History Exam. No Peeking!!!  Everyone over 40 should have a pretty easy time
at this exam. If you are under 40 you can claim a handicap.
This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really
remember about what went on in their life. Get paper and pencil and number
from 1 to 20. Write the letter of each answer and score at the end.

Then, best of all, before you pass this test on, put your score in the
subject line!

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?

a. On the floor shift knob

b. On the floor boar d, to the left of the clutch

c. Next to the horn

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was
it used?

a. Capture lightning bugs

b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing

c. Large salt shaker

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?

a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk

b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled

c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would! freeze,
expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of chance?

a. Blackjack

b. Gin

c. Craps

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when
none were available due to rationing during WW II?

a. Suntan

b. Leg painting

c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't
tell whether it was coming or going?

a. Studebaker

b. Nash Metro

c. T ucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?

a. Strips of dried peanut butter

b. Chocolate licorice bars

c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

8. How was Butch wax used?

a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up

b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing

c. On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to
your shoes?

a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key

b. Woven straps that crossed the foot

c. Long pieces of twine

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?

a. Consider all the facts

b. Ask Mom

c. Eeny-meeny-miney-mo

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940's?

a. Smallpox

b. AIDS

c. Polio

12. "I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey"

a. SUV

b. Taxi

c. Streetcar

13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pet pony?

a. Old Blue

b. Paint

c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?

a. Part of the game of hide and seek

b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores

c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an
A-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?

a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring

b. Princess Sacajewea

c. Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were
handed out in school?

a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high

b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window

c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?

a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like
bubble gum

b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various hous ehold
items

c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos

18. Praise the Lord, and pass the _________?

a. Meatballs

b. Dames

c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song "Cabdriver" a
hit?

a. The Ink Spots

b. The Supremes

c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco?

a. Tony Bennett

b. Xavier Cugat

c. George Gershwin

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ANSWERS

1. b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in
Europe, took till the late '60s to catch on.

2. b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?

3. c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle
top.

4. a) Blackjack Gum.

5. b) Special makeup wa s applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back
of the leg with eyebrow pencil.

6. a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8. a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.

9. a) With clamps, tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring
around your neck.

10. c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. c) Polio. At the beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies
and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spre ad of
the disease.

12. b) Taxi. Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. c) Macaroni.

14. c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an
A-bomb drill.

15. a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16. a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

17. b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be trad ed for household
items at the Green Stamp store.

18. c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.

20. a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today..

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SCORING

17 - 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental
abilities. Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who
should share their wisdom!

12 - 16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but your mind is getting keen.

0 - 11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your
experiences.

Send this to your friends with your score

in the subject line.

Gwen