My Favorite Songs of the 1940s - Part 2 Quiz

Answer: Oscar Hammerstein II

Richard Rodgers wrote the music for "Oklahoma!" and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyrics for the show.

Ado Annie and Will Parker sing "All Er Nuthin'," in the show. When it opened on Broadway in 1943, Celeste Holm and Lee Dixon played Annie and Will, making them the first to sing the song publicly.

In the 1955 movie version the song was sung by Gloria Grahame and Gene Nelson.

Answer: No

"I Cain't Say No" was written by Rodgers and Hammerstein II. It was first performed by Celeste Holm in 1943 when she debuted the role of Ado Annie on Broadway. Annie explains to Laurey (originally played by Joan Roberts): "It ain't so much a question of not knowing what to do. I knowed what's right and wrong since I was ten." She then goes on to explain that she knows, that when she is with men she forgets, and then she cannot say "no" to them.

In the 1955, movie version the song is sung by Gloria Grahame.

Answer: soldiers

Walter Kent and Kim Gannon wrote "I'll Be Home For Christmas" in honor of soldiers overseas during World War II who desperately wanted to be home with their families at Christmas. Bing Crosby first recorded the song, and his version reached number three on the charts.

The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley, Johnny Mathis, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael Buble.

Answer: mares

"Mairzy Doats" was written by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston. While the lyrics are nonsense they are near homophones. For example, the title "Mairzy Doats" is "Mares eat oats."

The song was first played on the radio by Al Trace and his Silly Symphonists. In March 1944, the Merry Macs reached number one on the charts.

Many other artists have recorded or performed this song including Bob Hope and Bing Crosby at USO shows, The Three Stooges, Bobby Darin, and Burl Ives. The song is often found on children's CDs.

Answer: road

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" for the 1943 movie musical "The Sky's the Limit." It was first performed by Fred Astaire.

Others have since recorded it including Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Bette Midler. On May 22, 1992, Bette Midler was the final guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" before his retirement. She sang the song to him as a tribute to his thirty years of doing the "Tonight Show".

Answer: Meet Me in St. Louis

Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane wrote "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" in 1943. It was first sung in 1944 by Judy Garland in the movie musical "Meet Me in St Louis." Mr. Smith (played by Leon Ames) has informed the family they will be moving. With the World's Fair coming to St. Louis, and all their friends in St. Louis, they are unhappy with the news. Esther (Garland's character) sings the song to her five-year-old sister, Tootie (played by Margaret O'Brien) to cheer her up.

The song has since been recorded by many artists including Frank Sinatra, Tori Amos, Chicago, and John Legend.

Answer: the positive

Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote, "Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive" (also written as "Accentuate the Positive" sometimes). In 1945, the song was used in the movie "Here Come the Waves" and was nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy Awards. The song lost to "It Might as Well Be Spring" by Rodgers and Hammerstein II.

The song tells listeners to "accentuate the positive" and "eliminate the negative." It was first recorded in 1944 by Johnny Mercer with The Pied Pipers and Paul Weston's orchestra. It reached number two on the charts. In 2015, this version was inducted into the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.

Since then others have also recorded the song including Bing Crosby with the Andrews Sisters, Paul McCartney, Connie Francis, and Aretha Franklin.

Answer: my two front teeth

Donald Yetter Gardner wrote "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" in 1944. He was teaching a second-grade class in Smithtown, NY, and asked the children what they wanted for Christmas. He noticed most were missing one or two front teeth, and that caused them to lisp. In 1948, an employee at Witmark music company heard Gardner sing the song at a music teachers' conference and published the song.

The song was first heard publicly in 1948, on Perry Como's radio show sung by The Satisfiers.

Since then it has been recorded by many other artists including George Strait, Nat King Cole, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Chipmunks version features Theodore as the lead.

Answer: Frank Loesser

Frank Loesser wrote "Baby, It's Cold Outside" in 1944. In 1949, the song became popular when performed in the movie musical "Neptune's Daughter." Ricardo Montalban and Esther Williams performed it. It is then sung again in the movie between Betty Garrett and Red Skelton, in this version, the roles are reversed and it's the male who wants to leave.

The song has been covered many times (over 400) since then by artists such as Doris Day and Bob Hope, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan, Dean Martin and Marilyn Maxwell, and Idina Menzel and Michael Buble.

Answer: standing in a row

Fred Heatherton (a pseudonym for Harold Box, Desmond Cox, and Lewis Ilda) wrote "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts" in 1944. The song has to do with a coconut toss at fairs, which is what the line "roll or bowl a ball a penny a pitch" refers to.

In 1950, Freddy Martin and his orchestra recorded the song earning a place on the top ten charts. Merv Griffin (the one who created "Jeopardy!") was the lead vocalist on that version. A year later, Danny Kaye recorded it and reached 25 on the charts.

A small section of the song was used in the 1994 Disney animated feature film "The Lion King." Zazu (voiced by Rowan Atkinson) sang the song.