50s Trivia Questions and Answers
Trivia about the 1950s: early television, the first years of rock and roll, the films and their stars, and world events from 1950 to 1959. It is a popular round with older players and a hard one for everyone else. Answers are shown under each question.
There are 34 questions on this page. They are free to use for quiz nights, classrooms and pub quizzes, and each one links to its own page.
Related lists: 60s trivia questions, 70s trivia questions, Music trivia questions, Baseball trivia questions.
1.Queen Elizabeth's only daughter was born in 1950. What's her name?
Answer: PRINCESS ANNE
Open this question2.After the stabbing death of two teenagers by another teenager in 1959, some radio stations banned this Bobby Darin hit record from "The Threepenny Opera." What was the song title?
Answer: "MACK THE KNIFE"
Open this question3.Charles Lindbergh, first aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1953 for his autobiography. What is the title?
Answer: THE SPIRIT OF ST. LOUIS
Open this question4.Which entertainer, musician and author was the original host of the Tonight Show from 1954 to 1957?
Answer: STEVE ALLEN
Open this question5.In order to evade a murderous gangster, two starving musicians disguise themselves as women in this 1959 Billy Wilder film satire. Which film, which actors?
Answer: "SOME LIKE IT HOT" / JACK LEMMON / TONY CURTIS
Open this question6.In Playboy Magazine's initial issue, from 1953, which well-known female was the first centerfold model?
Answer: MARILYN MONROE
Open this question7.America's first home made production sports car was released in 1953. What kind of car was it?
Answer: CHEVROLET CORVETTE
Open this question8.... The first television trivia quiz game with money prizes debuted in 1955 and lasted until 1958, and was the highest rated TV show in 1956. What was the title?
Answer: THE $64,000 QUESTION
Open this question9.Which TV situation comedy was the most-watched show for four of the six years between 1951 and 1957?
Answer: I LOVE LUCY
Open this question10.This major league baseball player played on 10 teams which won the World Series, was voted MVP 3 times during the 1950's, and managed both the Yankees and Mets to pennants. Who was he?
Answer: YOGI BERRA
Open this question11.The father of Queen Elizabeth II was king of Britain from 1936 until 1952. What was his name?
Answer: KING GEORGE VI
Open this question12.America's two highest rated TV shows from 1952 through 1957 were a wacky comedy show and a trivia quiz show. Can you name them both?
Answer: I LOVE LUCY / THE $64,000 QUESTION nielsen research
Open this question13.Beloved actor and director Charlie Chaplin, accused of being a Communist sympathiser, left the USA in 1952 and settled in what country for the remaining 25 years of his life?
Answer: SWITZERLAND
Open this question14.Which 1959 film, directed by Howard Hawks, starred Dean Martin, John Wayne, and Ricky Nelson?
Answer: RIO BRAVO
Open this question15.On February 3, 1959, three beloved rock and roll music artists died in a cold, wintry air crash. Who were they?
Answer: BUDDY HOLLY / The BIG BOPPER / RITCHIE VALENS
Open this question16.What was the name of the 1955 comedy film starring Tom Ewell and Marilyn Monroe, in which Marilyn stood over a subway grating and the wind caused her skirt to blow up to her face?
Answer: THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH
Open this question17.Fidel Castro come to power in Cuba in what year? margin of error 1 year
Answer: 1959
Open this question18.In 1958, Russian poet and novelist Boris Pasternak was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, but negative Soviet reaction forced him to refuse the honor. For which novel was Boris Pasternak awarded the Nobel Prize?
Answer: DR. ZHIVAGO
Open this question19.What is the title of the 1953 play about the Salem Witch Trials, and who was the author?
Answer: "THE CRUCIBLE" / ARTHUR MILLER
Open this question20.He was America's first television superstar. His show, which ran from 1948 to 1956, attracted up to 80% of the TV audience. Who was he?
Answer: MILTON BERLE Uncle Miltie
Open this question21.Can you name the author and main character of the popular 1950s novel about a sensitive but rebellious youth who runs away from his boarding school, The Catcher in the Rye ?
Answer: J.D. SALINGER / HOLDEN CAULFIELD
Open this question22.Humphrey Bogart won the Academy Award as Best Actor only once in his career - for which 1951 film that also starred Katharine Hepburn?
Answer: AFRICAN QUEEN
Open this question23.To the relief of millions of his subjects, which brutal world leader died on March 5, 1953?
Answer: JOSEPH STALIN
Open this question24.Which pair of musical composers, whose last names begin with the same letter, wrote, in 1956, My Fair Lady ?
Answer: LERNER / LOEWE (Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe)
Open this question25.This person had so many musical hits in the 1950's that he became the first artist ever to release a "Greatest Hits" album. It stayed in the Billboard top album charts for over 7 years! Which musical artist is this?
Answer: JOHNNY MATHIS
Open this question26.In 1958, which pianist became the first American to win the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow?
Answer: VAN CLIBURN
Open this question27.In 1953, Ernest Hemingway won the Pulitzer Prize for literature, for what novel?
Answer: THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Open this question28.Which actress and actor starred as the romantic couple in the 1959 film, Pillow Talk?
Answer: DORIS DAY / ROCK HUDSON
Open this question29.The 1955 film The Blackboard Jungle was the first to feature a rock and roll song in the opening film soundtrack. The song was so popular that another film was made in 1956, with the song title as film title. Name this song classic from 1955.
Answer: ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK
Open this question30.Elvis Presley's first film, in 1956, was also the title of one of his first big musical hits. What was it?
Answer: LOVE ME TENDER
Open this question31.What 1950s fad involved cramming as many people as possible into a telephone booth?
Answer: Phone booth stuffing
Open this question32.What toy fad of 1958 sold over 100 million units in its first year?
Answer: Hula Hoop
Open this question33.Which brand of instant noodles was the first to be sold, introduced by Momofuku Ando in 1958?
Answer: Chikin Ramen (Chicken Ramen)
Open this question34.This 1953 musical comedy film, an adaptation of a Cole Porter Broadway musical, was adapted from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. It starred Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, featured the song, "Another Opening, Another Show," and was filmed in 3-D!
Answer: KISS ME KATE
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