A Movie Scene Quiz

...the lullaby of old Broadway!

Good night!

I was lucky to see 42nd Street in 1980, a few months after it opened. Tammy Grimes wasn't on for that performance (or maybe she'd already left the show?) but Jerry Orbach and Wanda Richert were definitely there.

I sat fairly close, and I mostly remember that I was blown away by the spectacle of that many tap-dancers onstage together. The sound and the energy coming off the stage were so powerful.

Glad to hear that you saw and enjoyed "42nd Street", Mac. That sound and energy can be heard on the soundtrack - the "42nd Street" number - (they recorded the "tapping" too.)

Books that were made into movies.

But instead of saying: Sybil Thorndike for "A Passage to India" (too easy),

I'd say:

A Humphrey Bogart (2) + Ronald Colman (1) =

A Passage to Marseille (Bogart) + Clive of India (Colman)

Try it. You might like it.

1. Elvis Presley (1) is the Cary Grant (1)

2. Diane Lane (2) + Anne Heche (title)

3. Katharine Hepburn (1) + Gwyneth Paltrow (2)

Good new variation! I was just about to go to bed when I saw this, but couldn't resist having a go at it.

1. Love Me Tender (Elvis Presley) is the Night and Day (there's that man again!) (Cary Grant)

2. Under the Tuscan Sun (Diane Lane) + Volcano (Anne Heche)

3. Little Women (Katharine Hepburn) + Shakespeare in Love (Gwyneth Paltrow)

If I'm right, I'll see you tomorrow (and if I'm not right, I'll still see you tomorrow!)

You are 100% right. See you tomorrow early A.M. or after 4PM.

Sweet dreams.

Maybe there's hope for the future of the Broadway musical, after all. According to this column from today's New York Times, musicals are being used as a teaching tool in New York City public schools, to teach students about history.

June 14, 2005

U.S. History, by the Book (and the Score)

By CLYDE HABERMAN

Reading and math scores are way up in New York City schools, and the huzzahs have been loud. But every silver lining has its cloud. In this case, it is the recent news that shockingly few students - less than 20 percent of eighth graders - meet state standards in social studies.

Call it the Sam Cooke generation. These kids don't know much about history.

Well, if one song can describe the problem, why not another to find a solution?

That was Harold Small's feeling exactly. Mr. Small teaches social studies at Intermediate School 364 in Starrett City, Brooklyn, by Jamaica Bay. The other day, he popped a tape of the 1980's musical "Big River" into a VCR, and played excerpts for his 25 seventh graders. They are learning about slavery and America before the Civil War. "Big River," based on "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," including Huck's raft journey with the runaway slave Jim, fit right in.

"It makes the curriculum more real for the students," Mr. Small said. "They see the significance of the Mississippi River. When we studied the westward expansion of the country, I showed 'Oklahoma!' You can see the geography of the Great Plains. It's good for them to see that."

Broadway music does not always land easily on young ears attuned to hip-hop. As the "Big River" tape ran, there were giggles at the actors' exaggerated facial expressions, necessary perhaps in the theater but somewhat alien to a group more familiar with DVD's.

Still, the students watched. More to the point, they listened.

"Look out for me, oh muddy water/Your mysteries are deep and wide," they heard Jim sing of the Mississippi. "And I got a dream for going some place/And I got a need to climb upon your back and ride."

What, Mr. Small asked, was the significance of the muddy water?

"I think it's a freedom path," one girl answered. She got it.

Those initial giggles are not unusual, Adrienne Kupper said. "But then they gravitate toward the music," she said. "They'll say, 'Oh, I don't want to listen to that.' Until you turn it on."

Ms. Kupper is the director of education at the New-York Historical Society, which for the last six years has sponsored programs like the one in Mr. Small's class. The American Musicals Project, it is called, intended to entice young people who might find history about as appealing as Chaucer. It is, if you will, a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down.

"Children learn in a variety of ways," said Maria Reinertsen, a literacy coach at I.S. 364. "Sometimes they have to see what they read." Ms. Kupper's sense is that "they often don't see history from the human perspective, that these were people going through real things and not just dates and places."

Aimed at seventh and eighth graders, the project involves 150 schools and 700 teachers in the city and suburbs. To its sponsors, the evidence suggests that musicals stimulate classroom discussion and help students retain what they learn.

