A Movie Scene Quiz

I found this on a Michael Feinstein Q & A site. I hadn't know this about the MGM trademark.

"MF: Dietz was a Renaissance man because he not only was a songwriter, but an executive at MGM who was involved in the publicity department. Among other things, he created the famous MGM log of the lion and the Latin phrase that translates: "art for art's sake."
Dietz was one of the great songwriters even though there were long periods where he did not write songs at all and tended to his duties at MGM. Therefore, his catalogue is not as large as the catalogues of his contemporaries. Dietz wrote a lot of great standards, and most of those songs were collected and used in the MGM musical, "The Band Wagon," which is an entire score featuring the catalogue songs of Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz.

Dietz and Schwartz also created one new song, "That's Entertainment," for the movie which they wrote in about an hour. It became, next to "Dancing in the Dark," their biggest hit. Howard was known for his quick wit and was a real stickler for writing properly rhymed witty and intelligent lyrics.

There was a writer named Benny Davis who wrote a lot of lyrics quickly. Although he had a number of hits, his songs were not always the best constructed lyrically. For example, Benny Davis would always use a lot of sound-alike rhymes and Howard Dietz made fun of that by coining a little couplet: "Heaven save us from Benny Davis." (You see, "save us" and "Davis" does not actually rhyme, but in Davis' book, they did).

Dietz also prided himself in being able to come up with a lyric quickly - for fun, mind you. One day he said to Arthur Schwartz's son, "I can come up with a lyric on any subject instantly. Name it." Jonathan replied, "Cyd Charisse." Immediately, Dietz sang to the tune of "Jealousy, " "Cyd Charisse, get off that mantle piece. You're such a shock there, there should be a clock there." Pretty clever."

Well done! I thought "A Shine on Your Shoes" would be the hardest one because of that "A", but I couldn't think of another way to get it.

I heard Howard Dietz speak at a tribute to Arthur Schwartz that was held in a Broadway theater shortly after Schwartz's death (it was one of those open-to-the-public, first-come-first-seated affairs). He said that he was sometimes asked why their names were shown as "Schwartz and Dietz" on some of their songs, and as "Dietz and Schwartz" on others (unlike, say, Rodgers and Hart, whose names were always shown in that order). His answer was that it was a question of who got to the printer first. He also told a story about taking his daughter, who was then about 10 years old, to a performance of Die Fledermaus for which he had done the English translation. It was his daughter's first opera, and as they were walking to the opera house, he expressed a hope that she'd enjoy it. She said, "I'm sure I'll like it, Daddy, I just hope there isn't a lot of singing."

Oops, I just checked the dates of their deaths on imdb, and Dietz died first, a year before Schwartz. Then my memory must be faulty (what else is new?), and I must have heard Schwartz speak at the tribute to Dietz.

Either one would have been great to see, oh fortunate one.

And it doesn't matter which one said "She said, "I'm sure I'll like it, Daddy, I just hope there isn't a lot of singing." That's hilarious.

I had a problem with You and the Night and the Music. I was looking for six words within the titles. (lol)

This might be a "toughie", but how about:

"The same singer/dancer performed each of these songs in a movie. (a different movie for each song), but I'm not asking for the movie. Just the song.

1. Ricardo Cortez (2 words from title) and Jack Thompson (two words from title)

2. Jeanne Crain - (title)

3. Kurt Russell (two words in title) + Claudette Colbert (three words in title)

4. Anthony Edwards (two words in title) + George Murphy (one word in title)

I'm on my way to grocery shopping and lunch. I'll check back around 2:30.

I haven't had a chance to work on your question yet (work intervened), but I just want to say, if I thought the Internal Revenue Code (which I work with on a daily basis) was convoluted, this question rivals it!

Oh No! I don't want the question to be convoluted. Let me phrase it another way, please.

You are looking for the titles of four songs. A certain singer/dancer has sung/danced to each of those songs in a movie. But, none of the songs are from the same movie.

hmmm. Is that a mite clearer?

Yes, much clearer -- or maybe it's just that the fog in my brain has cleared a bit since I first looked at the question this morning.

You are so polite.

Good one!

Gene Kelly performed each of these songs in a movie.

1. Not So Long Ago (Ricardo Cortez) and Sunday Too Far Away (Jack Thompson) (from Cover Girl)

2. You Were Meant for Me (Jeanne Crain) (from Singin' in the Rain)

3. Guns in the Heather (Kurt Russell) + Thunder on the Hill (Claudette Colbert) (from Brigadoon)

4. How I Got into College (Anthony Edwards) + Broadway Rhythm (George Murphy) (from An American in Paris)

Yes to all, Bree.

Off to my piano lesson now -- see you tomorrow!

Did you know that there was a musical called "A Doll's Life" that was about what happened to Nora after "A Doll's House". (lol) I'm listening to it on a tape I recorded from DMX some time ago. DMX never listed the cast or writers. But, I found this on the net:

"A Doll's Life - Bay Cities
A musical sequel to Ibsen's A Doll's House? Betty Comden and Adolph Green teamed with composer Larry Grossman to turn out an almost operatic score, but the book droned on about the unfairness of life and an elaborate Hal Prince production only made matters worse. Small wonder it died a quick death. All that was left was a singularly ugly logo that lingered for months on the marquee of the Mark Hellinger Theatre - and this first-rate cast recording. Betsy Joslyn is a vibrant Nora, and George Hearn is solid as her husband Torvald (and two other characters vying for Nora's affections). Edmund Lyndeck's sensuous bass is nicely showcased here, and the supporting cast includes Peter Gallagher, Barbara Lang and Patti Cohenour. The orchestrations by Bill Byers, as well as the performances and technical aspects of the recording, are flawless. What a pity the score does not give them more to work with.

Yes, this score has its admirers, but damned if I can tell you why. Multiple role playing makes the recording very hard to follow, and the minimal album notes don't clarify much. (It was just as confusing on stage.) Unless you find the idea of a sequel to A Doll's House irresistible, seek your pleasures elsewhere."

I would not buy the CD.

Raggedy, what year was it produced? It seems vaguely familiar.

1982, Mac. I just found it on Amazon. There is a CD, but it doesn't list any of the songs.

I've definitely heard of it. I must have worked with someone who had worked on it at some point.

I'm familiar with George Hearn and Peter Gallagher, but have never heard the other performers.

I think this is very sad:

"All that was left was a singularly ugly logo that lingered for months on the marquee of the Mark Hellinger Theatre."

Yes that is sad!

REMINDER: Tonys are on this Sunday, June 5.

On the ibdb page for A Doll's Life, there's a link you can click on to bring up a list of songs from the show. (I clicked on it, and didn't see any songs I recognized.) The "Awards and Nominations" link shows that it was nominated for (but didn't win) Tonys for best book of a musical, best score, and best actor in a musical (George Hearn) -- it must have been a slow season for musicals. I wonder if there's a poster for the show in Joe Allen's (theater district restaurant whose walls are covered with posters from infamous Broadway flops -- I have a friend who, whenever a show gets bad reviews, likes to say, "It'll be a poster in Joe Allen's by next week").

There's an interesting article in today's New York Times predicting how the Tony races will come out. I'll post it over on the Tonys thread, which doesn't seem to be getting much attention.

Oh Bree. You mentioned that link before and I completely forgot about it. Thank you. I never heard any of the music from "A Doll's Life" until now (when I had DMX I sometimes let the recorder run when I was away from the room and somehow missed listening to that one) and I don't think we'll be hearing any in the future.

Check out "Goya" at Joe Allen's, too. That's the next one on my listening list.