Classic Movie Musicals - 1955 to 1965 Quiz | Movies

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which 1955 Rodgers and Hammerstein movie was adapted from the duo's 1943 Broadway musical set in the American heartland? Hint: The film opens with a cowboy named Curly McLain bursting into song about the weather while riding to a neighboring farm.

Answer: Oklahoma!

Although the musical is a paean to Oklahoma, the film was shot in Arizona and California. It is a story as old as time - the love triangle. Happy-go-lucky Curly (Gordon MacRae) is smitten with lovely farm girl Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones), but the course of true love does not run smoothly with the entry of a rival for Laurey's affections - the crafty ranch hand Jud Fry (Rod Steiger). "Oklahoma!" won Oscars for Best Music and Best Scoring of a Musical Picture.

2. Which 1956 film musical is based on a 1951 Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway play that had been adapted from the biography of a children's governess working abroad, written in the late 1860s?

Answer: The King and I

This is the story of an English widow, Anna Leonowens (Deborah Kerr) who travels to Siam (present day Thailand) to tutor the children of the country's headstrong monarch, King Mongkut (Yul Brynner). Although their cultural norms and personalities clash, Anna and the king develop a mutual respect and love for one another that neither can acknowledge. Kerr's singing was dubbed by Marni Nixon, for which Nixon was paid the munificent sum of $420. Even in the 1950s that was a pretty paltry sum. Brynner only had one song, "A Puzzlement," but he sang it himself.

The film took home five Oscars and a Golden Globe Award. The biography, stage play, and film are all banned in Thailand (formerly Siam) as being disrespectful to the monarchy.

3. The iconic cinematic moment in this 1957 film is the exquisite Audrey Hepburn running down the grand staircase of the Louvre museum in an equally exquisite red gown by Hubert de Givenchy, against a backdrop of the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the top of the stairs. What is the name of the film?

Answer: Funny Face

Audrey's pose at the bottom of the staircase visually echoes the magnificence of the goddess behind her. The film is a homage both to "haute couture" and fashion photography. Fred Astaire plays photographer Dick Avery, the Richard Avedon-like photographer sent to Paris to cover Jo Stockton's (Hepburn) introduction as a high fashion model from America. Was there ever again a bridal gown so striking and so much of a trendsetter as the Givenchy ballerina-length net gown Hepburn models near the end of the film - the finale of her star turn on the runway of the Paris fashion show? "Funny Face" was re-released in 2014.

4. An aging Parisian "flaneur," played by legendary French actor Maurice Chevalier, opens this film singing "Thank Heaven for Little Girls" in the Bois de Boulogne. Which 1958 coming of age film is this?

Answer: Gigi

The "girl" of the film is Gigi, played by French actress Leslie Caron, who is being schooled by her aunt and mother to carry on the family tradition and become a "proper" high-class mistress to a wealthy man. The musical was a box office hit and received a record breaking nine Oscars at the 1959 Academy Awards.

It was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

5. This controversial 1959 musical, which dealt with sensitive issues such as race and rape, was based on a 1935 Broadway musical by George Gershwin. The setting is Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina in the summertime. What is the film?

Answer: Porgy and Bess

Because of the subject matter, and the era, "Porgy and Bess" opened in select cities on a "reservation only" basis. Starring in the film were Sidney Poitier, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis Jr., and Pearl Bailey. The unforgettable score received a Grammy award. "Porgy and Bess" was selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry in 2011.

6. Sharks, Jets, Officer Krupke, New York City, Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim and Jerome Robbins. Do you really need more to name this 1961 smash movie musical?

Answer: West Side Story

"West Side Story" remains one of the most popular movie musicals ever filmed. Conceived as a modern version of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," the stage play of "West Side Story" continues to be performed in regional theaters more than fifty years after its Broadway debut. Few musicals have equaled the number of hit songs written by Bernstein and Sondheim or the magnificent choreography by Robbins.

7. An overbearing stage mother wants everything to come up roses in this 1962 movie musical, based on a 1959 Broadway play, which tells the story of young girl being pushed to become a celebrated stripper. What is the name of the movie?

Answer: Gypsy

For years Gypsy Rose Lee's name was synonymous with stripper. She headlined at Billy Minsky's Burlesque on Broadway and appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies in 1936. Noted for his style and sophisticated humor, writer H. L. Mencken coined the term "ecdysiast", from the Greek ekdys�s - to strip or cast off, as a new word to describe Rose's profession.

The vocals for Mama Rose, played by Rosalind Russell, were dubbed, however Natalie Wood did her own singing for the part of Gypsy.

8. Which 1963 animated Walt Disney movie musical tells the legend of King Arthur as a witty coming of age story?

Answer: The Sword in the Stone

The film is based on a 1938 novel by T. H. White. It was released on Christmas day, 1963 and was wildly popular with audiences. The reviews were not universally good. Some critics felt the humorous way the story was told detracted from the venerable Arthurian legend. Nevertheless, this animated children's movie was the sixth highest grossing film of the year.

The video of "Sword in the Stone" was released by Walt Disney Entertainment in 2001.

9. A foreign language film, sung as an operatic recitative, and starring a young French actress named Catherine Deneuve in her first role, was released in 1964. It is set in a coastal town in France in the late '50s, with a coda in 1963. Name this movie musical which won the Palme d'Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival. Hint: Music by Michel Legrand.

Answer: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

This was the first foreign film I ever saw, and the first movie to break my heart. Sadly, the theme song by Legrand, "I Will Wait for You," went unfulfilled. Nevertheless, "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg" (French title), is a beautiful film - on a par with the beauty of the twenty year old Deneuve.

In retrospect perhaps it was wise to recognize early on, through this bittersweet story, that love does not always conquer all. A digital 50th anniversary version of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" was released on DVD in 2014.

10. The next classic movie musical was adapted from Rodgers and Hammerstein's Broadway musical, which had been based on the memoirs of a woman who escaped with her family from Austria shortly after after the Nazi Anschluss annexed that country in 1938. What is the name of this perennial favorite?

Answer: The Sound of Music

Maria von Trapp's memoir was titled "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers." The script for "The Sound of Music" took artistic liberties with the family's departure from Austria after annexation. It was true that Georg and Maria opposed Nazi ideology, and that Georg did not wish to serve in the German navy, but they were able to leave Austria by train for Italy rather than crossing the mountains from Austria to Switzerland in the dead of night.

The von Trapp family eventually settled in Stowe, Vermont. "The Sound of Music" was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Source: Author Whitney37

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor spanishliz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Classic Movie Musicals - 1955 to 1965 Quiz

The late 50s and early 60s were a rich period in American film musicals. Here are ten classics that remain memorable for their storylines, stars, and musical scores.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>