Featured Story

Friday Night Dialogues: It’s classic movie quiz time

Think you know classic films? How about this: Who was the uncredited actor in the movie “Dead Heat” on a merry-go-round who went on to become the second highest grossing U.S. domestic star?

Speaking of mega-stars, what Disney movie gave Sean Connery his first real leading role? Connery also appeared in a one-name movie with a woman who was the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds.” What was the film, who was the actress and what was the last name of the title role? What unscripted incident involving a piece of fruit turned out to be one of the most famous scenes of all time? What actor was in both “A Man for All Seasons” and “Help?”

You now feel that you absolutely must know the answers to these vital questions. For that, you need to attend the Shelter Island Public Library’s Friday Night Dialogues on Friday, May 31 for a conversation with John Dileo, author of “And You Thought You Knew Classic Movies,” a book of 200 movie quizzes.

Mr. Dileo visited for a FND last year with a presentation about his book “Ten Movies at a Time.” The talk was such a hit that Mr. Dileo was immediately booked for a return engagement. The evening will be a combination of lecture, video and a Q&A, featuring obscure facts and cameos of Hollywood’s legends.

“The vast catalogue of Turner Classic Movies has given us the opportunity to explore genres, sub-genres and sub-sub-genres, and some of the early bit parts played by eventual mega-stars are fascinating to watch,” says Mr. Dileo, who has a B.F.A. in Theater Arts from Ithaca College. After 13 years of acting he turned to writing about movies and now has seven books to his credit.

His book is crammed with facts and figures that will make you a dominant force at trivia nights. Film critic Pauline Kael says, “It’s like a Christmas stocking full of surprises. This is the smartest movie quiz book I’ve ever seen.”

Don’t miss what promises to be a fun and engaging evening with author and lecturer John Dileo, and take the next step to being a classic movie expert.

Up next: Join us on Friday, June 14 at 7 p.m. as author Michael Coles presents his new book “A Boyhood in Wartime Britain,” a meticulously detailed account of growing up under the stress of the German Blitz.