Marshall McLuhan, where are you?
By Herb Drill
Because approximately 80 million pairs of eyes, especially those of corporate biggies, will be trained on Jacksonville, FL on Feb. 6, 2005 for Super Bowl XXXVIIII – not on Janet Jackson and Jason Timberlake and their “wardrobe malfunction,” we offer you a primer on the River City in northeast Florida – with help from the Florida Times-Union.
Named to commemorate President Andrew Jackson – who considered a Gattling Gun to be a weapon of mass destruction, the city is situated along the St.
Johns River, one of only two northern hemisphere rivers to flow NORTHWARD.
To the east is the Atlantic Ocean.
While MTV most likely will NOT be invited to produce the halftime show, Jacksonville has had its 15 pop culture minutes.
To prepare you, grab your “blue book” and let’s see how well you know the people and events which have placed Jacksonville securely (well, maybe) on the entertainment map. You don’t need a Survivor manual, just a sharp No. 2 pencil (what happened to No. 1?)
1. What TV hunk spent a few of his younger years at Christ the King Elementary School in Jacksonville?
A. Lorenzo Lamas
B. Tom Selleck
C. David Hasselhoff
D. Ashton Kutcher
2. What moviemaking "first" happened in Jacksonville?
A. The first talkie was filmed.
B. The first movie with an integrated cast was filmed.
C. The first Technicolor film was made.
D. The first newsreel was filmed.
3. Who opened for the made-for-TV Monkees at the Jacksonville Coliseum on July 8, 1967?
A. Jimi Hendrix.
B. The Doors.
C. Classics IV.
D. Lynyrd Skynyrd.
4. Jacksonville native and teen idol Pat Boone was famous in the 1950s for what fashion statement?
A. White buck shoes.
B. Pompadour haircut.
C. Sunglasses.
D. White sportcoat and a pink carnation.
5. What was the name of that TV series which was filmed in 1994 and '95?
A. Gold Coast.
B. Flamingo Road.
C. The River.
D. Pointman.
6. Jacksonville is home to:
A. The oldest ballet company south of Washington D.C.
B. The Southeast's oldest continuously operating community theater.
C. The oldest opera house in Florida.
D. The state's oldest drivers.
7. Blues artist Blind Blake was born in the 1890s in Jacksonville and went on to national success in the 1920s. His finger-picking guitar style influenced many after him. What happened to him?
A. Spent his final years as a chief in Somaliland in East Africa.
B. Just disappeared one day.
C. Was a well-known street performer until the early 1970s.
D. Founded the Blue Note record label in Chicago.
8. What was the name of the band which formed the nucleus of the Allman Brothers Band?
A. Gregg and the Nightcrawlers.
B. Southern Cross.
C. Allman Joys.
D. Second Coming.
9. When the Allman Brothers Band formed, where was their first concert held?
A. Jacksonville Beach Coliseum.
B. Metropolitan Park.
C. Green Door.
D. Comic Book Club.
10. This former Saturday Night Live star graduated from Jacksonville's Jones
College:
A. Garret Morris.
B. Gilda Radner.
C. Joe Piscopo.
D. Jon Lovitz.
11. In July 1984, Michael Jackson's Victory Tour swept into Jacksonville for three nights at the Gator Bowl. What was significant about that?
A. It was the last time that Michael Jackson toured with The Jacksons.
B. The only concerts which didn't sell out on that tour.
C. It was the largest-grossing concert tour in history.
D. Jackson looked a little different back then.
12. Dorothy Shay grew up Avondale, and became one of the best-known entertainers after World War II. Her nickname was:
A. Suwannee Songbird.
B. Flower of Florida.
C. Park Avenue Hillbilly.
D. Dixie Dottie.
13. What complicated the Beatles' arrival in Jacksonville the fall of
1964?
A. The Florida-Georgia football game.
B. Hurricane Dora.
C. Protests by the Baptist Ministerial Association.
D. Bomb threats.
14. Jacksonville's Norman Studios were significant because:
A. It produced the first Spanish-language movies in the U.S.
B. It produced the first horror film, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.
C. It was the first of many movie studios to move to Jacksonville in the
early 1900s.
D. It was one of the first studios to feature all-black casts.
15. The first name of the band which would become was Lynyrd Skynyrd was:
A. Westside Boys.
B. My Backyard.
C. Sons of Satan.
D. Shilos.
16. What criminal, based in Jacksonville for awhile, actually had an entire type of crime named after him?
A. Charles Ponzi.
B. Arthur Doyle Con.
C. Albert Anastasia.
D. Bartolomeo Vanzetti.
17. What country star was born as a result of an affair between a Jacksonville high school student and a baseball player with the Jacksonville Suns?
A. Toby Keith.
B. Wynonna Judd.
C. Tim McGraw.
D. Amy Grant.
18. What Elvis Presley hit was written by a Jacksonville school teacher?
A. Heartbreak Hotel.
B. Love Me Tender.
C. Burning Love.
D. Don't Be Cruel.
19. The son of that school teacher/songwriter went on to his own career. Which of these songs did he write?
A. Joy to the World.
B. Greenback Dollar.
C. The Pusher.
D. Della and the Dealer.
20. What early film comedian came from his native Georgia to Jacksonville before achieving real stardom in California?
A. Buster Keaton.
B. Charlie Chaplin.
C. Harold Lloyd.
D. Oliver Hardy.
21. What future rock 'n' roll legend had a couple of stays at Bolles
School in the late '50s and early '60s?
