MTWW

A Show Biz Quiz

What's your Bwy IQ?

Test yourself!

1

Until shortly before opening night, Oklahoma! had a different
title. What was it?

What was the real surname of siblings Lionel, Ethel and John
Barrymore?

What convicted killer won a best-actor Tony award?

An older Broadway composer/lyricist wrote this note to an aspiring

younger one:

A song is like a freight train. It has to have a locomotive, which is
the bold idea that first arrests your ear and propels you into the
rest of the song. The whole body of the song has to follow that first
fascinating idea. What follows can be about many things, but they
all have to go where that locomotive is going. Then comes the
most important thing, the red caboose that ends the song with a
twist, a little surprise--always remember to hook on the caboose,
because that's what makes a good song.

Specify relationships among the following:

(a) Eugene O'Neill and Geraldine Chaplin

(b) Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle

(c) Susan Sarandon and Chris Sarandon

(d) Noel Coward and Daniel Massey

(e) Agnes DeMille and Cecil B. DeMille

(f) George Clooney and Miguel Ferrer

(g) Helen Hayes and James MacArthur

(h) Max Beerbohm and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree

6

What Broadway lyricist began his career under the pseudonym
"Arthur Francis"?

7

After starring in the Ziegfeld Follies, both Billie Burke and Fanny Brice
found their way to Hollywood. While Burke played flighty socialites
in films, Brice created the role of a bratty little girl in a popular radio
series. What was the role?

8

When Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe were seeking investors
for My Fair Lady, guests at a backers' audition included Mary Martin.
After hearing songs from the show, Martin reportedly said:

(a) "If I were ten years younger, I'd audition for Eliza."

(b) "South Pacific it ain't."

(c) "Those dear boys have lost their talent."

(d) "Those kids are going to make George Bernard Shaw famous."

9

Show Boat involved the collaboration of many gifted people.
But before Jerome Kern agreed to write the score, another
well-known composer turned down the job.

(a) Who declined to write the score?

(b) Who wrote "After the Ball"?

(c) Who wrote the lyrics for "Bill"?

10

Liza Minnelli's first Broadway success came in 1965 when she
starred in Flora, the Red Menace. But John Kander and Fred Ebb
had written the show with a different performer in mind. Who?

11

(a) What was Oscar Hammerstein II's first Broadway show?

(b) Who was his composer/collaborator?

(c) In what year did the show open?

12

One of Stephen Sondheim's first jobs was writing scripts for
a television sitcom. Which one?

13

Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick wrote most of the score
for Fiddler on the Roof in a small room:

(a) in the Empire State Building

(b) in the Brill Building

(c) behind Carnegie Hall

(d) above the New Amsterdam Theater

14

"As Time Goes By" has become identified with the film
Casablanca, but the song originated in a Broadway show.

(a) Who wrote the song?

(b) What was the show called?

(c) In what year did it open?

15

Here is the intro verse to a song from a classic Broadway
musical:

Days can be crazy with never a sigh,

Don't need what money can buy.

Birds in the tree sing their day full of song,

Why shouldn't we sing along?

I'm chipper all the day, happy with my lot.

How do I get that way? Look at what I've got.

(a) What is the song?

(b) Who wrote it?

(c) Who introduced it?

(d) What was the show called?

(e) In what year did it open?

So how'dja do?

HOW TO DETERMINE YOUR BWY IQ:

Give yourself 1 point for each correct answer (treat numbered
questions and lettered sub-questions alike).

If you got

You are

25 to 31 points

18 to 24 points

11 to 17 points

10 points or less

AN AESCHYLEAN AESTHETE

A DRAMATIC DREADNOUGHT

A BROADWAY BABY

A BROADWAY BOOBY

ANSWERS

1

Away We Go!

2

Blythe

3

4

Frank Loesser wrote the note to Jerry Herman.

5

(a) Eugene O'Neill was Geraldine Chaplin's grandfather.

(b) Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle are sisters.

(c) Susan Sarandon and Chris Sarandon are former spouses.

(d) Noel Coward was Daniel Massey's godfather.

(e) Agnes DeMille was Cecil B. DeMille's niece.

(f) George Clooney and Miguel Ferrer are first cousins.

(g) Helen Hayes was James MacArthur's adoptive mother.

(h) Max Beerbohm and Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree were

half-brothers.

6

Ira Gershwin

7

"Baby Snooks"

8

(c) "Those dear boys have lost their talent."

Izzy

9

(a) Irving Berlin turned down the job, saying the
idea of adapting Edna Ferber's novel as a musical
was "preposterous."

(b) Charles K. Harris wrote "After the Ball"

(c) P.G. Wodehouse wrote the lyrics for "Bill"

10

Barbra Streisand

11

(a) Always You

(b) Herbert Stothart

(c) 1920

12

Topper

13

(b) in the Brill Building

Dooley Wilson sang "As Time Goes By" in the
role of Sam in Casablanca. However, since he
could not play the piano, his keyboard work
was dubbed by Elliot Carpenter.

14

(a) Herman Hupfeld

(b) Everybody's Welcome

(c) 1931

15

(a) "I Got Rhythm"*

(b) George and Ira Gershwin

(c) Ethel Merman

(d) Girl Crazy

(e) 1930