A Garland of Leading Men Trivia Quiz

Answer: Mickey Rooney

The movie is "Babes in Arms" (1939) and Judy and Mickey play Patsy Barton and Mickey Moran, talented offspring of equally talented (but fading) Vaudeville performers. The parents head off on the road to try to resurrect their careers, but the kids aren't happy to be left behind, and pool their resources to stage their own show.

The romantic subplot involves an ex-child star named Rosalie (June Preisser) trying to steal both the leading role in the show, and Mickey's heart away from Patsy.

Songs include Rodgers and Hart's "Where or When" and Judy singing "I Cried for You".

Answer: Gene Kelly

The role of Jo Hayden in "For Me and My Gal" (1942) is usually regarded as Judy's first 'adult' role, after a string of successful teenage roles. She plays the partner in a Vaudeville act of Harry Palmer (Gene Kelly in his film debut), who tries to evade service in WWI, though both eventually make it overseas. George Murphy also appears.

Besides the title tune, songs include "When You Wore A Tulip...", "By the Beautiful Sea" and many others.

Answer: Tom Drake

The movie is "Meet Me in St Louis" (1944) and Judy and Margaret play Esther and Tootie Smith, two daughters of a family looking forward to the 1904 World's Fair in their city, and not relishing the thought of an impending move to New York. Drake plays "The Boy Next Door", about whom Judy sings and who is one of the reasons she doesn't want to move.

Other songs include "The Trolley Song", "Under the Bamboo Tree" and the title number. Vincente Minnelli, soon to be Judy's second husband, directs.

Answer: Robert Walker

In "The Clock" (1945), Alice Maybery (Judy) falls in love with Corporal Joe Allen (Walker) during the course of his 48 hour leave in the city, and the feeling seems mutual. They arrange to meet again under the clock in Pennsylvania Station.

Robert Walker (Sr) died young, leaving a body of work that includes "Bataan" (1943), "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" (1944), "Till the Clouds Roll By" (1946) and "Strangers on a Train" (1951). His sons, Robert Jr and Michael are also actors.

Answer: John Hodiak

The waitresses work for the Harvey House, and are "The Harvey Girls" (1946). Judy plays Susan Bradley who helps in their competition with the dance hall girls (led by Angela Lansbury), and falls in love with saloon owner Ned Trent (Hodiak). Also in the cast are Ray Bolger and Preston Foster.

Hodiak's other movies include "Lifeboat" (1944) and "Battleground" (1949). Songs include the very upbeat "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" with Judy and others singing and Ray Bolger (the Scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz") dancing.

Answer: Fred Astaire

The "Easter Parade" (1948) of the title doesn't happen until the very end of the movie, but getting there is all the fun. Don Hewes (Astaire) boasts that he can succeed with any partner after Nadine Hale (Ann Miller) moves on to better jobs. Enter Hannah Brown (Judy) who helps him prove his point. Peter Lawford provides a diversion as "A Fella with an Umbrella", which he sings with Judy.

Fred and Judy might not be such a frequent pairing as Fred and Ginger (Rogers), but they work well together performing such songs as "Easter Parade", "I Love a Piano" and my personal favourite, "A Couple of Swells", all by Irving Berlin.

Answer: Gene Kelly

In "The Pirate" (1948), Judy plays Manuela, who is supposed to marry a rich man (to make her family happy), while at the same time day-dreaming about falling in love with a legendary pirate. Enter Serafin (Kelly), a singer with a circus who pretends to be the pirate Macoco, so he can win Manuela's heart. Walter Slezak plays the rich man she's supposed to marry, and Gladys Cooper and Reginald Owen are also in the cast.

Songs by Cole Porter include "Be a Clown" and "Love of My Life".

Answer: Van Johnson

If the plot of "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949) seems familiar, it might because it was used for "The Shop Around the Corner" (1940) and "You've Got Mail" (1998), as well as for several TV movies. Judy is Veronica Fisher and Van Johnson is Andrew Larkin, who quarrel and annoy one another all day at work in Oberkugen's music store. Neither of them realise (until much later) that they are falling in love via an anonymous correspondence. S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall plays their boss Mr Oberkugen, and Buster Keaton and Spring Byington are also in the cast. Little Liza Minnelli makes her film debut in the final scene, as her mother, Judy's daughter.

Songs include the title tune, "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" and "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie".

Answer: Gene Kelly

There is a lot of behind the scenes drama during the making of "Summer Stock" (1950) as Judy is going through some tough times, including a stint in rehab and not always being at her best for filming. Kelly, who hasn't forgotten her kindness to him during filming of "For Me and My Gal", often sticks up for her and tries to smooth things over. Meanwhile, their characters, farmer Jane Falbury and song and dance man Joe Ross, are falling in love during rehearsals for the big show. Gloria DeHaven plays sister Abigail, and Eddie Bracken, Phil Silvers and Marjorie Main also appear.

Songs include "Get Happy" and "You Wonderful You".

Answer: James Mason

Esther Blodgett becomes Vicki Lester and "A Star Is Born" (1954). Meanwhile, Norman Maine (Mason), who has fallen in love with Vicki and encouraged her acting and singing career, is drinking himself out of his own film career. The characters' names sometimes change, but the plot is essentially the same for at least four movies with this title (1937, 1954, 1976, 2018). Songs include "The Man that Got Away" and "Someone at Last".

Englishman Mason is also remembered for his work in "North by Northwest" (1959), "Lolita" (1962) and as Field Marshal Rommel in "The Desert Fox" (1951).