Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Books about TV: The As the World Turns Quiz Book

Here is a short entry on "The 'As the World Turns' Quiz Book" - Celebrating Forty Years of the Popular Soap Opera from 1996. The book by Gerard J. Waggett (author of other soap books), A Citadel Press Book was published by Carol Publishing Group. The cover price at the time was $9.95 in the US.

The book's forward has a tip sheet for solving the quizzes. For example they suggest if someone is killed prior to 1975, the best bet would be to pick a car accident. Also Lisa is a good choice for an answer if it refers to a person except in the cases of "who fathered"... At the end of the book, there is an answer key for those who don't know the answers. The quizzes tend to be multiple choice, which makes it a bit easier, though it isn't easy to answer questions about a show that began before your birth.

The first quiz was called "The Beginning of the World" about the history of the beginning of the show. They also have a cryptogram of what was said about ATWT in TVGuide back in 1956. The next quiz is about the early years of Lisa (Eileen Fulton). The next is a matching quiz called "In Another Life", which is a matching game with ATWT people and other P&G roles they had. Ellen (Patricia Bruder), Bob (Don Hastings) and Penny (Rosemary Prinz) all got their own quizzes. The next test is a word search for Lisa's husbands up to that time. The husbands are not listed by name, which makes it more difficult to find.

The next quiz is about "The First Lady of Daytime" otherwise known as Irna Phillips. While some people may argue that point, as she was a mentor to many other soap creators I think the title fits. After that questions about the Lisa spinoff (Our Private World) are asked. Then there is a connect the dots section that ties Jim Lowell to Larry McDermott. After that is a quiz on one of Lisa's late husbands Michael Shea (first played by Jay Lanin then by Roy Shuman). The character was murdered in the 70s. Then there is a Bob and Kim quiz. Then another cryptogram is shared this time using text that Irna Phillips wrote about the death of Jim Lowell back in 1957.

The next quiz is about "The Reign of the Stewarts", who were a popular family for many years. After that a quiz about John and Kim's twisted relationship is discussed. How original is a quiz that has names of actors and asks whether or not they were the original performer. Something Wicked This Way Comes is a quiz about Joyce Colman (Barbara Rodell), who became the main villainess once Lisa became a less devious woman. The Widow Kim, of course was about Kim's history. Oakdale and Points Beyond listed actors famous for roles outside of ATWT and wants one to guess who they played on ATWT. Father's Day is a quiz about Bob and John. The author asks the name of the child, the mother and if the man was married to the mother at the time of birth.

James Stenbeck (Anthony Herrara) got a quiz, there is a scramble of actor and character names, and True Love is about actors and real life relationships. The James and John war also gets a quiz (and this one isn't multiple choice). The Many Faces of Tom Hughes is about all the actors who played the part. The Margo quiz had events in Margo's life listed and you had to guess who was playing the part at the time of a particular story. There is a Hollywood quiz about actors who became famous after ATWT along with one just on Meg Ryan.

Another quiz is about the John Dixon rape trial. There is a Steve and Betsy quiz, and on the Doug Cummings story. After that questions are asked about "Hand me down lovers" and "Square Dancing at the Snyder Pond". These aren't multiple choice and are about family members who shared love interests, since some many Snyders did this they got their own quiz. James Stenbeck's return also is quizzed. Then there is a section on people in primetime.

Lisa has another quiz about her history later in life. There is a quiz about actors who appeared on ATWT in more than one role. Another is called AKA, about aliases that characters had. Name droppers is about actors who changed their names. John and Lucinda's relationship got its own quiz.  There is an Emmy-related quiz, a quiz of quotes, Lucinda quote quiz, a quiz about Duncan, and the men in Emily's life.

There is another word search, but this one is about celebrity fans. There is a quote from the late Bette Davis about ATWT. Holden and Lily got a quiz, details are asked about Eduardo Grimaldi's murder, and other whodunits are asked about. There is another question section about Lucinda, but this is about her family members. Another quiz is about music used on ATWT.

There is a Barbara quiz, a quiz about Eileen Fulton's real life, Rosanna, social issues, and the Hughes clan. The final quizzes were about current events during the first six months of 1996, the "final exam" about major ATWT tidbits, and a photo quiz.

Unlike the other trivia books, I've written about on this blog by Mr. Waggett, this has the most tests. There is very little text and more questions than anything else. If someone doesn't know much about ATWT, they may get discouraged by this book as you have to be a whiz about its history to get the most out of it.

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