Mr. Write's Page

The Questions…

1. Only once in Academy Awards history has a performer been nominated for Best Actor AND Best Supporting Actor for the same role in the same movie. Who was the performer?

2. According to Emily Post’s Etiquette, how long should you delay dinner when one of the guests is late?

3. What was the first hamburger chain in the U.S.?

4. In 1939, Adolph Hitler began traveling in a heavily-armored 12-car train to protect himself from assassination attempts. What was the name of the train?

5. In Finland, a common unit for measuring distance is the poronkusema, which is roughly six miles. Explain.

The Answers…

1. Irish-born character actor Barry Fitzgerald. He got the dual nominations in 1944 for the role of Father Fitzgibbon in Going My Way. Fitzgerald won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. The Best Actor award went to his co-star Bing Crosby, who played Father O’Malley.

2. 20 minutes. After that, the rest of you can chow down in good conscience.

3. White Castle. The company opened its first store in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, selling steam-fried mini-burgers in a bun — essentially the same item as today — for five cents.

4. The train was Führerhauptquartier (Führer’s headquarters) Amerika. After the U.S. entered World War II, the name was changed to Fuhrerhauptquartier Brandenburg.

5. A poronkusema is the distance an average reindeer can walk before it must stop and relieve itself. Reindeer cannot do that particular deed while on the move. Poronkusema combines the Finnish words poron (reindeer) and kusema (to urinate).