First Sentence

"Introduction- A rather interesting observation can be made when you ask someone a trivial question. If the one you ask knows the answer, he will be more than happy to produce it. But if he doesn't know, he'll reply with "Who cares?" or "Who gives a damn?" The true trivia buff, on the other hand, does care about the correct answer. That is the. enjoyable essence of trivia; no one need really give a damn to enjoy it. Trivia is the essence of life, the fine line in the drawing, the frosting on the cake. You don't need the frosting to enjoy the cake, but isn't it nice to have both? Trivia is an interesting but unusual commodity in that it has several natures, never the same to any two people. It progresses from utter unimportance, to unimportant but interesting, important perhaps but uninteresting, doubtless important and fairly interesting, most interesting, to "Hell, that's not trivia!" No two people will agree on what is trivia. Many believe it is limited to motion picture minutiae; others surely would include radio; but then how about the comic book fans? Sports fans quote statistics as trivia, while Civil War buffs cite unit commanders as trivial facts. Trivia obviously means something different to each of us. So be it! This book was written with a double purpose: one, to compile in one reference work a collection of interesting and trivial facts; and second, to collect interesting and perhaps not so trivial facts, facts that are difficult to find. If, therefore, tragic events are mentioned, no minimizing of the event is intended, for they are not meant to be considered trivial per se but fall under my second purpose. The sources for a book like this are endless, which is as it should be. Trivia is everywhere. I hope the book answers at least a few of the questions about some particular item or items. As new sources are tapped, and as time produces new trivial facts, more entries will surely be included within the scope of this work. Constant revision probably will be necessary. To this end, I welcome correspondence suggesting new areas, new concentrations. Likewise, any inaccuracies will be ironed out in subsequent printings, and I ask that such inadvertent errors be called to my attention: a note to me at my publishers' will do the trick. Until the next edition, "Think Trivia." This personal statement would be incomplete without my giving thanks to those who kept the faith. My thanks go too to my editor, Jerry Fried, who brought some light into darkness and without whose help this book might better have been called an encyclopedia of chaos. F. L. W."