Mr. Write's Page

The Questions…

1. The first telephone answering machine went on the market in 1949. The device weighed 80 pounds and was called the “electronic secretary.” How did it work?

2. The electronics giant Sony was founded in 1946. What was Sony’s first consumer product?

3. The first song by jazz musician Duke Ellington was Soda Fountain Rag, also known as Poodle Dog Rag, written in 1914 when he was a teenager. Why is the song so named?

4. How many actors appeared in all six Star Wars movies?

5. Hanging over a fireplace in the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles is a large portrait of Hugh Hefner. How is Hefner dressed in the portrait?

The Answers…

1. When the telephone rang, the answering machine lifted the receiver from its cradle, switched on a turntable, and played a greeting on a 78rpm record. When the caller spoke, the device made a wire recording (forerunner of tape) of the message.

2. An electric rice cooker.

3. Ellington wrote the song while working after school as a soda jerk at the Poodle Dog Cafe in Washington, D.C.

4. Just two characters appeared in all six films: Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Kenny Baker (R2-D2). Rumor is, they’ll also be in Star Wars 7, due out in 2015.

5. He is dressed as the royal womanizer Henry VIII.