George C. Scott   B) Patrick Stewart   C) Alastair Sim   D) Jim Carrey   E) Colin Baker   F) Basil Rathbone   G) Walter Matthau   H) Michael Caine

ANSWER: E) Colin Baker

All but Colin Baker have played Ebenezer Scrooge in screen adaptations of A Christmas Carol, of which there have been many. Baker did appear in a 2015 musical adaptation of the story, but as author Charles Dickens.

George C. Scott received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal in a 1984 made-for-television film of Dickens’ famous Christmas tale. Patrick Stewart starred in another TV version, 1999’s A Christmas Carol, inspired by his one-man stage adaptation. Alastair Sim took on the role in what many critics consider the definitive screen version of the story, 1951’s Scrooge, a British production retitled A Christmas Carol for the American market. Jim Carrey interpreted not only Scrooge, but all three of the Christmas ghosts in a 2009 motion-capture, 3D computer-animated feature film. Basil Rathbone and Walter Matthau each starred as the curmudgeon in separate productions of The Stingiest Man in Town, Rathbone in a televised 1956 live musical presentation for The Alcoa Hour, and Matthau voicing the character for a 1978 Rankin-Bass animated adaptation in which Scrooge was drawn to resemble Matthau. And finally, Michael Caine starred as Scrooge in 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol.

10) While romancing Mary Hatch early in the perennial Christmas gem It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), what does George Bailey offer to throw a lasso around and gift to her?

A) A star   B) The moon   C) The sun   D) A steer

ANSWER: B) The moon

11) In the Lost in Space episode “Return From Outer Space,” against his father’s express orders, young Will Robinson employs dangerous alien technology to matter-transfer himself across the gulf of space and back to Earth, materializing in a small town at Christmastime. His plan is to alert Alpha Control at Cape Kennedy of his family’s location on a distant, barren planet so that a rescue ship might be dispatched. But no one in town believes that he’s a member of the famous First Family in Space, long missing and now presumed dead! In what U.S. state is located the small town to which Will beams himself?

A) Connecticut   B) Maine   C) North Dakota   D) Vermont

ANSWER: D) Vermont

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The fictional town of Hatfield Four Corners is located in Vermont, a state bordering Quebec and less than two hours’ drive south of Montreal.

12) Because nothing says Yuletide like math, in “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” how many presents are given altogether?

ANSWER: 364

Here’s the breakdown: partridges in a pear tree (1 × 12 = 12); turtle doves (2 × 11 = 22); French hens (3 × 10 = 30); calling birds (4 × 9 = 36); golden rings (5 × 8 = 40); geese a-laying (6 × 7 = 42); swans a-swimming (7 × 6 = 42); maids a-milking (8 × 5 = 40); ladies dancing  (9 × 4 = 36); lords a-leaping (10 × 3 = 30); pipers playing (11 × 2 = 22); drummers drumming (12 × 1 = 12). Adding all these subtotals provides us with the grand total of gifts given (12 + 22 + 30 + 36 + 40 + 42 + 42 + 40 + 36 + 30 + 22 + 12 = 364)!

13) In It’s a Wonderful Life, a distraught and suicidal George Bailey is certain that his family and friends would have been better off had he never been born, and in a chilling alternate-history sequence, his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody, allows him a look at just such a scenario in a bid to convince George otherwise. The two stop for a drink at a bar George finds markedly changed from the friendly watering hole he’d always known. He orders a double bourbon; what does Clarence order?

A) A flaming rum punch   B) A vodka martini, shaken, not stirred        C) A mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon, light on the troubles!        D) A beer

ANSWER: C) A mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon, light on the troubles!

14) What are the names of George and Mary Bailey’s four children, erased from existence in the alternate history in which George was never born?

ANSWER: Pete, Janie, Tommy, and Zuzu

15) In the concluding act of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, which character becomes the Martian Santa Claus?

ANSWER: Dropo, assistant to Martian ruler Kimar. Noting that Dropo comports himself very much as he does, it is Santa Claus himself who suggests that Dropo would make a fine Martian Santa Claus.

16) In the original Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947), what is the name of the judge who presides over the hearing to determine if one Kris Kringle is a delusional old man who should be institutionalized or, in fact, the one and only Santa Claus, as he claims

A) Henry X. Harper   B) R. H. Macy   C) Thomas Mara   D) Fred Gailey

ANSWER: A) Henry X. Harper

In a climactic scene, Judge Harper accepts the evidence presented of bags of letters addressed to Santa Claus that the United States Postal Service, a branch of the federal government, has delivered to the defendant, thereby acknowledging that Kris Kringle is, indeed, Santa Claus. As the government so recognizes him, “this court will not dispute it,” states the judge, dismissing the case to cheers from the spectators present.

