Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The decade was ushered in with cheerful pessimism expressed in a song that stated that "...there is nothing surer; The rich get rich and the poor get children; In the meantime, in between time..." What comes next?
2. In an age when most novelty songs were based on ethnic slurs, many hits of the 20s have had to be expurgated for modern audiences. This, for example, is the best-forgotten introduction to a real evergreen. "There's a fruit store on the street. It's run by a Greek. And he keeps good things to eat, but you should hear how he speaks! When you ask him anything he never answers no. He just 'yeses' you to death and as he takes your dough he tells you...YES, we have no..." What?
3. Exotic locales were big in the 20s, and here's a song about a particularly exotic one, where there is lots of 'hot ginger and dynamite' and milkshakes are ten cents apiece. Oh yes, the women 'wicky wacky woo'. Where are we?
4. Written in 1929, this song was re-worked as Franklin Roosevelt's campaign song of 1932. It is arguably the most famous campaign song of all time. What is it?
5. "And when it's twelve o'clock, we climb the stair; We never knock, for nobody's there..." Who is 'we' in this haunting song? The singer and his/her...
6. No, this song doesn't have anything to do with King Arthur. It popularized a resort on Catalina Island a lot of people wanted to 'travel on' to. The inspiration for the name of many a ballroom; where is it?
7. Returning to a simpler life back home was a recurring theme in the twenties. In this astoundingly famous song, someone's sugar-sweet girlfriend is waiting for him, so he asks that his bed be made and the lamp lit in readiness for his return. All there is left to do is to say, "Bye bye...
8. Modern audiences don't find funny foreigner songs funny now. However it is a big mystery why anyone found brutal boyfriend songs, an equally popular musical form in the 20s, remotely appealing ever. Ruth Etting, a prime exponent of the genre, sang, "You treat me coldly, each day of the year. You always scold me, whenever somebody comes near..." It became her signature song. What was it?
9. In 1920 the French cabaret star Mistinguett premiered a lollapalooza of a brutal boyfriend song, 'Mon Homme'. It was quickly translated and Fanny Brice made it the smash hit of the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921. "It cost me a lot, but there's one thing that I've got, it's my..."
10. An upbeat finale is provided by another locale song - and this locale epitomized the spirit of the 20s. It's a city where men dance with their wives, a city Billy Sunday can't shut down, a city where "they do things they don't do on Broadway". Where are we?
Source: Author
dobrov
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
bullymom before going online.
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