Created by Joe Franklin--one of show business’s enduring personalities--this book is guaranteed to provide hours of pure enjoyment for anyone who loves to be quizzed about movies, television, radio, or music. Joe has created a trivia game--in book form--that provides over 1,000 delightful entertainment-oriented questions. Drawing from his own unique knowledge of the entertainment field, Joe not only offers challenging questions, but also includes lots of interesting information on the answers.

But there’s more. Most other books of this type irritatingly reveal the answers directly below the questions, or group them together with all the other answers. This book is designed in a way that allows the reader to see only one answer at the appropriate time. This way, the reader can actually play along. There are also fascinating insets throughout the book that relate wonderful show business anecdotes. And after nearly forty years of interviewing over 300,000 guests, Joe certainly has some great stories to tell, and he shares them with readers for the first time. For example, who was Marilyn Monroe’s cowriter on her first autobiography? Why, it was a young Joe Franklin!

While other trivia books may get their questions and answers from previously published references, Joe Franklin has the unique distinction of drawing information from his long-time involvement in the business that he so dearly loves--and that so dearly loves him.

Joe Franklin began his remarkable show biz career as a New York talk-and- variety show host in 1951. His show’s format set the standard for many other shows of this type that followed. His guest list reads like a who’s who of celeb royalty: Rudy Vallee, George Jessel, Otto Preminger, Ronald Reagan, Barbra Streisand, Joan Rivers, Bette Midler, Liza Minnelli, Flip Wilson, Bill Cosby, the Jackson Five--and that’s just for starters. Joe holds the Guinness Book of World Records for hosting the most TV shows--31,015 in all. Although Joe’s TV show ended in 1988, currently, he can be heard nationally on Bloomberg Radio as a regular commentator. In addition, Joe Franklin’s Memory Lane theme restaurant, located in the Broadway district of Manhattan, has opened to rave reviews.

Contents

Acknowledgements
How to Play the Games

Introduction

Introduction

How to Play the Games
Welcome, my friends. Are you ready to put your knowledge of entertainment facts and details to the test? My trivia book is guaranteed to challenge, while providing endless hours of fun and enjoyment. The games in this book have been designed in a way that allows you, the reader, to play either alone or with others. In most trivia books, when looking up the answer to a question, the reader is able to see the answers to other questions at the same time. This book doesn’t allow that to happen, but you must first understand how to play the games. Ready?

The Basics
There are eighty games in this book, each with a dozen questions. Every game is also numbered and has been given a title that reflects the basic category of its questions, such as “Game Show Trivia,” “Leading Men,” “Identify the Quote,” and “Sci- Fi.” Throughout, you’ll also find a number of games titled “Memory Lane Grab Bag,” which include a potpourri of questions from various categories.

The Page Setup
Each page holds four frames that are situated from the top of the page to the bottom (as seen in the example on the next page). Each frame is divided in half. The left half contains a question. The right half contains the answer to the question from a previous page. (Seem a little confusing? Not to worry--it actually sounds more complicated than it really is.) Stay with me... Questions are always on the left side of each frame. Answers (to questions from previous pages) are always on the right side of each frame.

Playing the Game
The most important point to keep in mind is that the twelve questions for each game are not read from the top of the page to the bottom. Rather, they are found on the same frame level on succeeding pages. Let me help make this clearer with an example and some accompanying graphics.

Let’s start with Game #1, which begins in the top frame of page 1--a right-hand page. Here, you will find the name and number of the game you are about to play.

Game #1 begins in the top frame of page 1 (a right-hand page). Turn the page and look at the next right-hand page (page 3) for the game’s first question, which is located on the left side of the top frame. First question is on left side of top frame. The first question of Game #1 appears on the next right-hand page (page 3). It is found on the left side of the top frame.

So where’s the answer to this question? Turn the page again and continue to look at the top frame of the next right-hand page (page 5). The answer is located on the right side of the frame. On the left side of this frame, you’ll find the second question of Game #1.

The answer to the first question of Game #1 is on the following right-hand page--located on the right side of the top frame. The left side of the top frame has the Game’s next question.

And that’s how you continue--turning the page for each new question (Q), and finding its answer (A) on the following right-hand page. Individual games are always played on the same frame level.

Progression of Questions and Answers
So there you have it. Beginning with the top frame (and staying in that top frame), play the games, which flow from one right-hand page to the next until you have reached the last page. Then you simply make a U-turn and continue playing the games--still in the top frame--from the back of the book to the front. While going in this direction, the answers to the questions will be found on consecutive left-hand pages.

Once you’ve completed the games in the top frame from the front of the book to the back, and then from the back to the front again, you’ll find yourself back on page 1. Simply drop down one level to the next frame and begin playing the games found on this new level. Again, questions and answers will flow from one right-hand page to the next. Just be sure to stay on the same frame level.

There’s Help on Every Page...
To be absolutely sure there’s no confusion while playing the games, helpful instructions are provided on each and every page. I promise you, once you get the hang of it, you’re going to love it. So kick back and get ready to be entertained, amused, and enlightened by the challenging questions you’re about to face and their fascinating fact-filled answers.

Reviews

"A wealth of brain-teasing trivia games covering the entire pop-culture spectrum and offering hours of addictive fun. A terrific beach and travel companion."
--VideoScope Magazine, October 2004

"Capture the King of Nostalgia’s schtick in this fun trivia book ... also features terrific vignettes about Joe’s amazing career."
--The New York Resident, February 2003

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