PDD Quiz: April Foolish
Take a peek at April Fools’ Days of yesteryear with this week’s quiz!
The next PDD quiz will review April 2023 headlines; it will come your way on April 30. Please submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by April 26.
Results
Well done, history buff! No foolin’!
Better luck next time!
#1. The Duluth News Tribune attested that an April Fools’ Day blizzard in this year was “no joke in Duluth.”
From the April 5, 1896 Duluth News-Tribune: “the News Tribune in a moment of thoughtlessness and with no intent to bring trouble upon the good people of this city, yesterday directed attention to the fact that the winter just closed had been unusually mild.”
#2. In 1919, an April Fools’ “boy and girl” party was held at this establishment.
The Y.W.C.A. was located at 202 W. 2nd Street; the building is currently owned by AICHO.
#3. The Duluth News Tribune played an April Fools’ prank of sorts on this rival paper in 1896.
The Duluth News Tribune alleged that the Duluth Herald plagiarized their articles. To test the theory, the Duluth News Tribune planted a fake news story that featured a fake company, a phony address, and a fictional man named “Lirpa” (“April” spelled backwards). According to the DNT, Duluth Herald reporters wasted most of the day trying to fact check the made-up story.
#4. In 1913, Chief of Police Troyer warned that the greatest number of April Fools’ pranks would be played by whom?
From the March 31, 1913 Duluth News Tribune:”The greatest number and perhaps most important April fool jokes, however, we expect will be played by the voting population of the city at the polls and we believe that the victims will be the most irritated at the liberties taken with them.”
#5. “Two lusty sons of the north” confused this actress for an actor in 1917 when they saw her name on a movie poster in Virginia, MN.
Billie Burke later played Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz.
#6. On April 1, 1918, Duluth barbers increased the price of a haircut to this.
Barbers cited the increased cost of supplies due to World War I as the cause of the price increase; the Duluth News Tribune asserted that it was not an April Fools’ joke.
#7. Emil Anderson’s cow “perpetrated an April fool joke” by giving birth to a calf with this many heads on April 2nd, 1905.
The April 3, 1905 Duluth News Tribune reported that “the calf is strong and health and each head is fully developed, and there is reason to believe that the freak of nature will live.”
#8. A candy store clerk on Superior Street accidentally sold prank April Fools’ Day candy in 1908. What did the phony candy contain?
The April Fools’ Day candy was mistakenly sold to customers as real candy. The April 14, 1908 Duluth News Tribune noted that “the operation lasted about half an hour. By that time the first victims had begun arriving to take their revenge. Only the supreme look of innocence on the face of the new clerk saved the day. Otherwise there might have been murder, sedition and rebellion.”
#9. An April Fools’ prankster reported a holdup on Park Point to the Duluth News Tribune police reporter in 1922. What was actually going on?
Other prank calls that day included a downtown cigar store receiving fifteen calls asking if it was the city sewer department.
#10. Which April Fools’ prank caused riders to depart a West Duluth trolley in 1902?
The trolley was stalled because it had jumped off the wire. A prankster threw his voice and told the passengers to get off the trolley. The passengers, thinking that the voice belonged to the conductor, obliged.
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2 Comments
marty
about 2 years agoPaul Lundgren
about 2 years ago