Holiday Movie Quiz – ANSWERS

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1. B — White Christmas. Yes, it was Ba-ba-ba-Bing’s sultry tones that brought Irving Berlin’s fine tune to the Oscar circle. But it won for 1942’s Holiday Inn. Twelve years before Crosby sang it in White Christmas, he sang it in Holiday
Inn. Crosby and Fred Astaire perform at an inn that’s open only on the holidays, and they are both chasing after the same chick (Marjorie Reynolds). White Christmas did have an Oscar-nominated song—Count Your Blessings— but it didn’t win.

2. C — It’s Jingle Bells, last counted by FiveThirtyEight.com, used in 373 movies. That is an outdated statistic, but even the second-closest song, Auld Lang Syne, was last counted at 295, Silent Night at 254, and Ave Maria at 154.

3. A — Jim Carey. It took too long to launch the project, and he left it and instead filmed The Grinch. Alas, we lost John Candy in 1994. Robin Williams was with us until 2014. Adam Sandler is, of course, still with us.

4. Here are six: 2018/2020’s The Christmas Chronicles I and II with Kurt Russell; 2004’s Polar Express with Tom Hanks; 2007’s Fred Claus with Vince Vaughn; 2003’s Elf with Will Ferrell; and 2003’s The Hebrew Hammer with Adam Goldberg (I swear, look it up).

5. D. – Jacob Marley! And remember, because of him, there are four ghosts in this Dickens story.

6. David Harbour of Stranger Things stars as the real, live Santa Claus who visits a home on Christmas Eve that’s under attack by terrorizing thieves. (Two possible points)

7. C — Prime Minister

8. B — This is complicated, though. First, let’s agree that there are four official Grinch films. There’s the original TV version from 1966. There are three film versions: Jim Carey starred in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas in 2000.
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch made in 2018 was an animated version featuring the voice of Benedict Cumberbatch. The last we won’t count; it featured Cindy (little Cindy Lou Who?) taking slasher-type revenge on poor Grinchy. Next, we’ve also watched a bunch of Home Alone movies, in 1990 and 1992, and there was a third one in 1997. That last one was also written by John Hughes but featured entirely new characters living in Chicago. Of all of these movies, the one that earned the most was the 2018 animated version of The Grinch ($526,760,632) followed by Home Alone ($476,684,675), Home Alone 2 ($358,994,850), and—last but not least—Jim Carey’s 2000 version ($345,823,032).

9. B — I sneaked in this favorite of mine done by Bette Midler and James Caan starring as two performers who tour to sing for our troops during wartime. It’s not a Christmas movie but Dixie Leonard (Midler) and Eddie Sparks (Caan) sing it for their Christmas show. This Frank Loesser song actually was already a winner, scoring gold from 1949’s Neptune’s Daughter—also not a Christmas movie.

10. B — It’s Ellen! Ably portrayed by Beverly D’Angelo.

11. B — Edmund Gwenn won his only Oscar for his supporting role in Miracle on 34th Street. After all, if the United States Post Office says it’s him, then it’s him!

12. D — Charles Durning wore the red suit in five made-for-TV films. If you counted only theatrical film turns as Santa, then mark yourself right for A – Tim Allen for The Santa Clause trilogy. Richard Riehl tied Allen, also appearing
in three films between 2003 and 2011, including the tenth film in the Air Bud movies.

13. D — Nothing. As Kurt Russell’s Santa demonstrates to Teddy and Kate at the end of this 2018 flick, he’s Santa.

14. C — Welcome, Mrs. Claus! Doris Rich and John Call played the happy couple in a movie ranked in the bottom hundred of all films on IMDb. Hey, I took my little sisters to see it! There is talk … of a remake!

= = = = =
Score

18 – 23: You’re an elf!

10 – 17: You do watch some Christmas movies.

4 –8: Bah, Humbug!

Note: Images are from Wikipedia and IMDb, and two companies, Disney and Netflix, own copyrights for A Christmas Carol and The Christmas Chronicles, respectively.