Contest Results

February 17, 2008

10:59 p.m. EST

Dear Readers:

If anyone is interested here are the answers to the Pop Quiz about celebrities and their quotes:

(1)   F

(2)   P

(3)   S

(4)   C

(5)   A

(6)   J

(7)   H

(8)   B

(9)   N

(10)        K

(11)        O

(12)        D

(13)        M

(14)        L

(15)        E

(16)        T

(17)        R

(18)        Q

(19)        I

(20)    G

The answer to the extra credit question was ‘M’ the quotation attributed to P.T. Barnum: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” As it turns out, he never said that. Here’s the full story from Bartlett’s Quotations at http://www.bartleby.com/66/19/5619.html:

Barnum doubted ever having uttered these words, though he conceded he may have said, “The people like to be humbugged.” See the appendix to A.H. Saxon’s biography, P.T. Barnum: The Legend and the Man (1989), where it is claimed that the phrase “There’s a sucker born every minute, but none of them ever die” originated with a notorious con-man known as “Paper Collar Joe,” (real name, Joseph Bessimer) and was later falsely ascribed to Barnum by show-biz rival Adam Forepaugh in a newspaper interview. Barnum never took pains to deny it, and even thanked Forepaugh for the free publicity he had given him.

No one entered the contest, sadly, but that just means I get to keep the $25 prize.

 

Sincerely,

David