Test your ability to remember highlights from radio, television, the news, and politics by taking the following quiz. For those of you who are highly competitive, a score of 20 and above enables you to put the word genius after your name. For those who enjoy area history, then you might be enlightened and surprised by some of these questions. Some readers might advise me that I need to teach summer school.  

 1. What is the name of the anti-pollution owl?

 2. What is the name of the famous crime dog? a) Danger, b) Growler, c) Patriot, e) McGruff.

 3. What current cowboy actor got his start doing Falstaff Beer commercials? a) Sam Elliott, b) Kevin Kostner, c) Brad Pitt, d) Robert Duvall.

 4. What was the name of the Charles Manson follower who tried to shoot President Ford?

 5. What do the following the following celebrities have in common?  Jimmie the Greek, Al Campanis, Don Imus, Dog Chapman, Paula Deen, and Michael Richards?

 6. What American president admitted that he “lusted in his heart?”  a) Bill Clinton, b) Jimmie Carter, c) George W. Bush, d) Barack Obama, e) Dwight D. Eisenhower.

 7. Who was Carol Doda?

 8. Celebrity Tiny Tim was famous for which of the following songs? a) “The Cobbler’s Song,” b) “After the Ball,” c) “In Heaven there is No Beer (That’s why we drink it here),” d) “Tiptoe Through the Tulips.”

 9. What popular and famous Peoria comedian would appear at restaurants and delight customers by going from table to table telling jokes? a) Flip Wilson, b) Don Rickles, c) Morrie Amsterdam, d) Royce Elliott.

10.Who played the father on “My Three Sons?”  a) Brian Keith, b) Fred MacMurray, c) Sebastian Cabbot, d) Strother Martin.

11. Chet Walker, the famous professional basketball player, played at a) ISU, b) Knox College, c) Quincy University, d) Heliotrope University, e) Bradley University

12. What was the name of the weekly TV show that Ronald Reagan hosted in the 1950s?

13. According to Rod Serling, where was “The Twilight Zone” located?

14. A famous Peoria newscaster was also active in the Cornstalk Theater and a professor at Eureka College. His name is a) Floyd Brown, b) Jack Taylor, c) Marshal Lipkin, d) Gene Holmes.

15. Peoria’s famous weatherman Rollie Keith was a graduate of a) Eureka College, b) Illinois State University, c) Bradley University, d) Western Illinois University, e) San Andreas Fault State University. 

16. A panic was caused in the Eureka area when  rumors spread that a) a hatchet murderer was on the loose, b) a gang of car thieves was operating in Goodfield, c) alien abductions were taking place near the Eureka Lake, d) a killer clown was on a rampage and headed for Coach Dave Darnall’s basketball camp at the college.

17. Which of the following sportscasters once worked in Peoria? a) Jack Brickhouse, b) Howard Cosell, c) Curt Gowdy, d) Stretch Miller, e) both a and d. 

18. The Peoria area was enlightened by TV advertising featuring “The Man with the Cigar.” What was his name and what was he selling?

19. A famous Peoria automobile dealer sponsored a late night movie on TV. His favorite mantra was “Pull Her on Through.” What was his name?

20. What siding company with headquarters in the Quad Cities sponsored a Saturday night creature feature?

21. A regular comedy feature on the show above involved a vampire and his assistant, a deformed man named Emmett. What was the vampire’s name?  a) Count Alucard, b) Vincent Hedges, c) Carson Blodgett, d) Barnabas Collins.

22. Actually, the man who played the vampire was a rather well-known local athlete who excelled in what sport? a) table tennis, b) horseshoes, c) bowling, d) softball. 

23. Who was singing on TV when Elvis shot his television set? a) Robert Goulet, b) Tiny Tim, c) Pat Boone,  d) Mitch Miller, e) Paul McCartney.

24. Bevo Francis, who held the college basketball scoring record for several years, played college ball for a) San Andreas Fault State University, b) Heliotrope University, c) Rio Grand College in Ohio, d) Illinois State University, e) Quincy University.

25. Who was principal of Eureka High School when the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came to Eureka to protest an announced coon hunt by the high school’s FFA?  a) Marvin Sowers, b) Leonard Savage, c) Richard Griffith, d) Connie Brooks.

Bonus (No penalty for guessing):

On “The Patty Duke Show,” Patty was a typical American teenager whose identical cousin was named a) Hortense, b) Cathy, c) Hillary, d) Brittany, e) Caracas.

Answers:

1. Woodsy Owl

2. e) McGruff

3. a) Sam Elliott

4. Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme

5. They were guilty of political incorrectness.

6. b) Jimmie Carter in an interview in Playboy.

7. Carol Doda was the famous California stripper of the 1960s and 70s.

8. d) “Tiptoe Through the Tulips”

9 d) Royce Elliott

10. b) Fred MacMurray

11. e) Bradley University

12. “The General Electric Theater”

13. In the fifth dimension, between science and superstition, between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his imagination”

14. d) Gene Holmes

15. d) Western Illinois University

16. d) A killer clown was on a rampage and headed for Coach Dave Darnall’s basketball camp.

17. e) Both a and d, Jack Brickhouse and Stretch Miller

18. Bill Butler, “The Man with the Cigar,” sold mobile homes.

19. Paul Beard

20. Chuck Acri Siding Company

21. b) Vincent Hedges

22. d) Softball

23. a) Robert Goulet

24. c) Rio Grand College of Ohio

25. b) Leonard Savage

Bonus: b) Cathy