A. Roy Orbison.
B. Gram Parsons.
C. Conway Twitty.
D. Little Richard.
22. Which of these jobs did Fred Durst hold in Jacksonville during the early days of Limp Bizkit?
A. Anger management counselor.
B. Tattoo artist.
C. Carnie.
D. School teacher.
23. When Mason Betha, better known as Mase, left Jacksonville for New York and rap stardom, he became a protege of:
A. Sean "Puffy" Combs.
B. Biggie Smalls.
C. Suge Knight.
D. Dr. Dre.
24. Which movie was NOT filmed in the Jacksonville area?
A. Brenda Starr.
B. Illegally Yours.
C. G.I. Jane.
D. Cape Fear.
25. Where was Lynyrd Skynyrd cutting the rug?
A. In the town of Red Bug.
B. With my posse of thugs.
C. Down at a place called The Jug.
D. In a room full of drugs.
Bonus. Who was the guest of honor at the first Jacksonville Film Festival in 1990?
A. Faye Dunaway.
B. Burt Reynolds.
C. Ron Howard.
D. The Creature from the Black Lagoon.
Here are the answers
1. C. David Hasselhoff of Knight Rider and Baywatch fame moved
around as a kid, but spent several years in Jacksonville.
2. C. The first Technicolor film was The Gulf Between, filmed in
Jacksonville in 1917 and processed in a railroad car here. It was
made to create interest in color movies among producers and exhibitors. It didn’t receive nationwide distribution. It’s a lost film today, and only a few frames survive.
3. A. In one of the odder pairings in music history, psychedelic guitar slinger Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees for the first time in Jacksonville. He was dropped after eight concerts.
4. A. Along with his white shoes, Pat Boone also was known for doing
white versions of songs done first by African-American artists.
5. D. Pointman starred Jack Scalia as a former Wall Street yuppie
who had been framed and sent to prison. He got out, opened a bar in
Florida and worked occasionally as a bodyguard. The show was
canceled after 22 episodes.
6. B. Founded in 1919, Theatre Jacksonville has been called both the
state's and the nation's oldest continuously operating community
theater. It's been decided that it's the oldest in the Southeast.
7. B. Around 1932, Blake disappeared and was never heard from again.
Some historians believe he was murdered; others think he went into
hiding. The Rev. Gary Davis once claimed Blake had been hit by
a streetcar.
8. D. Duane Allman often jammed with Jacksonville's Second Coming
before he talked guitarist Dickey Betts and bassist Berry Oakley into leaving that band to join the fledgling Allman Brothers.
9. A. The Jacksonville Beach Coliseum, later to become the Flag Pavillion.
10. C. Joe Piscopo came down from New Jersey to get his broadcasting
degree in Jacksonville.
11. A. The Victory Tour, which included three sold-out nights in the Gator Bowl, was Michael Jackson's last with his brothers.
12. C. Dorothy Shay, known as the Park Avenue Hillbilly, sang with bandleaders such as Spike Jones and recorded such memorable hits as If It Wasn't for Your Father Would Your Mother Be Your Mother So Remember Dad on Mother's Day; Feudin', Fussin' and a-Fightin'; and Uncle Fud.
13. B. When Hurricane Dora hit Jacksonville on Sept. 10, it caused $100 million in damage and knocked out power for weeks. It delayed the Beatles flight into town. They arrived the next afternoon, held a press conference downtown, and then played before 20,000 screaming fans at the Gator Bowl.
14. D. Norman Studios, whose buildings still stand in Arlington, produced eight feature films starring all-black casts from 1920 through 1928.
15. B. Ronnie VanZant, Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, Bob Burns, and
Larry Junstrom formed My Backyard in 1964.
16. A. After getting out of prison, Charles Ponzi moved to Jacksonville in
1925 and started selling Columbia County swampland. He bought land at $16 an acre, divided it into 23 lots per acre, and sold the lots for $10 each. He told investors a $10 investment would become worth more than $5 million in two years. It didn't, of course. The land was under water. So, Ponzi was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to a year in prison. He jumped bail, but his name lives on as the Ponzi scheme.
17. C. Tug McGraw would go on to Major League stardom with the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. In 1966, he was pitching in the minor leagues for the Jacksonville Suns. He had a brief affair with a Terry Parker High School student, and Tim McGraw was the result.
18. A. Mae Axton was a music promoter and English teacher at Paxon High School when she co-wrote Heartbreak Hotel. She'd been inspired by a Times-Union story of a suicide which included a note which stated, "I walk a lonely street."
19. A, B, C and D. Jacksonville native and Lee High School grad Hoyt Axton wrote all four of those songs.
20. D. Oliver Hardy was running a movie theater in Milledgeville, Ga., until he came to act for the Lubin Film Co. in Jacksonville's burgeoning film industry. He left a few years later for California, where he teamed up with partner Stan Laurel and filmmaker Hal Roach.
21. B. As a member of the Byrds and a founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons was a pioneer of country-rock in the late '60s and early '70s.
22. B. Fred Durst worked as a tattoo artist at Wild Bill's in Mayport.
23. A. Under "Puffy" Combs' direction, Mase rapped on a variety of hits before his debut album, Harlem World, went platinum. Then, he walked away from rap to become a minister.
24. D. Brenda Starr (1986) with Brooke Shields, Illegally Yours (1988) with Rob Lowe, and G.I. Jane (1997) with Demi Moore were filmed in our area.
25. C. "At a place called The Jug, with a girl named Linda Lou," from Gimme Three Steps.
Bonus. B. Burt Reynolds headlined the Jacksonville Film Festivals in 1990.
He was the guest of honor at the city's film festival in 1991.)