I really enjoy game shows and I love going to game nights. Like most of us, I understand the $54,000 question well, but I stumble along the way. It’s about a quiz night I went to a few years ago.

There were the usual questions about movies and movie stars, sports and athletes, geography and history, and of course current affairs. But one question always stuck in my memory. It was a true or false question and it went something like this. Otto Titzlinger was a German migrant who invented the women’s bra, true or false? I will give you the resulting answer to this question shortly.

Otto Titzlinger was a German migrant who lived in New York in the 1920s. He was in a relationship with an aspiring opera singer, a certain Miss Olafsen. Miss Olafsen was a lady of large proportions who constantly complained about the corset that was the ladies’ undergarment at the time. The corset was uncomfortable and provided no lift or support. The intrepid Otto set out to create a garment that would give Miss Olafsen the comfort she desired and that would surely turn Otto in her favor.

She was successful and dedicated herself to producing her creation for all women. Enter Philippe de Brassiere. Phillipe saw a good opportunity and set out to take over the world of women’s bra production. Poor Otto hadn’t thought of patenting his creation and no amount of litigation in court got him a ruling on Philippe. Philippe made a fortune. I suppose that you have already discovered how the name of brassiere, abbreviated as bra, came about. When we read or hear stories like this, we rightly feel that Otto has been mistreated. Philippe was an experienced activist and poor Otto was a naive immigrant who had no chance.

Let’s go back to the quiz question. Everyone at our table and the other tables thought it was a trick question, though not very well disguised. There were too many tongue-in-cheek references in the name that our board unanimously decided the answer was false. Having read the concise story as described above, what do you think?

The quiz master said the answer was true!!

I started looking for Otto Titzlinger on the Internet. Otto was a fictional character in a book written by a Canadian by the name of Wallace Reyburn as well as Philippe de Brassiere. The book’s title cleverly started with the words Bust Up… Maybe the test master should have checked that too.