The Most Challenging“It’s a Wonderful Life” Trivia Quiz in The World

Dateline: December 2006
Updated: December 2011

In my previous blog entry I talked about the classic movie It’s a Wonderful Life. The movie is so endearing, and so many people have watched it so many times (people like me) that we have started to take note of the smallest details. Such details are trivial, but they are fun to notice and know.

With that in mind, I once saw a trivia quiz for It’s a Wonderful Life and it was supposed to be difficult but I found it way too easy. That made me think that I should put together my own “hardcore” trivia quiz for the movie, and that’s what I’ve done. I think it might be the hardest “It’s a Wonderful Life” Trivia Quiz in The World.

The answers to the following 57 questions (it’s a long trivia quiz too) are found in the movie. I do not ask questions like: Why is Mr. Potter in a wheelchair? (Answer: Because Lionell Barrymore, the actor who played him, was wheelchair bound in real life). And I won’t ask you: What actress who later starred in The Waltons television show had a small part in the movie? (Answer: Ellen Corby--a.k.a., Grandma Walton). So you need look no further than the movie itself for your answers.

This quiz is my gift to you.

Best wishes,

Herrick Kimball

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1. The movie takes place in a fictional town by the name of Bedford Falls. What state is Bedford Falls in?

2. An angle named Clarence is given the job of being George Bailey’s guardian angle. What is Clarence’s last name?

3. In one part of the movie Clarence is asked how old he is. After thinking about it, he says: “Two hundred and ninety three…. Next May.” What kind of work did Clarence do on earth before he became an angel?

4. Clarence is said by one of his heavenly superiors to have the I.Q. of what animal?

5. In the first scene of the movie we find a young George Bailey in 1919 snow sliding down a hill with his friends. What are the boys sliding on?

6. How old was George when the snow sliding scene takes place?

7. How old was George’s kid brother, Harry, in 1919?

8. George loses the hearing in one ear as a result of jumping in the ice cold water to save Harry. Which ear does he lose his hearing in?

9. Mr. Potter is the “richest and meanest man in the county.” What is Mr. Potter’s first name and middle initial?

10. As a boy, George has an after school job at Old Man Gower’s drug store. Mr. Gower receives a telegram telling him that his son has died. What was his son’s name?

11. How did Mr. Gower’s son die?

12. Drunk and grief-stricken over the death of his son, Mr. Gower mistakenly dispenses poison capsules and tells George to deliver them. George returns later without having delivered the capsules because he knew they were poison. Mr. Gower is initially angry at George for not delivering the capsules. How many times does Mr. Gower slap George?

13. What was George Bailey’s father’s first name?

14. What was the last name of Ernie, the cab driver?

15. What is the Bailey family’s housekeeper’s first name?

16. What year did George’s kid brother, Harry, graduate from high school?

17. George decides to go to the high school party, where he and Mary dance. What is Mary’s last name?

18. What is Mary’s older brother’s name?

29. What was the first and middle initial of Mary’s father?

20. What kind of dance contest did they have at the high school party?

21. What was the prize for winning the contest?

22. After the dance, where George and Mary fall into the swimming pool under the dance floor (by the way, that scene was filmed at an actual school with a swimming pool under the floor) George and Mary walk home. What is the name of the song they sing together?

23. George and Mary are wearing dry clothing they got from the high school locker room. George has a football uniform on. What number is on the front of the uniform?

24. Mary’s robe has four letters on the back. What are they?

25. At one point in the walking home scene, George says: “What is it you want Mary? What do you want? Do you want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey, that’s a pretty good idea. I’ll give you the moon Mary.” Mary replies: “I’ll take it. Then what?” To which George says: “Well then you could swallow it and it will all dissolve, see, and the moonbeams would shoot out ____ ___________ and _____ _________ and the ______ ____ _______."(fill in the seven words)

26. After George accidentally steps on Mary’s robe and it comes off, she hides in what kind of bush?

27. How old is Uncle Billy when his brother dies?

28. Besides Uncle Billy and George, there are two other employees of Bailey Brother’s Savings & Loan (I think they are Uncle Billy’s children). What is the first name of the man?

29. What is the first name of the woman employee?

30. George’s brother Harry comes back from college with a wife. Her first name is Ruth. What is her maiden name?

31. Ruth’s father has offered Harry a job. What business is her father in?

32. During the bank run scene, Miss Davis (played by the future Grandma Walton) asks George if she can have how much money?

33. George and Mary spend their honeymoon night in the old Granville house (at 320 Sycamore). They are serenaded by Bert the cop and Ernie the cab driver. After the song is over, one of them kisses the other on the forehead. Who kisses who?

34. After helping move the Martini family into their new home in Bailey Park, George and Mary present the family with three things. What are they?

35. Potter tells George he has frittered his life away playing nursemaid to a lot of “garlic eaters” and offers him a job with a three year contract making how much per year?

36. What notable thing did Mary’s brother do in World War II?

37. What did Mr. Potter do during World War II?

38. Why didn’t George go into the military during World War II?

39. Who was wounded in North Africa and got the Silver Star?

40. What is Violet’s last name?

41. How much money does Uncle Billy lose?

42. What is the name of the bartender at Martini’s Bar?

43. George and Mary have four children. ZuZu is the youngest. What are the names of the other three children?

44. ZuZu’s petals come from a flower she won at school. What kind of flower was it?

45. Where does George first pray for guidance from God after Potter turns down his plea for a loan?

46. What is the last name of the man who punches George in the face and knocks him to the floor after he prays the prayer?

47. At exactly what time on Christmas Eve does George “think seriously of throwing away God’s greatest gift?”

48. Where would Uncle Billy have ended up if George had never been born?

49. Uncle Billy’s wife is deceased. What was her first name?

50. Who does Clarence call to for help when Bert the cop tries to handcuff him?

51. What was the bank examiner’s name?

52. Where did the bank examiner want to spend Christmas?

53. At the end of the movie, all of George’s friends come to the Bailey home to help George with donations of money. What Christmas song do they sing?

54. When Violet shows up at the Bailey home, she returns the money George had given her to go to New York City. She tells George she changed her mind. The movie then shows George silently mouthing two words. What are the words?

55. On top of the pile of money his friends have given him, George finds Clarence’s book. Inside the book Clarence has written: “Dear George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. What was the title of Clarence’s book

56. There is one scene in the movie where a dog is barking. And if you look closely, you can see part of the dog, but only for a split second. Where does this scene take place?

57. How old was Uncle Billy when he and George’s father started the Savings & Loan?

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UPDATE 2011— It was my original intention to provide another blog entry with answers to these questions but I don't know if I will ever get to it. Looking down through these questions now, I realize I have forgotten some answers. I'll be watching for them when my family watches the movie again this year.

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