To get them through the American Revolution, there is "1776." For studying the gold rush, there is "Paint Your Wagon." For the Great Depression, "Annie." For the labor movement, "Fiorello!" And for postwar immigration, "West Side Story." Several musicals cover World War II, including "South Pacific," which has the added advantage of dealing with racism in an era when the military was segregated.

"The themes of race, class and gender come through loud and clear in show after show," said Alan Levenstein, the project's chairman. Mr. Levenstein, a retired advertising executive and self-described "musical theater nut," said the goal is not simply to entertain. It is to illustrate the history being taught. For example, he said, "we thought: Westward expansion. Aha! 'Oklahoma!' The Reconstruction period. Hmm, 'Show Boat.' "

Not every musical clicks. The 1940's "Bloomer Girl," with women's suffrage and abolitionism as themes, fails to grab many kids. While most of Mr. Small's students were intrigued by "Big River," one or two nodded off. You had to assume that this was not their greatest musical experience since Jay-Z.

You had to wonder if any of today's Broadway musicals might eventually be weaved into the program. "I wish," Mr. Levenstein said.

Indeed, none seem likely candidates. We do have "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," though. There is nothing historical in it. But the title alone could cover any number of epochs - present, future and certainly past.

Cool! What an interesting idea. I'd have been in hog heaven if my teachers had used musicals to teach.

"Hope for the future of the Broadway musical". I'm all for it. Not so sure about hope for "history" and "social studies" by listening to musicals, though. Mac would have been in "hog heaven" and I would have been on Cloud Nine, but I know the only thing I would have been concentrating on would have been the music. hmmm. Sounds like the teacher is getting desperate, doesn't it?

Thanks for that article, Bree.

(Now, I'm curious about the "Big River" tape that Mr. Small popped into a VCR. I didn't know there was a video.)

I'm wondering if the tape could have been from the New York Public Library. A friend who does volunteer work at the Performing Arts branch of the library at Lincoln Center tells me that every Broadway show is taped for the library's collection. I'm not sure whether the tapes are available to be checked out by the general public, or if you have to have some special reason for wanting to see them -- my friend says actors frequently come in and ask for them, so they can see previous productions of plays they're going to be in.

I'm off to back-to-back meetings from 10 to 11:30. See you when I get back.

I'd be surprised if such tapes were available for general consumption. Actors' Equity has stringent regulations about the taping of shows or even parts of shows. Basically, if a tape is made that will be available commercially, all of the performers must be signed to a separate contract and paid SAG (Screen Actors Guild) or AFTRA (American Federation of Television & Radio Artists? - something like that) wages for their services. Even then, there are rules about how the recording can be used.

Small segments can be taped for publicity purposes but taping a whole show would get expensive. That's why it's so rarely done.

Thanks.

I heard, or read somewhere, (maybe on TCM) that the Broadway musicals were taped, but not available to the general public, and I was curious when I saw Big River mentioned.

Interesting information, mac.

Here's a new question in the same format as the previous one (books that were made into movies):

The Jennifer Jones (1) of Rod Steiger (2)

The W.C. Fields (2) + and Kate Bosworth (2)

Marilyn Monroe (1) + Michael Clarke Duncan (1) + Jose Kleber (2 words from the English-language title) + Barbara Parkins (1)

Mel Blanc (1) + Glenne Headly (1)

A few more (same book theme) when you have some leasure/boring time:


Dustin Hoffman (2) + Eric Roberts (1) + Marlon Brando (1)

Christopher Plummer (2) and Kirk Douglas (2)

James Stewart (2) + Mae Clark (1)

We cross-posted! And I'm very bored at the moment, so I'll work on your question and we can put mine aside until later. (It will be funny if there are some duplicate titles that appear in both questions.)

I was thinking the same thing about cross-posting, Bree. But, I'll bet there are thousands of movies adapted from books. It will be interesting to see how many we come up with.

Sorry! I didn't mean to take your turn. I was hoping I'd save you some time.

No problem -- I appreciate the thought!

Duh! I didn't see your question. I thought you meant that we might ask the same books. I'll work on your question right now.

I win the race (although, to be fair, I had a head start, and I only had three titles to find, while you had four):

All the President's Men (Dustin Hoffman) + The King's Guard (Eric Roberts) + The Men Marlon Brando)

The Sound of Music (Christopher Plummer) and The Fury (Kirk Douglas)

Of Human Hearts (James Stewart) + Hearts in Bondage (Mae Clark)

Yes to all. I've got your first three questions, but Mel Blanc is frustrating me. He stymied me once before during one of our "story" sessions.