Return to Paradise – The 2022 TCM Classic Film Festival: Part 1

The trivia contest is always held in Club TCM in the Roosevelt Hotel.

After waiting for two years for the in-person Turner Classic Movies film festival to return, I was primed and ready for four days of friends, fun, and film at this year’s event, held in Hollywood April 21-24, 2022!! And that’s just what I got – and more! It was so awesome to be back – there’s nothing like that first sighting of the Roosevelt Hotel marquee, or taking pictures in front of the huge TCM posters covering the hotel windows, or finding beloved stars in the forecourt of Grauman’s (it’ll always be Grauman’s to me) Chinese Theater and on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This year marks my eighth in-person TCM film fest (and my 10th overall, counting the two first-rate virtual fests the network presented in 2020 and 2021), and I continued my first-day tradition of participating in the annual trivia contest called “So You Think You Know Movies.” Hosted by the entertaining and knowledgeable Bruce Goldstein, of New York’s Film Forum, this year’s contest featured special appearances by several notables, including Diane Baker, Leonard Maltin, and the son of Fayard Nicholas, of the famed Nicholas Brothers dance team.

Our winning team! That’s me standing next to Bruce Goldstein.

The contest provides the opportunity to meet new people (you can join a team on the spot, for a maximum of eight team members), and it’s so much fun, with Goldstein regularly cracking wise and plenty of classic movie clips to enjoy. This was my eighth time participating in the contest and the first time in all those years that I was on a team completely composed of longtime friends of mine: Jann Calix, Lara Gabrielle (whose book on Marion Davies will be released soon!), and Stephen Reginald. And what do you know – we won! I could hardly believe it when Bruce Goldstein announced our team’s name – Game Time – but he did! It was so exciting, and a perfect way to kick off the festival.

As always, most of the trivia questions were pretty hard – and they were made even more difficult because some questions could have multiple answers! Below are a few of the questions from this year’s contest – try your hand at them; the answers are at the end of the post. And no fair consulting Google for help!

1. The actor dancing in the clip above with Shirley Temple in Baby Take a Bow won an Oscar for what movie?
2. Esther Minciotti, who played Ernest Borgnine’s mother in Marty (1955) also played the mother of which actor or actors below?
   • Cornel Wilde
   • Richard Conte
   • Henry Fonda
   • Rod Steiger
   • Ben Gazarra
3. Cesar Romero played a role (or roles) that was/were also played by which of the following?
   • Tyrone Power
   • Jack Nicholson
   • Ricardo Cortez
   • Warner Baxter
   • Ramon Navarro
4. Which of the following comedians had their own comic book series?
   • Laurel and Hardy
   • Martin and Lewis
   • Bob Hope
   • The Three Stooges
   • Abbott and Costello
5. Fred Astaire last danced in a movie helmed by which of the following directors?
   • Rouben Mammoulian
   • Gene Kelly
   • Stanley Donen
   • Marc Sandrich
   • Francis Ford Coppola

Scroll down for the answers!

Keep scrolling . . .

Just little more . . .

The answers!

James Dunn in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

1. James Dunn won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945).
2. Esther Minciotti played the mother of Cornel Wilde in Shockproof (1949), the mother of Richard Conte in House of Strangers (1949), the mother of Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man (1956), and the mother of Rod Steiger in the 1953 teleplay of Marty on the Philco Television Playhouse. Ben Gazarra is the only actor in the list that did not play a role with Minciotti as his mother.
3. Cesar Romero played the Joker in TV’s Batman – Jack Nicholson played the role in the 1989 feature film Batman. In 1939, Romero played The Cisco Kid in The Cisco Kid and the Lady, and the following year in Lucky Cisco Kid. The role of the Cisco Kid was also played by Warner Baxter in the 1931 feature, The Cisco Kid.
4. All five of the comedians listed for this question had their own comic book series!
5. Fred Astaire last danced in the 1974 compilation film That’s Entertainment, which was directed by Gene Kelly.

How’d you do?

Stay tuned for more coverage of the 2022 TCM Film Festival in the coming weeks!

~ by shadowsandsatin on May 1, 2022.