H. Macy is the owner of Macy’s Department Store, the New York City landmark that had hired Mr. Kringle as a store Santa Claus. Thomas Mara is the district attorney prosecuting the case against Kringle, in the end reluctantly, and Fred Gailey is Kringle’s lawyer.

17) Name all of Santa’s reindeer!

ANSWER: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and Rudolph

Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” or more commonly, “’Twas the Night Before Christmas,” cites an original eight tiny reindeer. Owing to his bright, shiny red nose, Rudolph, the most famous reindeer of all, joined the team in 1939, bringing the total number to nine. Rudolph was born of a marketing campaign launched by the Chicago-based department store Montgomery Ward to promote the Holiday season.

While most of the team are generally perceived to be male, interestingly, male reindeer lose their antlers in early December once mating season has ended, while the females retain theirs throughout the winter. As Santa’s reindeer are always depicted sporting their antlers, scientifically therefore, one can only conclude that they are all female. Of course, it may be that this particular breed of magical flying reindeer do not adhere to the laws of nature as do their conventional woodland cousins!

18) Thurl Ravenscroft was, for decades, an uncredited but important contributor to 1966’s classic Holiday TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas. What was his contribution to the production?

A) He directed the piece.   B) He wrote the screenplay.   C) He wrote the lyrics to the songs featured.   D) He sang the memorable “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

ANSWER: D) He sang the memorable “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.”

Ravenscroft’s basso vocals are often mistakenly attributed to horror film icon Boris Karloff, who voiced the Grinch and provided narration. The show was directed by legendary animated filmmaker Chuck Jones, known for his work on the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons. The screenplay and lyrics for the three songs featured were penned by Theodore “Ted” Geisel, better known by his nom de plume, Dr. Suess, upon whose 1957 children’s book the production was based.

19) The night before his famous transatlantic flight in 1927, aviator Charles Lindbergh stored his Spirit of St. Louis airplane in a hangar later repurposed as a film studio in which was produced what Christmas movie?

ANSWER: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

BONUS QUESTION! As a boy in 1919, It’s a Wonderful Life’s central character, George Bailey, works at a drugstore in his hometown of Bedford Falls. One day he finds is boss, Mr. Gower, grief-stricken at news he’d received by telegram, which caused him in distraction to inadvertently fill an order with a poisonous mixture of the wrong medicine. George tries to tell him of his mistake but the anguished man irately sends him on his way. When George returns later without having made the delivery, the druggist angrily berates him until the boy finally blurts out that Gower had made a terrible error. Gower realizes that George has saved the day and hugs the boy in thanks. What was the news that had so upset Mr. Gower?

ANSWER: He had received word that his son, away at college, had died suddenly of influenza, no doubt a victim of the Spanish flu pandemic.

15) ANOTHER CHRISTMAS CORONAVIRUS PARODY SONG

Gracey Messina is backed by the YVR Pop Choir for this Mariah Carey-inspired ode to social distancing (www.facebook.com/thechorusstudio):

 16) THANK YOU!

We hope you have enjoyed your time with us this afternoon, and we ask all of you to check in regularly here at www.MonSFFA.ca for additional content during this continuing pandemic, and for any news as to when the club expects a return to face-to-face meetings. Thank you for your interest and attention, and don’t forget to comment on today’s offerings!

We’d also like to thank Sylvain St-Pierre, Joe Aspler, Josée Bellemare, Keith Braithwaite, and Cathy Palmer-Lister for putting this December 12, 2020 DIY, Virtual MonSFFA Meeting together, with a nod, as well, to our supporting contributors today.

Until next year, when we will gather virtually on Saturday, January 9, for our first meeting of 2021, please eschew gatherings, continue to practise social distancing, wear your mask, wash your hands often, and get your shots as soon as the vaccination is made available to you! Continuing patience, discipline, and emotional fortitude is now vital in seeing us all safely through these final months of the pandemic!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night…

17) FINAL PARODY SONG

We wrap up with recording artist Chris Mann’s take on the “Twelve Days of Christmas,” reworked for these anxious times (www.officialchrismann.com):