Songs From the 1930s I Like - Part 2 Quiz

Answer: George Beverly Shea

George Beverly Shea was born on February 1, 1909, in Winchester, Ontario, Canada. When he was a child his father taught him how to play the violin, and his mother taught him how to play the organ. He went to Houghton College in 1928 and sang in the Glee Club, but had to drop out of school in 1929 due to financial troubles.

In 1932, he composed music for a poem "I'd Rather Have Jesus," written by Rhea F. Miller (1894-1966). In 1955, he also wrote the lyrics and music for the song "The Wonder of It All."

In 1933, Shea auditioned for the show "Your Hit Parade," a music radio show, and he got the job but then decided to turn it down as he didn't feel right about singing secular music. Around this time he started to record with Decca Records.

On January 2, 1944, Shea began working as a featured soloist for Billy Graham. He sang on the "Songs in the Night" weekly radio program. He left the radio program eight years later but joined the Billy Graham Evangelist Association (BGEA) full-time.

George Beverly Shea died on April 16, 2013. He was 104 years old.

Answer: Love Me Tonight

"Love Me Tonight" tells the story of Maurice (Maurice Chevalier), a French tailor. He goes to a nearby castle to collect money owed to him for work he had done, and falls in love with Princess Jeanette (Jeanette MacDonald), who rejects him. He poses as a baron to win her over, and it works, but then she finds out who he really is, and runs the risk of losing him.

Answer: Kookaburra

Kookaburras belong to the kingfisher family. They are found in Australia and New Guinea. They are small birds only weighing about 11 ounces. The kookaburra was named for the laughing sound it makes.

In the song "Kookaburra," the words say, "Laugh kookaburra laugh, gay your life must be." Recall, that in those days, the word gay meant happy.

Answer: False

"Night and Day" was written by Cole Porter for his Broadway musical, "Gay Divorcee." The show is about Mimi Pratt, who is trying to get a divorce with the help of a professional correspondent. They make it appear like she is having an affair.

"Night and Day" is sung at the turning point in the show. It is sung by Guy and Mimi when they realize they are in love. Guy writes romance novels. Guy was originally played by Fred Astaire in his final Broadway role. Mimi was played by Claire Luce.

Answer: Your charms

"You're Getting to Be a Habit with Me" is a song by Harry Warren and Al Dubin. The song was one of the first songs to reference addiction. In 1933, it was used in the movie "42nd Street." It was also recorded by Bing Crosby, and several other people, such as Frank Sinatra.

The verse with this line is below:
"Let me stay in your arms,
I'm addicted to your charms
You're getting to be a habit with me."

Answer: Ethel Waters

Ethel Waters was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, USA, on October 31, 1896. She did not have a good childhood. She left home and married at the age of 13 to her first husband. He was abusive and the marriage ended quickly, and she became a hotel maid in Philadelphia.

Four years later, she was at a party when someone convinced her to sing a couple of songs. Someone from the Lincoln Theatre in Baltimore liked her singing so much that they offered her a job singing there. Soon, she was touring in the Vaudeville circuit in Baltimore.

In 1919, she moved to New York City and joined the Harlem Renaissance. In 1925, she recorded with Columbia, having a hit with "Dinah". In 1929, she recorded "Am I Blue?". That became her signature song.

In 1933, she was in "As Thousands Cheer", a Broadway musical revue, in a featured role. The show was the first show to give an African-American person equal billing with White people. It was in this show that Waters sang "Heat Wave." In 1939, she became the first African-American woman to star in her own TV show.

Waters died September 1, 1977, at the age of 80, from uterine cancer and kidney failure.

Answer: He eats spinach.

Sammy Lerner composed the "Popeye the Sailor" song in 1933. He was born on January 28, 1903, in Saveni, Kingdom of Romania. When sound movies, (also known as talkies), came out he started creating music for movies, mainly for Fleischer Studios. His two biggest songs were the theme songs for Betty Boop and another well-known character, Popeye the Sailor Man.

It took him less than two hours to write "Popeye the Sailor." In the song, Popeye sings,
"I'm strong to the finich,
'Cause I eats me spinach.
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man."

Lerner died of cancer in 1989. He was 86.

Answer: Jimmy Durante

James Francis Durante was born on February 10, 1893, in New York City, NY, USA. In seventh grade, Durante dropped out of school to become a full-time ragtime piano player. As "Ragtime Jimmy" he played in ragtime bars until he joined The Original New Orleans Jazz Band. The band was in New York City, and Durante was the only member not from New Orleans.

By 1925, Durante was a vaudeville star. In 1934, he had a hit with the song "Inka Dinka Doo". Ben Ryan wrote the lyrics to the song. Durante composed the music. It became Durante's theme song.

Durante also starred in several Broadway musicals such as "Show Girl" in 1929 and "Red Hot, and Blue" in 1936.

He also starred in several films such as the 1932 movie, "The Phantom President" and "What! No Beer?" (1933).

Durante narrated the 1969 Christmas special, "Frosty the Snowman."

He retired from acting in 1972, after a stroke. He died on January 29, 1980, from pneumonia, less than two weeks before his 87th birthday.

Answer: Roberta

"Roberta" was written by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach in 1933. The show opened on November 18, 1933, and ran for 295 performances.

The plot revolves around John Kent (originally played by Raymond E. Middleton), an All-American football player in Paris, France having inherited a dress shop from an aunt. The name of the shop is Roberta. He then falls in love with the head fashion designer named Stephanie, (originally played by Tamara). He asks Stephanie to run the shop with him since he knows nothing about dresses, and she agrees.

Answer: man

"Stormy Weather" was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. It was first sung by Ether Waters at the Cotton Club in 1933. The Cotton Club was a nightclub in Harlem, New York City, NY, USA. That same year, the music from the Cotton Club went on a musical revue tour, called "The Storm Weather Revue."

The song is a torch song, which is a love song about unrequited love. The lyrics say things such as "Stormy weather since my man and I ain't together" and "It keeps raining all the time."

In 2003, Ether Waters's version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The following year, it was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry. That same year, the Lena Horne version of the song was number 30 in the American Film Institute's 100 Years 100 Songs listing of film songs.